Epic Universe 2025 and I'Drive development

[khonsu]

So Epic Universe is going full steam ahead now and expects to be opened in 2025 and $2billion being spent on International Drive area during the next 3 years.

Of course we'll all have seen all the new Universal budget(ish) hotels opening at the end of I'Drive in readiness for this. There is a massive building plan for Orlando in progress including a 10,000 room resort, Evermore Orlando Resort, which is being built near WDW for example.

My question for this Disney forum... what effect do you think this will have on the enjoyment of UK tourists into Orlando? Will it be the same experience added to with new things to do? or more overcrowded because of the mass of American's who will obviously want to go?

If you were planning to go to Orlando in 2025 - would this mass of additional tourists, spread across more parks and more entertainment , put you off going or put more fire in your belly to go?



(thank you for the revised opening date!)

[Floridarules]

It’s brilliant and I cannot wait to go.😊
Nothing will detract from Disney and we prefer Universal anyway 😀

[Rescuer]

2025 is the new date after Covid delays.

I think it will be amazing. We love Universal, they seem to be continuously trying to improve what they have to offer. More choice will be a good thing.

[Nimbus]

First - is this actually expected to open in 2023? Wow. I think that was the earliest year I might have guessed at before the pandemic. Given that the development was put on hold for a while last year, I was expecting it to now open in 2024 at the earliest.

Anyway, that aside, I'm not expecting this to make a huge difference to crowds. It will obviously attract more people, but those additional people will be spread over more parks. So, overall, things will even out. Plus this is Universal and not Disney. Disney gets a lot more interest compared to Universal. Universal didn't have to bother with park reservations, for example.

Personally, I'm looking forward to it. Another park to visit in the Orlando area is a good thing, IMO. The only problem would be fitting it all in. Two weeks doesn't feel long enough to do all the parks as it is. We'd now need to go for 3 weeks, at least!

[loldis]

I don't think it will have a huge impact volume wise, once the initial opening spike settles down. Orlando is already a prime destination for the people the park is likely to attract, aka theme park fans. 10k new rooms isn't a massive increase on the 130k rooms already in the area.

[superry]

There is a nice presentation here on some of the i-drive area works - internationaldriveorland...20PP%20web.pdf

The difference in slides 2 & 3

[lizzie145]

i read today that the CEO said it will be open in a couple of years! so 2023

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by lizzie145

i read today that the CEO said it will be open in a couple of years! so 2023

See more...

Yeah, I've seen that. But I wonder whether he meant more like "a few years" rather than literally "two years"?

At this rate Universal will get Epic Universe open before Disney finishes Tron.

[saint rob]

I can’t wait. A whole new theme park, not just a couple of rides but a whole park. I can’t wait to see what the latest technology will bring as regards to the actual rides. New restaurants, new hotels to stay at we might give it a couple years though after opening as we remember what Pandora was like not to mention Galaxies Edge and they were just lands.

[CalypsoCay]

More rooms in the area means competitive pricing and a whole new park spreads the crowds. I think I'll wait though!