Pros & Cons of Visiting Universal Epic Universe This Summer

Universal’s Epic Universe, Universal Orlando’s third theme park, is now officially open. Years of construction and months of previews have led to this moment. With Epic Universe, Universal Orlando Resort is positioning itself as a weeklong vacation destination. Two existing theme parks and a highly-themed water park, combined with some extremely accessible lodging options makes for a compelling case. Before we think about a weeklong vacation at Universal Orlando Resort, we have to first ask ourselves: should we visit Epic Universe this Summer? In this article, we’ll explore the pros and cons of a Summer visit for last-minute vacation planners.

CON: High Ticket Prices

When trying to determine pros and cons, we immediately think about value, and you can’t have a discussion of value without first discussing cost. Right now, Epic Universe is expensive and made more expensive by a ticketing strategy that doesn’t leave room for a good deal.

If you visit the Walt Disney World website, you are flooded with various ticket deals and offers. I’m not sure if that’s Disney fighting the economy at large, or Epic Universe, but the result is the same: discounts.

Contrast that with a visit to Universal Orlando’s website where you’ll find a somewhat confusing ticketing structure for Epic Universe. If you want to visit Epic Universe for more than one day, you’re forced to purchase multiple zero-discount, single-day tickets. There is no multi-day option for Epic Universe tickets right now. That alone may be disqualifying for many.

If we ignore the lack of multi-day, discounted tickets for Epic Universe and instead make an apples-to-apples comparison between single-day tickets to Walt Disney World theme parks and single-day tickets to Epic Universe, we’re still looking at very difficult comparisons.

In general, you’ll find that single-day ticket prices for Epic Universe are generally comparable to a single-day ticket to Magic Kingdom, sometimes a few dollars cheaper. However, sometimes Epic Universe are a whopping $10, $20, and even $30+ dollars more expensive. That’s a really, really tough value proposition for guests, especially when Magic Kingdom is filled with classic attractions, some new favorites, a world-class nightly fireworks show, a daytime parade, and (soon) a nighttime parade. Epic Universe simply cannot compete with that right now.

Not only does Epic Universe lose on the lack of multi-day, discounted tickets, but it also loses in a simple apples-to-apples single-day ticket comparison with the existing Walt Disney World theme parks. We spot-checked a few dates, including in late August where we can almost (hopefully) guarantee that Magic Kingdom will have a brand-new nighttime parade, and Epic Universe was a whopping $30 more expensive per day!

I just don’t see how Universal Orlando plans to compete here, much less win for the increasingly limited consumer dollar when it comes to a value proposition this Summer. Remember, most of the battle for a tourist’s dollar, especially for a brand-new offering, is fought at home before a guest can even step into a new experience. The first impression is usually a viral TikTok or maybe a commercial that piques your interest, but reality sets in when you’re looking at ticket prices.

PRO: It’s An Entirely New Experience!

Universal’s frustrating ticketing strategy is driven by one metric right now: return on invested capital. In short, Universal has spent a lot of money on this theme park (billions and billions, perhaps as much as $7 billion), and they need to start the process of recouping that money. Why not strike while the iron is hot?

Of course, that’s also a reminder that the entire theme park is brand new! It’s a very exciting Summer to be a theme park fan, and especially a local living here in Orlando. Epic Universe is the first major theme park to be built in the Central Florida area for decades – since Universal Orlando opened the last major theme park with Islands of Adventure in 1999.

A new theme park means dozens, if not hundreds of new things to do and experiences to have. That’s super exciting and “new, new, NEW” is going to work like a thumb on the scale that attempts to balance the pricing comparisons with Disney and tip a value proposition in Universal’s favor.

Not only is there new stuff, but there is amazing new stuff. Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry is not only the best attraction that Universal Orlando has ever built, but it is also on a very short list of attractions that will show up on the list of best attractions in the world. Beyond that, the Monsters Unchained attraction is going to be a top draw for years and years, earning some much-deserved buzz for the scale and scope of Audio-Animatronics in the ride (and even pre-show experience!). Stardust Racers is Universal’s new #1 roller coaster, the Isle of Berk is like stepping into a movie, and there is so much more that I could mention, but I think you get the point – there’s a lot of cool new stuff to experience at Epic Universe. That “new, new, NEW” is going to be a massive draw not only for theme park fans facing a bit of FOMO, but also for families that may be on the verge of “outgrowing” Disney or facing a bit of fatigue from their yearly visits.

CON: Ride Reliability Concerns

While we listed the fact that Epic Universe is a new theme park in the “pro” column, we could also list it being a new theme park in the “con” column as well. Mostly everything in Epic Universe is a new build. Yes, Universal has built roller coasters in the past, so they know how to operate them in a general sense. Yes, there is an “off-the-shelf” ride here and there. And yes, nothing in SUPER NINTENDO WORLD is technically new from scratch, but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be growing pains and operational challenges.

In fact, if you’ve been following social media closely during the Epic Universe early opening “preview” period over the past couple of months, you would certainly see that a number of rides have experienced operational challenges.

To be honest, I see that continuing for a while. If you look at attractions such as Mario Kart: Bower’s Challenge or even Hiccup’s Wing Gliders, they’re averaging more than 2 hours of downtime per day. Other rides like Donkey Kong Mine-Cart Madness and Curse of the Werewolf have been down for days at a time as Universal works through issues. Even Stardust Racers, a rather “standard” dueling roller coaster has not been immune to days of downtime during the preview phase.

Of course, without any sort of inside knowledge here, it’s anyone’s guess as to what is causing the downtime. Then, you look at Epic Universe’s marquee attraction – Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry – and that ride went through a week of downtime leading up to the grand opening.

Any ride is susceptible to downtime, with more complex attractions typically experiencing higher downtime, but if you plan on visiting this Summer, be prepared for major frustrations when it comes to attraction reliability at Epic Universe. Once an attraction or two goes down, crowds begin building and building quick at other attractions and experiences. Speaking of crowds…

PRO or CON? Crowds

While I’m publishing this article on opening day, I have been working on it for a little while. That means that while there will certainly be photos of large crowds today (or maybe extremely low crowds!), through the weekend, and perhaps even into next week, crowds will start to normalize following the grand opening hype. The question then becomes: what is normal?

When thinking about normal, we see a few different “normals” to consider. There is the post-grand opening normal. This would cover a timeframe somewhere between the start of June and through the Summer. Then, there’s the post-Summer normal. Even this normal won’t be “normal” as Epic Universe will likey experience a second wind during the holiday season, which will be the first big strain on the park in terms of crowds. Then, there is the normal “normal”. I see Epic sort of entering a true normal sometime just before Spring Break of next year.

For the purposes of this article, let’s consider the first Summer “normal” that will happen after the first week or so of grand opening operation.

I think that there are some serious questions about crowd behavior to be answered during the Summer. If the “leaked” ticketing info being tracked by thrill-data.com is to be believed, Epic Universe will have a bit of a long Summer ahead of it. Buckle up, time for some numbers.

In short, it looks like Epic Universe will operate with a reduced total capacity of roughly 14,500 guests per day through the end of June before ramping up operations to 22,000+ starting in early July. With those top-level capacity figures in mind, we’re seeing something like 60-70% of the reduced capacity tickets sold, and only some 30% of the “full” capacity tickets sold.

Of course, it’s also worth mentioning that Walt Disney World very rarely “sells out” of tickets on any given day, but we don’t have visibility into Disney’s ticketing sales like we do for Epic Universe. In terms of raw numbers, I would think that Epic Universe will not experience crowd numbers anywhere near what Magic Kingdom pulls for a long time, if ever. In 2023, it is estimated that Magic Kingdom averaged some 49,000 guests per day. To put that in perspective, Islands of Adventure averaged roughly 27,400 and Universal Studios Florida averaged 26,700. Animal Kingdom, the “worst” of the Disney/Universal parks, averaged 24,100 guests per day in 2023. 2024 numbers are not available yet. It will be interesting to see where Epic Universe settles in once “normal” normal hits sometime early next year, but without a significant change in ticketing strategy (and probably the introduction of Annual Passes), it will fall woefully behind the existing theme parks.

Now, the reason that we think that “crowds” could fall into the “pro” column this Summer should be obvious at this point. Crowds are looking like they’ll be relatively manageable. That is, until Universal starts pulling the ticketing levers. There might be a sweet spot somewhere in June where crowds are “low” before Universal introduces ticket discounts or Annual Passes. That’s where the “pro” could be found.

On the flip side of that (here comes the “con”), you could buy a ticket for a visit sometime in September to try and take advantage of “low” prices, but then find yourself in a theme park filled with Passholders if Universal starts to get twitchy about attendance and introduces an Annual Pass product. We could also see some pretty aggressive ticketing “discounts” with the introduction of further ticket packages that will start to fill the park up.

Once Universal decides to start to fill the park up, there will be some capacity concerns. It is a new theme park with plenty of room to grow, but it’s not necessarily a fully built, mature theme park that can handle anywhere near the capacity that some Disney theme parks enjoy.

Once crowds start to build, you’ll start to see wait times that are simply unpalatable. That’s the real challenge that I see Universal facing going forward. The last thing they want is to be charging prices higher than Magic Kingdom for an experience that demands that you wait in line for more than 2 hours at half of the attractions.

Unmitigated CON: Weather

The next issue is something that is unavoidable and unmitigated right now at Epic Universe. While the point of this list has been to talk about the pros and cons of this Summer, the weather is an issue that Epic Universe will face for the next 10 Summers – not just this Summer.

There are two aspects to Summer that Universal Epic Universe will find challenging going forward. The first aspect is something that is kind of fixable, and that’s the lack of shade. A majority of the spaces in Epic Universe have young trees planted. While the park will undoubtedly look beautiful in a decade, that doesn’t address needs today, this Summer, or even the next few Summers. There are some wonderful spaces that allow for shade, but don’t expect to find an abundance of it.

The other aspect that really paralyzes park operations is thunderstorms. More specifically, lightning within a 5-mile radius of the park. Thunderstorms are to be expected in Florida, and a near daily occurrence during the Summer, so it’s shocking that Universal Orlando opened a theme park where the overwhelming majority, a super majority, have to close when inclement weather threatens.

Multiple ride closures, whether it be for inclement weather or unexpected downtime, are not kind to Epic Universe operations. The remaining spaces such as indoor rides and quick-service dining locations get flooded with guests and we’ve seen operations grind to a halt. While shade can be solved, inclement weather and not building enough weather-shielded experiences is an unmitigated problem just waiting to happen, and perhaps waiting to happen every day during the Summer at Epic Universe.

Maybe you’re somewhere in the middle – looking to supplement your Disney vacation with something new. I would encourage anyone who is curious about Epic Universe to make the leap and check it out. Pack some patience and enjoy experiencing something completely new. We may not see a new theme park out of Universal or Disney in the Central Florida area again in our lifetime. Epic Universe is something special – go enjoy it!

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The latest news, info, and photos of Universal Epic Universe theme park – opening May 22, 2025 at Universal Orlando Resort

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