As the opening weekend of Universal Orlando’s newest theme park, Epic Universe, draws to a close, the topic of conversion has overwhelmingly been about crowd levels. Going into the weekend, we thought that we’d be discussing how long some of the wait times were, and how large crowds were. We couldn’t have been more wrong. In this article, we’re going to discuss crowds a little bit, but we’re going to focus on the topic of crowd control as a result of Universal’s ticketing strategy. More to the point, we’re going to speculate a bit on whether or not Universal’s ticketing strategy was a smart play, or if we’ll look back on it in a couple of months and start to wonder if Universal overdid it.
Epic Universe Low Crowds: Smart or Cause for Concern?
I’ll start by saying this: it has been an amazing experience to be in Epic Universe the past few days. We visited on opening day and the two days that followed, and the in-park experience has been unmatched from a guest experience standpoint. With the exception of Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry and the Toothless meet-and-greet experience, you could pretty much ride anything at any point during the day without a substantial wait time.
During our 3-day visit, I rode some 50+ attractions, and that was with a relatively relaxed touring approach that left time for table service dining, time for relaxing at the hotel, and plenty of breaks throughout the day to try and beat the heat. The only limiting factor to how many attractions you could experience was your own pace. It was an experience that I won’t soon forget. It was more akin to a Disney After Hours event, or even a COVID-era visit than the grand opening of the first major theme park in Central Florida in more than two decades. But is that a good thing?
In order to understand where we are, we have to understand how we got here. Here’s a quick timeline of the ticket on-sale dates, and the various ticket types that were available for purchase:
- Oct 22, 2024 | Multi-day tickets to Universal Orlando Resort’s existing theme park, including a single day at Epic Universe. Tickets include 3, 4, and 5-day tickets, but only one day at Epic Universe
- Oct 24, 2024 | Single-day Epic Universe tickets went on sale exclusively for existing Annual Passholders. The general public was still limited to the previously announced multi-day tickets with only one day at Epic Universe
- Feb 21, 2025 | Florida Resident discounted multi-day ticket available. This allowed Florida Residents to purchase the previously announced multi-day ticket at a discount – still only one day of Epic Universe access. New 2-park, 2-day ticket available for Florida Residents.
- Feb 21, 2025 | Members of the military able to purchase single-day tickets to Epic Universe
- March 13, 2025 | Single-day tickets go on sale to the general public
- March 27, 2025 | Express Pass and VIP Tours available for purchase. No new ticket offers.
- May 22, 2025 | Epic Universe grand opening
So, some sort of ticket was available for purchase starting 7 months before Universal Epic Universe opened to the public. Some ticket pre-sales filled up along the way and then reopened as time went on – sometimes quite late in the process. Ultimately, there hasn’t been a single operational day since Epic Universe opened where guests have been blocked from entering the park if they really wanted to go. However, what I find immensely interesting is the ticketing strategy and its impact on crowds going forward.
By rolling out various ticket types, and forcing guests into purchasing “less desirable” tickets, Universal created friction. This has been critical for Universal Orlando to try and keep crowds at a manageable level for its new theme park. You can certainly purchase some sort of tickets if you want to visit, but by creating pricing levels that cause guests to balk, or ticket types that are undesirable, Universal has created enough purchasing difficulty to keep crowds low. It’s worth underlining the point: Universal isn’t preventing guests from visiting by limiting capacity at their theme park right now. They aren’t telling guests that the park is full. Instead, they’re creating friction by utilizing ticket types and pricing levels that cause enough guests to not buy in. The question becomes: is this a smart strategy or cause for concern?
From a PR and guest satisfaction standpoint, the opening has been an undeniable win. We had an amazing time, and the chatter on social media is all about how low crowds are and how great of an experience visiting Epic Universe right now is. I’m not sure anyone could’ve predicted just how low the wait times and crowds would be. Even Team Members that we spoke with said that they were told that there would be some 14,000 to 17,000 guests in the park. I would be shocked if there were more than 10,000 guests. In fact, I would bet that the actual figure was closer to 8,000 on average through the first few days that we visited, and even that may be high.
Going forward, this isn’t sustainable, and something will have to change. If we can agree that Universal isn’t hitting attendance caps (tickets are still available for purchase, after all), then we have to instead look at the friction that they introduced and discuss ways to ease it. There are a number of levers that Universal can pull depending on how much they want to let off the brakes and let crowd levels rise. While I’m not sure what order these ticket deals will roll out in, I think this is what we’ll see:
- Florida Resident Single-Day Ticket
Discounted, single-day tickets already exist for Annual Passholders, and they’re not selling out. Simply put, there isn’t enough demand for a single-day ticket for existing Annual Passholders. The next lever to pull is Florida Resident single-day tickets, with a slight discount over general public single-day tickets. Right now, Annual Passholder discounts on single-day tickets are in the 14-15% range, so somewhere in the 10% off range for Florida Residents might move the needle on attendance - Multiple Days at Epic Universe
Another ticket type that we could see introduced is a ticket that allows more than one visit to Epic Universe. Essentially, either a multi-day ticket for just Epic Universe or a multi-day ticket that also includes one or more of Universal’s existing theme parks. Right now, Universal is selling multi-day tickets that allow just one day at Epic. Universal could expand Epic access to two more days across a multi-day ticket to entice guests. - Park Hopping to Epic Universe
Another ticket type that Universal could introduce that might increase guest buy-in is a ticket type that allows park hopping between Universal’s existing theme parks and Epic Universe. Traveling between the existing theme park complex (north campus) and Epic Universe (south campus) is not as easy as boarding the Hogwarts Express, but there is transportation between the two, and more guests may buy in with the additional flexibility. - Epic Universe Annual Pass
This is the biggest question mark: when will Universal introduce an Annual Pass for Epic Universe? The consensus prior to opening weekend was that Universal would wait until 2026 to introduce Annual Passes. We have a more in-depth discussion on the topic in an earlier article, but if the current trends continue, and other levers prove unsuccessful, we imagine that Universal might introduce some type of Annual Pass product later this Summer.
The next question is that of timing. When do we see Universal start to pivot? I don’t have an answer for that, and I would be surprised if Universal has a firm answer right now too. In short, we’ve seen Universal continuously manipulate pre-sale availability for tickets, and I think they’re in a wonderful position right now to be flexible going forward. That said, vacation planning happens months in advance for a regular tourist. Even if Universal starts pulling levers in June, I’m not sure that we’ll see huge swings in attendance figures right away. Anything short of opening up Annual Pass sales will likely have a marginal impact on attendance figures this Summer. Therefore, Universal could be a bit patient when it comes to ticket deals and let the chatter of low crowds dominate the Summer if they’d like.
Offering an Annual Pass is sort of a “break in case of emergency” option right now. While I’d love to throw money at Universal to allow me to hang out in Epic Universe this Summer, offering an Annual Pass before 2026 seems like it would be an indicator that crowds and revenue aren’t up to par. I could be wrong.
We’ll close out this article with just a sprinkle of concern. Right now, Universal is not hitting attendance caps with their current ticketing strategy. That indicates that not only is there a significant amount of friction introduced by their ticket types and rollout cadence, but I would argue that opening weekend has introduced the smallest bit of smoke about concerns over Epic Universe’s position in the current theme park lineup. Before the Universal faithful come after me, I’m just saying that there is a bit of smoke, there is no fire yet, and it remains to be seen if there ever will be.
That said, tickets are available and people aren’t buying in. I think that locals have had their fill from the preview period when tickets were slightly cheaper, and there isn’t an appetite to rush back with the current ticket options and prices. Beyond locals, I think that the friction Universal introduced with their ticketing strategy may have gone overboard. Without some significant changes, we could see the low crowds continue through the Summer. Will the overwhelmingly positive word-of-mouth about low crowds cause some guests to jump off the fence and purchase tickets? Yes. Will it be enough to substantially move the needle right now? I’m not so sure.
Oh, and by the way, Universal Epic Universe will be perfectly fine in the long run. It’s a wonderful theme park with some amazing rides. The park is in great hands with Universal Creative, who are already working on expansions for the park. If you’re on the fence about visiting Epic Universe, we’d highly recommend a visit. For more pros and cons about visiting Epic Universe this Summer, check out our earlier article.
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