Universal Orlando has announced details for Christmas 2025 at Epic Universe! The brand-new third gate at UOR will feature decorations in Celestial Park and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic, plus a few other additions.
As a whole, Universal Orlando Resort will celebrate Christmas from November 21, 2025 through January 4, 2026. During its destination-wide holiday season, guests will be able to enjoy a slate of festivities inspired by beloved characters and seasonal traditions.
There will be beautiful Christmas décor throughout the entirety of Universal Orlando, including select worlds at Epic Universe, and revel in the holiday spirit as they enjoy exciting experiences at Universal Studios Florida and Universal Islands of Adventure, including Christmas in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Grinchmas in Seuss Landing, Universal’s Holiday Parade featuring Macy’s, and more.
One disappointing element of this news is that, for the second consecutive year, Christmas is starting late at Universal Orlando. Last year, the holiday season wasn’t officially underway until Friday, November 22, which was the latest in recent memory. The Friday, November 21, 2025 start date is consistent with that, adjusted for this year’s calendar. That suggests the holiday season kicking off the Friday before Thanksgiving is the “new normal” to expect going forward.
Prior to the past couple of years, Universal Orlando started celebrating Christmas around Veterans Day. Our best guess to explain the change is a mix of budget cuts to reduce costs and Christmas not being a driver of attendance the first two weeks of November.
Last year, Universal quietly scaled back park hours and entertainment during that same stretch of dates. And for the record, it’s not just Universal doing this; Christmas is starting a week later than normal at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland, too. (Albeit still a week earlier than this.)
Anyway, let’s turn to what Universal Orlando has announced for Christmas 2025 at Epic Universe…
Christmas in Wizarding World of Harry Potter
From garlands to dazzling lights and other touches of wizarding splendor, guests can immerse themselves in festive holiday décor across all three wizarding world locations this season, including Hogsmeade at Universal Islands of Adventure, Diagon Alley at Universal Studios Florida.
For the first time, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic at Universal Epic Universe will get into the spirit of the seasons. Guests can also warm up with hot Butterbeer and shop a selection of seasonal wizarding merchandise offerings to commemorate their visit.
Visitors will also enjoy popular holiday-themed experiences within The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, including special performances and seasonal melodies by The Frog Choir in Hogsmeade and Celestina Warbeck and the Banshees in Diagon Alley, and the awe-inspiring nighttime spectacle, “The Magic of Christmas at Hogwarts Castle” projection and special effects show on Hogwarts Castle.
Ministry of Magic is already the best-themed world at Epic Universe, and this should cement that status. Christmas in the Wizarding World of Paris, sign me up! I can’t wait to see what they do with these decorations and (hopefully) seasonal menus at the exceptional restaurants in the land. Here’s hoping there are also a bunch of weird winter stuffed animals in the gift shop that currently has a bunch of nonseasonal weird animals.
Christmas in Celestial Park at Epic Universe
In addition to the holiday décor in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic, Epic Universe will also feature seasonal lighting and decorations in Celestial Park. The central hub of Epic Universe that features dining, entertainment and attractions against a backdrop of stunning architecture inspired by astronomical and mythological elements will add a special layer of décor for the holidays.
This sounds great to me! I’m not nearly as high on Celestial Park as many theme park fans, who have really bought into Universal’s tagline that it “puts the park back in theme park.” I like the idea of Celestial Park, but it’s too sparse, generic, and lacking in warmth and charm.
There are flashes of greatness, to be sure, but way too much blandness in between. It’s like a reasonably nice outdoor mall, but with larger fountains and better rides. Unique Christmas decorations could address this, adding seasonal spirit to Celestial Park, putting the theme back in theme park.
What About Super Nintendo World?
It might come as a surprise that Super Nintendo World is absent from the announcement. After all, the versions in Osaka and California both have fun Christmas decorations packages. Since Universal is dealing with a third party in Nintendo, it’s possible this announcement will be made later, during a future Nintendo Direct or something.
While I wouldn’t rule that out, I doubt that’s the explanation. Super Nintendo World in Universal Studios Japan and Universal Studios Hollywood were not decorated their opening year–but did start celebrating the season in year two. Waiting a year makes sense, as the land is already a big draw and there’s no reason to exacerbate crowding or increase its drawing power.
What About Dark Universe?
Glad you asked! I’m actually much more interested in what Universal eventually does with Christmas in Dark Universe. This land is technically where “legendary Universal Classic Monsters come to life like never before,” which means it’s another IP land.
In actuality, Dark Universe feels like an original land–one based largely on folklore and monster stories and a setting that’s inspired by quaint European villages. The intersection of these two things is obviously Krampus, which is a Universal film. But even beyond that, there are so many opportunities for Dark Universe to feature a foreboding twist on the holidays, inspired both by Universal films and traditional folklore.
Seriously, so much of the European Christmas tradition seems to involve terrifying children into being well-behaved and they invented a lot of great characters to achieve those results. It would be a grave injustice if Jólakötturinn, the Icelandic Yule Cat that eats people who don’t wear new clothes at Christmas, does not appear in Dark Universe by 2027. Can you imagine a Jólakötturinn meet and eat (your kids) experience?! It’d be catnip for character fans!
All in all, it’s not too noteworthy or surprising that Universal Orlando is easing Epic Universe into the holiday spirit, with only a couple of worlds decorated for 2025. That’s not atypical for major new additions, and we’ve seen Universal do exactly this elsewhere, scaling up over time.
My bigger concern is that Christmas 2026 will also be light. It’s highly improbable that Epic Universe will offer Annual Passes this holiday season, making 2026 the first year of APs (probably). That means the park will still be seeing an influx of new demand, and Universal may want to hold off on any seasonal draws until they’re needed (or crowds can accommodate them). But I do feel like the Jólakötturinn Yule Cat character dining experience needs to happen ASAP; that’s just leaving money on the table if they don’t.
Universal Orlando Resort Hotels
Guests can enjoy holiday festivities at all 11 Universal Orlando Resort hotels, which will be decked out with festive décor for the season. Special menus and delicious holiday buffets will be offered for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, and guests can join in on holiday celebrations including Christmas tree lightings, Hanukkah menorah lighting ceremonies, strolling carolers and more.
New Year’s Eve
Guests can also ring in the New Year with dazzling celebrations at Universal Studios Florida, Universal Islands of Adventure, Universal Epic Universe, Universal CityWalk, and all 11 Universal Orlando hotels. Additional details will be available at a later date.
Holiday Deals
Guests can also take advantage of special offers to book an incredible getaway to enjoy all that Universal Orlando has to offer this holiday season, including saving up to 30% when booking a stay of five nights or more at one of Universal Orlando’s hotels (offer is valid for travel through March 13, 2026).
Plus, when bundled with theme park tickets to Universal Studios Florida, Universal Islands of Adventure, Universal Volcano Bay and/or Universal Epic Universe, guests can save up to $200 more on their total vacation package. As always, there are also Universal Orlando Annual Passholder and Florida resident discounts available for select dates.
I know a lot of readers are still on the fence about Epic Universe, in ‘wait and see’ mode for some of the reasons covered in Why You Should Wait to Visit Epic Universe. With each passing day, I’m slightly less confident that the park’s problems and growing pains are going to be resolved by 2026. But that’s another topic for another day.
Regardless, my strong advice would be to book your Universal Orlando vacation package or resort reservation sooner rather than later. This doesn’t mean you’re locked into visiting, but it does mean you’re locked into current pricing. And that’s huge. I’ve mentioned this elsewhere, but it bears repeating since Walt Disney World fans aren’t necessarily accustomed to this: Universal Orlando Resort hotels use dynamic pricing.
In theory, that means prices go up or down based on demand. In practice, that usually just means that prices increase as travel dates draw nearer. Outside of August and September, we usually just see rates rise. This is something I’ve been tracking since we’re still on the fence ourselves about a family trip in early December or mid-January, and I’ve only seen rates rise for those dates. If you want the best prices, book something ASAP. You can always cancel later if things are still looking dicey; you cannot time travel to book a room at lower prices if operations start smoothing out.
As always, we recommend requesting a quote from Be Our Guest Vacations, a no-fee Universal Preferred Travel Agency. They can assist in booking the right resort for you, comparison shopping among the various hotels, and helping determine which packages will work best for your family. Or in my case, making constant modifications as my plans continue to “evolve.”
Planning for Epic Universe at Christmas…and Beyond!
If you’re visiting Epic Universe or Universal Orlando as a whole as part of a longer trip to Central Florida that includes Walt Disney World, we’d also recommend our Ultimate Guide to Christmas at Walt Disney World.
Normally, we recommend planning your dates around Walt Disney World, as it has more “moving parts.” Meaning most travel parties doing both should choose your dates, when to do each park, and more based on WDW.
Epic Universe effectively overrides this advice. I would plan (and have already done so myself) around the optimal dates for doing Epic Universe, and then work out the rest. At least for now, while Epic Universe crowds are at a nearly-perpetual ‘week between Christmas and NYE’ level, so prioritizing the new park is the pragmatic approach.
To that point, the good news is that there’s tremendous overlap in crowd dynamics between Universal Orlando and Walt Disney World when it comes to bigger picture trends.
For both, November and December are roller coaster months for crowds, with the weeks around holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Eve) seeing elevated attendance and other weeks being more moderate. Same goes for Winter 2026, if you’re looking further down the road.
Basically, the next few months have very high highs and also low lows; your goal should be choosing the ‘sweet spots’ in between the peak weeks. Check out our list of the 10 Best and 10 Worst Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World. That includes several weeks in November, December, and January.
Christmas is a great time to visit Universal Orlando Resort. Beyond Epic Universe, both Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida are more thoroughly decorated for the holiday season, there are plenty of seasonal treats, and enough entertainment to enhance the atmosphere and make the parks feel festive.
Streetmosphere, entertainment & parades, characters & performers, projections, and fitting decorations make much of the parks come alive for Christmas. This is especially true in Hollywood, New York, Seuss Landing, Port of Entry, Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley, all of which offer great holiday ambiance.
All in all, Universal Orlando is an excellent place to spend the holiday season. Add in better weather and, by extension, more ride uptime at Epic Universe, and this November through January will hopefully be a good time to visit the new park. At least, during the off-peak dates!
Need trip planning tips and comprehensive advice for your visit to Central Florida? Make sure to read our Universal Orlando Planning Guide for everything about Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida. Also check out our Walt Disney World Vacation Planning Guide for everything about those parks, resorts, restaurants, and so much more. For regular updates, news & rumors, a heads up when discounts are released, and much more, sign up for our FREE email newsletter!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Excited for Epic Universe’s first Christmas? Looking forward to decorations in Celestial Park and WWoHP – Ministry of Magic? Hoping for the Yule Cat meet & eat in 2026? Have you been to Universal Orlando Resort for Christmas? Any highlights for you? Will you be visiting Central Florida this holiday season? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
