Wohoo!! I was really hoping weâd get to see it this summer - canât wait!
Iâm really excited to hear how it works out for you! This is a great deal!!
Hoo boy, I just complicated it again.
Took a look at Get Away Today prices. The Buy 3 Days Get 2 Days Free park-to-park ticket is $466 there, and the 2-day 3-park Express Pass is $309 ($390 for 3 days). ETA: The admission ticket does NOT include Epic, see my next post.
So for $775 on GAT, we could get 5 park-to-park days with 2 days of 3-park EPsââonlyâ $266 more than the $509 cost for our 6 park-to-park days with no EP from Attraction Tickets. (We have 3 full park days and potentially 3 partial days.)
Thatâs tempting.
Double check that ticket includes Epic. Iâm only seeing the one at kids prices to include Epic (regular not express) but maybe Iâm looking at it wrong. 
Youâre rightâthe Buy 3 Days Get 2 Days Free ticket does NOT include Epic. So thatâs a non-starter. Dang.
Iâve seen somewhere lately (UOR site?) that you must use a multi-day ticket on the first eligible date. Like, if you have a 5-day ticket thatâs good for any 5 days in a 7-day period, and you purchase it with a starting date of Dec 1, you must start using it on Dec 1. You canât use it Dec 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Does that sound right? If itâs really the policy, is it enforced?
I asked Gemini this question and they said:
That is a common point of confusion, but the short answer is no, you do not have to use the ticket on the very first day.
The date you select when purchasing a Universal Orlando ticket is the start of your âvalidity window,â not a âuse it or lose itâ requirement for day one.
Why the confusion exists?
You likely saw this on the Universal site or a blog because of how the legal text is phrased: âTicket is valid over an X-day consecutive calendar day period which commences on and includes the date selected .â This legal jargon simply means the âclockâ starts ticking on that date, regardless of whether you actually walk through the gates.
I think maybe that is the language I sawâŚ
I think Gemini is right about this. I have used tickets that are valid for certain days but I didnât use it on the first eligible day and it was fine.
Thatâs reassuring. Were those tickets for Universal or for Disney?
I can confirm that Universal will allow you to use you 5 days worth of tickets any time during your 7 day window. I have done this myself for when I was bringing DD with me
That also applies to the multi-day EP. We got 5-day EP tickets and starting the day before I wanted them to start was about $50 cheaper for each. Activating them for the first time on the second day was no problem. I suspect that the price difference was the more expensive included two weekends.
Sis is surprisingly YOLOing about Express Pass. So I guess weâre going for it.
Should I tell myself weâre actually saving money by only getting the $309 2-day pass and not the $456 5-day pass?
Universal in my case as well.
Work is slow today and I am bored, so Iâm daydreaming about future trips ⌠to UOR, and elsewhereâŚ
Todayâs daydream is about how to use a 2-day Express Pass over our 6 days at UOR.
Our upcoming itinerary (me and Sis):
- Dec 1: Arrive, check in to Terra Luna around 1:30 or 2:00. Visit Epic.
- Dec 2â4: Visit all 3 UOR parks. Express Pass for 2 of these days.
- Dec 5: Morning: Epic? or more Hagridâs? Mid-afternoon: Go to Jollywood in WDW (Lyft back & forth).
- Dec 6: Check out of Terra Luna. Last hit on UOR parks. Depart for airport around 3:00pm.
This will be Sisterâs first visit to Epic. Her previous visits were 3 days in 2017 with Unlimited Express Pass and 1 short Hagrid-focused day in 2022 with no Express Pass. Both of those times were with me and my DD; those were my first visits to UOR too, but I was also there in 2025 with DD.
Iâm excited to go to Epic again with an Epic virgin.
Just idly thinking about which days to use the Express Pass (good for 1 ride per attraction per day at all 3 parks). Weâll use it on 2 of our 3 full park daysâDec 2, 3, 4.
Might depend on the weather, as weâd like to get in some pool time if itâs warm enough, and we probably wonât want to waste too much of the EP days on non-park activities.
Itâs great that weâll be able to start slow with an unrushed, EP-less first visit to Epic on our arrival day, Dec 1. No pressure to wait in any long standby lines, just soak up the awesome atmosphere, both daytime and nighttime versions. Have a nice dinner, maybe see a show, do a couple rides if the lines arenât too bad.
But what about the next 3 days?
Should we go full-tilt right away with EP on Dec 2 and 3, then fill in on Dec 4 with streetmosphere and shows and so forth?
Or get Sis re-oriented to the OG parks on Dec 2, and then go EP-ride-crazy on Dec 3 and 4?
Or make a standby-sandwichâEP on Dec 2, standby on Dec 3, EP on Dec 4?
WWYD?
Thereâs no rush to decide this, but againâIâm bored.
Seems like the right time for a poll.
- Dec 2 & 3
- Dec 3 & 4
- Dec 2 & 4
- Other (no fair adding a 3rd EP day!)
When I saw your dates I was wondering if a Universal Informer event will be scheduled on the 4th and if it is, will it impact your planning that day?
I looked and I donât think the December dates have been announced.
Why were you thinking thisâhas that event historically been on this date?
Last year it was December 5-6 and 12-13
So, the first and second Fridays and Saturdays of Decemberâdoes it tend to follow that pattern?