So my kids and are I planning on 1 day at Epic Universe on 12/28. I am expecting CRAZY crowds so I restarted my TP account to get a plan together…but TP is saying Epic is a 3 that day??? That can’t be right! They have Islands and US at 9 and 10. Why in the world would Epic be a 3? It’s throwing my touring plan off, saying we will only wait 23 minutes for certain rides. Any thoughts?
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My family is going to EPIC on the 25th, Christmas Day! TP is showing a crowd level of 4 with relatively low wait times. The only thing I can think of is people are going to be walking around enjoying the atmosphere and not riding. Or maybe everyone is going to the other parks. I’m not sure, but I’m hoping TP is correct.
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I don’t think there is enough data for anyone to count on those crowd levels.
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I would think that without sufficient data, the default should be the average of the other two parks.
I skimmed the Epic numbers through March and there are only a few 5 and 6 days at the highest. Most are labeled 2,3, or 4. If it were me, I would take that into account and look at the wait times associated with those days as they come to assign some meaning to the values. We know Epic wait times are all over the place and lean high. Best advice I’ve seen is go on a Saturday or Sunday until the end of the year. Because reliability is such an issue, I think it is hard to predict. But, if you consider 5 and 6 as the highest days predicted, I guess you can try to read something into that. No help, I know.
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I mean, I’d love a 3 crowd but I don’t want to bet on that 
So what’s the best way to get a more accurate touring plan? Maybe pick a day that epic is 9 and try that?
It only goes up to 6 as far as I can tell. Let us know if you find a 9!
ETA: I stand corrected, I see some 7s and 8s coming in May and June.
Another edit- Tuesday October 6 is a 9 when the other parks are 3 and 4.
There have been a couple of threads about this recently .
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I’m just tagging in to agree that the Epic crowd calendar for 2025 is not accurate due to this being the first year of operations. All of TP’s CL numbers are based on the previous years’ attendance. The park has only been open 6 months. I doubt the Epic calendar will be accurate until late 2026 or later.
2026 will be hard to predict because the park didn’t open until almost June of 2025. Then it was only open for a “limited” capacity for a nearly 6 weeks.
IMHO - It’s going to take 18 months of operations before TP can produce an even somewhat accurate CL. Plus, UOR isn’t the main focus of TP… 90% of operations go into WDW. Until this last year I’d have said UOR only got like 3% of TP’s attention with DLR getting the rest. (FYI - These numbers are all fictional hyperbole to illustrate my point)
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I’ve got similar numbers for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. My solution is two days and express. I’m betting it will be crowded but at least the park is open till 10pm and I booked one night at Helios in between. I’m not taking chances I don’t get to see all I want lol.
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Our goal is not to ride every ride, but to experience the park. I’m going to make a TP and hope that the wait times are close, they probably aren’t. But also I feel lost not having some sort of a plan going into the park. Even if that plan gets blown up and we have to pivot.
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I think that the reason it is a 3 is that they are still “capping” attendance with no APs and only selling single day tickets. But that doesn’t really help you with wait times. Len had done some calculations and it seems like the TPs are still fairly accurate. I would personally build in long breaks every couple of hours to make up the time. If you want to meet Toothless, rope drop that at 9am.
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One thing i noticed recently when I had to move dates is that there were no 1 day or 2 day passes with 1 day at epic available. And then I just happened to check last week and there was both for several days during Christmas week. My guess is they are increasing capacity. (We were consequently able to get our two days back in the park that I had lost by moving dates but I am worried it means bigger crowds)
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I almost snuck down there last week. (My DW had to go on a business trip all week and it was my birthday)
I went online when planning, but I didn’t see anything except a 3 day pass with Epic as one of the days. The other option was an AP w/ a single Epic date. I almost bought that, but VB was closed on those dates. I really wanted to go before it’s closed for a year. 
I found $200 RT airfare and $89 Dockside nightly. It was going to cost the most for the park tickets / AP than anything else. Plus, getting an AP means I will feel forced to maximize it’s value when I need to save a bit right now. I almost cashed in this year’s Universal Visa points, but I really need them for Fanfest at USH next May!
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Then I wish they would just not list them. It’s kind of annoying and shady that they keep updating the crowd predictions but it’s clear they have nothing to base it on.
Basing it on previous years attendance doesn’t really explain it. The numbers for Epic are not the same as the other parks. I’m visiting in January and they list USF and IOA as being around a 6 to 7 those days but EU is listed as a 2 for all days.
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Have you reached out to Touring Plans? I expect that based on the artificial attendance caps, the crowd levels are correct (although Universal just added additional tickets). So compared to future years, there will be less people in the the park.
It is important to note that for an IOA level 3, Hagrid’s can still have a 2 hour wait.
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But, doesn’t TP base their numbers on wait time and not crowds? I haven’t heard any reports that would make me think that late December in Epic will have wait times that would justify a 2.
In fact, based on the reports, I bought express passes for the first time ever for our upcoming Jan. trip. (Not counting premier hotel passes)
I personally think my ‘ignore the Epic numbers and assume the average of the other parks’ will be more accurate.
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Yes they are based on wait times:
I think all of us here look at these numbers through our own lens, but we are all just touring plans users. If people have questions about the numbers, I would use the “contact us” link on the website/app.
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They have data for USF & IOA. That’s why thoses CLs are more likely to be accurate. TP is only guessing at Epic attendance because of the lack of data. That’s why its CL is different.
I love TP!! I truly do. IME - They shouldn’t be doing an Epic calendar until late 2026.
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