Epic Universe Ticketing Info, Advice, & Speculation

[jarmor]

How has the crowds been for the pass holder previews? With it being open to everyone I'd still wager that most people who go to universal (in orlando) are passholders and at this point people who are not are waiting on epic to visit. So not too many GP previews will be sold?

With that said lol, which day seems to be the better day to visit? Sun or mon?

 

[Alicia]

With that said lol, which day seems to be the better day to visit? Sun or mon?

Monday.

Weekends have been packed. Especially Saturday.

 

[rhino4evr]

Considering all the rides are open and running pretty well with exception to ministry , This kinda takes the hype away from opening day.

My only thought is they are not selling as many tickets / hotel rooms as they anticipated and are trying to start making a return on the investment a little earlier.

I do wonder how this has already affected the attendance at other parks.

 

[RFRees]

Preview days are almost certainly so they can test the park before it opens. The gradual ramp up in guests makes sense in order to stress test the park before day 1.

I just wish we would have known about this before I had made more ticket purchases for May. My purchases were largely based on what I had seen from the crowds at my first couple of visits. Very much hoping the parks still have a capped capacity but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

Gonna get some hate here, but I think it's a good move. Like Brian said, these were not advertised as "lower capacity" days - that's just what they've been up to this point. Things must be going well for them to start letting more people in.

 

[SeventyOne]

Considering all the rides are open and running pretty well with exception to ministry , This kinda takes the hype away from opening day.

My only thought is they are not selling as many tickets / hotel rooms as they anticipated and are trying to start making a return on the investment a little earlier.

I do wonder how this has already affected the attendance at other parks.

I thought the same thing when Hogsmeade had two months of softs and seemingly everyone in Orlando who cared had been in (I was in there like four times). And yet it had a 6-hour line on its official opening day. Orlando is weird, and the thirst to be "first" -- even in name only -- is real.

Completely agree with your other points. I do wonder if this affects the AP upgrade timetable, or if Universal is concerned that will cannibalize Frequent Fear money.

 

[Mad Dog]

I thought the same thing when Hogsmeade had two months of softs and seemingly everyone in Orlando who cared had been in (I was in there like four times). And yet it had a 6-hour line on its official opening day. Orlando is weird, and the thirst to be "first" -- even in name only -- is real.

Completely agree with your other points. I do wonder if this affects the AP upgrade timetable, or if Universal is concerned that will cannibalize Frequent Fear money.

Yes, opening day will still be very very busy. Universal has all that booking info internally. But, I'm betting they still don't have a handle on what the attendance is going to be at the three theme parks after the opening month, or two, of Epic. No coherent policy, just fly by your pants moves at this point in time.

 

[rhino4evr]

I mean most people booked reservations last year , which I’m sure they will utilize but curious if the excitement is worn down just a little bit .

 

[Brian G.]

I mean most people booked reservations last year , which I’m sure they will utilize but curious if the excitement is worn down just a little bit .

This park was never going to just open on May 22 without previews happening. IDK why this matters? It's the same for any ride that opens. TM Previews, Select Previews, General Soft Opening, and then the official Grand Opening - and opening day is still an event each time.

 

[Alicia]

This park was never going to just open on May 22 without previews happening. IDK why this matters? It's the same for any ride that opens. TM Previews, Select Previews, General Soft Opening, and then the official Grand Opening - and opening day is still an event each time.

It’s a celebration. We shall do it up right!

I think the park not being open to general guests for the two days prior to grand opening helps it feel like it’s actually a real grand opening. If it was just open like normal the day before, the 22nd wouldn’t seem too much different.

 

[AvoidTIMtation]

I thought the same thing when Hogsmeade had two months of softs and seemingly everyone in Orlando who cared had been in (I was in there like four times). And yet it had a 6-hour line on its official opening day. Orlando is weird, and the thirst to be "first" -- even in name only -- is real.

Completely agree with your other points. I do wonder if this affects the AP upgrade timetable, or if Universal is concerned that will cannibalize Frequent Fear money.

I guess I should give up hope that all the locals will have gotten their visits in before June then

 

[pjnugget]

Spoiler alert: that new local restaurant in your town that is having a grand opening was probably having mock and preview services a couple weeks prior

 

[Brian G.]

Spoiler alert: that new local restaurant in your town that is having a grand opening was probably having mock and preview services a couple weeks prior

Yeah they usually do?

 

[Rikku]

I believe the May 9 - May 19 dates will be slow beyond belief and that is the true need to open it up to the general public for sales. Because as an out of towner, and I believe a lot of people did similar, already planned their reckless spur of the moment trip with the initial batch of dates and at this point it is far too late to modify to these newly released dates or at least I sure don't have the luxury for that and that is why this coming weekend is sold out/busy because it was the most far out weekend available with the first batch so the best option to plan, at least was my case anyways.

 

[HandsomePete]

I believe the May 9 - May 19 dates will be slow beyond belief and that is the true need to open it up to the general public for sales. Because as an out of towner, and I believe a lot of people did similar, already planned their reckless spur of the moment trip with the initial batch of dates and at this point it is far too late to modify to these newly released dates or at least I sure don't have the luxury for that and that is why this coming weekend is sold out/busy because it was the most far out weekend available with the first batch so the best option to plan, at least was my case anyways.

Agree, and once you start doing the math there really aren't that many people in all of the hotels. 11,000 rooms with a normal Orlando GPR around 3.1-3.2 is going to be 34-35K people max. Best case average occupancy is probably 80%, or 28K people. Average LOS of 4.0 means probably around 10K people checking in on busy days and 3-4K people checking in on slow days. All of that to say - it would probably require almost everyone staying in the hotels to buy a ticket to sell out the alleged 6,000 per day allotment toward hotel guests, and that's before you exclude convention guests, people who already bought their tickets and don't want to pay more, and those who are just oblivious to the opportunity.

 

[etherealyear]

For those that have moved your preview day, how difficult was it? Coming in to town this weekend and have AP preview tickets for Sunday and Monday, but with potential thunderstorms forecasted for both days we're considering pushing one of our days to Tuesday if possible.

 

[Alicia]

For those that have moved your preview day, how difficult was it? Coming in to town this weekend and have AP preview tickets for Sunday and Monday, but with potential thunderstorms forecasted for both days we're considering pushing one of our days to Tuesday if possible.

Just call the ticket hotline (as if you were buying tickets) and let them know which dates you want to move. You will need the confirmation number(s) from the order in the email you received after purchase.

If there are price differences you will be refunded or charged the difference, to the same credit card used to purchase the original tickets. Have that card on hand as you will need to provide the number.

The whole process took about 20 minutes for me to move 3 of my Epic dates and it was very easy, with the guy on the phone being extremely nice.

 

[SeventyOne]

Spoiler alert: that new local restaurant in your town that is having a grand opening was probably having mock and preview services a couple weeks prior

Yeah, but it was free and invite-only.

 

[Legacy]

Yeah, but it was free and invite-only.

I've never eaten free when I go to a restaurant's soft-opening. And I go to a lot of them.

 

[Brian G.]

I've never eaten free when I go to a restaurant's soft-opening. And I go to a lot of them.

Family mock service is usually the free one; but then regular soft opening isn't.