Epic Universe Ticketing Info, Advice, & Speculation

[OLSinFLA]

Opening day is really only 25k? Wow, I really would have thought more

It's much higher than that. IOA has done 40,000+ days when I worked there - can'r imagine EU being less

 

[Brian G.]

Prob related to Opening Day Pomp & Circumstance

 

[nikem3]

I feel like soft opening will be the secret time to go. If they are capping opening week numbers, soft open will DEFINITELY have a cap.

 

[Captain Spaulding]

I'm currently waiting on said tickets to be released, so I get it - but as soon as they are released, this will all be for naught.

Easy to say as a local and not having to worry about plane tickets and hotel rooms for a family of 4 or 5.

 

[saint.piss]

I just feel bad for the people who plan out their vacations way in advance. It sucks. Even for my family who live basically an hour away from the park, I've been wanting to plan something with them but we can't since no GP tickets are on sale yet. We have multiple days planned to stay at Stella Nova but no park tickets. It's really ridiculous.

 

[Brian G.]

Easy to say as a local and not having to worry about plane tickets and hotel rooms for a family of 4 or 5.

Again - I'm not defending Universal here. I totally understand the frustration. I was merely pointing out that some of the takes were a little too hot.

 

[HandsomePete]

It's much higher than that. IOA has done 40,000+ days when I worked there - can'r imagine EU being less

The thing about that 25K though is that they will all be showing up at 9am… or 6am… or 4am.

Everyone is going to be trying to “get their money’s worth” but the park could also be pretty empty by closing time after the first week or so if people feel like they’ve been on everything and are having to hang around through a rain storm to see some fireworks.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

I just feel bad for the people who plan out their vacations way in advance. It sucks. Even for my family who live basically an hour away from the park, I've been wanting to plan something with them but we can't since no GP tickets are on sale yet. We have multiple days planned to stay at Stella Nova but no park tickets. It's really ridiculous.

Yeah we're a 2.5 hour flight away and we typically at least have a flight or hotel booked by this point- but we have nothing. It's slightly infuriating lol

Also from the previous page - I don't know that it's worth comparing how Disney would handle this. Disney would have announced a new park a decade before it opened lmao

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

I just feel bad for the people who plan out their vacations way in advance. It sucks. Even for my family who live basically an hour away from the park, I've been wanting to plan something with them but we can't since no GP tickets are on sale yet. We have multiple days planned to stay at Stella Nova but no park tickets. It's really ridiculous.

I completely agree with this to be fair.

I wonder if their studies show most people are waiting post opening. Summers are slow, HHN and Christmas will surely bring in crowds. 2026 is when I will visit, and I feel many other vacationers will plan. It makes more sense to release single day tickets for those days when locals have been, but tourism isn’t at its peak time frame yet.

This is all fascinating though how they’re releasing tickets.

 

[TaylorMade]

A big part of me thinks we are overthinking things. Single day tickets will go on sale very soon. More than likely the dates will start sometime in May or the very first of June. I think people who are saying they will delay single day ticket sales till 2026 are dead wrong. Universal wants out of town guests in Epic. Why??? Because they are the big spenders. Locals and AP holders spend way way less on average per person. Now the million dollar question is why are they handling ticket sells this way??? I have no idea. We might never know. I do think those people who have been saying it’s creating confusion are spot on.

 

[DrStarlander]

2026 is when I will visit

Now the million dollar question is why are they handling ticket sells this way???

Their ticketing strategy is putting out of state visitors on ice for 2025. Rather than a "what are they doing??" situation...I'm starting to wonder if Universal wants to intentionally shift attendance from 2025 to 2026. The theory would be that opening mid-year, they can't score Wall Street satisfying attendance given it would be partial year. 2025 is a scrub number, mostly meaningless. What Comcast may want is a blockbuster 2026 full-year attendance number to validate their investment and strategy.

 

[TaylorMade]

Their ticketing strategy is putting out of state visitors on ice for 2025. Rather than a "what are they doing??" situation...I'm starting to wonder if Universal wants to intentionally shift attendance from 2025 to 2026. The theory would be that opening mid-year, they can't score Wall Street satisfying attendance given it would be partial year. 2025 is a scrub number, mostly meaningless. What Comcast may want is a blockbuster 2026 full-year attendance number to validate their investment and strategy.

As I’ve said once before, I just don’t think having an empty park for 3 to 4 months is a good look. Comcast wants a return in their investment as soon as possible. I see where you’re coming from with the theory, but that’s just not how big business works. Trust me, it’s not gonna go over well at shareholder meetings when they say “yeah, low attendance at EU was by choice.”

 

[nikem3]

Its wild that you think the park is going to be empty for 3 to 4 months. I think people are overreacting a bit here and it will be fine. They could release single day tickets in 2 weeks and that would still be 2 months before park open. They have the data on ticket sales, they aren't going into this blind.

 

[TaylorMade]

It’s wild that you think the park is going to be empty for 3 to 4 months. I think people are overreacting a bit here and it will be fine. They could release single day tickets in 2 weeks and that would still be 2 months before park open. They have the data on ticket sales, they aren't going into this blind.

I totally agree with this. However, I also think that they are quickly approaching a threshold where people are gonna start canceling their vacations.

 

[nikem3]

I totally agree with this. However, I also think that they are quickly approaching a threshold where people are gonna start canceling their vacations.

I don't think anyone is 'canceling'. I think anyone trying to go within the first two months is 100% committed. If you are planning a trip for the first few months, you either think it will be very crowded and don't care about that or you think it won't be crowded at all and aren't worried about securing tickets ahead of time

Beyond that, I'll reiterate that I think Universal doesn't want insanely crowded parks at first. More possibility for issues and bad reviews.

 

[devinp267]

I don't know about the overall opening, but opening day will be at whatever capacity Universal wants for that day. A lot of "This is ridiculous, I'll just not go people" will cave if there are tickets available for opening day.

Exactly lol. Anticipation anxiety has people off the rails just be patient. They do Not (imo) need to open the flood gates just yet. It’s gonna be mayhem either way so everybody just chill out

 

[Jake S]

Beyond that, I'll reiterate that I think Universal doesn't want insanely crowded parks at first. More possibility for issues and bad reviews.

i think it’s much worse to have an empty park than one bursting at the seams.

 

[amar831]

I completely agree with this to be fair.

I wonder if their studies show most people are waiting post opening. Summers are slow, HHN and Christmas will surely bring in crowds. 2026 is when I will visit, and I feel many other vacationers will plan. It makes more sense to release single day tickets for those days when locals have been, but tourism isn’t at its peak time frame yet.

This is all fascinating though how they’re releasing tickets.

I’m just speaking for myself, but my mom and I are both planning on going to Epic for the first time as a part of our opening weekend HHN trip, but I can only imagine other people are planning to do the same with their HHN trips. We’re just waiting on single day tickets and express to drop because we have no interest in going to the parks during the day for the rest of our trip and we don’t have APs, but I guess since it’s a little farther from opening, we aren’t stressing about the lack of ticket options.

(Unrelated, but I also only feel comfortable going to Epic for the first time with my mom because no one else would understand the tears that will be shed that day after following this since 2019 and we also have a deeply ingrained love for Mario since some of my earliest memories are watching her absolutely demolish that first mario game on the NES lol)

 

[UNIrd]

I'm in the same boat as some of you. Recently cancelled 3 rooms at Helios over Memorial Day Weekend because I couldn't get tickets. And there's zero guarantee I would have gotten any so no point in staying at the resort with views of other people having fun.

But don't feel sorry for me. I'm traveling to see Beyonce instead. EPIC.

 

[OLSinFLA]

i think it’s much worse to have an empty park than one bursting at the seams.

Unless you're an accountant or stockholder or management. The last thing Comcast wants is headlines reading :"Epic Universe at bust during opening months. Attendance much lower than expected"