Epic Universe Ticketing Speculation

[Parkscope Joe]

I think ticket prices will be “normal”.

Single-day admission in April 2025 is $155-170 for one day for USF/IOA. Boom.

 

[fryoj]

I think some answers would be had by knowing Universal's strategy.

If they want to manage crowds and not let things get overrun, opening day will be some sort of very high priced, limited edition tickets. That could stretch to a variation for opening week, or even opening month if sales are brisk.

Now if they want news coverage of massive lines, then park hoppers and AP's allowed day 1. lol

 

[wutisgood]

I will say that plus 150 for a day at any park including universal and Disney is frankly an Insane price. Right now Disney apart from passholders already invested in at the top end at the top parks

 

[TheCodeMan95]

To everyone who has been commenting that they don't expect the park to be as insanely busy as others do, what are you expecting? How do you think crowds will shake out for the first year or 2?

I'm not arguing btw, I'm genuinely curious how all of our expectations are differing

 

[GAcoaster]

I HOPE I'm overestimating demand for Epic versus capacity because I want to be able to go on an AP, but I think there will be HUGE demand for the first year with the park at or near capacity on all but the worst weather days.

This is the first new theme park to open in 25+ years, the internet has given rise to park lifestylers who will all want to go and experience it before anyone else. Twenty five years ago there wasn't social media and influencers getting people to create the huge demand we see when anything new opens. Has Hagrid's seen any real loss of popularity since it opened five years ago? Not really-- still long lines. This is a park full of attractions at that level.

There will be big demand (or at least I and Comcast I assume) think. And I'm sure the Comcast hype machine will see to it that there is that kind of demand. Expect Today Show, Kelly Clarkson, Tonight Show, etc. to all be talking about and showing it. Expect Comcast customers to be bombarded with commercials, mailers in their cable bills, etc. to take advantage of their "loyalty rewards" for discounts on tickets and hotel stays.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

It’ll most likely match whatever the day-ticket is for their other dry parks is. It’s first three months will be blacked out for all APs (including any APs that include Epic). The day tickets will likely be able to be purchased in advance.

An entire 3-month blackout period is not necessary. Limited capacity during the first 2-3 weeks makes sense, but after that seems to be overkill.

To everyone who has been commenting that they don't expect the park to be as insanely busy as others do, what are you expecting? How do you think crowds will shake out for the first year or 2?

I'm not arguing btw, I'm genuinely curious how all of our expectations are differing

Busy, but we were saying the freeway was going to back up because of SWGE at Disneyland the entire summer.

There will be big crowds, but not holiday crowds every day. There will definitely be lulls in attendance (hence the need for APs/locals to back you up on those days).

 

[TheCodeMan95]

There will be big demand (or at least I and Comcast I assume) think. And I'm sure the Comcast hype machine will see to it that there is that kind of demand. Expect Today Show, Kelly Clarkson, Tonight Show, etc. to all be talking about and showing it. Expect Comcast customers to be bombarded with commercials, mailers in their cable bills, etc. to take advantage of their "loyalty rewards" for discounts on tickets and hotel stays.

All of this - and I wouldn't be surprised if we got some type of "behind the scenes" documentary/series of some sort for the construction/design of the park on Peacock possibly.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Epic Universe will be in every NBC commercial break, but we also have to note that the general public will go when they can and not just within the first few weeks, no matter how excited they are. We saw with Disneyland that hardcore fans showed up the first week in June for SWGE, but everyone else showed up in August when it was cheaper and APs were unblocked.

There will be far more people at Magic Kingdom on any given day compared to Epic Universe. Universal isn't ready (or capable yet) of handling 40K+ guests on average each day.

 

[IzzyB]

I think UOR will tie their lowest AP w/ Pixie Dust (possibly even a few dollars above), but really start to increase the number of blockout dates, especially for Epic. UOR's upper tiers will definitely be priced far lower than the ridiculous $1.5K WDW Incredi-pass though.

I do think some of the more unique benefits for Premier pass will start to dwindle (like Valet parking) and be "replaced" by increased blockouts at the other passes.

I don't use Valet anyways, so don't care about that. The few times I tried years ago it took forever to get my car and I decided walking the extra distance was faster.

I'm expecting tickets to be pretty high, especially if there's no passholder previews. Everyone is gonna want to be here on opening day. A little price gouging could actually be a good idea.

I can't imagine them not having AP preview. They have to soft open this park or day 1 will be a nightmare.

At MOST, Epic will match whatever the Magic Kingdom day-ticket is.

It’ll most likely match whatever the day-ticket is for their other dry parks is. It’s first three months will be blacked out for all APs (including any APs that include Epic). The day tickets will likely be able to be purchased in advance.

So are you hearing any rumors on how long softs will be? Or is it really based on a drop dead go-live date and when they are ready to open for softs? So if they are ready to open softs early they will give themselves longer softs? I just feel if they don't have at least a solid month of softs this park on day 1 is going to be an operations nightmare.

To everyone who has been commenting that they don't expect the park to be as insanely busy as others do, what are you expecting? How do you think crowds will shake out for the first year or 2?

I'm not arguing btw, I'm genuinely curious how all of our expectations are differing

I think it will be busy, I don't think it will be at capacity or near capacity every day after a few weeks. I think after a few weeks they will have some really busy days and then some normal days. If they keep AP out for 3 months they will for sure won't be as busy after 1 month.

Epic Universe will be in every NBC commercial break, but we also have to note that the general public will go when they can and not just within the first few weeks, no matter how excited they are. We saw with Disneyland that hardcore fans showed up the first week in June for SWGE, but everyone else showed up in August when it was cheaper and APs were unblocked.

There will be far more people at Magic Kingdom on any given day compared to Epic Universe. Universal isn't ready (or capable yet) of handling 40K+ guests on average each day.

Agreed. I don't think people understand how non-theme park fans vacation. You will have some that will absolutely want to go the first summer and the flexibility to book a trip. You will have others that just want nothing to do with opening crowds and will wait for the following year. You will have non-kid people wait for school to go back in session so as to not have the crowds. You will have others wait for the weather to cool and without kids go any time between Nov to Feb and kid ones go at Thanksgiving or Christmas. The crowds will be way more spread out than people think. Other people are planners and have destinations already in mind for 2025 and won't change for a new park at this point.

The influencers will all be there the first month which will inflate the attendance. Theme park fans will also be there the first month, but even many of them will spread out as not everyone can just afford to go or have the time off work to go when they want.

Put it this way, I was super excited for a whole new land to open at Dollywood, same when they opened a new coaster. But I didn't go plan a trip later in the year, I stuck with our normal routine of March and just caught both the following year. Why? Because we like going in March when it is cooler and we can snow tube and have a chance of catching snow. Do we sometimes plan a second trip? Yes, but those years we already had other places we were going and so a second trip wasn't feasible. So we all waited and got to it when we got to it. And I am a theme park fan and even I didn't rush to opening summer. Heck my in-laws are talking about cancelling their universal AP passes before Epic even opens and switching to Disney. They probably don't want to deal with the crowds and they miss Disney. Epic will be popular, but it won't be sold out park for months and months.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

The influencers will all be there the first month which will inflate the attendance. Theme park fans will also be there the first month, but even many of them will spread out as not everyone can just afford to go or have the time off work to go when they want.

I'm a theme park fan and I won't go anywhere near that park the first month lol. I'm hoping for a long weekend early-mid September.

 

[IzzyB]

I'm a theme park fan and I won't go anywhere near that park the first month lol. I'm hoping for a long weekend early-mid September.

My plan has always been to catch it during soft openings and then go back in end of August/Sept.

 

[DodgsonHere]

Please no lottery system for opening day, please no lottery system for opening day, please no lottery system for opening day, please no lottery system for opening day

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

The influencers will all be there the first month which will inflate the attendance. Theme park fans will also be there the first month, but even many of them will spread out as not everyone can just afford to go or have the time off work to go when they want.

Put it this way, I was super excited for a whole new land to open at Dollywood, same when they opened a new coaster. But I didn't go plan a trip later in the year, I stuck with our normal routine of March and just caught both the following year. Why? Because we like going in March when it is cooler and we can snow tube and have a chance of catching snow. Do we sometimes plan a second trip? Yes, but those years we already had other places we were going and so a second trip wasn't feasible. So we all waited and got to it when we got to it. And I am a theme park fan and even I didn't rush to opening summer. Heck my in-laws are talking about cancelling their universal AP passes before Epic even opens and switching to Disney. They probably don't want to deal with the crowds and they miss Disney. Epic will be popular, but it won't be sold out park for months and months.

This is exactly where I'm at. As an out of state passholder, the early spring target opening is encouraging me to take an extra trip to Orlando next year to experience EU as soon as I can. If passholders are blocked out the first few months until summer, I likely won't plan an extra trip before the fall because visiting Florida in the summer over other destinations simply isn't appealing with recent weather trends.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Considering Universal is playing around with "premium nights" for HHN (just waiting for their version of Disney's After Hours events), I wouldn't be shocked to see them consider a Premium Advanced ticket for Epic Universe... aka Blogger tax.

Run premium preview for 2-3 days prior to AP previews, run AP previews for a week or two and then sell an opening day-specific ticket that is priced higher than what any other day will charge.

 

[GAcoaster]

Considering Universal is playing around with "premium nights" for HHN (just waiting for their version of Disney's After Hours events), I wouldn't be shocked to see them consider a Premium Advanced ticket for Epic Universe... aka Blogger tax.

Run premium preview for 2-3 days prior to AP previews, run AP previews for a week or two and then sell an opening day-specific ticket that is priced higher than what any other day will charge.

Nope-- they'll want GOOD publicity, and until the issues are worked out with TM and possibly AP testing they wouldn't have people pay a premium just to bad mouth their experience if something goes wrong.

They will have people like Keenan Thompson, Al Roker, Jimmy Fallon, Hoda & Jenna, Kelly Clarkson showing special previews BEFORE any bloggers can do the same so they control the narrative.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Nope-- they'll want GOOD publicity, and until the issues are worked out with TM and possibly AP testing they wouldn't have people pay a premium just to bad mouth their experience if something goes wrong.

How different is it from HHN offering a premium night? A really bad operations nightmare can turn the event sideways before it even starts and bad mouth the entire run.

Unlike HHN, they can easily do a significant TM & Friends preview window, and then work out any issues prior to letting bloggers and APs visit for their preview window and any sort of premium offerings.

 

[Mad Dog]

Lots of pretty tough decisions on how to do this for both maximum marketing while respecting potential operational issues. We've all seen how tough it is for Universal/Disney to ascertain when a new attraction is ready for the public. Multiply that many times when it comes to a new park, especially one that isn't filled with clones (like Beijing and Shanghai were) but has almost all new, many extremely high tech, attractions. Universal has a difficult task facing them on opening and ticketing.

 

[Brian G.]

Re: Tickets - If only there were a Universal Orlando park that opened in the last decade that we could use as a barometer...

 

[Mad Dog]

Re: Tickets - If only there were a Universal Orlando park that opened in the last decade that we could use as a barometer...

and...I'd think IOA would be a good example also, since that park, like Epic, was filled with new attractions that weren't clones. Plus, it's not under a different cultural, economic and political background. Of course, marketing is easy. Don't use what they did with IOA

 

[Alicia]

and...I'd think IOA would be a good example also, since that park, like Epic, was filled with new attractions that weren't clones. Plus, it's not under a different cultural, economic and political background. Of course, marketing is easy. Don't use what they did with IOA

The best way to ensure you have plenty of tickets for your new theme park the whole first year? Botch the opening by renaming your resort something confusing and not making it clear you built a new park and not just a new land. Easy peasy.