Universal’s Epic Universe Will Have Soft Openings

Universal Orlando has confirmed that Epic Universe will have previews prior to grand opening! This comes as select ticket packages and  resort reservations are now available. Here’s what we know so far, plus our speculation about soft openings at the third (not fourth) theme park that’ll join the lineup alongside Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida.

Let’s start with a brief update on Epic Universe ticket sales and Helios Grand Hotel resort reservations, which started bright and early this morning. Our ‘guide’ to Making Sense of Epic Universe Ticket Timelines, Crowd Control & Resort Reservations served as a warning of sorts that today would be mayhem, with the goal of preparing you for the worst case scenario so you’d plan and could pivot accordingly.

In that, we also noted that this could be overkill since our past experiences in such scenarios have been with Disney, which is a totally different fanbase. That purchasing park tickets, resort reservations, or vacation packages for Epic Universe could be “inexplicably easy.” Thankfully, nothing even approaching the worst case scenario has played out. I’d say it’s gone about as smooth as conceivably possible given the circumstances…

As I write this, there’s currently a virtual queue to enter the area of Universal Orlando’s website where you purchase tickets. Early in the morning, this was shockingly brief–only a few minutes for me. As more people on the East Coast woke up and got to the office (what in that virtual queue on your boss’s dime!), it increased to a quoted time of over an hour.

However, the peak actual wait I’ve experienced has been about 40 minutes. Given the circumstances, that is not bad at all. Not only that, but all dates are still available for all ticket types. This was to be expected. Weird Walt Disney World fans are going to prematurely call Epic Universe a “flop” when opening day isn’t sold out at the end of today, but keep in mind that overall park capacity is high and these are ticket packages that a lot of Universal fans won’t want in the first place.

We’ll see what availability looks like after a few hours of single-day Epic Universe ticket sales to Annual Passholders on October 24. My guess–my hope–is that tickets sell out for opening weekend on that date. If they don’t, I’ll be mildly concerned that Universal Orlando isn’t actually carefully controlling ticket inventory and managing park capacity to ensure the best possible guest experience (as they’ve claimed will be the case). Instead, I’ll worry that they’re going to manage attendance the normal Universal way–via capacity closures. But that concern is also premature at this point–just something in the back of my mind.

Booking resort reservations and vacation packages for Universal’s Helios Grand Hotel has also been fairly smooth sailing, all things considered. We warned that this would be competitive, and that has proven true. But honestly, it’s not nearly as bad as we were expecting.

It’s a simple numbers game–a lot of people are likely going to be trying to book Helios Grand Hotel, and it’s low-capacity relative to that. This is a 500-room luxury in-park resort overlooking Epic Universe, and Universal’s Helios Grand Hotel is shockingly cheap! Suffice to say, supply is low and demand is high.

We weren’t able to get exactly what we wanted at Helios Grand Hotel, but our backup plan came through–and for the exact dates we wanted. Given the absurdly low quantity of rooms for our #1 choice, I couldn’t be happier. Especially after spending a dozen-plus hours trying to book opening night at Fantasy Springs Hotel and ultimately coming up empty. This was a walk in the park by comparison.

To be sure, it was not truly easy. We’ve already heard from some people shut out of opening night, which did go fast. But even an hour after sales started, there was still availability for opening week. An hour after sales started for Fantasy Springs, there was nothing available, period. A minute after sales started, there was no availability. And again, that was after waiting in lengthy virtual queues. It’s all relative, and this hasn’t been bad as contrasted with the most recent in-park hotel opening.

Speaking of opening week, that’s when I’ve spotted some of the cheapest room rates for Helios Grand. In quickly browsing, the low I saw was $315 per night. Not a complete shock since late May is shoulder season, but still a bit surprising that they didn’t do premium pricing for opening week.

As for the cheapest prices for anyone doubting that room rates at Helios Grand would start at $293 per night, here they are:

I’m saving this one for the DTB Archives, as I’m flabbergasted that an in-park hotel would cost under $300 in 2024…and want to be able to compare/contrast this with pricing 5 years from now.

Something tells me that, unlike other recent resorts at Universal that have maintained their introductory prices for years after the fact, Helios Grand Hotel is going to cost a lot more in the future. If Epic Universe is the huge hit we expect it to be, all of Universal Orlando’s prices will likely be adjusted upwards in the coming couple years.

Thankfully, there also was no virtual queue for Helios Grand resort reservations–another plus!

Anyway, as for soft openings–this is another thing we noticed while spending hours upon hours on (or waiting to enter) Universal Orlando’s website this morning. In a couple of different spots, they hint (or more) at the possibility of previews.

First is the above screenshot, from the Annual Passholder home page: “Starting October 24, Passholders have the special opportunity to purchase single-day admission* to Universal Epic Universe before single-day tickets go on sale to the general public. Link your Pass to your Universal Account Wallet for the easiest way to purchase. Additional ticket products will be available at a later date. Plus, look for information regarding Passholder soft opening opportunities in the coming months!​” (Emphasis added.)

Second is the above screenshot, on the main landing package for Universal Epic Universe products: “Tickets may be available to select audiences prior to May 22, 2025 opening date.”

This was on a public-facing page, which is notable to me. Even though it uses the “select audiences” limiting language–meaning tickets won’t necessarily be offered to the general public–the simple fact that this ‘heads up’ is being offered before non-APs purchase ticket and resort packages suggests to me that soft openings won’t be limited exclusively to Annual Passholders.

This probably isn’t news to regular readers, as we’ve been strongly suggesting for a while now that Epic Universe will have lengthy previews. Epic Universe is not just going to do a cold open on May 22, 2025. That would be a recipe for disaster.

In all likelihood, the park will have over a month of previews for team members, Annual Passholders, Florida residents, media, foreign dignitaries, influencers, Real Housewives, and Ice-T from Law & Order. That’s a lot of people.

This presents an opportunity for Universal Orlando to set a conservative opening date far in advance–which is precisely what they’ve done by targeting May 22, 2025. There is absolutely no way that Universal can know, right now, exactly when Epic Universe will be ready to open to the general public. If it’s a race against the clock, there’s a reasonable chance the clock would win given the complexity of the project.

This should not be cause for concern. In fact, the opposite. Universal setting the official opening date for Epic Universe so far into the future means that it is not a race against the clock. It’s not a tight opening timeline, but a loose one.

It means Universal has chosen a strategically-advantageous opening date, right at the start of the normal summer tourist season. (Never mind that summer isn’t really peak season for Florida anymore–it’s still the most concentrated time of the year for school breaks.) They’ve picked this date because they’re highly confident that–even though the exact date it’ll be done is unknowable right now–it’s a near certainty Epic Universe will be finished well before then.

It’s possible that they’ve set the Memorial Day weekend opening date even with the expectation is that all or most of Epic Universe will be ready by March or April. The approach could then be to get Epic Universe ready to greet guests as quickly as possible, and simply backfill all earlier dates with soft openings.

This is what we expected–and explained–even before Universal announced an opening date. Now that they have–and disclosed it in October–and also teased pre-opening previews, we’re 100% confident that this is the plan.

There’s likely a steady stream of Annual Passholders, locals, influencers, franchise fans, and even regular ole tourists who would pay a pretty penny to experience Epic Universe early. Not only that, but these are demographics who, for the most part, don’t need as much advance notice of dates. Universal could announce soft openings relatively last minute–after employee previews start.

For the most part, those groups are also all higher knowledge guests. Meaning that, for example, if a single attraction is not ready for primetime, that could be conveyed to them and they’d understand. Those guests are going to be willing to shell out money to experience Epic Universe early, even if it’s incomplete.

Heck, that could probably be taken a few steps further. Epic Universe utilizes a portal system, which would make it very easy to block off an entire land during soft openings if it’s not ready. This would allow Universal Orlando to start previews even earlier, and just with the asterisk that whichever land won’t be available. Plenty of diehard fans will still happily pay to attend a sneak peek…and then do it again when that portal opens during subsequent previews!

Guessing as to when Epic Universe soft openings will start is somewhat of a fool’s errand.

For one thing, we can only see visible progress on attraction exteriors and landscaping. That’s occurring at an incredibly fast pace–and some ride testing is already occurring, a full 8 months before official opening. However, at the risk of stating the obvious, we cannot see inside the show buildings to know where the rides–especially the incredibly complex ones–stand. Those could be ahead of or behind schedule.

For another thing, our correct predictions for the official opening date (well, off by one day) of Epic Universe were anchored by past precedent and guessing at when Universal would feel was most advantageous in debuting the new park. There are no such rules for soft openings. It doesn’t “need” to be timed around Presidents’ Day or Easter…none of that matters. They can just happen whenever they can happen, potentially with little notice.

My shot in the dark guess is that Universal Orlando will want to start soft openings, in some capacity, as close to two full months in advance as possible. Less of a guess is that Team Member previews will occur first, followed by Annual Passholders.

How early Team Member previews start really depends on the big unknown: construction progress and (unseen) ride testing. That window moving forward or backwards also could dictate whether there are previews for anyone else.

If soft openings are crammed into a tighter timeframe, I’d expect them only for Team Members and then Annual Passholders. If the window is longer, the first group they’d likely be extended to include is Florida residents. If we’re talking over 2 months of previews–and closer to 3, I could see soft opening tickets being sold to on-site guests at some point in May 2025.

Wider soft openings become more likely than not if Epic Universe is firing on all cylinders during previews and Universal wants to extend the offering to more guests. It’s an everyone wins scenario–they get more revenue, and guests who booked vacations that just missed Epic Universe get to be surprised by not actually missing it.

But that’s getting way ahead of ourselves. All Universal Orlando has announced thus far is that soft openings will happen for Annual Passholders and that select audiences may be able to attend Epic Universe prior to its official opening date. Both of those things were pretty much givens in light of past precedent and operational realities for new theme parks.

We will be closely monitoring what’s announced and will notify subscribers of our free email newsletter when Epic Universe soft opening dates are released or rumored! (For whatever it’s worth, we wouldn’t expect full details of soft openings until Winter 2025, so don’t sit on pins and needles expecting news this week.)

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

When do you think Epic Universe will start soft openings? Think they’ll be offered over a month in advance for Annual Passholders? What about Floridians or even on-site guests at Universal Orlando resort hotels? Excited for Super Nintendo World, Harry Potter’s Ministry of Magic, Dark Universe/Classic Monsters, or the How to Train Your Dragon lands and/or attractions? Think Epic Universe will be a third gate that’s a worthy addition to Universal Orlando Resort…and potentially on par with Disney’s best lands? Any questions? We love hearing from readers, so please share any other thoughts or questions you have in the comments below!