Clue to early Epic Universe opening-DRASTIC hotel price increases?!

[Carvanafan]

Based on their pace of construction, I have been thinking that Epic Universe is likely to be open before my son's spring break 2025. So when I got his school calendar I looked into hotel rates for the exact dates he'll be off. The prices DOUBLE before that time. Like, I had been seeing prices under $200 per night for the Endless Summer/Surfside, 200-$300 for the moderately priced and $500+ for premier for peak times generally. But when I plugged in those dates It's now over $200 for the cheapest and $900+ for premier! And it's not because people have grabbed the basic rooms. These are for the basic rooms. Am I ridiculous to think this is evidence that Epic Universe is opening in EARLY 2025?!

 

[eticketplease]

Based on their pace of construction, I have been thinking that Epic Universe is likely to be open before my son's spring break 2025. So when I got his school calendar I looked into hotel rates for the exact dates he'll be off. The prices DOUBLE before that time. Like, I had been seeing prices under $200 per night for the Endless Summer/Surfside, 200-$300 for the moderately priced and $500+ for premier for peak times generally. But when I plugged in those dates It's now over $200 for the cheapest and $900+ for premier! And it's not because people have grabbed the basic rooms. These are for the basic rooms. Am I ridiculous to think this is evidence that Epic Universe is opening in EARLY 2025?!

I don’t think so.

We went Easter Week 2023 and Royal Pacific was $1k a night plus parking for a standard room.

 

[Minnie1222]

But when I plugged in those dates It's now over $200 for the cheapest and $900+ for premier! And it's not because people have grabbed the basic rooms. These are for the basic rooms. Am I ridiculous to think this is evidence that Epic Universe is opening in EARLY 2025?!

Did you plug in the same dates for 2024 to see if there's a big difference? I was looking at the third weekend this month and the cheapest room at Hard Rock is $925.

 

[Carvanafan]

Ok..maybe I am being ridiculous. Thank you all for replying, that was super helpful. I thought I had been pricing peak dates before but when I just checked again I see you are right. Might have to sell some of my DVC points to do it

 

[eticketplease]

Ok..maybe I am being ridiculous. Thank you all for replying, that was super helpful. I thought I had been pricing peak dates before but when I just checked again I see you are right. Might have to sell some of my DVC points to do it

If you are going stay in the deluxe. We just checked in for the 1 night but had express pass unlimited on check in and check out day.

Everyone in the room gets it as well so depending on how many people in your room it can be a steal. The day of price was $230 and $300 the next day.

We had 4 people in the room.
$230 x 4 = $920
$300 x 4 = $1,200

Total if we paid for express pass unlimited $2,120 and we paid $1k for the room.

 

[weather_lady]

I'm sure an Epic-related price bump is coming, but I don't think it's happened yet. In our past experience, Universal does its big price bumps for major school vacation weeks, ride openings, and other crowd-swelling events about 4-8 months ahead of time (although with Epic Universe, I'm thinking it's going to happen right around the time they announce an opening month or date, which could be as much as a year ahead). As an example, when we last visited over a President's Day Week school break, Universal doubled its hotel room rates about 6 months ahead of time. Now, as then, so long as we book before the bump and don't modify our reservation, we can get locked in to a better rate.

To that end, we're booked for at RPR for August 2025 already (hoping Epic will be open by then), but the nightly rate we're paying definitely doesn't represent a price bump! (We're currently booked in a Jurassic Family Suite, with a SMSM rate of $656/night).

I can't do an apples-to-apples 2024/2025 comparison with the Jurassic Family Suite, since they're all booked for our week in August 2024 already. However, currently, a week in a Standard 2-Queen room at RPR for the third week in August 2025 is $380/night, but for the third week of August 2024, it's $485/night (both with SMSM discount). While I'm sure that the higher 2024 rate is simply because the supply is much more limited, given that it's less than 6 months away, my best guess is that it started out in the same ballpark as the now-available August 2025 rates, and probably just a little less, since the rates go up a little every year. Either way, there definitely hasn't been a price jump like we'd expect to see if the 2025 prices had already been adjusted for Epic Universe. I wouldn't be surprised to see prices double or even triple for the first few weeks after Epic opens.

 

[halfpintpeggy]

Ok..maybe I am being ridiculous. Thank you all for replying, that was super helpful. I thought I had been pricing peak dates before but when I just checked again I see you are right. Might have to sell some of my DVC points to do it

You could stay at one of the Uni Partner Hotels to save money. Guests at the Partner Hotels receive the same early admission as onsite hotel guests. And shuttles are provided by reservation.

 

[keishashadow]

You could stay at one of the Uni Partner Hotels to save money. Guests at the Partner Hotels receive the same early admission as onsite hotel guests.

It’s not known yet how/who entrance will work for Epic for onsite guests, let alone off

Chatter out there..could be initial restrictions in place re park/land entrance that favor epic’s onsite properties first, then the existing deluxe & so on down food chain

Should know soon enough how to access this sure to be hot ticket!

 

[tony67]

Yeah I doubt we will see express for any resorts initially for Epic.

Pricing the "cheaper" hotels at Epic one of them is 168 right now for the last weekend in May (5 night stay discount).
That seems to be about right. With AP it may be even less.

I think its unlikely to open before Memorial Day weekend.
They are making what seems to be great progress, but we also hear rumors of lots of issues.

Ill be waiting till HHN most likely - let them work out all the kinks etc...

That said if I could get a ticket for opening day I might, just to be there.