Universal Epic Universe, the brand new theme park at Universal Orlando Resort, opened today! And we’re not there!
I opted to sit this opening out, reasoning that I’d rather get on-the-ground experience a bit after the debut so that I can hopefully provide people some reports that look a little more like what they can expect from the rest of summer.
But while everyone else is in sunny Florida, there’s still one nice thing I can do from the comfort of my presently very rainy home—data analysis! So, here’s what the data from the first morning at Epic Universe looks like…
This Post Will Be Updated A Few Times
Last Update: Opening Day, May 22, 1:48PM
About This Post
But first, a few reminders. First, today is the first day of official park operations at Epic Universe. While the park previously offered previews for the general public, it is officially open now. But any debut day is going to be distinct. The first few days won’t be filled with typical vacationers. It’ll be heavy on hardcore locals, content creators, and people who had to see [whatever land/ride they HAD to see ASAP].
Typical vacationers probably planned to avoid these first few days, so we shouldn’t be surprised to see crowd patterns shift some small amount as the weeks go on.
Second, there was no Early Admission today. That perk for Universal hotel guests begins at Epic Universe tomorrow (May 23), with Universal saying now only that “select” rides will be available “up to 1 hour” before opening. The park was scheduled to open at 9AM, with turnstiles opening at 7AM. It effectively opened around 8:15AM.
Finally, I’m relying on posted wait times, which are not always indicative of actual wait times. Beside the obvious (that posted wait times aren’t precision-calibrated and are indeed intentionally incorrect sometimes) a ride that opens with a 60-minute wait will still be a zero-minute wait for the first person in line. For the most part, all the data I’m using can be found on the excellent site Thrill-Data.
The Data from The First Morning of Epic Universe
It’s just before 2PM now and there’s not much to update, so I’m just going to do this quick update here before continuing with the post as written at 10AM. So, as of (just before) 2PM…
The wait for the Toothless greeting is down to 55 minutes. It peaked at 160 minutes around 8:30AM but dropped to 45 minutes by 10:40AM. As of this update, it’s the only operating “attraction” with a wait over 30 minutes.
Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge is down to 25 minutes. It’s ranged from 15 to 45 minutes throughout the morning.
Everything else is under 20 minutes, except…Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry still has not reopened. The ride has been down for over 4 hours now. This is certainly not the debut that Universal wanted, though no one can quite say it was unexpected at this point. (Update to the update: Battle at the Ministry reopened just after 3PM.)
People who arrived at the park and went anywhere other than Battle at the Ministry could maybe have done all the other attractions by now and are just left to wait to see if that one manages to reopen.
I’ll check back in this evening…
(Original Post Continues Here)
After an opening ceremony, guests started accessing lands and rides around 8:15AM, with most rides operating by 8:30AM. There was a trend of wait times being overstated right at 8:30AM, so I think the 8:45AM posted waits better reflect the status of the park at the beginning of the day.
The “First” Batch of Epic Wait Times
At 8:45AM, the posted wait times for the 11 rides and one uber-popular character greeting were:
Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry - 300 minutes
Meet Toothless and Friends - 100 minutes
Mine-Cart Madness - 35 minutes
Monsters Unchained - 20 minutes
Curse of the Werewolf - 20 minutes
Stardust Racers - 15 minutes
Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge - 15 minutes
Hiccup's Wing Gliders - 10 minutes
Fyre Drill - 10 minutes
Dragon Racer's Rally - 10 minutes
Constellation Carousel - 5 minutes
Yoshi’s Adventure - 5 minutes
For the most part (continue reading), this is a pretty tame, manageable debut for a theme park. My instant reaction is fear that I wasted a bunch of money on my Express Pass purchase for our visit next month.
Universal’s Express Pass for Epic Universe excludes three rides: Dragon Racer’s Rally, Mine-Cart Madness, and Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry. Not coincidentally, two of these are the only rides posting waits over 20 minutes as of the park’s debut.
We’ll have to see how the afternoon shakes up. Those Battle at the Ministry crowds will probably go somewhere else as the day goes on. So, shifting gears to that ride…
How Has Battle at the Ministry Done?
The headline here is obviously that Battle at the Ministry quickly jumped to 300 minutes. It actually opened at 240 minutes at 8:30AM before jumping to 300 right around 8:45AM. Combined with the downtick we saw in posted waits at the other rides, it looks like Universal’s crowd predictions were slightly off, with even more people favoring Battle at the Ministry than they expected.
Unfortunately, Battle at the Ministry temporarily closed at around 9:25AM, having not reopened as of publication just after 10AM.
This is in keeping with the ride’s questionable reliability heading into this week. The big question going forward is sort of “when will guests get the hint?”
If I were heading to Epic tomorrow, would I start at Battle at the Ministry? No way! I wouldn’t blame those who do, but I’d be starting at Mine Cart Madness (the Meet Toothless greeting doesn’t factor into my analysis, though).
But this isn’t going to be indicative of most guests. Many people want to get on Battle at the Ministry more than all other rides in the park combined. And not everyone wakes up thinking “oh fun, I get to look at Epic Universe data today!” So, we’ll see in the coming days and weeks how much guests start to shift away from starting at Battle at the Ministry, where they go, and how probable increased park capacity impacts this. (And what will Early Admission look like?)