Common Orlando is releasing tickets, trip packages, and resort reservations for Epic Universe and Helios Grand Lodge beginning subsequent week. They’ve additionally shared crowd management particulars and different information by way of an FAQ, which is smart, as followers have a lot of questions in regards to the product launch.
We’ve been across the block a couple of instances with product launches or ‘drop days’ during the last 15 years. Extra importantly, we’ve attended many opening days–together with the newest main theme park to have a traditional grand opening (Common Beijing doesn’t rely) in addition to a blockbuster $2 billion park growth.
With that in thoughts, the primary half of this publish shares official particulars for Epic Universe’s gross sales beginning dates launched by Common Orlando. The second half shares our previous ‘trial by fireplace’ experiences with this kind of stuff, and what we’re anticipating in consequence. Our intention is that it helps you set expectations and put together for those who’re planning on attending Common’s Epic Universe early on in its opening season, or can be attempting to e-book Helios Grand Lodge anytime in 2025 or 2026…
Beginning subsequent week, company can start planning a 2025 trip to Common Orlando to expertise your complete vacation spot as the primary section of ticket merchandise and packages that embody entry to Common Epic Universe will go on sale. Particular merchandise launching on this first section embody:
- Quite a lot of multi-day tickets and trip packages that embody three, 4 or 5 days of admission to Common’s theme parks – together with sooner or later admission to Epic Universe. These merchandise will go on sale on Tuesday, October 22.
- Reservations for Common Helios Grand Lodge will open on Tuesday, October 22 for stays starting Might 22, 2025.
- Annual Passholders have the unique alternative to buy single-day tickets to Common Epic Universe earlier than they go on sale to most people. Passholders can benefit from this precedence alternative starting Thursday, October 24.
Throughout the first section of Epic Universe ticket and bundle gross sales that begins on October 22, the next multi-day admission choices can be obtainable:
- 3-Day Ticket: get pleasure from two days of entry to Common Studios Florida and Common Islands of Journey, plus one separate day admission to Common Epic Universe
- 4-Day Ticket: Three days at Common Studios Florida and Islands of Journey, plus one separate day at Epic Universe
- 5-Day Ticket: 4 days at USF and IoA, plus sooner or later at Epic Universe
- For every of the above, company even have the choice so as to add entry to Common Volcano Bay
Create Your Personal Trip Bundle: Visitors can save as much as $200 by bundling a 2-night or longer keep at a Common lodge with one of many multi-day ticket choices above. Visitors can obtain the utmost financial savings of $200 with a 7-night trip bundle that features:
- 5-day ticket that features 4 days of entry to Common Studios Florida, Islands of Journey, and Volcano Bay, plus a separate day admission to Common Epic Universe
- 7-night lodge lodging at one in every of Common Orlando’s 11 resort motels
- Early Park Admission for the parks as much as one hour earlier than the park opens
2025 Explorer Ticket inclusive of a Single Day at Common Epic Universe (Solely obtainable within the U.Okay. and Latin America) – Out there for visits in 2025, company can benefit from the thrills of Common Studios Florida, Common Islands of Journey and Common Volcano Bay for 14 days, plus get entry to the all-new Common Epic Universe theme park for sooner or later throughout their ticket validity window.
All Parks Ticket (Solely obtainable within the U.Okay.) – Out there for visits starting January 1, 2026, the All Parks Ticket offers company the last word flexibility – permitting them to go to all 4 Common Orlando theme parks for 14 days. This ticket additionally consists of park-to-park entry – which means company can go to a number of theme parks, together with Common Epic Universe, on the identical day or any day they’d like throughout their ticket validity window.
Extra particulars about Common Epic Universe can be launched within the months forward. Further tickets together with single-day tickets for most people, extra multi-day ticket choices, Florida resident tickets, Categorical Move, and so on., can be obtainable at a later date earlier than the park opens.
Right here’s the FAQ about Epic Universe ticket gross sales that Common Orlando has launched:
Q: Is there a one or two-day possibility for company wanting to go to Common Epic Universe?
A: Throughout this preliminary section of Common Epic Universe-inclusive tickets, we’re solely providing multi-day tickets for 3-Days or longer that embody one-day admission to Common Epic Universe. Further ticket varieties can be launched at a later date earlier than the park opens.
Q: Are there Florida Resident discounted tickets obtainable for Common Epic Universe?
A: Whereas this preliminary section of Common Epic Universe-inclusive tickets launch doesn’t embody Florida Resident discounted tickets, we are going to supply Florida Resident ticket choices and extra product choices for Epic Universe at a later date.
Q: Do company have to specify the date that they’re visiting Common Epic Universe when buying a multi-day ticket for 3-days or longer?
A: No, when buying the present multi-day ticket choices that embody one-day admission to Common Epic Universe, you’ll not have to specify the date that you just plan to go to Epic Universe. You’ll solely want to point the primary date that you prefer to your general ticket to be legitimate, and it is possible for you to to go to any of the parks starting on that date.
Q: Are company assured to have the ability to go to Common Epic Universe with their ticket?
A: We plan to handle attendance at Common Epic Universe to make sure we’re offering the very best expertise for our company. As a part of this course of, ticket stock and capability can be managed to permit every visitor who purchases an Epic Universe-inclusive ticket to go to the park for sooner or later through the course of the validity window of their ticket.
Q: Can company purchase a ticket to go to Common Epic Universe for greater than sooner or later of their go to?
A: Throughout this preliminary section of Common Epic Universe-inclusive tickets, company are solely capable of buy multi-day tickets for 3-Days or longer that embody one-day admission to Common Epic Universe. Further product choices — together with single-day and two-day tickets for Common Epic Universe — can be launched at a later date earlier than the park opens.
Q: Do all Common Orlando tickets embody Common Epic Universe?
A: Throughout this preliminary section, all three-, four- and five-day tickets bought for visits on or after the grand opening date of Common Epic Universe will embody one-day entry to the brand new theme park. One-day and two-day tickets at the moment don’t embody entry to Common Epic Universe however are nonetheless obtainable for buy for company who want to get pleasure from our current theme parks.
Q: Are there Categorical Move merchandise obtainable for Common Epic Universe?
A: Categorical Passes for Common Epic Universe can be launched at a later date earlier than the park opens. Extra particulars can be introduced nearer to the launch of those merchandise.
Q: Are there VIP Excursions obtainable for Common Epic Universe?
A: VIP Tour experiences that embody Common Epic Universe can be launched at a later date earlier than the park opens.
Q: Are there My Common Picture merchandise obtainable for Common Epic Universe?
A: My Common Picture merchandise that embody Common Epic Universe can be launched at a later date earlier than the park opens.
Q: Will Early Park Admission be provided at Common Epic Universe?
A: Sure, Early Park Admission for Common lodge company will develop to incorporate Common Epic Universe from the park’s Grand Opening date onward. Legitimate theme park admission is required and choose points of interest are included.
Q: Do I would like a park admission ticket to enter Celestial Park?
A: Sure, Celestial Park is among the 5 imaginative worlds of Common Epic Universe. Visitors will be capable to discover Celestial Park as a part of their admission to Common Epic Universe.
Q: Will there be transportation obtainable between Common Epic Universe and Common Studios Florida/Common Islands of Journey/Common Volcano Bay/Common CityWalk?
A: Sure, company will be capable to benefit from complimentary shuttle bus transportation to enterprise between Common Epic Universe and Common’s current theme parks and CityWalk.
The large unanswered query is what time will Epic Universe tickets, trip packages, and resort reservations begin on October 22, 2024?
That is Common’s official (non-)response to that query: “We should not have any info. We advocate staying tuned to our web site and social media channels for its launch on October 22, 2024.” Very useful.
In asking round, we’ve discovered that Common has been tight-lipped about what time gross sales will begin. Whereas it’s potential they’ll announce one thing later as we speak, our guess is that that is purposeful. Common in all probability doesn’t need to reveal the time (or received’t achieve this till final minute) with the intention to cut back pressure on their servers.
This may permit Common to start out gross sales at some random time when site visitors is decrease, corresponding to 4:37 a.m. Japanese. (I pulled that out of skinny air–that isn’t when it’ll be, until by joyful accident.) Walt Disney World does this on a regular basis when dropping reductions, for the very same cause.
We’re nonetheless hoping for an announcement later as we speak, and can replace this accordingly if/when there’s one. If not, we’ll be checking at midnight (which I assume will not be when gross sales begin because it’s robust from a staffing perspective), after which once more beginning round 4:30 a.m. That’s in all probability too early, however I’d moderately err on the facet of warning. A extra fairly time could be round 7 a.m., until they announce one thing even later. These are all simply guesses, although.
Our Previous Park Opening Experiences & Recommendation
We’ve attended a whole lot of opening days for brand spanking new points of interest, lands and leisure at Common and Disney theme parks all over the world. Nonetheless, solely two are sufficiently giant scale and comparatively current sufficient to supply any precedential worth for Epic Universe: Fantasy Springs at Tokyo DisneySea and the grand opening of Shanghai Disneyland.
Unsurprisingly, reserving motels and buying packages for each openings was extraordinarily aggressive. It was far simpler for Shanghai Disneyland, and after a couple of irritating hours on-line when bookings went stay, we ended up with a number of resort reservations and tickets. All issues thought-about, it was easy and easy.
The important thing distinction with Shanghai Disneyland’s grand opening was that it was in a model new market with few followers. Nobody had been across the block with Disney debuts earlier than, so we had a bonus in that we, typically talking, knew how these things labored and the hassle that may be wanted. Touring to China additionally offered extra of a barrier to entry, actually and figuratively, for American followers than Japan, Paris, and even Hong Kong. Level being, it wasn’t that aggressive.
Fantasy Springs is newer and related. That new land is analogous in that it had a phased launch of park tickets, resort reservations, and trip packages. It’s additionally related in that it added a brand new in-park lodge to the combo, which parallels Helios Grand in a couple of methods. And regardless that it’s not a completely new park, it’s a $2 billion growth.
Most significantly, nobody–nobody–is extra passionate or educated than Japanese Disney followers. They’re like Swifties who’re additionally diehard Chiefs followers who’ve been sorted into Slytherin who’re additionally Trekkies who’ve owned each Nintendo system for the reason that Famicom. Suffice to say, attempting to e-book opening night time resort reservations and trip packages was extremely irritating.
We wasted hours upon hours in digital queues over the course of some weeks. We repeatedly got here up empty with the preliminary releases. Because it was a phased strategy like Epic Universe, we additionally discovered ourselves spot-checking reservation availability as different followers who did have success cancelled their packages and launched them again into the wild. Finally, after effectively over a dozen hours of enjoying this sport, we efficiently scored a trip bundle–at our third selection for a lodge. And this was after “buying and selling up” repeatedly.
I’m moving into with the mentality that reserving Epic Universe packages and lodge reservations can be much like this. I don’t assume it might probably be worse, so if it seems to be considerably higher, that’ll be a welcome reduction. Regardless that Epic Universe does function two of the fandoms talked about above, I don’t assume they care that a lot about theme park lands. I additionally don’t assume Common followers come anyplace close to Japanese Disney followers on the depth scale.
Some Common followers may be inclined to dismiss this expertise, noting that each Disney launch appears to be a cluster whereas Common doesn’t appear to have that downside. Issues typically go smoother. However Fantasy Springs additionally wasn’t Disney–it’s OLC, an organization additionally recognized for issues going smoother. A number of months after opening, the reserving course of for Fantasy Springs nonetheless isn’t easy. You may go to the web reservations web page at any ole time, and there may be nonetheless a digital queue to enter!
To make sure, there are issues that completely different corporations can do to streamline the reserving course of, however ultimately, it’s a numbers sport. If 10x the variety of individuals are attempting to e-book one thing as that factor has the capability to accommodate, it’s going to be a tedious and time-consuming course of that leads to extra individuals developing empty than having success.
A minimum of in terms of the opening weekend–and maybe longer–that’s what we’d count on with Epic Universe resort reservations and packages. How lengthy it’ll final is anybody’s guess.
Mine is that, if Common’s Helios Grand Lodge is actually as low-cost because the since-removed beginning worth confirmed, that’s going to be tough to e-book for everything of 2025. Possibly even 2026. Fantasy Springs Lodge continues to be extraordinarily aggressive for all dates which have been launched into 2025, and that lodge is each costly and underwhelming.
Throughout reserving, my guess is that Common followers and vacationers will rapidly notice that Helios Grand Lodge isn’t an possibility, and pivot to backup motels. I’d count on the legacy Signature Assortment motels–those that embody Limitless Categorical Move on the preexisting two gates–to additionally replenish quick. That is what occurred with Miracosta and TDL Lodge through the Fantasy Springs product launch.
This would possibly look like fairly the about-face given our hypothesis that Epic Universe would possibly truly be much less crowded in Summer season 2025 than October by December 2025. In my opinion, each issues will be true directly. That there’s great demand for the primary wave of resort reservations and ticket packages–however that general crowds can be manageable.
The primary cause for that is that, even at 100% occupancy, Helios Grand Lodge and the opposite Signatures are a drop within the bucket as in comparison with Epic Universe park capability. These motels might all be tremendous tough to e-book and the park might be uncrowded. That’s fully throughout the realm of risk.
As with Walt Disney World, much more company come from off-site than on-site, and it’s actually the previous that’s make-or-break in terms of crowds. It’s going to be locals, Annual Passholders, and even out-of-state vacationers with plans to do a Central Florida trip “sooner or later” within the subsequent yr–amongst different demos–which are all outcome-determinative in crowds. Purchasers of packages are going to be a small slice of Common’s general attendance.
The second is that, as famous within the above FAQ, Common Orlando goes to be managing attendance and controlling crowds. Curiously, they’re doing this with out requiring park reservations for the preliminary wave of multi-day tickets. This strongly alerts that they’ve going to realize this–at the very least for the opening week or so–by limiting ticket stock far beneath Epic Universe’s general capability.
For what it’s price, that isn’t Common’s solely possibility. That above-referenced FAQ reply says the next: “ticket stock and capability can be managed to permit every visitor who purchases an Epic Universe-inclusive ticket to go to the park for sooner or later through the course of the validity window of their ticket.”
Be aware that this doesn’t say company who purchase an Epic Universe-inclusive ticket will be capable to go to on the day of their selection. It says “through the course of the validity window.” So it’s fully potential that Epic Universe will hit capability on sure days and inform even these ticket holders to return again a special day. We’d hope that wouldn’t be the case, nevertheless it’s definitely potential. Common’s language leaves that door open.
The choice to that, and what we’d count on to occur, is that Common Orlando will set obtainable ticket stock to this point beneath whole park capability for opening weekend/week that they’re assured they received’t hit the cap–and even come near it. That they’ll deploy dynamic ticket gross sales for subsequent days, releasing extra stock as operations permits.
We count on this to occur as a result of it’s kind of what occurred with Shanghai Disneyland’s grand opening and the debut of Fantasy Springs at Tokyo DisneySea. Each of the official opening days have been the least busy that we’ve skilled in these respective locations. Within the case of the latter, delicate openings have been considerably worse than opening day.
We have been later instructed that Disney set the capability cap for Shanghai Disneyland’s opening day extraordinarily low to make sure a easy and constructive expertise, and regularly scaled up from there. That tracks with our firsthand experiences. Given wait instances and the shortage of crowds, it’s patently apparent the identical factor occurred with Fantasy Springs.
Domestically, one other good instance is Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland. The digital queue to register for previews was an absolute madhouse, one other irritating expertise with multi-hour waits. The crowds for the precise preview days, nonetheless, have been nonexistent. Simply one other illustration of how pressure on the web techniques doesn’t inform the total story, or actually, something.
Clearly Common is a special firm, however the incentives are the identical. The upside of a frictionless launch with constructive phrase of mouth and with out detrimental headlines far outweighs the downsides. Which is a part of why buying packages might be extraordinarily aggressive and tough–as a result of on prime of sky-high demand, provide might be artificially constrained.
That is all a long-winded manner of claiming you need to have your sport face on and be prepared for an intense buy course of when packages and resort reservations go stay on October 22, 2024. If I’m incorrect and it’s inexplicably straightforward–unbelievable. You misplaced nothing besides the time it took you to learn this.
If I’m proper, you ready and hopefully positioned your self for achievement, which is able to prevent frustration, disappointment, and so on.
So far as making ready goes, my sturdy suggestion could be to organize contingency plans. You want to have a number of choices for resorts and, probably, dates. The sooner you intend on going, the extra acceptable options you’ll want to have at your fingertips. You want to be able to pivot immediately, so speak to your loved ones now and decide your prime three resorts and/or backup journey dates. (Higher but, you might be the household journey planner and have full autonomy since everybody else is clueless, through which case you simply have to mentally put together for this.)
In all probability, that is in all probability most crucial for these eager to e-book Helios Grand Lodge. Ticket packages that embody opening weekend of Epic Universe will go quick and be a problem, however my intestine is that Helios Grand Lodge goes to be manner worse.
Aggressive not only for opening weekend–however indefinitely. Particularly if it’s inside $100 per night time of that $293 beginning worth. (Personally, I believe charges round $500/night time are extra doubtless for a lot of the launch season–so that you additionally should be ready for giant variances in pricing.)
It’s a easy numbers sport–lots of people are doubtless going to be attempting to e-book Helios Grand Lodge, and it’s low-capacity relative to that. Lots of people may even be making an attempt to attain the ticket packages–particularly for opening weekend–however these are comparatively excessive capability.
Regardless, my intestine can be that opening weekend for Epic Universe sells out with the packages–earlier than it even will get to AP gross sales on October 24. However that might be incorrect, as the large wildcard is simply how low Common will cap attendance. If there are, in some way, nonetheless opening day tickets left as of Oct. 24, they’re promoting out instantly. In the event that they make it to most people gross sales date for single day tickets, I’ll be shocked.
Lastly, a plug. Should you’re wired and overwhelmed simply studying this, or when you’ve got restricted expertise with Common or Disney product launch days, we’d extremely advocate having the professionals do it for you. Request a quote from Be Our Visitor Holidays, a no-fee Common Most popular Journey Company.
They’ll wait within the digital queue or on maintain by way of the phone so that you don’t should. Once more, I’d count on waits on-line or by way of the cellphone as soon as Epic Universe packages go stay and the entire course of to be very aggressive. Should you do use a journey agent, you continue to want contingency plans as talked about above. There are going to be lots of people attempting for opening night time at Helios Grand Lodge, and my guess is that it’ll be tougher to get into than MIT. So give them choices, too.
And it ought to go with out saying, however if you wish to use a journey agent, the time to submit a quote request is NOW–earlier than October 22, 2024. Don’t wait till tickets & packages go stay, notice you’re overwhelmed, and scramble. They’ll have already got energetic shoppers they’re helping on launch day.
Want journey planning suggestions and complete recommendation in your go to to Central Florida? Be sure that to learn our Common Orlando Planning Information for every part about Islands of Journey and Common Studios Florida. Additionally try our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Information for every part about these parks, resorts, eating places, and a lot extra. For normal updates, information & rumors, a heads up when reductions are launched, and rather more, join our FREE e mail publication!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Do you count on Epic Universe packages and resort reservations to be aggressive, straightforward, or someplace in between? Ideas on crowd management through the preliminary grand opening weekend? Predictions about how easily (or not) the product launches will go? Will you go to Epic Universe in Summer season 2025, or will you look forward to crowds to calm down (in idea)? Suppose Epic Universe can be a 3rd gate that’s a worthy addition to Common Orlando Resort…and doubtlessly on par with Disney’s greatest lands? Any questions? We love listening to from readers, so please share every other ideas or questions you may have within the feedback beneath!
