Epic Universe Starts 2026 With Busiest Day Ever.
Epic Universe rang in 2026 with its busiest day ever, with average wait times beating its previous worst day by 20+ minutes! Universal Orlando’s new park is no stranger to colossal crowds that are worse than New Year’s at Walt Disney World, but this really takes the cake. This post takes a look at recent data and tries to make sense of what happened and whether we can expect more of this in 2026.
For starters, this comes during the popular New Year’s week at Universal Orlando. It thus shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that Epic Universe is busy, as we already reported that over One-Dozen Walt Disney World Rides Hit 2+ Hour High Waits During Christmas & New Year’s Peak Week. This time of year being busy isn’t exactly ‘stop the presses’ news, but the twist on that to start 2026 at Epic Universe absolutely is notable because the peak happened after New Year’s Eve.
Attendance trends are comparable at both Universal Orlando and Walt Disney World, with Epic Universe being the caveat to that most of the time, at least when it comes to crowd dynamics with Floridians and Annual Passholders. That’s not particularly relevant right now, as crowds between Christmas and New Year’s are fueled by non-local tourists.
Before we dig into Epic Universe’s colossal crowds to start 2026, let’s start with a quick recap of wait times data. Epic Universe first broke the 80 minute wait time barrier on July 16, when average wait times were 85 minutes and the crowd level was 10/10. That was followed by back-to-back 80 minute days August 6-7.
After a slower off-season (relatively speaking), October saw another spike around Fall Break. The two weeks around Columbus Day were the busiest of 2025 at Epic Universe, with 72 minute weekly averages. Not even Thanksgiving or Christmas could surpass those stats. Those also included a couple of daily high water marks, with Epic Universe breaking the 80 minute barrier on several occasions, and maxing out at daily numbers of 86 minutes (twice).
The week of Christmas ended up not being quite as bad, with a 70 minute average. Still third-worst of 2025, though, and with several days exceeding 70 or 80 minutes (albeit dragged down by Christmas Eve, which had a 45 minute average).
As always, keep in mind that these are averages. Wait times tend are higher midday, but usually lower first thing in the morning or evening. Some attractions are averaging waits that are over 200 minutes, but that’s offset by a few people-eaters, less popular attractions, and one water ride that has had low numbers due to cold weather.
The days with averages over 70 or 80 minutes are notable because only one other Universal or Disney theme park has had an 80+ minute day since 2019 (EPCOT on December 31, 2025). Beyond that, there have been very few 70+ minute days, except at Epic Universe, where it’s a common occurrence.
Against that backdrop, let’s dig into the wait times data for Epic Universe (courtesy of thrill-data):
Let’s start out with the monthly data, which shows January 2026 with a clear and decisive lead over every month that came before. So much so that it’s skewing the scale.
Of course, January 2026 is only 2+ days old at this point, so a lot can change. And as discussed below in the commentary, it will. If Epic Universe is averaging an 90 minute monthly wait time a couple of weeks from now, Universal will need to make major changes. (But it won’t be.)
More interesting here is that June, July and October–as opposed to November and December–were the busiest months of last year. The last two months were dragged down by slower weeks, but we still expected them to be busier. This was actually a pleasant surprise–good news for Epic Universe!
Here are the weekly numbers for Epic Universe.
Nothing truly shocking here. As noted above, Fall Break was busy. Thanksgiving was a similar story, as was the lead-up to Christmas and then New Year’s Eve. The last bar is the current week, which is winding down and has been the worst yet. With a few slight differences, Walt Disney World’s weekly wait time trend line (not the average wait times themselves) more or less mirrors this.
What does surprise me a bit here is the lows after Thanksgiving, which includes our favorite week of the year at Walt Disney World (have we mentioned that before?!). I would’ve guessed that these two weeks would’ve been a bit busier, as the secret is out about them, and savvy fans seek out these dates. It’s not just us.
Based on the popularity of those two weeks among Central Florida regulars, I would’ve extrapolated that savvy fans would target those dates as a great time to do Epic Universe to avoid its infamous crowds.
Clearly that did not happen. That entire week was slow and included two of Epic Universe’s least-busy days ever (Saturday and Sunday, December 6-7). That’s worth keeping in mind if you’re already planning for 2026.
I’d also note that our Secrets to Conquer Crowds at Epic Universe: Best Dates to Visit in 2025 & 2026 recommended those specific dates, as well as others that were slow during the last two months. (I’ll be updating that soon-ish with more recommendations for 2026.)
Finally, we have the daily numbers, showing several 70-80 minute averages in the last week plus, culminating in a 107 minute average on Friday, January 2, 2026.
At the risk of stating the obvious, that’s insane.
The previous high was 86 minutes, hit on a few occasions. Even that number was higher than any other Universal Orlando or Walt Disney World park since 2019 (EPCOT “only” hit 83 minutes on New Year’s Eve 2026). Yesterday was 21 minutes higher than the previous high. And that’s on average–it is not the peak wait times!
Above are the attraction averages for January 2, 2026 at Epic Universe. Here’s a quick rundown of the attractions averaging triple-digit waits:
- Donkey Kong Mine-Cart Madness: 264 minutes
- Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry: 214 minutes
- Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge: 176 minutes
- Hiccup’s Wing Gliders: 119 minutes
- Meet Toothless & Friends: 115 minutes
- Yoshi’s Adventure: 103 minutes
- Curse of the Werewolf: 100 minutes
There more attractions were over an hour. You know it’s a crazy day when Monsters Unchained, a veritable people-eater, is posting average waits of 73 minutes! And as charming as Yoshi’s Adventure is when it’s a walk-on, I cannot imagine devoting a Hallmark Christmas movie worth of my life to waiting in line for it.
If you’re thinking, “well surely savvy strategy would’ve helped beat these crowds,” think again.
Above is a heat map of wait times. Sure, you could’ve knocked out a couple of headliners in the first two hours, but multiple big rides appear to have had delayed openings and then posted triple-digit waits almost immediately.
Waiting out the crowds largely would not have worked, either. Wait times were still high in the final two hours, and based on what I saw in checking the Universal app, both Donkey Kong Mine-Cart Madness and Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry cut their lines (e.g. “at capacity”) well over an hour before park closing. That’s why they’re missing wait times on the above heat map for the final 2 hours.
I would also add that, in my spot-checking of the app throughout the day, it didn’t appear that any attraction suffered from extensive downtime during the midday peaks. (That’s corroborated by the above heat map not having any midday blanks.)
In short, this was not like a rainy summer day when the many outdoor rides had to shut down. It also was not an operational meltdown due to downtime and delays. From what I understand, Universal Orlando has actually been finding its footing operationally with Epic Universe, and the rides are becoming more efficient, not less. (Another silver lining!)
By all appearances, this is a story of Universal Orlando overselling Epic Universe. Sky-high demand during the tail end of a peak week colliding with too many ticket sales and policy changes. That is obviously a bad thing, but it’s at least somewhat excusable (he says as someone who watched this unfold from the comfort of home, and not as a paying guest who endured these lines).
We have been warning for months that Epic Universe was poised to break the 100-minute average wait time barrier at some point.
That it was only a matter of time as the park increased capacity and sold more tickets. We even went as far as to predict that it would happen this past week. What that prediction missed (or would’ve missed if it contained more specificity) is that I would’ve guessed that Epic Universe would see its worst-ever crowds on December 29-30, and not January 2, 2026.
That’s because tickets for the days leading up to Christmas and New Year’s Eve have been sold out for months, with availability occasionally popping up. My assumption was that Universal was going to oversell the park the last two weeks, hitting higher attendance numbers than ever before. From that higher baseline, a day of operational bad luck would push the average above 100 minutes.
With the benefit of hindsight, I would now hazard a guess that Universal was carefully managing capacity on those dates–much like they did around opening day and the week thereafter.
Universal likely knew those days could be problem-points, as it’s not exactly new information that Christmas to New Year’s is a busy stretch. Those dates were still busy, to be sure, but within the realm of what we’ve been seeing for peak dates.
My guess is that what happened with January 2, 2026 is a combination of Universal taking its eye off the ball when it came to managing capacity, relaxed ticket & park hopping policies throwing a monkey wrench into things, and an influx of tourists who spent the week at Walt Disney World (or elsewhere) hitting Epic Universe before heading home.
Maybe those guests specifically avoided the days leading up to NYE, expecting them to be worse? As we’ve pointed out elsewhere, the dates after New Year’s Eve are not slow at Central Florida parks, but there’s a persistent misconception (based on outdated information) that they are. In actuality, the week after NYE is usually the second-busiest of the year at Walt Disney World.
As for what’s next, we don’t expect Epic Universe to break the 100 minute barrier again anytime soon. Ideally, it will never happen again, as the park continues to improve its operational efficiency.
Who knows, though. As we’ve stated countless times before, the high wait times at Epic Universe are mostly a capacity and efficiency story, and not one of overwhelming demand. The park is hitting these crowd levels (which are actually wait time levels) with relatively modest attendance.
It’s notable that January 2, 2026 did sell out of tickets. It’s safe to assume capacity is still capped below Universal’s eventual target.
There’s also the fact that it hit those numbers without Annual Passes being available! (Side note: perhaps we should revise When Will Epic Universe Have Annual Passes? to push back the date another year or more.)
In the near-term, Epic Universe should follow the same trend-line as the other Central Florida theme parks. Tourists are already heading home from their Christmas vacations, so numbers should be in free-fall. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sunday, January 4, 2026 has an average daily wait time of less than half of Friday!
However, there remain major unanswered questions about the impact of ticket policy changes on attendance dynamics and wait times. (That’s precisely why I was checking the Universal Orlando app yesterday when I noticed the sky-high waits–researching how things have already changed.)
Zooming out a bit, I’d predict that Epic Universe attendance will be higher from now through Easter 2026, with the monthly averages for January, February and March being the three highest ever (some weeks will certainly be slower). This is due to both seasonality and the ticket policy changes.
Winter is becoming an increasingly popular of time for tourists, especially frequent visitors to Orlando, and we could see the first few months of the year being “surprisingly” busy at Epic Universe as a result. Obviously, Spring Break is always busy, too. Given that, it’s hardly a bold prediction to say that January through March 2026 will be busy months, on average.
Then there are the aforementioned admission changes. Guests with multi-day tickets can now spend a disproportionate amount of time at Epic Universe, and we’d expect exactly that to happen to some degree (what degree is unclear).
This 2026 ticket policy has downsides, but is welcome and guest-friendly changes that needed to happen at this point. At the same time, last year’s limits were valuable guardrails at preventing even worse wait time woes at Epic Universe.
The biggest wildcard about 2026 crowds is word of mouth about Epic Universe.
Outside of the fan community, is it positive or negative? When average families return home to tell friends about their trips, are they highlighting the envelope-pushing attractions at Epic Universe, or the absurd wait times? Is awareness of the new park increasing?
There have been a lot of complaints about the days with significant downtime due to downpours and ride breakdowns. Even diehard Universal fan communities have soured somewhat on Epic Universe, and now recommend waiting out the crowds. It’s impossible to tell how much this is “breaking containment” and reaching audiences beyond theme park fans, though.
The general public might only be seeing the rave reviews of the excellent Epic Universe ride roster and making plans to visit “after the rush” of the holiday season or early 2026. This could set the next several months up to be big at Epic Universe. On the other hand, if complaints about waits are winning out, it could take longer before attendance climbs.
As demonstrated by January 2nd, there’s also the question of what Universal Orlando does (or does not do) to manage attendance. It’s notable that Epic Universe hit that 107 minute average not on a rainy summer day or one with excessive downtime, pushing guests to the few operational attractions and ballooning those waits, but on a nice winter day.
On dates with higher organic demand, there are choices Universal can make–or not make–that have a major impact on wait times! It’ll be interesting to watch whether they’re prioritize short-term revenue or long-term guest satisfaction and other key metrics.
Ultimately, it’ll be fun to watch what happens next with 2026 crowds at Epic Universe. To end on a more optimistic and upbeat note, it does seem like the park is trending in the right direction operationally. Universal also clearly intends upon increasing capacity by building out more ASAP.
My gut instinct is that the ticketing changes won’t adversely impact wait times too much, and are a net positive in giving guests more flexibility. There are going to be rough days like yesterday, sure, but there should also be more good-to-great days at Epic Universe.
There should be some fantastic times to visit in the next couple of years, especially before Annual Passes roll out. Take advantage! Avoid the bad, savor the good, embrace the chaos.
Again, we’ll have updated recommendations on when to visit soon (I need to see more wait times data for 2026 first, and make a couple visits myself). For now, I’d target weekends on list of the Best & Worst Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World in 2026 & 2027. That’s a mix of quantitative and qualitative, and I’d argue that the latter matters more at Epic Universe than Walt Disney World. Regardless, good luck–you’re going to need it.
Need trip planning tips and comprehensive advice for your visit to Central Florida? Make sure to read our Universal Orlando Planning Guide for everything about Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida. Also check out our Walt Disney World Vacation Planning Guide for everything about those parks, resorts, restaurants, and so much more.
YOUR THOUGHTS
Were you at Epic Universe on January 2, 2026? What was your on-the-ground experience? Have you visited Epic Universe during the holiday season? What did you think of wait times and crowds? Experience any operational meltdowns due to breakdowns or weather? Will you visit Epic Universe in 2026, or will you wait for crowds to settle down (in theory)? Think word of mouth about the new park is positive or negative? Agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions? We love hearing from readers, so please share any other thoughts or questions you have in the comments below!
Today jan 6th bought tickets for one day with express pass for three
Worst experience in Orlando ever (including universal, Disney and sea world)
Spent almost 4 1/2 hours on express line combined at Harry Potter and Donkey Kong !!! Exhausted. Surrounded by lots of express passers whom were stuck in there. Couldn’t imagine those that stood for more than three hours waiting and that were told that no time estimate for repairs available !!
We left to move to another ride but it didn’t felt good
This is my first and probably last until Epic understands that there are better ways to threat customers. They need to learn a LOT from their most astute neighbors
A lot of tech and biometrics etc but NO
Control
On handling crowds
We visited Epic on December 29 and January 2. It is a beautiful park and we really enjoyed it. We stayed at the Helios with a beautiful view of the park and loved it. January 2 was notably busier. Luckily, we had express passes so we were able to do all the rides, at least the ones we wanted. But by 11 AM there was a 2 hour+ line for pretty much every ride so we found ourselves saying, “OK, now what do we do?” We tried to visit Harry Potter land just to walk around but it was jam packed, not enjoyable. I would never do Epic on days like these without an express pass and they definitely need more rides. Also, we visited Studios on January 1 and it was notably less crowded than IOA (RIP Rip ride rocket?). Overall, Epic is a very beautiful park and never felt as crowded as Disney often does even though the ride lines were so long. If you’re even considering buying express passes, I highly recommend it. I think it will make your experience much more enjoyable. Just my two cents.
I feel like Universal really missed some obvious opportunities to cut wait times. They could add a parade (who wouldn’t want to see nintendo characters on floats?!), a shaded concert venue with live music (like the America pavilion at Epcot), or a walk through interactive trail (like Moana’s water journey at epcot) They need people to stop and chill for an hour doing something OTHER than moving on to the next ride queue. Instead the only entertainment is random 2-minute interactions with roaming characters. That might be fun and cute but it doesn’t help reduce wait times.
Those things would all be fine and may be added in time. However, I don’t necessarily want them to just copy elements at Disney, Epic is it’s own unique animal and should stay that way. Universal has gained success by not trying to do what Disney does and that a good thing for everyone. Let Disney do Disney and Universal do Universal and enjoy them both for their different vibe.
I also disagree with the notion that there is nothing else to do but move from queue to queue. Every one of the lands has so much theming to explore and easter eggs to hunt out. My son and I have been to over 80 theme parks around the world and this was the first time he was ever content to spend a couple hours just walking around and exploring, and then you can do it all over again at night. Plus, you can easily spend a couple hours each engaging in the interactive elements of Super Nintendo world and HP land, not too mention taking extra time for the myriad of excellent restaurants in this park.
Estuvimos el 6 de Dic, teníamos express pass pero casi que no fue necesario. Hicismos todo en buen tiempo a pesar de la lluvia.
For everyone planning trips and asking about strategy, based on our experience with 3 days at Epic in October (including the day Stardust re-opened, yes we were on the third train out!), my best advice is to utilize the last 2-3 hours the park is open. Each night lines dropped to 15-20 minutes, even for the big headliners. We even rode Mariokart twice in a row without getting off and the park looks absolutely the best at night. If you can’t make it open to close then start later or take a mid day break. It’s wild to me that so many people leave around dinner time!
We are going this Saturday on your recommendation. I hope it’s not insane. I haven’t planned on Express passes. Think I’ll need them?
I’ve been reading all of your Epic content intently, as we have a 13yr old Nintendo nut. We just booked for the Tues-Sat after Easter. I can’t justify Express passes for 3 of us for 3 days (~$1700+) it is more than the total cost of the hotel for all nights. I should be able to get a disability pass for me, which hopefully will allow us to maximize our time by doing other things rather than waiting in line. HP is our other priority. We will have early admission each day. Any other suggestions to keep stress low?
Weighing in from the perspective of a tourist family that had the great “fortune” of visiting Epic for the first time on Jan 2, 2026! Our plan was to NYE and NYD at Disney, then migrate to universal for the weekend including spending the first day at epic. It sure seems like everyone else and their moms thought that idea was the bees knees too.
Here is the rundown of what we accomplished when Epic was at it’s worst/Busiest/however you want to interpret it, along with our actual waits vs posted when I can recall
~9:30 arrival walked on to stardust racers (literally walked onto ride without stopping other than for lockers, no express)
~9:45, in queue for monsters unchained, used express since posted wait already was ~30m, we waited <10 not really counting our meandering through the line to enjoy the staging
~10:20 enter the portal to Super Nintendo world. First of all, it is AMAZING walking into that place for the first time. Second of all, on this day, it was a SEA of people. Kids spent about 2 hours collecting coins, stamps, keys, etc with their PowerUp bands (which your kids will almost certainly love) and it would have been about half that time but waits for each key station were at least 10 minutes. Waited 15 minutes to complete Bowser Jr challenge. I would note that this entire time was spent on the FIRST level of the world, we didn’t even go downstairs or to DK at all yet.
~12:30 mariokart via express. 20 minute wait vs 3 hr posted
~1 pm we have to escape the noise and crowds of SNW, head to isle of berg, mobile order from spitfyre on the walk over, with pickup time “between 1 – 1:15”. Once we get there, app says your order is “ready”. Try to go pick it up, and the unfortunately rude attendant just scolds me “your food isn’t ready yet”. so what does ready mean? “Just wait until it says ‘complete’ okay!”. Um, okayyy. The poor attendant probably dealt with many unhappy patrons but rudeness/curtness is never the way in customer service. Anyways, the food order was “complete” which apparently means actually ready at 1:25. So they should really fix their app tracking about that. Food was legit delicious
~2:15, hiccups wing gliders via express. 20 minute wait vs 2 hr posted
~2:45, fyre drill via express, 10 minute wait vs 35 minute posted. My kid hated it because his spray gun had crap pressure and couldn’t hit any targets
~3, head to the Ministry. Kids did spells for about an hour, explored and shopped.
~4:30, battle at the ministry via express. 30 minute wait vs 4.5 hr posted. This ride was legitimately great but getting off I heard maaany people say, “well that was cool but not 4 hrs cool”, and they are 100% right, especially if you are a tourist with limited time to take everything in
~do a few more spells, dinner at the Noir, about 10 minute wait for table, food again legit delicious
~6, returned to SNW. It was just as packed and noisy. Went straight to dk country for minekart madness, via express. 1 hr wait vs 3 hr posted
~7:30, stardust racers via express, 10minute wait vs 50 min posted
Leave at 8 pm because kids (12 & 10) are pumpkinizing
Overall impressions, we actually did have a really good time but it was only because we had early park access, express passes, and kids over the moon for Nintendo and Harry Potter. Had we done this without express I would have been furious and frankly it would be impossible with young kids. Fortunately the worlds are truly amazing and immersive so even just walking through them is a trip, but you have to be able to, ya know, ride the rides in a feasible manner.
Thanks for your helpful blogs. We followed some of your tips, but mostly just went where our hearts took us in the moment and steeled them for the expected waits.
I found this comment really insightful! It also greatly illustrates the value of Express Pass. Though, as someone who just bought it for our upcoming trip…wow, it does hurt the wallet. When people complain about Disney Pricing them out and say they’ll go to Universal instead, I think I’m just going to laugh going forward…
Thank you so much for this information! It was very helpful to read about all that you were able to accomplish on a super busy day!
Though the overall park January 2026 wait times are some of the worst, the Ministry of Magic wait time the afternoon of Oct. 8, 2025 hit 5.5 hours as we and hundreds of others can attest — though the sign only advertised a 180 hour wait. Most in line said they were scared by the multiple signs stating the ride would close early that day, so they stayed. No single entry until much later in the wait — and there were no Team members around to let folks know when that option opened again. Once folks learned by word of mouth it had opened — about 4 hours into the wait — those in the MoM lobby who got out of line for it then missed the 6 rooms following. Would we wait again — no; however, it was visually stunning and an awesome 10 minute ride!
I love Epic when it’s all working and managed correctly, but I’m gonna be honest I would have walked to GR on a day like this and got a refund or passes to come back another day.
As far as normie sentiment, all you have to do is look at the Trip Advisor reviews (yes, this isn’t always a reliable indicator, but it’s what other normies look for when researching). And the score currently sits at an abysmal 2.3 stars, that’s not good optics. Hopefully the expansions happen sooner than later and are also managed correctly. I also am guessing APs are gonna be further out than we hoped, which is good too (unfortunately for us).
Funny you mention TripAdvisor. I’ve been paying very close attention to that and other such sites, debating an article about exactly that. I wanted to wait until at least after the holiday season to see how the dust settles, though.
I’m also a little hesitant to write too many articles that come across as critical of Epic Universe–especially as a Disney fan site.
I very much agree with your first line, though. When Epic Universe is firing on all cylinders (e.g. attendance is low and weather is nice), the park is unrivaled. Unfortunately, that’s not the case on most days–and Universal doesn’t want to operate the park at ~20% of total capacity with regularity, for obvious reasons.
I spent two days in Epic in September, one a Sunday and the other a Tuesday, and enjoyed both except for the weather, which rained a fair amount and when it wasn’t raining was hot and humid. The choice of dates was set by family constraints, although the Sunday was my solo day, and was the best! I am going back the 2nd week in February, the timing set by my interest to see the touring version of HP and the Cursed Child, which is playing in Orlando for a few weeks, end of Jan/beginning of February. I also have never been to the “legacy parks” during Mardi Gras, and hope to see the parade and other seasonal things. If the weather is good, I hope to buy a day at Epic, I still have a Seasonal Pass, so can’t do the multi-day tickets which would allow park hopping.
Not a fan of most of the rides, I like the Circus show the very best of anything at Epic.
Excellent article! We were at Epic on January 3 and wait times were out of control. This was our second visit to Epic (we visited on July 4, 2025). I was very surprised that the wait times were so much worse. We stayed at Helios and took advantage of early park entry. I was in line at security by 7 am (first in line). They started letting people through security at 7:50. They let us into the park at about 8:50. Stardust Racers, Mario Kart, Werewolf and Monsters were the only things open before 10. We were hoping to do mine cart but it wasn’t open early. Before 10 we did Mario Kart, Monsters and werewolf. Then I got in line at MOM while my family did Wing Gliders. They joined me for MOM (total actual wait times 257 min!!). Ate lunch and then did Untrainable Dragon and Cirque Arcanus. Then we did single rider at Monsters (some of the fam did this 4 times in a row). I took the youngest to do all of the power up band games in Mario World. Then we ate supper. Two of us did Stardust Racers while the rest got in single rider line at Mine cart. We reunited in the single rider line at mine cart. Waited a little more than an hour. Then called it a night. There were some ride down times and weather delays during the day. It was doable but not easy. The park is amazing and we had a great time!
My five kids (17, 15, 13, 11, 8) and I were at Epic on Dec. 31st, 2025. Arrived at 8 a.m. for 9:00 early entry and 10:00 regular opening and stayed until closing at midnight (NYE). We bought our tickets two days earlier (Monday evening) while driving down from NC. Thanks to the length of park opening hours on the 31st we were able to ride everything (except Monsters Unchained, by choice, and Frye Drill (too cold)) at least once; DK, Mario Kart, and Stardust twice, and Wing Glider in Isle of Berk 4 times. Plus we saw both shows: Untrainable Dragon and Le Cirque. Ate sit down at Mead Hall. Even so, twice we endured painstakingly long waits: 2 hours for the first DK ride around 9:50 a.m. (We zigged when most zagged at early entry rope drop) and 2.5 hours for Battle of Ministry, which included a 30 minute extended downtime (at 18h). I say painstaking because the queues are mind-wrenching!!, especially DK. Endless switchbacks in the same room and once you finally break free from that room you face a long hallway where you can agonizingly watch Express Pass pass you by. Over and over. Which after waiting for 2+ hours in that switchback cell, you might be surprised how much seeing that could send you to near meltdown. The Ministry queue can be likewise equally maddening. Outdoor switchbacks with no creative engagement. Then just when you think you’re making progress, you are again tortured with endless switchbacks. Granted, with Ministry the interior switchbacks are surrounded with marvelous thematic detail. But after waiting 2+ hours and thinking, “just around the next bend we’ll be free” only to discover you have yet more switchbacks…patience is what is on trial way more than Ms. Umbridge. Ironically, by the time you sit down on the ride you could find yourself cheering for any soul fortunate enough to escape. Having read Tom’s article now about what happened two days later on the 2nd, however, I count it even more a blessing for being there on the 31st. And overall my kids and I enjoyed a fun, exciting, and memorable day together.
I will add that I figured, based on reading Tom’s articles, that any Universal or WDW park would be bonkers this past week. But the way Epic and its rides are laid out make it more mentally manageable to me on crazy crowd days than any of the Disney Parks.
I’ve been watching wait times on the app the last few days as well, both out of sheer curiosity and in absurdly early preparation for our trip President’s Week 2027. I know current stats show that weekends are slower at Epic, but I’ve been guessing that APs will be on sale for 2027 and that the pattern will shift. Sounds like you think that might not happen by then. We are currently planning to be at Universal from Monday afternoon to Friday afternoon. We’ll potentially have 4 shots at Early Park Admission for Epic and we’ll have Express for IOA/USF because we are staying at Royal Pacific. In any case, I’ve been watching wait times and weighing whether we should shell out the money for the insanely expensive Express Passes for one day for Epic or potentially change our plan entirely (e.g., go cheap on the hotel and buy Express for all parks, change to arriving the Friday before President’s Day, etc.). I just don’t think the value is there for my family for Express (i.e. $800 for 1 day at Epic) – we’ll be skipping Stardust Racers, my kids might not be ready for Hiccup’s Wing Gliders, Curse of the Werewolf could be a skip, so could Dragon Racer’s Rally and Fyre Drill, and my husband can do the single rider line for Monster’s Unchained- it looks potentially too scary for my kids. My kids will be 11 and 9 for this trip. When we went to Disney President’s Week 2025, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was the top doable thrills for them and they found the mummy movies at Sci-Fi Dine In Theater scary. I am hoping 2 years of maturing will open up more ride possibilities for them at Universal, but I won’t know till we try. We are primarily going to Universal for Harry Potter and I’m sure the shops, food and shows/streetmosphere will be fun. I think we’ll also enjoy the ambience at Epic and my girls are big Mario Kart fans. I know its too early to plan, but I plan on watching the app for wait times for this President’s Week to see what we might be in for. Over the last few days, it looked like you had to be in line for Mario Kart within the first few minutes to not have an hour wait or longer. I’m not sure if I can get my kids in line early enough to not hit crazy waits even if we are there 30 minutes before early entry starts. My tentative “plan” for at least one day at Epic is to do everything we can that doesn’t have an intolerable wait- shows, taking in the atmosphere, meet and greets (not with a Toothless sized wait)- and for the other days to hop to IOA/USF or pool hop after Epic. It just looks absolutely crazy. I understand that there is an expectation that things will change over the next year, but I just can’t see how it won’t still be insane waits. We did LLMP/SP every day at Disney. My family does not have patience for lines. My husband hates standing still. I wish Express Passes were not so insane. I can’t see us getting in more than 1-2 rides per day at Epic before we bag it. Any thoughts on any of this? You might be asking why we plan to go if we hate lines but I think we will enjoy being there- rides are secondary to us. Our favorite experiences at Disney were Happily Ever After and Fantasmic. I hope the entertainment- shows and nighttime spectaculars- will not feel second rate as compared to Disney, and that just being there will be fun enough without rides, and that it won’t feel like wall to wall people. Thanks for doing what you do. I really enjoy your site.
Glad to hear Epic is getting crowds… we will get there at some point but mostly I want Epic to succeed so that Disney leadership sees that spending tons ‘o money on new builds pays dividends, ha ha. Very selfish reasoning on my part but I worry that Epic performing poorly could have an overall cooling effect in that area. Right now they’re just getting off the ground so I think everyone cuts them some slack, but I think the next few years will be important in judging their overall success.
My family of five visited Epic on Tuesday, December 30, and had an amazing day. We arrived for early entry and stayed until closing (8:30 am to 10:00 pm). We saved our single use express passes for the busiest times of day (life saver for Ministry of Magic and Minecart Madness, which had 3 to 4 hour waits for the regular line!), since wait times were short in the morning and evening for many attractions and we rode then without express. Ultimately, we were able to ride everything we wanted to (some multiple times), attend both shows, and eat at Le Gobelet Noir, Cafe de la Sirene, and Pizza Moon for some down time. I can confirm your assessment that crowds were not terrible on 12/30. So glad we took the trip when we did, before the ticket policy changes throw another wild card into the mix of this new park.
I was there on December 12th and it was close to perfect. Low crowds and low wait times, but I also leveraged early entry, and single rider lines. I was also able to get into the Harry Potter restaurant with no wait time (at, I think, 11:30 am) and snagged an outside table with a view of the area. Wonderful quiche. I didn’t try to do Minecart Madness (I overheard someone talking about it, and I think it was down in the morning) or the extreme roller coaster. I loved the attractions I did visit, especially the entire Harry Potter land, and would definitely go again. But I would target another low attendance week. I wouldn’t have enjoyed it nearly as much if it was overwhelmingly busy.
Not the news I wanted to read a little over a week out from our trip; we arrive in Jan 12. We are prioritizing Epic – we’re willing to spend all 3 of our allotted Universal days there if need be. So while I’m not really worried about not being able to get on any rides, I’m hoping we aren’t averaging 1.5 hours in any lines! I don’t know if there’ll be enough room in my suitcase for THAT much patience 😉
You’ll be fine that week!! It’ll be awesome!!!
I’m going with my family mid-March for Spring Break and now I am terrified of not being able to get on anything
If it makes you feel any better, the park seems to be getting more efficient with each passing week and you’re visiting long enough after the new ticket policies that they should have a handle on them by then. And on all but the very worst days, the end of the night has seen a slowdown (although unclear if that changes with park hopping).
Failing all else…are you able to visit on a Sunday? That alone would be huge.
Nope we are locked in to Thursday and Friday that week
The headline is misleading, making it seem the story is about Epic Universe tanking in terms of attendance and/or ticket sales. Just FYI.
Thanks for the feedback! I’ve changed it from “worst” to “busiest” for the sake of clarity. Worst is more subjective, and you’re right that it could be interpreted to mean the opposite (it’s also arguable that the summer meltdown days were the worst, even if they had lower average waits).
Although I do think the accompanying thumbnail with high wait times should’ve made obvious it was a busy day, not a dead one. 😉