Universal's Epic Universe General News & Discussion

[OLSinFLA]

I'd really be surprised if they offered APs access the first week/month/couple months. There's going to be plenty of demand. Giving AP's access to discounted tickets or earlier access to buy them I could see. I could even see them selling AP's but having them blacked out till the initial rush is over. People who are going to buy APs aren't going to not buy them because they can't use them the first month. They'll either wait or they'll buy tickets.

Of course, the majority would simply refuse to renew the pass until it becomes available. Risks losing income and potential customers

 

[OLSinFLA]

If the park can sell out every day without passholders, then passholders won't mean diddly squat regarding the success of the park.

My expectation is no annual passes for a while (at least until they better understand crowds and crowd flow).

Passholders will probably get to do previews before the park's grand opening, then have discounted tickets available after it opens, then (months down the road) maybe add on passes are offered with blackout dates or times or lands to help regulate crowds.

I've heard they really don't want to do a reservation system, and will ONLY sell date based tickets to start with.

Until it slows down and then the AP people have moved on. Reminds of the old Hollywood saying of "He's fired and banned from the lot. Until I need him" ;D

 

[GAcoaster]

This just seems so unlikely. Has it ever happened before?

If the demand is what it seems like it is poised to be, and they decide 35,000-40,000 people today and resort guests get first crack, then others, it could be they do sell out. I believe the capacity for MKs Christmas and Halloween parties is about 30,000 and they routinely sell out because that is what people are willing to pay for. Limited capacity and scarcity only makes the demand higher. EU could be the next Cabbage Patch Kid, Tickle Me Elmo, etc.-- everyone wants it and is willing to pay for the scarce supply.

 

[wutisgood]

If the demand is what it seems like it is poised to be, and they decide 35,000-40,000 people today and resort guests get first crack, then others, it could be they do sell out. I believe the capacity for MKs Christmas and Halloween parties is about 30,000 and they routinely sell out because that is what people are willing to pay for. Limited capacity and scarcity only makes the demand higher. EU could be the next Cabbage Patch Kid, Tickle Me Elmo, etc.-- everyone wants it and is willing to pay for the scarce supply.

Those parties are limited hours. Universal isn't limiting capacity like that for regular days.

 

[GAcoaster]

We'll see...

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

If you’re realistic, expect first 2 years to certainly be packed. Its first new Orlando park in 2 decades. This is special and will be treated, and crowded as such.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

If the demand is what it seems like it is poised to be, and they decide 35,000-40,000 people today and resort guests get first crack, then others, it could be they do sell out. I believe the capacity for MKs Christmas and Halloween parties is about 30,000 and they routinely sell out because that is what people are willing to pay for. Limited capacity and scarcity only makes the demand higher. EU could be the next Cabbage Patch Kid, Tickle Me Elmo, etc.-- everyone wants it and is willing to pay for the scarce supply.

EU’s scarce supply =/= Tickle Me Elmo’s, though. You’re comparing it to a one-time consumer purchase, with finite inventory supply, and a very low cost-/geographic-barrier to entry. Selling out of a high-price, Orlando-exclusive theme park multiple days a year is a lot bigger of an ask than selling out of a basic consumer product.

 

[Jake S]

EU’s scarce supply =/= Tickle Me Elmo’s, though. You’re comparing it to a one-time consumer purchase, with finite inventory supply, and a very low cost-/geographic-barrier to entry. Selling out of a high-price, Orlando-exclusive theme park multiple days a year is a lot bigger of an ask than selling out of a basic consumer product.

And this is opening in 2025 — following what appears to be a full year of a (domestic) tourism slowdown. I don’t think Epic Universe is enough to fully reverse that trend.

I’m sure it’ll do well, but outside the first few weeks I’m not sure it’ll be sold-out-every-day successful.

 

[Mad Dog]

And this is opening in 2025 — following what appears to be a full year of a (domestic) tourism slowdown. I don’t think Epic Universe is enough to fully reverse that trend.

I’m sure it’ll do well, but outside the first few weeks I’m not sure it’ll be sold-out-every-day successful.

Yes. I could see sellouts for a few opening weeks, and then weekends for a good while. But that's it.

 

[SeventyOne]

And this is opening in 2025 — following what appears to be a full year of a (domestic) tourism slowdown. I don’t think Epic Universe is enough to fully reverse that trend.

I’m sure it’ll do well, but outside the first few weeks I’m not sure it’ll be sold-out-every-day successful.

Hogsmeade is still cited as THE game-changer in Orlando theme park history. I don't recall IoA selling out after opening day (land closed but park didn't). It's a shiny new park with one proven killer app IP but it's still an enormous park in the #2 theme park complex in town. I get the tendency to believe the hype on what has always been the premier Universal fan forum but we run the risk of overhyping this and ending up disappointed.

 

[Jake S]

This is a fun thing Universal Orlando is doing for its team members (and, as a bonus, boosting awareness of their new park).

 

[wutisgood]

Magic kingdom is around the same size as epic universe and can fit around 90-95 thousand people of I remember correctly. At their attendance level that's around 54k average per day. I don't see universal capping attendance lower than that if much at all below their legal capacity apart from limitations on staffing or operations.

Longer hours every day which I assume this park will have will also help a lot to increase capacity.

If you think this park is going to sell out every day for most of a year or even months on single day tickets talking by the numbers it would be potentially outselling magic kingdom. I don't think Disney would let that happen and would offer ticket deals to ensure it does not happen.

Sure the Orlando market is bigger than Disney has realized and there is pent up demand for a new park. But Disney also has the sheer space to offer ticket deals to balance out how greedy universal wants to be and would not care about their parks being packed if the need to.

I think there is a limit on how long people will wait for rides around the 60 minute mark that sends them to other attractions. Universal by encouraging APs (at an increased price no doubt) and multi day park hoppers need to send these guests to the other parks. I think this is more important than just extracting money for people going 1 day because if people are force to go 1 day they may as well go back to Disney if they price right.

Remember the goal for universal here is to have the universal resort be a larger competitor to Disney. Disney used to offer non expiring tickets that people used to buy the option on to prepay for their second trip. I would argue universal needs so e reasonable season passes to lock people into a second trip where Disney deals would not matter.

 

[Andysol]

If you’re realistic, expect first 2 years to certainly be packed. Its first new Orlando park in 2 decades. This is special and will be treated, and crowded as such.

I don’t actually see attendance ever going down annually. I expect it to increase incrementally every single year like the other parks have been doing for a decade.

It will, however, feel more crowded the first year even though attendance will likely increase. It’s going to take a very very long time for operations to get a handle on all of these new restaurants, rides, technology, etc etc.

They’ll find things menu items to cut to make things more efficient and find aspects of attractions that are simply too hard to maintain to continue maintaining. It’s just the nature of a new park.

 

[Mad Dog]

Epic will not have anywhere near the capacity that MK has.

 

[OrlLover]

They’ll find things menu items to cut to make things more efficient and find aspects of attractions that are simply too hard to maintain to continue maintaining. It’s just the nature of a new park.

This is a lot of unnecessary speculating for a park not even open yet.

 

[Andysol]

This is a lot of unnecessary speculating for a park not even open yet.

It’s not speculation- it is what will happen. 100% Guaranteed. This isn’t going to be the one park in history that doesn’t find ways to maximize it’s efficiency and park operations.

Tell you what, if every restaurant has the exact same menu items year 2 as day one, I’ll buy you and your whole family annual passes.

They’ll also find ways to make ride ops significantly better as well… as they always do.

The first year will have plenty of bumps on these top tier and insanely technical rides as they find ways to maximize capacity.

In no way is that speculation. It should be the expectation.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

My solution? Stop overthinking it.

I’ve never understood the interest in granular level details like this.

It’s just never been my thing to analyze how they are going to price or decide this pass or that.

More power to those who are able to decipher the various methods Universal uses to function as a business.

Some of us have fun speculating on what color palettes they plan on using for each land... some of us like the business/operations side of things. No harm in speculating on an Annual Pass that may cost ~$600+ per person each year and like to budget things out in advance.

If the park can sell out every day without passholders, then passholders won't mean diddly squat regarding the success of the park.

Remember when Disney thought about this with Disneyland's SWGE opening... and they ended up having the quietest summer in its history?

Epic will probably start out strong, even if they abuse the AP's...BUT, Studios and IOA will probably see a significant drop in attendance if they abuse AP's. And once someone leaves as an AP, good luck on getting them back. Universal still doesn't have the 'branding power' that WDW has, and they rely on Floridians for much of their attendance, which is really evident on almost always very crowded Studios and IOA on weekends. Universal will be playing Russian Roulette if they don't try to accommodate AP's after the first couple opening months. If they offer AP's discounted passes, as @GAcoaster has suggested, that will soften the blow initially. But that kind of goodwill will only work for a short time. Meantime, Studios and IOA really have no significant new offerings to entice local guests or tourists. Return of a night show and parade help, but a few years old Velocicoaster is really the last D/E ticket sitting out there in those two parks.

That's why I don't believe Universal is silly enough to not offer some sort of AP with Epic. Not expecting them to include Epic with current AP passes, but there's a very strong chance that people won't renew until they can to include Epic.

Of course, the majority would simply refuse to renew the pass until it becomes available. Risks losing income and potential customers

Yes. I could see sellouts for a few opening weeks, and then weekends for a good while. But that's it.

Hogsmeade is still cited as THE game-changer in Orlando theme park history. I don't recall IoA selling out after opening day (land closed but park didn't). It's a shiny new park with one proven killer app IP but it's still an enormous park in the #2 theme park complex in town. I get the tendency to believe the hype on what has always been the premier Universal fan forum but we run the risk of overhyping this and ending up disappointed.

I'm all for limiting APs initially... but UOR needs to give themselves some breathing room and allow the potential for APs to come in on those days projections aren't meeting attendance levels.

Magic kingdom is around the same size as epic universe and can fit around 90-95 thousand people of I remember correctly. At their attendance level that's around 54k average per day. I don't see universal capping attendance lower than that if much at all below their legal capacity apart from limitations on staffing or operations.

MK also has nearly 3x the attraction capacity of Epic Universe and far better at managing large crowds, Universal struggles to properly feed people on busy days (just look at how ridiculous lines get during HHN or busy days at the parks).

This is a lot of unnecessary speculating for a park not even open yet.

Is it? It's pretty standard to see parks drop food items and cut things a few months after the initial opening. Not wrong to speculate on something is unfortunately inevitable (along with reduced food quality - WDW is horrendous at this).

 

[IzzyB]

Yes. I could see sellouts for a few opening weeks, and then weekends for a good while. But that's it.

I don't even think it is weekends past a couple weeks if they black out AP holders. I see 2 weeks of some sold out days especially opening and the days after opening. But I can't see any sold outs going past a couple weeks. I think this forum has delved a little too much into being fanboys if we think this park will sell out for months. When is the last time a park opened and sold out for months? I am pretty sure never. Plus we have the downturn of tourism leveling out to pre-covid days. Parks selling out is actually pretty rare outside of covid reservations days.

Hogsmeade is still cited as THE game-changer in Orlando theme park history. I don't recall IoA selling out after opening day (land closed but park didn't). It's a shiny new park with one proven killer app IP but it's still an enormous park in the #2 theme park complex in town. I get the tendency to believe the hype on what has always been the premier Universal fan forum but we run the risk of overhyping this and ending up disappointed.

Agreed. It will be very busy that first summer, but I don't think we are in daily sell out for months territory. I can see them wanting to make it a little less busy while operations gets a hang of things which is why I think phased softs, offering an upgrade on your AP with black out days the first couple months is reasonable. But AP holders that upgrade should be allowed more than one day during softs.

 

[ReelJustice]

It *may* sell out opening day.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

It *may* sell out opening day.

100% it will... since it'll be at reduced capacity levels to prevent a bottleneck onto Universal Blvd lol

But outside that... I think sell outs won't happen as much unless they have major operational/capacity issues like Volcano Bay.