We’ve been talking about this for YEARS, but the day has finally come. Universal Orlando’s newest park, Epic Universe, has opened its gates and welcomed guests for its grand opening.

Epic Universe

Epic Universe was previously in technical rehearsal, but today is the first official day. Because technical rehearsals were available for everyone, what do opening day crowds look like in the park? Technical rehearsals were at a limited capacity, but let’s take a look at Epic Universe on opening day.

Welcome to the first day of Epic Universe! When speaking to a Guest Services Team Member, we were told there is still a limited capacity in the park. While it feels like more people are here than during technical rehearsals, this is not what a completely full Epic Universe looks like, but it can give us a good idea of crowd flow when busy.

Flocks of people fled to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter — Ministry of Magic, most likely to ride one of the most anticipated rides for the park: Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry. This was the crowd just to get into the portal!

Crowds to Ministry of Magic

The queue was expected to be 150 minutes for the attraction, and that was only at 8:30 AM. The ride doesn’t open till 9 AM! We found out later that the ride did not open in the morning and hasn’t opened yet. We’re keeping an eye on it to see when it’s up!

Standby line for Battle at the Ministry is already estimated at 150 minutes! ⏰🪄 pic.twitter.com/84gxJxlUAB

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) May 22, 2025

How to Train Your Dragon — Isle of Berk was filled with dragon lovers of all ages ready to get on incredible attractions and meet Toothless. Here’s the queue to enter the land. We appreciated how Team Members were handing out free bottles of water!

Packed!

Despite this crazy queue, we were able to ride Dragon Racer’s Rally with no wait. It took us eight minutes to walk through the queue, but then we were on our own, learning how to fly.

Throughout the day, the crowds spread out, and we found most stayed at the Ministry of Magic — even when the ride is down. Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge and Monsters Unchained were two other rides that were over 30 minutes, but a majority of the rides were under that.

Bowser’s Challenge!

We’re not joking when we say May 22nd has been marked in our calendars for months now. A new theme park has officially opened in Orlando, and we’re glad to welcome Epic Universe into our theme park family. Keep following DFB for all the theme park news you love!

We’ll be updating this post throughout the day with more crowds and details!

COMPLETE GUIDE TO BUYING EPIC UNIVERSE TICKETS

Are you planning on going to Epic Universe soon? Tell us what you’re most looking forward to in the comments.