My family is visiting Epic Universe on 12/28 and my husband will be dropping us off. Someone in a Facebook group I’m in suggested being dropped off at one of the hotels so we could use the water taxi- is this allowed? We have always stayed on property and I can’t remember ever being asked for my room key to get to the taxi but I don’t want to plan on that and have it be a mess. Would it be possible to be dropped off at Helios and use that entrance?? Just trying to maximize our time because I know it will be CRAZY that day!
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Epic Universe is nowhere near the water taxis. However, I have never had them check hotel key and the UG even recommends using them when staying at Cabana Bay or Aventura. Also, I can see day guests using them to eat at the various hotels which is allowed for non resort guests. I believe the water taxis are like WDWs transportation, open to all guests.
WRT to Epic UG says you cannot use the hotel entrance into the park in the morning without a Helios room key but that later in the day you can. I expect so people can visit the hotel for lunch and come back in.
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Thanks! We haven’t been since Epic was built. Guess I need to research to fastest way to enter that park! Does it have separate security? I’m nervous b/c I know the crowds will be crazy and we’ve ALWAYS stayed onsite when we’ve visited and we won’t be this time.
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Yes, it has its own parking lot and own drop off area so I recommend he drop you off there. It’s by the Convention center 2 miles away from the original parks. From what I’ve seen their security is very efficient and Epic doesn’t even use park tickets but photos of you for entering, exiting which is apparently much faster than the older parks.
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This is all so helpful!! Is the photo thing something I can set up before we enter? I’ve got our tickets on the app and we’ve all been before, but it’s been a few years. Also, I’m seeing from a TP video that you can enter the park early even if you don’t have Early Admission, you just can’t ride anything? Is that correct? Would it be a good idea to get there early so we can get to lines as soon as the park officially opens? Again, really appreciate the help!
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Yes this is true that you can enter early they just require room keys to get on stardust racers or into lands that open early. So yes you can line up in the non-early entry line to get into the various lands or enter a land like Berk where I believe you’d be on even footing first.
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Also apparently according to UG the central area stays open an hour past closing. I haven’t been yet myself but am currently reading the guidebook that just came out this month as we leave Thurs for our combined WDW/Universal trip. So my info is coming from being in the middle of reading that. I’m on one of the later chapters for dining. I read cover to cover so I don’t miss tips lol
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You could, in theory, be dropped off at one of the Endless Summer hotels (for example) and take the buses to any of the parks. However, I am not sure what advantage that offers. I would believe there is a passenger drop off location as well if you aren’t actually parking, although I have no first hand knowledge of doing this.
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UG says there is a passenger drop off area in parking lot. Same place you’d do ride share.
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I think it is helpful to see an overview of Universal Orlando Resort to get a better sense of the distances. Note that it is about 5 MILES (2 miles as the crow flies) from Epic to the other parks. i.e., NOT walking distance.
This map includes all the parks and hotels. I marked a few extra things:
- Red box is CityWalk. The parking lot, bus depot, water taxi dock, and entrances to IoA / USF are all within the CityWalk zone, which is fairly large itself.
- Blue wavy line is where the water taxi goes - they run from Sapphire Falls / Royal Pacific and from Portofino / Hard Rock to the main dock at CityWalk.
- Red X in the lower left is the main entrance to Epic. You can either walk from Stella Nova / Terra Luna or take a bus from CityWalk or one of the other resorts.
- The orange X is approximately where the Helios dedicated park entrance is.
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If I were you I would just get dropped off at Epic about 60-75 minutes before early entry. They don’t check for room keys until you get to the portals and they only check at EE portals. So I would rope drop BaTM or Meeting Toothless.
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This is an excellent strategy if you want to do this ride. Officially opens at 10:00 but from all accounts (including mine) it actually opens at 9:00, even for off-site guests without Early Entry.
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Wow! Nice catch! I didn’t even know that putting your photo on the App beforehand was possible!
I’m hoping this technology is the introduction to facial recognition at the lockers like they do at Universal Japan!!
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They use it for the lockers in Epic too! At least that what UG tells me
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One day, hopefully, I will get to go! I’m still sticking to my stance of not visiting until I can get into there with an Annual Pass!
I came sooooo close to going about two weeks ago! I saw great deals on every part of an impromptu trip except park tickets.
A three day ticket package visit to UOR, with one day being Epic, was more than an AP!! 
I’ll just wait until I can make a trip where I can go into that park more than once in a visit.
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For 2026, you can buy multi-day tickets that allow visiting Epic every day. We bought 3-day tickets for our February trip, and we can visit Epic all three days if we want. (We are only doing 2 days in Epic, however.)
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Yeah, but that rate is almost identical to a current Seasonal AP to USF/IOA…. If I’m going to pay nearly $500 I want to maximize value.
I’m just being stubborn about it! 
I’m going to USH and mostly likely DLR in May….
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Sure. I’m not sure if they offer discounts for AP holders at all, but from my understanding, it might be a very long time before APs include Epic, since they are dealing with park capacity issues.
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Yeah… I’m speculating that it’s not happening in eiter Q1 or Q2 off this year…
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