Universal Orlando has released the park hours for Epic Universe’s grand opening on May 22, 2025 and first week of operations thereafter, as well as the schedules for Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida. This shares official details, along with our commentary about why this news is disappointing, as is the unduly defensive reaction from some fans.
According to the Universal Orlando Resort calendar, Epic Universe will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. for its grand opening on May 22, 2025. The park also will not host Early Park Admission that date, as early entry at Epic Universe begins May 23 and continues through at least the end of December 2025.
Epic Universe will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. through at least May 31, 2025. Operating hours are not yet available for June onwards, but there’s no reason to expect longer hours for the duration of summer. Epic Universe is sold out of tickets for May, whereas that’s not the case for much of the remainder of the summer season.
Surprisingly, Islands of Adventure is open to the general public from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on May 22, with Early Park Admission starting at 8 a.m. Meaning that decades-old park is effectively operating for 2 extra hours than Epic Universe on the brand-new park’s opening day.
Epic Universe is currently open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. for paid previews, with on-site hotel guests getting Early Park Admission starting at 10 a.m. These sneak peeks are fairly low capacity (our estimates put them at under 50% based on caps, and much lower than that based on actual ticket sales), and Epic Universe paid previews have been extended through almost opening day.
Note that in late May 2025, the sunset time in Orlando, Florida ranges from 8:13 p.m. to 8:18 p.m.
At the risk of stating the obvious, it doesn’t get dark the second the sun goes down; it takes another 30-45 minutes before nightfall and things really start looking good. At least, this has been our experience with Epic Universe during previews.
The park hours for Epic Universe over opening weekend (and beyond) are especially unfortunate given that the park was practically designed to be experienced at night. To be sure, every theme park in Central Florida is better in the evening just by virtue of lighting packages and comfort. But Epic Universe, in particular, has fountains and effects in Celestial Park as well as pretty much the entirety of Dark Universe that only really ‘work’ at night. (More like Daylight Universe, amirite?!)
There are myriad potential reasons for Epic Universe closing early. One is undoubtedly the need to conduct overnight maintenance; several attractions are still unreliable and that’s unlikely to be resolved in the next month. Another is wanting or needing to clear the park by a reasonable hour; if Mine-Cart Madness has a 120 minute wait at park closing, that means the park won’t be guest-free until closer to 11 p.m.
Less charitably, there’s probably the desire to cut costs or push guests towards visiting Islands of Adventure. We already know Comcast has spent a ton of money gearing up for the launch of Epic Universe, and now they’d like to save on operating expenses and recoup their investment. Similarly, there might be park buyouts; we already saw one of these in Dark Universe during previews!
Whatever the reasons, none of them are insurmountable–nor do they justify Universal closing the park so early on the day of its anxiously-awaited grand opening. This move has Big Animal Kingdom Energy, and I do not mean that in a positive way.
Honestly, this is another thing making me want to push off our opening weekend trip to Universal Orlando that we booked months ago.
It feels like this is going to be a not-so-grand opening for Epic Universe, and an anticlimactic experience when all is said and done. Following months of previews and a gala media event in the couple of days leading up to May 22, it just seems like the day itself is going to be business as usual and lacking the usual fanfare that comes with such openings.
I’m sure the big day will still be special with diehard Universal fans and Team Members, and I don’t want to suggest otherwise. But it looks like the company isn’t doing anything special, and that a lot of the excitement has been pulled forward to the previews that most of those same fans will already have attended. This isn’t necessarily a complaint–having the opportunity to experience those previews has been awesome. There’s just less of an incentive to be there on May 22.
That’s a minor detail in the grand scheme of things; I’m more concerned about the possibility/probability of Epic Universe not being open at night during its first summer. It’s such a stunning park at night, and it feels like that’s being squandered. I don’t believe Epic Universe “needs” these shorter hours, but if it does, operate from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m., at the very least. I would’ve thought Universal would want to leave tourists with a lasting impression to take home and share with friends and family; word of mouth is going to be hugely important to this park.
What’s most disheartening about this is fans immediately jumping to Universal’s defense, preemptively offering excuses on the company’s behalf for why this is a necessary move. That it simply isn’t possible or pragmatic for Epic Universe to have a later closing on opening day than 9 p.m. for X or Y reason. Closing must occur earlier as a result of certain operational realities, or whatever. Thankfully, this is not the perspective of most Universal fans–but it is of too many.
As a longtime Walt Disney World fan, I’d strongly caution the Universal diehards against this–it’s a slippery slope. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve heard that X or Y isn’t possible for this reason or that. Fans provide a pretext, giving the company a pass on making a business decision that’s negative for the guest experience; it’s often done under the misguided notion that the fans are defending the creatives or passionate people working hard to deliver an exemplary experience. The problem with this line of thinking is that creatives are rarely (read: almost never) the ones making business decisions.
(At least when it comes to park hours, there’s clear consensus that Walt Disney World should have longer hours at Magic Kingdom. Most also agree that Animal Kingdom shouldn’t close before sunset, as happens much of the year. At the very least, you don’t really have fans defending the shorter hours. Most point to the 8 a.m. to midnight hours at Disneyland and wonder why we can’t have that. There’s also a definite double-standard with how fans treat Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando.)
Sometimes, it is the case that decisions are necessary for reasons fans cannot comprehend or appreciate. From the outside looking in, we cannot see the complete picture or understand the practical realities of running a theme park. We can have unrealistic expectations; there’s really no denying that.
But quite often, there is not consensus about this stuff within the company, either. This should be obvious, as you probably don’t agree with every decision made in your workplace, school, etc. There’s almost never unanimous agreement even in smaller organizations–now imagine how that scales to multinational conglomerates.
When it comes to theme parks, there are a lot of hard-fought internal battles; the people who are passionate about the product are trying to deliver more. It’s not uncommon for them to need “ammunition” in the form of fan feedback to support their position. I’m not necessarily saying that’s what’s happening here, but I am saying that the people who always jump to a company’s defense because they think criticism is tantamount to unloyalty are really the ones who are misguided. They’re the ones who are behaving in ways detrimental to the quality of the experience; constructive criticism is an asset, not a liability.
I mention all of this because one of the ways that Epic Universe struck me most while walking around was how many of the battles Universal Creative won. There are so many ‘superfluous’ details in Epic Universe that we’ve never seen in a domestic Universal theme park outside of the Harry Potter lands. Plenty of things that could’ve easily been cut when the budget started to spiral, but somehow weren’t. So much of this project struck me as an ‘against all odds’ accomplishment.
There were a number of instances, in fact, where I was impressed by a relatively little thing because I knew there’s no way present-day Imagineering would’ve had the political capital to win some of these same battles (at least not domestically). This isn’t to say Epic Universe surpasses all six Disney theme parks in the United States; it definitely does not. It’s more that you can walk around and be struck by this or that, and think: “Disney never would’ve done this.” (For the record, this cuts both ways–but this isn’t an Epic Universe review.)
Granted, it’s possible that Comcast simply gave them a blank check and complete autonomy. I somehow doubt that. Even though I don’t have nearly as much insight to the dynamic between leadership and creative at this company, I do have a loose understanding of how it works at Disney. Moreover, I have eyes. I’ve seen the end results at Universal’s existing gates and the sharp contrast between those and Epic Universe. It’s not like the same creatives responsible for those additions suddenly “got good” when it came to Epic Universe.
Point being, Universal Creative managed to make something special, and they did that with not just exquisite lighting packages but also core themed design in some areas that is truly better at night. I would hazard a guess that the process itself was often oriented around how certain areas would look and feel under the controlled nighttime show lighting.
Defend this early closing if you want. That’s obviously your prerogative. There are no doubt valid reasons why Epic Universe might “need” to close at 9 p.m. during its opening summer. There are also reasons why it shouldn’t, and on balance, it’s difficult for me to see the former winning out for any other reason than ease and expense.
When it comes to offering unwavering support of whatever decisions a company makes, do so with the knowledge that maybe, just maybe, you’re defending the “wrong” people in an internal power struggle. If the teams behind Dark Universe, Celestial Park, Super Nintendo World, etc., could speak their minds freely without fear of reprisal, do you honestly think they’d say, “yes of course, we want this thing we’ve passionately created for the past decade to close after 30 minutes of dusk.”
Anyway, I wanted to offer this ‘pep talk’ to Universal fans because there’s definitely a certain “Second City Syndrome” among many of them. I get it. You want to defend ‘your parks’ because so many Disney fans offer nothing but criticism and condescension. (The same dynamic exists, albeit to a lesser extent, with Animal Kingdom enthusiasts within the WDW fandom.)
However, the tides are turning on that. With Epic Universe, you’ve reached The Big Show. This park is going to turn heads and cause a critical reevaluation of Universal, including (especially) among Disney diehards. It might behoove you to hold Universal to the same high standard going forward that the park’s creators held themselves to when designing and building Epic Universe. Defending decisions detrimental to the guest experience isn’t doing anyone any favors; just ask Walt Disney World fans how that’s worked out for us.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Thoughts on Universal Orlando closing Epic Universe at 9 p.m. on its grand opening day and thereafter in May 2025 even officially? Think there’s a good reason for this, or is it a cost-savings (or way to sell the park twice for corporate buyouts)? Hoping Universal Orlando does things differently/better with operations of this exceptional new theme park? What do you think the reaction would be if Walt Disney World did this? Agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions? We love hearing from readers, so please share any other thoughts or questions you have in the comments below.
