Universal Orlando Resort has announced an upcoming change for the Early Park Admission perk at Epic Universe. Starting next month, there will be a change to the attraction lineup that will be available to guests taking advantage of Early Park Entry. In this article, we’ll take a look at the change and what it could mean for your upcoming vacation.
Early Park Admission Attraction Changes at Epic Universe
Starting February 1st, guests will notice a change to the Early Park Admission, or early entry, perk at Epic Universe. Here’s a look at the current lineup of attractions that participate in Early Park Admission, followed by a list of the changes that take effect February 1, 2026.
Through January 31, 2026
Available Attractions:
Mario Kart™: Bowser’s Challenge
Yoshi’s Adventure™
Stardust Racers
Constellation Carousel
Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment
Curse of the Werewolf
February 1 – February 28, 2026
Select Participating Attractions at:
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™ – Ministry of Magic™
SUPER NINTENDO WORLD™
How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk
Before we offer some thoughts on the changes, here’s a refresher on Early Park Admission. Universal’s Early Park Admission is similar to the Early Entry perk at Walt Disney World. Universal Orlando hotel guests and other select groups can access select theme parks and attractions at Universal Orlando Resort up to one hour prior to official park opening. This gives you a head start on the day, typically offering lower wait times than what you’ll find during the normal operating hours of a theme park.
Unlike the Early Entry perk at Walt Disney World, select Universal Orlando Resort Annual Passholders can also take advantage of Early Park Admission. Premier Passholders and Preferred Passholders (select days only) can access select attractions at Universal Studios Florida or Universal Islands of Adventure up to an hour before the scheduled opening.
Going back to the changes at Epic Universe, there are actually some pretty substantial changes. The first is that Universal Orlando Resort is not listing specific attractions that will be open during Early Park Admission. This is probably a good move given attraction reliability issues that can plague the new theme park.
Another significant change is the inclusion of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic in the Early Park Admission perk. For months, regular daytime guests have been able to pre-fill the popular Battle at the Ministry of Magic attraction queue during the Early Park Admission timeframe. That was because the entire Harry Potter land was open to regular guests.
Starting February 1st, that will very likely no longer be possible. The way that Early Park Admission works at Universal Epic Universe is that the Celestial Park area is open to all guests, and then the Early Park Admission entitlement is checked for each guest at the portal entry to participating lands. That means that there will very likely be a checkpoint outside of the Harry Potter land portal, only allowing guests with Early Park Admission entitlements to enter the land.
Another significant change is swapping Dark Universe for the Isle of Berk. Arguably, this is a wise move given that Isle of Berk attractions typically have longer wait times than the attractions in the Universal Monsters-themed Dark Universe land. This will give guests a chance to get a head start on popular offerings like Hiccup’s Wing Gliders (a likely, but unconfirmed, offering), leaving Monsters Unchained for later in the day. Dark Universe is also a much better land to explore after the sun sets, so that could be an unintended bonus for guests who focus on the other three portals first.
One final change that is probably more significant to how I personally experienced Early Park Admission is the removal of Stardust Racers from the lineup. While some 85% of guests ran to SUPER NINTENDO WORLD during Early Park Admission, I found that it was a wonderful time to knock out a few back-to-back-to-back rides on Stardust Racers. That said, I didn’t always have good luck with the dueling coaster operating properly, so there was some time wasted when I could have been enjoying back-to-back-to-back rides on Monsters Unchained.
In terms of advice for the Early Park Admission changes, I would bet that NINTENDO and Harry Potter are popular options. There could be some opportunity for early wins in How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk. In fact, if you find yourself near the front of the pack, I would think that it would be very possible to knock out everything in Isle of Berk during Early Park Admission, and then get over to NINTENDO or Harry Potter to get in a long line for some of the headliners there before regular guests are let into the lands.
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