If you haven't seen the news on the front page already, Universal Orlando has announced a May 22, 2025 opening date for Universal Epic Universe. The resort also announced that ticket sales will start next week, including single-day ticket sales to annual passholders.
Now that news tips EU will not be included automatically in current UOAPs. But it also confirms that single-day tickets will be available to this park.
Epic Universe has been subject to wide rumors that the park would not be available as a one-off visit, and that guests might have to pay on a per-land basis when visiting the park. If you had not noticed, I chose not to put a lot of faith in those rumors by reporting them as "done deals" here on the website or via TPI's other channels.
It's not that I didn't hear that chatter. Universal survey-tested many different ticket options for Epic Universe, and thank you to the readers who forwarded me those surveys. But I have been around this block enough times to know the difference between ideas that parks are spitballing and ones that they have committed to. And I never saw anything from Universal that fully convinced me that EU was destined to be anything other than a conventionally ticketed park.
It's tough to watch other voices getting traffic with information that I have deemed not credible enough to run with here. But I appreciated everyone who sticks with Theme Park Insider anyway. I hope that I have earned some credibility for my reporting over the two decades that I have been doing this. And I will continue to work to reward your time and attention with information that you can believe.
(Unless April Insider is doing the annual AI-written April 1 report. That... you takes your chances with.)
FAQ on the EU website: No reservations required for park entry.
@TH - That makes sense given that you have to purchase a dated ticket, meaning that your ticket is in fact your "reservation". The real question is whether you will need a reservation to enter each of the portals, which is the aspect of Epic Universe that has been left unanswered, and why I would personally hold off investing significant money to visit this park until Universal has officially announced how they will manage crowds within the park.
I don't think its a controversial decision to not have Epic Universe only tickets, there is no reason to, the park is going to be packed.
It also doesn't surprise me that they aren't doing the separate admission for each portal thing because that is totally impractical and one of the worst ideas of all time.
For their sake I just hope they have several weeks or maybe even months of previews to work all the bugs out and potentially get a lot of locals and media through the gates before the official opening day. If they don't then opening the park right before Memorial Day is just cruising for a bruising from an operational and customer service perspective.
To quote @TH:
Standing and Applauding
It’s your dedication to factual and well-reasoned reporting that keeps us loyal readers coming back. Thanks for that Robert
As a UOAP I'm going to be very interested to see how much they charge us for an Epic single day ticket.
There's mention of UOAP preview days, but I'll believe that when I see it.
I'm not going to completely dismiss the possibility of an option to upgrade our passes, to include Epic ... but at what cost scares me.
First things first though, I'll be online Thursday to see what I can get. I don't need hotels, just midweek day tickets, anytime September onwards.