Universal's Epic Universe General News & Discussion

[UniversalRBLX]

I think the biggest wild card is in that folks bought multi-day tickets that included 1 day at Epic. UoR sells tickets that allow folks to use their days non-consecutively -- so say 7 days to use up ones 3 day IOA/USF w/ 1 day at Epic -- makes me wonder how many folks were scared of opening day/holiday weekend day, that they thought it best to save Epic for the end of their week, or thought they would save the best for last -- then the folks on the other side, they planned to come after the holiday weekend and they decided to start w/ Epic -- I just have no clue how the 'caps' they use factors in the odds of 'which day of the 7 they could pick will the guest choice to visit Epic?

UoR did seem happy w/ their sales pre-opening -- I was hearing things like 'June is sold out' pre-opening as well as opening weekend so it could be just consumer behavior causing the changes in attendance (I assume 'attendance' is being based on wait times folks are seeing).

I have to guess most pass holders are not continually buying one day add ons or anything so I feel it must be tourist visiting Epic currently more so than locals.

It's a mixture of Universal intentionally limiting capacity to deter crowds, people assuming the park will be swamped, and tickets "sold out" far in advance.

Seems most families are determining Darkmoor as either a skip because too scary/not interested, or saving it as a "eh, maybe we'll do it later". Has me a bit concerned already.

Not the case at all since Donkey Kong, Wing Gliders and Mario Kart have had low waits as well (Hiccup has been a walk on). Monsters Unchained has lots of ride capacity, so it's not going to have the same wait-time as Ministry with its current capacity limitations.

 

[Tyr12]

This doens't match reality where the amount of tickets sold is in the single digit percentages. The park is selling well. As Alicia said Universal is limiting guests so they can honor the multiday tickets. Now, was that original decision a mistake? I don't think we can tell *looks at watch* on the fifth day of park operations.

Data: Universal Epic Universe Daily Capacity | Thrill Data

This is super useful. Anyone know why September 8 is weirdly popular?

 

[UniversalRBLX]

This is super useful. Anyone know why September 8 is weirdly popular?

Unless Universal blocked off tickets for that date, it's likely interest from HHN crowds wanting to add a day for Epic? If you look at the following Monday as well, it's sold through more tickets than the Friday & Saturday.

 

[Mad Dog]

A bit of caution needed on these Thrill Data numbers. In their preface to the tickets sold and ticket max numbers, Thrill Data emphasizes that these are only the ticket types that they were able to capture and , "there may be more ticket types available that increase these numbers. Note that capacity is based on captured ticket information only....More information may be discovered that changes these numbers"....Bottom line, these are only partial estimates, and we really have no idea how far off the actual numbers might be on any given day. A useful tool, but not a be all.................Looking at the TouringPlan apps today, posted wait times are high for USF, IOA and Epic. So, a good guess is that Universal is having a pretty big overall crowd day. WDW, though, as their past week crowd line times indicate, is again experiencing low to moderate crowds. Not a good holiday weekend at WDW, while Universal's has been strong.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

A bit of caution needed on these Thrill Data numbers. In their preface to the tickets sold and ticket max numbers, Thrill Data emphasizes that these are only the ticket types that they were able to capture and , "there may be more ticket types available that increase these numbers. Note that capacity is based on captured ticket information only....More information may be discovered that changes these numbers"....Bottom line, these are only partial estimates, and we really have no idea how far off the actual numbers might be on any given day. A useful tool, but not a be all.................Looking at the TouringPlan apps today, posted wait times are high for USF, IOA and Epic. So, a good guess is that Universal is having a pretty big overall crowd day. WDW, though, as their past week crowd line times indicate, is again experiencing low to moderate crowds. Not a good holiday weekend at WDW, while Universal's has been strong.

Good point, it is a limited set of data. And of course...

 

[JustLikeMe]

The park doesn’t shut for another 2h20m and Ministry is at capacity…




We rode it last night and the queue was moving much slower than our previous rides. It looked like only one side of the loading platform was in use and the dispatch time was also slow.

 

[rhino4evr]

Looks like that opening weekend bubble is officially over

 

[ladiesman217]

Looks like that opening weekend bubble is officially over

That and also the fact that 85% of the park is closed due to thunderstorms so literally everyone headed over to Ministry.

 

[Alicia]

Max capacity cap is reportedly 17k right now, which isn’t much more than supposed max capacity during previews.

Actual number of people in the park can vary wildly day to day, so the Thrill Data page can be somewhat useful to at least see which days have sold more of the tickets they can track. But even if the park *actually* sold out, at least it’s not running at full capacity, whatever that may be.

July 1st will see Universal raising this supposed cap the most.

 

[ladiesman217]

Max capacity cap is reportedly 17k right now, which isn’t much more than supposed max capacity during previews.

Actual number of people in the park can vary wildly day to day, so the Thrill Data page can be somewhat useful to at least see which days have sold more of the tickets they can track. But even if the park *actually* sold out, at least it’s not running at full capacity, whatever that may be.

July 1st will see Universal raising this supposed cap the most.

Took a look at the site again to see how things will be on June 2 for my visit and it seems like it'll be the highest yet with capacity being 'at least' 18,250. It was just listed at about 15,000 2 days ago so seeing the number go up that much is making me a bit worried. Especially with how crowded the park seemed to be today. I even considered moving my trip to another day but then that'd mean that I'd never be able to do Muppetvision and Rockin Roller 1.0 since I'm also hitting that park. Hopefully crowds at that capacity are still manageable though.

 

[Mad Dog]

Before Epic opened, a few of the most connected theme park sites were quoting opening day capacity at 17,000, and then rising. I'm thinking Thrill Data's admitted 'incomplete' figures suggesting 14,000, was throwing some peoples projections off. Thrill Data clearly stated they didn't yet have access to all of the ticket drops, thus their numbers are probably all skewed to underestimates. The actual daily numbers most probably have all been higher than what you see on Thrill Data. They just don't have access to all of Universals various ticket drops at this point in time, as I said in a previous post. Interesting abstract discussion numbers, yes. Actual numbers , no. . ...We just don't know. Only Comcast/Universal does.

 

[Alicia]

The freaky thing is as busy as today felt, the parking lot still looked fairly empty from the view at Helios. Like more than opening day, but not by much. Maybe only a third full today.

 

[Mad Dog]

The freaky thing is as busy as today felt, the parking lot still looked fairly empty from the view at Helios. Like more than opening day, but not by much. Maybe only a third full today.

With IOA & USF having big crowds the past few days, I'd guess that's mostly tourists taking busses from the hotels to Epic....which would explain the fairly empty parking lot, if that's the case.......But that's prime spending guests if it's the hotel crowd....which is good....The locals , who would use the parking lot, have already spent a few months at Epic between employees, guests, and the preview crowd.

 

[Captain Spaulding]

So fun reading all the spec, like it isn't going to be in a state of flux for the rest of the year minimum. Trying to figure out something those in charge are reacting to daily is very entertaining. As someone who likes to stay ahead of the game, it's frustrating, but this year is just a crap shoot, roll the dice and hope you hit!

 

[Lucky Planet]

now I really really wonder what's gonna happen to this park during Halloween horror nights .
we all had speculated before, but now I really wonder. bigger crowds? or more empty?

 

[Frank Drackman]

now I really really wonder what's gonna happen to this park during Halloween horror nights .
we all had speculated before, but now I really wonder. bigger crowds? or more empty?

I would imagine many HHN fans would plan a visit to Epic while in town for HHN, I am sure many only come that time of year. To me, the biggest unknown right now is if employees/locals/APs will have an option that does not exist today.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

So I'm a bit behind - but it sounds like EPA has changed drastically since opening? It's now only SNW and Stardust now, right?

 

[SkiBum]

The freaky thing is as busy as today felt, the parking lot still looked fairly empty from the view at Helios. Like more than opening day, but not by much. Maybe only a third full today.

I did wonder if this week being the first week that kids are out of school might also have played a role in attendance. Again, I don't know the full metrics but just curious based on low wait times for rides that I thought would be insanely popular (ex. Monsters). Definitely not suggesting the sky is falling. Even with the advertising, I also wonder how many people are truly aware of Epic Uni in a way that will cause them to schedule a day for the park.

 

[BigRed98]

So I'm a bit behind - but it sounds like EPA has changed drastically since opening? It's now only SNW and Stardust now, right?

Super Nintendo World and Stardust is open during EPA unless the attraction is down. I have seen some mornings Battle at the Ministry has opened. This morning the app is currently showing wait times for the Dark Universe attractions as well as Hiccups Wing Gliders but it looks like Mario Kart, Donkey Kong and Stardust is all currently down. I’m not sure if Universal only opens additional attractions for EPA if they know they can’t get certain attractions up and running in time or if they are testing to see what attractions make sense for early hours. Not sure but definitely interesting to track.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

The freaky thing is as busy as today felt, the parking lot still looked fairly empty from the view at Helios. Like more than opening day, but not by much. Maybe only a third full today.

How many are folks taking the bus from the various on site hotels?