Universal ‘holding back’ on operating Epic Universe at full capacity
Epic Universe is not operating at its full capacity, but Universal plans to change that in the coming months.
Photo by Matt Roseboom
Universal has intentionally capped the new theme park’s ticket sales at a lower volume than the park’s full capacity.
“We’ve been holding back a little bit,” Mike Cavanagh, president of Comcast (and future co-CEO, effective in 2026), stated during the corporation’s quarterly earnings call on Oct. 30, 2025, “to make sure the experience is what we want it to be. Expect it to fully scale up in the months ahead.”
Additionally, within the park’s capped capacity, the executive stated “our focus now is driving increased ride capacity. It’s a new park and very technologically advanced. We’re still working on the labor and the kinks to drive it to full capacity.”
Checking the Universal Orlando app while writing this story, the longest waits in the park are Mine-Cart Madness and Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, both posted at 90 minutes just b efore 10 a.m. (Today, the park opened for Universal hotel guests at 9, and will open to everyone at 10.)
Universal says attendance and spending across all of Universal Orlando is benefitting from the opening of Epic Universe.
“Orlando broadly, the full resort of Orlando, is very strong,” Cavanagh said. “We’re very pleased. The idea was to have Epic head us toward a week-long vacation experience. One of the nice things is that [there’s been] lesser cannibalization of attendance from our two preexisting parks than we expected.”
Many early ticket packages for Epic Universe required guests to purchase at least one day at Universal Studios Florida and/or Universal Islands of Adventure in order to receive a one-day ticket to Epic Universe.
Globally, Universal Destinations & Experiences reported an 18.7% revenue increase in Q3 2025 year-over-year, attributed to the opening of Epic Universe.
Photo courtesy of Universal
Update: Epic Universe still faces capacity challenges in late 2026
More than a year after Universal acknowledged intentionally limiting attendance at Epic Universe, the company is still working to improve the park’s operating capacity.
During Comcast’s third-quarter earnings call on Oct. 22, 2026, company President Mike Cavanagh acknowledged ongoing challenges involving ride capacity and technology at Universal’s newest theme park.
The company is focusing on improving attraction reliability and ride throughput, including training employees to load and unload guests more efficiently.
The update comes as Universal’s theme park division reported a 4.4% decline in revenue and a 17.1% drop in adjusted EBITDA for the quarter.
Earlier this year, Comcast executives projected that Epic Universe would reach full operating capacity by the end of 2026. However, the October earnings call did not establish a revised completion date or confirm that the park had reached that milestone.
Read our October 2026 report on Epic Universe’s operational challenges for additional details.
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This is a joke. 4 hour wait for many rides and over 90 mins for most.
If there are rides with 90 minute wait times before the park even officially opens then they need to re-evaluate whatever capacity they thought they had because they clearly shouldn’t be increasing the number of guests at that point.
My Family and I had the worst time at Epic. It was soo crowded and waited over 3 hrs for one ride. It was an EPIC FAIL!
The queues for the major rides are outrageous right now and cannot be trusted to work without issue for even half the day. They absolutely have no business running this park at capacity.
I vehemently disagree.. Every single ride averages 100 minute wait. Under capacity is an egregious disconnection from reality. We have been twice, and it was so over crowded that it was not enjoyable. This post pretty much cements the our sentiment that we will not be going back.
THERE. AREN’T. ENOUGH. RIDES. End of story. It’s a park focused entirely on how it looks and not nearly enough on how it operates. The first time they try to squeeze 50,000 people into Epic, 49,999 will never want to go back.
Just back from Orlando. The words I heard so often, even after saying it to my own family was Epic failure. We were aware of the restricted capacity. Wow. We faced waits of 150 minutes on some rides. Kids disappointed. Waste of a day out. Rest of Universal stands up well to Disney but this requires some work! Also feel like Universal are more in your face about making $ than Disney, but the latter does it in a much nicer, magical way.
I was at Epic a week ago today. It was super crowded, with the most congestion being the Nintendo world. Strollers and wagons everywhere! Very colorful though.
The wait for the Ministry of Magic ride was over 2 hours. There was lots to see in the line, but the Potter rides at the other parks were more fun. We went to the Untrainable Dragon show and there was a malfunction with the flying dragon. We were yelled at to immediately leave the theater and told not to take pictures. They handed out express tickets good for one ride as we left the venue, so that was a bonus.
I went to all three parks, and Epic is on the bottom of my list.