After months of previews, the Epic Universe opening is right around the corner. Universal has announced some details for what guests can expect arriving on opening day, and that means it’s time to start thinking about rope drop strategy! Here’s what we know so far…after a quick digression…
Update: As explained below, we’re sitting out for the actual debut of the park. That said, we’re putting some of our time into looking at the early wait time data from the park. Here’s out post covering the Wait Time Data at Epic Universe.
Why I Haven’t Written This Post Yet
I opted not to attend any sort of Epic Universe previews because, simply put, I don’t like to work in “preliminary” information. I’ve done previews for things before—Galaxy’s Edge springs to mind—but rides and lands are relatively small in the overall picture of a vacation destination.
Epic Universe, however, is a huge change both in how guests visit Universal Orlando Resort and competing Walt Disney World Resort. I opted to let my first visit be a short time after the grand opening, when I felt I’d have no excuses to give the park for any hiccups. (I’m honestly not so huge a theme park geek to have wanted to attend previews independent of my professional responsibility.)
As a result, I won’t have much to say about Epic Universe until I’ve visited it as part of the general public in the course of ordinary (i.e. not preview) operations.
But there are finally some new details about operations that allow me to finally put my “Epic Universe Rope Drop” post out into the Universe…
What To Expect From Epic Universe Rope Drop
Let’s cover this in two parts. First, what’s been announced. Second, the other key story you need to be following if you’re visiting Epic Universe in its first few weeks.
Universal’s Epic Opening Announcement
BlogMickey reports on Universal’s detailing of how the grand opening celebrations for Epic Universe will be handled. I don’t particularly care about the headline topic. But here’s some notable information Universal provided regarding opening day:
Epic Universe Park Hours are 9 AM – 10 PM
Epic Universe parking lot, including ride share drop off, opens at 6 AM
Shuttle Buses from all Universal Orlando Resort Hotels to Epic Universe begin at 6 AM
Turnstiles at both the Chronos front entrance and Universal Helios Grand Hotel, a Loews Hotel, dedicated entrance will open at 7 AM
As an initial matter, this is explicitly regarding “opening day,” which is May 22. We can’t say whether these times will remain after opening day. Personally, I suspect not.
The big flag for me here is the 7AM turnstile opening. That leaves 2 hours for guests in Celestial Park before the park officially opens. That’s a big window that might make sense for a week or so (if that), but I honestly wouldn’t be surprised to see it narrowed even by May 23.
Obviously, driving and ride share look to have a big advantage in getting to the front of Epic Universe crowds. With the resort shuttle buses “beginning” at 6AM, when the lot “opens” to cars and ride share. Of course, those shuttles could be scheduled to arrive at 6AM.
If I were shuttling from a hotel, I’d be in line no later than 5AM, and I wouldn’t expect to be the first person. By car or ride share, you can expect some re-routing until some time shortly before 6AM when they start allowing cars to queue. If you’re going to ride share, be explicit that there’s a big tip to be expected for the hassle.
…About Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry
Okay, so now that we have some modicum of “official” information, I have to clue you in to the big issue to expect at Epic Universe.
Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, the flagship ride of the new wing of Wizarding World, has had significant reliability issues. For some time, Universal used a virtual line system that was widely panned. Then they took the ride offline entirely for a few days. Then they brought the ride back with a standby queue, and it promptly experienced some downtime.
The optimistic take is that Universal used those few days of downtime to resolve most of the issues. Of course, if you look at wait time data, you can see the ride is still far from 100% reliable.
The big question for this post is what to plan for and expect from the ride on opening day. We don’t know, but there are basically three possibilities.
First, the ride might open with a standby queue. If you rope drop this, you’ll need to expect to spend multiple hours in line. It’s not even conceivable to give you a sense of whether that’s “worth it” or not. You can find reviews online—the ride has gotten rave reviews, and the queue is quite good, too. That said, I probably won’t be rope dropping it if multi-hour waits are expected by the time of my visit.
Second, the ride might open with a new virtual line system. If standby doesn’t happen, our hope would be Universal took the time to improve the virtual line system. I’m not a professional coder, but it’s widely acknowledged that significant upgrades to this system are entirely feasible.
Finally, the ride might open with the old virtual line system. Until Universal announces otherwise, you need to be prepared to encounter the old virtual line system. There’s plenty of content in blog and video form covering this system. Read it before your visit unless there’s some level of confidence of either a new system or a standby line.
What about Other rope drop strategy?
While I’ve tried to put together a good strategy for rope drop, I’ve been stymied by the frequency of downtime for several rides. Since this won’t necessarily be reflective of things on May 22 or later, there’s not a lot of merit to cobbling together a strategy now.
Personally, my approach to the park is twofold. First, strongly consider Universal Express Pass. Unfortunately, that service excludes three popular rides (including Battle at the Ministry), but it will theoretically free time up for you to wait in line as necessary 🫠 .
Second, pick the ride you want to rope drop, start there, and figure the rest out afterward. The four most popular items look to be:
Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry
Mine Cart Madness
Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge
Meet Toothless and Friends
Of these, Mine Cart Madness and Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge put you in the vicinity of each other and another ride—Yoshi’s Adventure in case things go wrong or in case you’re off your first ride in short order. With the caveat that I’m also super excited for Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, and I might in fact decide to start there, I am strategically pulled more toward Super Nintendo World.
How will you be starting your Epic Day?
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