I simply had my finest day but at Epic Universe, knocking out 20 rides, 2 stage exhibits, 2 informal eating places, and 1 superb eating spot. All around the course of 14 hours from Early Park Admission to after park closing, whereas taking 38,007 steps, 30 flights, and a couple of,390 photographs. Right here’s how I completed all of it with out Categorical Go, and the way (perhaps) you’ll be able to, too!
One of many factors we preserve stressing is that Epic Universe’s opening season has been a wild trip. Common’s new park has had sky-high wait occasions and crowd ranges, but in addition all-time low attendance and days with a lot of walk-on traces and. There have been some absolute operational meltdowns, together with bona fide ‘finest days ever.’
I’ve been extremely fortunate with Epic Universe, and have had nothing however nice days. That is most likely an enormous a part of why I really like Common Orlando’s third gate a lot, as my experiences have been unequivocally constructive. To make certain, I’ve encountered some friction, and today was no completely different. However being versatile and shortly pivoting when issues come up has helped me keep away from catastrophe on a number of events.
Regardless of this, I’m fast to plug our rundown of Why You Ought to Skip Epic Universe. We lately returned with a refresh to that publish, as our recommendation for almost all of vacationers is to remain on the sidelines and wait till Epic Universe improves its operations and effectivity.
Regardless that I’ve been lucky to keep away from the worst of the excessive crowd ranges, meltdowns and breakdowns, I’m very cognizant of those points. I’ve watched them play out from afar, listening to from each pals and readers who’ve skilled Epic Universe on its worst days.
My earlier days confirmed what may presumably go incorrect with unhealthy luck or poor planning, and my most up-to-date go to actually underscored this. Though I used to be fortunate to have my longest wait in line be 13 minutes, I may simply see ready for much longer or topic to a number of trip breakdowns and queues dumped.
Amongst different issues, two of the opposite main factors raised in that article are “Unpredictable Attendance & Crowds” and “Trip Breakdowns & Downtime.” These proceed to be the overriding points with Epic Universe, as the brand new park continues to be a veritable curler coaster of each day crowd ranges and common wait occasions since its official opening three months in the past.
Past the issues, Epic Universe has had excessive wait occasions all through most of its opening season. Epic Universe set a document for its busiest day ever on July 16, when common wait occasions have been 85 minutes and the group stage was 10/10. There have been back-to-back 80 minute days August 6-7. There have been a number of different days at or above 70 minutes, with each day lows within the mid-to-upper 40s.
Late June was the beginning of a stretch when weekly averages have been 64-68 minutes for six consecutive weeks; with all however one week within the 64-66 minute vary. For a park that’s so inconsistent on a day-to-day foundation, that’s remarkably constant on a weekly one (courtesy of thrill-data).
Three out of the final 4 weeks have proven indicators of enchancment, with averages of “solely” 54-57 minutes every week. Granted, any of those 3 weeks are worse than each week at Walt Disney World for the reason that stretches between Christmas and New 12 months’s Eve in each 2022 and 2023 (61 minutes on every event).
However, I’ve been predicting decrease crowds at Epic Universe for the subsequent couple of months for some time. First in our preliminary 2025 Epic Universe Crowd Calendar a pair months in the past, and extra lately in Epic Universe Ticket Trickery & Crowd Modifications.
Within the former, I shared the next when recommending when to go to: “I’m personally trying on the final couple weeks of August, coinciding with One in all 2025’s Finest Weeks to Go to Walt Disney World. Similar thought applies to Epic Universe.”
And within the latter: “I’m cautiously optimistic that Epic Universe can have a weekly common beneath 50 minutes someday in mid-September. On the very least, there needs to be sure days when the common wait time is beneath 40 minutes. Epic Universe has been near that on the 2 most up-to-date Sundays.”
Earlier than we get too far, right here’s each day wait occasions knowledge for Epic Universe because it opened:
The day I visited needs to be extremely simple to identify. It’s the one brief inexperienced bar on the best facet of the graph amidst a sea of yellow, orange and purple.
You might say I referred to as my shot, because the day I focused over two months upfront turned out to be the least-busy day at Epic Universe since opening weekend, with a 32 minute common wait time and 1/10 crowd stage.
If something, this overstates how busy the park really was; these numbers have been on par with 3 earlier days I attended, however the ‘looks like’ crowds (and even the precise wait occasions on most sights) have been far decrease. The general common was doubtless skewed by two huge outliers, plus typical wait time inflation.
I’ll clarify how I selected my day to go to in a bit, however first, I need to share every thing I completed:
- Curse of the Werewolf (x2)
- Donkey Kong Mine-Cart Insanity (x1)
- Harry Potter and the Battle on the Ministry (x2)
- Hiccup’s Wing Gliders (x2)
- Le Cirque Arcanus (x1)
- Mario Kart: Bowser’s Problem (x1)
- Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment (x2)
- Stardust Racers (x7)
- The Untrainable Dragon (x1)
- Yoshi’s Journey (x3)
A couple of notes and clarifying particulars so as to add…
The longest wait time on today was Donkey Kong Mine-Cart Insanity at 240 minutes. It was additionally the second, third, fourth, and many others., longest wait with occasions starting from 90 minutes to 130 minutes many of the day. There are solely two occasions when its wait time dipped beneath an hour, after 9pm and through the many occasions all through the day when it was down as a consequence of a supposed ‘Climate Delay.’
I say supposed ‘Climate Delay’ as a result of this didn’t impression different sights to almost the identical diploma. Though heavy rain was within the forecast for a number of hours all through the day, it solely briefly sprinkled on a few events. There was one occasion of lightning that did trigger downtime (I can confirm that this was legit as a result of I noticed the lightning past the park), that was additionally transient. No different attraction had a ‘Climate Delay’ past what I’d name the ‘Take a look at Monitor Norm.’
Against this, Donkey Kong Mine-Cart Insanity was down 259 minutes. That verified quantity was really decrease than I might’ve anticipated if I simply guessed; it appeared just like the trip was down about half the day. Though I checked in on Mine-Cart Insanity periodically, the wait occasions have been all the time a non-starter for me till the very finish of the day.
I went in with the expectation of leveraging Single Rider traces extensively, as I’ve heard from pals who went lately that these traces have been minimal even when standby wait occasions are over an hour.
Ultimately, I solely used the Single Rider line twice: as soon as on Harry Potter and the Battle on the Ministry and as soon as on Curse of the Werewolf. Technically, twice on Curse of the Werewolf, however on a kind of events the trip went down proper as I used to be on the boarding station, and I lower my losses and instantly exited. (I had solely “wasted” 5 minutes at that time and felt it wasn’t well worth the gamble once I may simply bounce in line once more later with minimal wait.)
Single Rider traces have been incessantly closed, each when traces have been too lengthy but in addition too brief. This was true with each Donkey Kong Mine-Cart Insanity and Curse of the Werewolf (the previous having an indication indicating the road was “at capability”) on the excessive finish, in addition to Battle on the Ministry and Stardust Racers on the low finish.
The longest I waited all day was 13 minutes, for Harry Potter and the Battle on the Ministry within the common standby line when the posted wait time was 20 minutes. (Actually, my Single Rider wait for a similar was most likely shut to about that lengthy; though there was just one individual in entrance of me, the load platform wasn’t firing on all cylinders.)
My shortest wait of the day was Yoshi’s Journey at beneath 2 minutes. Please don’t decide me for using this 3 times–it was for the photographs. This was one in all many sights that have been walk-ons, however it simply so occurs that was the quickest. It helped that nobody in entrance of me was shifting slowly and there’s no steel detector to undergo.
My best stretch of the day was the ~25 minutes once I rode Stardust Racers back-to-back-to-back with out grabbing my digicam bag from the locker. I might’ve stored going to pad my stats, however I used to be feeling a bit off after that third trip. Guess I’m getting outdated!
This was additionally why Curse of the Werewolf closing its Single Rider line was an enormous blow. That curler coaster is way tamer and I reasonably get pleasure from it. Hiccup’s Wing Gliders would’ve been an alternative choice, however it was up and down within the afternoon and by the point it was a perpetual walk-on, I had different priorities.
Downtime and delays weren’t a pronounced situation throughout my day at Epic Universe.
On the contrary, I might say this was a beneath common day for breakdowns and climate delays. Not only for Epic Universe (objectively true, and by a noteworthy diploma) or for brand new sights (subjective, however I’ve been across the block and that is additionally pretty indeniable), however by regular ‘mature’ theme park requirements.
Outdoors of Mine-Cart Insanity and perhaps a few different rides to a a lot lesser diploma, it was an awesome day for trip uptime at Epic Universe. Between this and the low crowd, it was simple to watch the visitors who have been in attendance getting their ‘fill’ of a selected attraction, after which that being a perpetual walk-on (or near it) by mid-afternoon–or a bit later, within the case of the rides that had downtime woes.
Even with the objectively nice day for Epic Universe, I may see others having very completely different experiences than me.
In the event you began in Tremendous Nintendo World, encountered the longest line of the day for Mario Kart after which moved on to Donkey Kong Mine-Cart Insanity, which had a 240 minute posted wait earlier than it went down, I may see that leaving a bitter style!
I may additionally see some visitors who started in these two spots after which made extra unfortunate decisions for rides 3-4 hitting a wall earlier than the wonderful afternoon even started. Particularly if they’d nearly nothing to indicate for the day by midday, hit the height lunch rush, after which noticed a strong 3-4 hours of heavy rain on the radar.
A very powerful be aware was that I didn’t break a sweat knocking out all of those sights. Don’t make the error of assuming that these are the unrealistic outcomes of a speedy solo blogger and that you just household couldn’t have completed as a lot. Though I do transfer quick, I didn’t on this explicit day.
Epic Universe continues to be very a lot ‘new to me,’ so an enormous a part of my days within the park are observing and capturing photographs–almost 2,500 of them! The above photograph of Stardust Racers, for instance, took nearly quarter-hour to seize as I waited for the spot to liberate and tinkered with shutter speeds for the best impact. And remember that photographs aren’t allowed on most Common rides, so I wasn’t padding my stats by spraying and praying on Monsters Unleashed or Potter!
I criss-crossed the park a number of occasions for no discernible cause, besides to see what congestion was like, the bodily size of traces (I entered and exited a number of standby and Single Rider traces simply to test issues out), and take photographs of random issues. If we had a plot of my actions, they’d seem about as aimless as your common housecat. However there was a way to the insanity…I believe?
Regardless, listed here are my stats from today at Epic Universe:
Past the 38,007 steps and 18.34 miles moved, be aware the 30 flights climbed. The primary two numbers are on the excessive finish of my regular days at Walt Disney World, however not irregular. (In the event you’ve ever puzzled how I eat a lot theme park meals, that’s how.)
The 30 flights is just not regular. There are days at Walt Disney World once I log zero flights per day. I’m actually shocked that the quantity wasn’t larger. I may swear I climbed extra flights than that; Stardust Racers and Tremendous Nintendo World alone ought to’ve accounted for 30 flights!
In any case, my recommendation is to put on snug sneakers. I began out the day carrying Brooks Ghost Max and switched to Crocs Lite Trip noon when it was presupposed to storm. I really like these sneakers, however doing that many steps in them was simply an excessive amount of.
I additionally bought actually fortunate with an awesome charge at Helios Grand Resort, and I’m really glad I booked that, as I took two transient noon breaks for espresso and a change of garments (and sneakers, as famous). Had the forecast been as wet as anticipated, Helios would’ve been massively advantageous.
Because it turned out, I didn’t want Helios, however I used to be actually pleased with the lodge–extra so than my first keep. It was good insurance coverage, form of like Categorical Go. (Talking of which, I’m clearly very glad I didn’t overspend on that!) The choice was Stella Nova, however I’m happy to have splurged on this. For this keep, Helios was nicely value it.
One other factor to notice is that, have been I not so fixated on taking photographs and observing crowd and wait time dynamics for the sake of studying extra and having the ability to write posts like this, I may’ve simply doubled my trip depend.
If I might’ve simply looped Stardust Racers all day, perhaps I may’ve tripled it. This was a literal walk-on many of the day, and incessantly dispatching with unfilled seats.
The variety of rides I completed might sound spectacular and unrealistic–and most days so far this summer time, it might’ve been–however on this explicit day, I’m constructive that loads of different visitors exceeded my counts. Possibly you have to be studying their recaps!
On the plus facet, I’ve a ton of recent photographs and insights about Epic Universe to share over the approaching weeks–so keep tuned for these as quickly as I dig out from this journey!
Along with the above sights, I dined on the following:
- Spit Fyre Grill within the Isle of Berk
- Hooligan’s Grog and Gruel in Isle of Berk
- Atlantic Restaurant in Celestial Park
- Frosty Moon in Celestial Park
My most time-consuming meal of the day was, unsurprisingly, Atlantic Restaurant. This was regardless of inserting my order instantly and requesting the test shortly after my meals arrived.
To be clear, it wasn’t gradual in a nasty manner. The expertise was unbelievable from begin to end. (Be careful, Mythos; Atlantic is coming on your banner!) Simply noting this as a result of the entire jist of this publish is how a lot I bought achieved, and doing a superb eating meal in late afternoon definitely diminished my general effectivity.
My largest “fails” of the day have been each of the eating selection, on the entrance and backend of the day. The primary is that I didn’t do breakfast at Café L’air De La Sirène within the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The actually unhappy half right here is that I went into the restaurant to seize empty interiors, however breakfast completely slipped my thoughts. It wasn’t till later within the day when consulting my checklist of issues to eat that I remembered “Breakfast at Café L’air De La Sirène” was a factor…and the #1 factor on my checklist.
My different huge fail was lacking final name at Pizza Moon. I’ve been dreaming a couple of return go to to Pizza Moon for the reason that first time I dined there, however with a lot different new meals to try to evaluation, it appeared “irresponsible” to revisit a restaurant for enjoyable. However once I discovered they’d to-go packing containers, ordering proper earlier than park closing and taking the pizza residence appeared like the right compromise.
And it might’ve been, had I not pushed my luck with one final evening trip on Stardust Racers. (It’s simply so good at evening!) I fully perceive why they shut with the park, however I wasn’t alone with this concept, as there have been numerous different visitors leaving the park with pizza packing containers in hand–and some others making an attempt to enter the restaurant at 10:02pm. As a comfort prize, I grabbed a cone from Frosty Moon (which was open till 11 pm!), which was a candy and refreshing solution to end the evening.
Tricks to Take Benefit of Low Crowds at Epic Universe
Truthful warning: none of my suggestions are going to be really groundbreaking to any skilled theme park-goers. However, I’m going to “reiterate” them, because it’s simple for longtime Walt Disney World followers to develop into so set of their methods that they’re second nature, and Epic Universe does throw a number of curveballs.
My first huge piece of recommendation is to tempo your self. This might sound foolish and simple, however I’ve heard of so many visitors hitting a wall at Epic Universe, and it jogs my memory very a lot of Disney’s Hollywood Studios on this regard. If you received’t make all of it day and have to decide on between Early Park Admission or staying late, keep late.
Severely. Early Park Admission may be discouraging on an excellent day, and terrible on a nasty day. There are methods to take the trail of least resistance and make sure that each EPA is an effective one, however the temptation to knock out headliners may be an excessive amount of.
Likewise, it’s extremely simple to get downright discouraged by downtime and delays. If a trip breaks down, my recommendation is to chop your losses ASAP. I’d take this a step additional and advocate making knowledgeable selections earlier than even stepping into line for outside sights. If the wait is ~120 minutes and there’s heavy rain on the radar within the subsequent hour, even getting in line is a nasty determination.
I really feel for the visitors that began today in Tremendous Nintendo World, ready an hour for Mario Kart earlier than getting in a 240 minute line for Mine-Cart Insanity…that then bought dumped as a consequence of a trip breakdown. I ponder what proportion of these individuals recovered and had a tremendous day, and what number had a nasty expertise.
If it’s potential to have an terrible expertise on an superior day, you higher consider it’s potential to have the identical on an terrible day. Or vice-versa. Epic Universe actually requires a glide perspective and willingness to pivot. Spreadsheet planners needn’t apply, as no plans needs to be set in stone…and even clay.
Above I boasted that I “referred to as my shot” when reserving this go to a few months upfront. To be absolutely clear, I really moved it by 2 days as soon as I spotted I’d have extra wiggle room and an extended go to to Florida. I knew this date needs to be nice (pending the climate wildcard), however actually, I had no clue it’d be this wonderful.
As beforehand famous, the 2 days of the week with the bottom common wait occasions over the previous few months have been Saturdays (#2) and Sundays (#1, by far). Friday is third-lowest. The simplest rationalization for that is that Epic Universe single-day tickets are most costly on weekends, so budget-conscious vacationers are in search of out inexpensive dates.
There’s much less consistency for Mondays by Thursdays, and never sufficient knowledge factors to attract definitive conclusions. Statistically, Wednesdays and Thursdays have been worst, which might be a byproduct of vacationers beginning out their weeks at Walt Disney World, visiting a pair parks there, then doing Epic Universe. Or beginning out at Common’s legacy parks.
To that time, the remainder of Common Orlando is busiest on Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays, adopted by Sundays. That is fueled largely by locals and Annual Passholders over the weekends, after which vacationers being most inclined to go to on Mondays. Midweek is the best possible time to go to the opposite parks, with common wait occasions bottoming out on Wednesdays.
This is smart! Floridians work on weekdays, making weekends their finest time to go to the opposite parks for Annual Passholders. However Epic Universe doesn’t have APs, and plenty of locals have already gotten their “repair” of Epic Universe and are ready for Annual Passes.
One factor to notice is that as quickly as Annual Go gross sales or Florida resident ticket offers begin for Epic Universe, this dynamic flips. Saturday and Sunday will develop into the busiest days of the weekend. Furthermore, there are exceptions to the entire above when climate rears its ugly head. Nothing throws a monkey wrench into Epic Universe wait occasions like a stormy day!
However, I might extremely advocate visiting Epic Universe within the subsequent month or two, particularly on a Saturday or Sunday. This dynamic ought to solely speed up within the subsequent three or so weeks. I can’t promise they’ll exceed my expertise, however they need to be in the identical ballpark.
The larger unanswered query for me is how lengthy this can proceed. We’ve warned that crowds are going to select up throughout peak weeks from October by December, and I’d anticipate the dynamic to worsen all through the guts of Halloween Horror Nights ‘season’ when regulars guide journeys for that. However early October (earlier than Columbus Day) could be superb, as may early November and early December.
In reality, after this wonderful Epic Universe expertise, we’re now debating whether or not to go to as a household throughout our Christmas-time journey. We most likely received’t, if solely as a result of time is restricted and there’s extra that appeals to Megatron at Walt Disney World, however it nearly feels prison to move up this golden window of alternative at Epic Universe.
In the end, that’s what that is about and why I needed to explain my day intimately and implore these with flexibility to go to Epic Universe as quickly as potential. What this wonderful expertise most jogs my memory of is the halcyon days of “Additional, Additional Magic Hours” at Walt Disney World that started nearly precisely 6 years in the past.
“Additional, Additional Magic Hours” have been one of many final golden eras of Walt Disney World, a very magical expertise earlier than a number of months of essentially the most chaotic crowds we’ve ever seen within the parks. Whereas this go-round most likely received’t be adopted up by a multi-month closure, we completely see historical past repeating itself with heavier crowds at Epic Universe.
Even when you’re an area sitting on the sidelines ready for Annual Passes, you may need to take into account re-allocating that improve price to a single-day ticket and Florida resident low cost on a keep at Stella Nova or Helios Grand. Future weekends is not going to be this wonderful as soon as APs roll out, and I might gladly commerce a dozen mediocre days for this one wonderful expertise at Epic Universe.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you ever visited Epic Universe for the reason that begin of summer time? Planning a day within the low season or throughout Halloween Horror Nights? What did you consider wait occasions and crowds? Expertise any operational meltdowns as a consequence of breakdowns or climate? Is it potential or possible that Epic Universe really has even larger attendance from October by December 2025, or all through 2026? Will you go to Epic Universe this yr, or will you look forward to crowds to cool down (in idea) in 2026? Agree or disagree with our evaluation? Any questions? We love listening to from readers, so please share some other ideas or questions you could have within the feedback beneath!
