EP is already so limited though. I feel like the existing lines could cope with guests from a new hotel without too much extra waits.
Maybe that’s naive thinking.
I take your point 
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On the other hand, while there won’t be EP at Epic at first, there would still be hotel guests there, which would draw away demand for EP at the other two parks. I think this draw would be at least proportional to the new capacity at the Helios hotel if not skewed more toward Epic Universe. So EP might be actually under less strain.
But there are a lot of factors, and I think UOR is assuming the overall guest count will surge more than park capacity is increasing, meaning everything will be busier. So that could be why they’re being cautious with adding more EP-eligible hotel rooms.
Or, they could just not like the idea of giving Helios hotel guests EP access for parks which are a drive away (from a guest services perspective). It might confuse guests that the benefit is not available for the closest park. It’s a nuance that would be easier to not have to deal with.
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Good points. Yes it sounds like Universal is going to err on the cautious side, they’ll already have enough to deal with.
The new Parkstop Podcast is out today in case anyone wants to get their take on the Express issue.
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Yes, I was thinking that too, but then I thought that while of course everyone will check out the new park, they’ll probably still hit the existing ones too 
Maybe it all balances out.
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Depending on dates and how expensive the new hotel is, I could see staying 2-3 nights at a premier near city walk, and then transferring to Helios for a day at Epic Universe.
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I could also see them expecting demand for Helios being high, high enough that people would be grumpy if they were forced to pay premium prices at one of the ‘old hotels’. So, this is a way to even out the demand.
As someone that likes to move to Cabana Bay for VB access, I could totally see myself moving to Helios for Epic vacation time.
If they aren’t going to allow upgrades for existing passholders to add Epic, how would that work? I could see them not allowing it to be added for free.
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They’ll need to buy a regular date-based ticket. That way Universal will know exactly how many visitors to expect each day. That’s important with a brand new park.
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Any speculation on what “well after” might mean? I am thinking about a fall 2025 Universal trip, but it would be a short trip so probably wouldn’t do it without express. Given how Universal handled express with new rides, “well after” may mean over a year.
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Yep. Especially the top attractions like Monsters Unleashed, Mario Kart, and Battle at the Ministry.
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We are planning to go early 2026. I hope they don’t do Express Pass until after our trip!
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I’m planning Feb 2026!
Maybe we should start a “Epic Liners in the Verse 2025 - 2026” for those of us going!
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We will probably go to Epic Universe in June 2026 as part of a larger Orlando vacation with the rest of UOR and WDW. We’ll probably cut one day out of our usual 3 days at UOR to dedicate to Epic (meaning just 1.5 days for IoA and USF, plus 0.5 days for VB). I’ll need to decide if we need 2 full days at Epic (meaning less time at Disney) or if 1 full day is enough.
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IMHO - I’d rather take longer doing new attractions than repeats - even if they’re really good repeats.
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For us it’s more about being in a place we love than necessarily riding the rides, though the rides are a big part of it. I am cautious about being in Epic Universe too long on our first trip since it will likely be crowded and there are a lot more rides that my kids may not be brave enough to ride. But we will see based on the early reports and make decisions accordingly.
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I think epic will be a full two day park at opening.
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I stumbled across what is IMHO the best drone footage of the current Epic construction. It is 15 minutes long & has no audio. It documents the entire park…
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Beautiful! 
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Jim Hill started a Universal Podcast before the pandemic, but it fizzled out. This morning, after years of inactivity, Jim has resumed his Universal podcast. It has been renamed to Epic Universal Podcast.
This first one is an intro show, but has a couple good segments. They have a universal Creative person on who worked on VCON. They’re not breaking any news or saying anything you may not already know. However, it’s nice to have another UOR podcast from a reputable source.
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