Epic Universe boosts Central Florida park attendance by 4%

ORLANDO, Fla. — Epic Universe is changing how many people visit Central Florida’s theme parks, and a new report has the numbers.

The Themed Entertainment Association, or TEA, says Epic helped lift combined attendance at Central Florida’s leading theme parks by 4.3 percent in 2025.

Epic opened in May, and TEA estimates it drew about 4 million visits in its first partial year. That brought Universal Orlando’s three parks to about 22.5 million visits.

Universal’s older parks did slip. Universal Studios Florida was down about 2 percent, and Islands of Adventure was down about 3 percent.

Disney World stayed about flat, down 0.2 percent. Magic Kingdom is still the most visited theme park in the world, with 17.8 million visits. Since Disney held steady, the numbers suggest Epic brought in new visitors, not just visitors who moved over from other parks.

TEA also says Universal passed Merlin Entertainments, the company behind Legoland, to become the world’s third-largest theme park operator.

We talked to one of those new visitors. Michael Izaguirre and his girlfriend drove down from Atlanta to celebrate their third anniversary, and Epic was why they came.

“I’ve never been there. She’s never been there. We see it a lot on the internet, so we had to come by and check it out,” Izaguirre said.

He went to all three Universal parks, and he says Epic felt different.

“You feel it more than in the other two parks,” he said.

And if you’re thinking about going?

“If anyone’s planning to come by, go for it. It’s a great experience. You guys will have a lot of fun, and you’re definitely gonna want to come back,” Izaguirre said.

One thing to keep in mind: TEA’s numbers are estimates, and they count visits, not people. A guest who goes to two parks counts twice. Epic’s number covers only the months it was open.

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