Universal's Epic Universe on track for 2025 opening, according to NBCUniversal CEO

“There’s clearly a demand/supply imbalance, and I think we’re opening a theme park right at the right time,” Shell said.

Indeed

Shell also talked about the new park’s proximity to the Orange County Convention Center being a possible advantage in terms of attendance. With the park designed so that visitors can come into one land without having to visit the whole park, Shell hopes the company can tap into the “nighttime convention business.”

I found this interesting. How is that going to work if one area is inevitably more popular than the others? Different hours? Will there be a queue to get in? Reservations? *gasp*

Awesome, will open before TRON!

I too was intrigued by the comment regarding "nighttime convention business". Never really thought of this before as a potential market segment.

Some of the best convention events I have ever attended were the IAAPA after hours park buyouts. Universal already has an edge over Disney due to the closer proximity to OCCC. Additionally, my experience having attended IAAPA events at both entities (WDW & USO), Universal puts on a better show and host for these types of private events.

So, designing a "land" or area of this new park that can be blocked off and used for an after hours event could be a home run for incremental revenue, let alone the entire park for the largest of convention buyouts. The OCCC is one of the busiest convention destinations in the US and hosts some serious large conventions throughout the year. There is a ton of opportunity here.

I don't know if it's because of their event business, but the existing parks close so early much of the year, 7 p.m., that I can't justify buying passes. I can't possibly go during the week. I wonder if they'll do that at Epic as well.

They do close the parks early for public events quite often. Though much of the time, park hours are based on projected attendance numbers, they also often make adjustments for private / corporate events. In my opinion, if you live within a reasonable distance, passes are the only way to go. I would have a hard time justifying paying full price for day -to-day tickets when the parks are only open for 8 or 9 hours each day.

I just don't go unless I can get comps from someone. The passes would be useless to me if I could only go on weekends.

Hanging n' Banging:

Some of the best convention events I have ever attended were the IAAPA after hours park buyouts. Universal already has an edge over Disney due to the closer proximity to OCCC. Additionally, my experience having attended IAAPA events at both entities (WDW & USO), Universal puts on a better show and host for these types of private events.

Both resorts put on pretty good IAAPA events and I would give a slight edge to Disney on the food. Two of the more recent I went to were just too short to be able to enjoy the marquee attractions that were featured: Flights of Passage at the 2017 event and Hagrid's in 2019. The wait times would have left almost no time for anything else. We've started leaving the conference before the big Thursday events in recent years. One of the best IAAPA events I've attended, and I can't recall the year, maybe 2014, was the unusual Monday night event at Magic Kingdom. It rained all day and was cool and drizzly during the event. Attendance was pretty light and the food and drinks were great.

Makes perfect sense, especially if you have a good hookup for comps when you need them.

If it's not the park hours that ruin this place, it will be how long it takes to walk from the parking lot to the main gate.

You seem to have a strange fetish of disputing why anyone could possibly not find UO ideal to their tastes and preferences.

Sounds familiar, but about Disney ;)

The are few things I could care less about than whether or not you like Disney. Your desire to invalidate that sentiment is part of your fetish.