Note: this is primarily a summary of work by Alicia Stella at Park Stop, and is based on planning and trademark applications (which have all been accurate with the official information released so far).

I have also only included rides on this list, not shows or other attractions.

Celestial Park (2 rides)

Constellation Carousel
Type: Flat ride
Manufacturer: Unknown
Comment: Seems to be a fairly standard carousel, except it foes in a figure of 8 rather than a circle

Starfall Racers (x2)
Type: Rollercoaster
Manufacturer: Mack Rides
Similar rides: Icon (Blackpool Pleasure Beach), Velocicoaster
Comment: Duelling Multi-launch Coaster from Mack, it will be this parks Velocicoaster and almost certainly the stand-out coaster

Dark Universe (2 rides)

Curse of the Werewolf
Type: Rollercoaster
Manufacturer: Mack Rides
Similar rides: Cobra's Curse (Busch Gardens Tampa)
Comment: Family Spinning Coaster from Mack, it's a shame they didn't go for an Xtreme Spinner but that may have been deemed too intense

Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment
Type: Dark ride
Manufacturer: Robocoaster (?)
Similar rides: Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey
Comment: Uses the same KUKA-arm ride system as Forbidden Journey, though the layout suggests it will be less screen based.

Isle of Berk (3 rides)

Dragon Racer's Rally (x2)
Type: Flat ride
Manufacturer: Gerstlauer
Similar rides: Fairly common Sky Fly ride, especially in Europe
Comment: Duel Sky Fly's from Gerstlauer

Fyre Drill
Type: Interactive Boat Ride
Manufacturer: Mack Rides
Similar rides: Fairly common Splash Battle ride
Comment: Interactive Boat Ride from Mack

Hiccup's Wing Gliders
Type: Rollercoaster
Manufacturer: Intamin
Similar rides: Hagrid's
Comment: Family Multi-launch Coaster from Intamin. It looks like to will be similar to Hagrid's, but maybe slightly more family friendly

Ministry of Magic (1 ride)

Battle of the Ministry of Magic
Type: Dark Ride
Manufacturer: Oceaneering Entertainment Systems (?)
Similar rides: Amazing Adventure's of Spider-Man, Transformers 3D, Jurassic World Adventure
Comment: Uses the same SCOOP ride system as Spider-man, but won't be 3D - so hopefully less screen based

Super Nintendo World (3 rides)

Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge
Type: Augmented Reality Dark Ride
Manufacturer: MTS Systems
Similar rides: Mario Kart at other Universal Parks
Comment: Clone of the Mario Kart ride at other Universal Parks

Mine Cart Madness
Type: Rollercoaster
Manufacturer: Unknown (ride system is patented by Universal)
Similar rides: Mine Cart Madness at Universal Japan
Comment: Clone of the Donkey Kong ride at Universal Japan

Yoshi's Adventure
Type: Omnimover
Manufacturer: Unknown
Similar rides: People Mover, The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride!
Comment: People Mover style ride that will take you round the area

Interested to hear what ride people are most looking forward to, and if you think 11 rides will be enough?

What are the best rides at Epic? There's lots of rides and all are great I'm sure 😄

Me and my mom are going to Universal (and Epic Universe) for the first time. We are Disney people who aren’t really into thrill rides. We love to do Tron but both of us didn’t really like the Guardians of the Galaxy ride. Both of us don’t do rides that go upside down or anything too crazy.

What rides are the most intense and the least intense? We don’t know what to expect and how many rides to anticipate going on. What do you guys recommend?

I'm glad I didn't listen to all of the negative reviews and wait a year for Epic. Seems like lines are better as the kids went back to school. Despite that, I really hate lines. I don't think many rides are worth waiting 2 hours. And I didn't do all of the rides in Nintendo land. But Epic is the best Universal park. I just wish they had at least one more roller coaster.

1. Stardust racer in the first row at night - this is by far the best ride. We rode it multiple times. But it's best at night, especially in the first row. I heard the last row is good too.

2. Monsters Unchained - Our entire group thought this was far better than Battle at the Ministry. I get dizzy on 3D rides very easily. I can't handle the 3D Harry Potter ride at IoA. It might be because the ride moves you to a horizontal position several times throughout the ride that I didn't get dizzy. It actually reset my senses. And there is a great mix of 3D and animatronics, with the animatronics being the best I've seen in a ride.

3. Hiccup's Wing Gliders - it's not as good as Hagrid's but it's similar. That's all I can say about it. It's also cute. But not nearly as good as Stardust.

4. Mario Kart - Bowser's Challenge - The game aspect of the ride didn't make a lot of sense to me. And I wasn't sure if I was competing against other people in my cart. But the ride itself was very nostalgic, especially the end where you go on Rainbow Road. That part alone was worth the wait.

5. Battle at the Ministry - The interior is beautiful and looks like the movies. But the waits are insane for the ride itself. I know I'm in the minority, but I found it very overrated. It also relies way too much on 3D screens, and I got very dizzy, especially in the beginning. It also broke down three times during the ride. My group are massive HP fans and did not think the ride was a memorable experience. A one hour wait is fine, but I do not think it's worth a 2 or 3 hour wait.

6. Constellation Carouse - Pretty cool but don't wait an hour for it. Do it at night.

7. Mine Cart Madness - This is one of the worst coasters I've ever seen. It's slow but tries to be more intense by jerking you around during turns. I knew it would be disappointing because they let you bring your bags on the ride. If the wait is more than 20 minutes I would skip it.

Overall the park is great considering the rides at some of the other parks can be kind of dated. It just needs two more coasters to be perfect. But I don't think it's worth waiting in 2 or 3 hour lines for anything at this park.

I was lucky enough to attend a preview of Epic Universe and I wanted to share my thoughts on the park as a whole.

Overall, it's a really great park. Universal did really well with the design overall and I felt like it flowed well from one land to the next.

The Bad:

No shade - Now this I think will be fixed with time once all the trees grow. In the meantime there literally isn't any shade unless you go inside of a building. Same for some of the outdoor queues, about half of the queue is shaded and the other half is left out in the sun. Brutal.

Not family oriented - if you're a family with small kids, do no waste a day on Epic Universe especially if your child isn't 40" tall. There really isn't a lot to do with small kids at the park. A playground in dragons, the boat ride, and the carousel are the only attractions that small kids can do. I feel like Islands and Studios both have better small kid dedicated areas.

Nintendo guest flow - escalator up into the land and steps back down, this is going to be a nightmare especially with the number of strollers we see in Orlando parks.

The Good:

Cutting edge attractions - Monsters is amazing, so is almost every other ride in the park. Universal really knocked it out of the (theme) park with these attractions.

Rides designed well to handle crowds - Hiccup's has 2 loading stations, Monster's is a people eater just like Forbidden Journey, Stardust has a THRC north of 3000 people per hour, we were even surprised by the amount of people able to ride the carousel at the same time. With the exception of Mine Cart Madness and Dragon Racers Rally, this park's attractions are really built to handle crowds.

The park is designed to handle crowds - while the paths are not as wide as Tokyo Disneyland, they are wider than both the other Universal parks and will handle the crowds well.

The food - I would put Epic Universe up there with Dollywood and Knoebels for the best theme park food in the US. Everything we saw looked amazing and the pizzas we had at Pizza Moon were the best theme park pizzas (Via Napoli included) I have ever eaten. Another dining note was that we didn't find a freestyle machine out of ice all day (a big problem for the existing parks).

Standouts:

Stardust Racers - a really great coaster with really good capacity. I really enjoyed getting to race with the other train each time and the Celestial Spin is such a great element. Loads of airtime and some really cool views of the park. The coaster is somewhere in my top 10 (out of 354).

Monsters Unchained - Amazing. Great animatronics, great use of screens. A perfect take on a old school ghost train ride. I will say this is the best use of projected faces I have ever seen anywhere.

I didn't get to ride Battle at the Ministry but I'm sure that will be a standout when it eventually opens.

Untrainable - probably the best theme park show on the planet right now. The perfect length to keep little ones engaged and all of the special effects were perfect. Great use of large LED screens.

Musings:

So there was a lot of hype around this park and I think it lived up to most of the hype. I heard a few people think this park would be a Disney "killer" but I don't think that's the case. It's good, don't get me wrong. I don't think it will compete with the nostalgia and brand Disney has created from a general public (GP) perspective. I'm an enthusiast so I think just about everything in this park is better than what Disney has created in recent years. This park is so very good at world building and placing you in the middle of a movie accurate world and I can say that Universal does this way better than Disney (except for Cars Land, but that's a discussion for another day).

I think out of the park, Nintendo will be the hit with the GP while enthusiasts will gravitate towards Dark Universe.

Out of everything we rode, Mine Cart Madness was both my wife and I's favorite ride. I think it was really innovative and Universal executed it well (except for the low capacity).

I'm really interested on how Epic will affect market share/guest flow in Orlando. I'm confident that families would add an extra day to their Universal vacations to go to Epic. I am less confident that it would take a day off of a families Disney vacation. I think the biggest looser is probably SeaWorld in this situation since it's usually the park people add on to their vacations if they have an extra day.

Listening to Len Testa on the Disney Dish Podcast, he indicated that Epic has the same capacity and things to do as Animal Kingdom did opening day. Based on our experience at the park, that seems about right. I wouldn't say that Epic is a half day park though, it still took all day (10-7) to do everything. I could see however, if they let in too many people, it would make for a really miserable experience.

Where it ranks:

So I really like theme parks with flowing, tree lined paths that look like they have been integrated into the environment (see Efteling, Europa Park, Dollywood, Silver Dollar City, Tweetsie Railroad, Alton Towers, etc.) and parks with good capacity (see Europa Park).

While Epic doesn't quite fit into these categories—it's flat and lacks shade—it's still a world-class theme park that I highly recommend everyone visit if they get the chance. There's really nothing I dislike about Epic (aside from the points I mentioned earlier); I just happen to prefer 11 other parks a bit more.

Based on what we experienced from our preview visit, I would rank Epic Universe #12 out of 73

1 Europa Park - Rust

2 Silver Dollar City - Branson

3 Efteling - Kaatsheuvel

4 Dollywood - Pigeon Forge

5 Disneyland - Anaheim

6 Alton Towers - Stoke on Trent

7 Tokyo DisneySea - Tokyo

8 Universal Studios Islands of Adventure - Orlando

9 Tokyo Disneyland - Tokyo

10 Walt Disney World - Magic Kingdom - Lake Buena Vista

11 Parc Astérix - Piailly

12 Epic Universe - Orlando

13 Phantasialand - Brühl

14 Busch Gardens Williamsburg - Williamsburg

15 Liseberg - Gothenburg

16 Tivoli Gardens - Copenhagen

17 Knoebels Amusement Resort - Elysburg

18 Walt Disney World - Disney's Hollywood Studios - Lake Buena Vista

19 Disneyland Paris - Disneyland Park - Marne la Vallée

20 Epcot - Orlando

POTENTIAL SPOILERS for those of you who don’t wanna see a ranking I guess, just in case.

I went for the second time about two days ago now and I managed to do every single ride in the park (with the exception of the Green side of Stardust Racers) and have now done my ranking of what I believe is the best to worst. Potential hot takes inbound, but ask away 🫡

Lots of park footage in my video link included.

I recently visited Epic Universe on a Sunday in December and wanted to share my experience. The theming and attention to detail are truly amazing; the way you transition through the portals into each land makes it feel like you are genuinely entering another world.

It was a relatively slow day, and I managed to get on every ride I wanted without an Express Pass or Early Entry (I was not staying at a resort). I only skipped the spinning attractions, Dragon Racer’s Rally and Curse of the Werewolf, and opted to re-ride other rides instead of hitting the Celestial Carousel.

Here is a quick look at my day:

• Starfall Racers: This was a 15 minute wait and easily my favorite ride of the day.

• Super Nintendo World: Bowser’s Challenge was initially a 55 minute wait (though it stretched to 120 minutes due to downtime). We also grabbed the calzones in the land and waited about 45 minutes for the DK Coaster. By the end of the night, Bowser and Yoshi were walk ons!

• Isle of Berk: "The Untrainable Dragon" is a fantastic show. We also did Fyre Drill (another walk on) and Hiccup’s Wing Gliders, which only had a 15 minute wait later in the day.

• Ministry of Magic: While the wait was 120 minutes earlier in the day, it dropped to 45 minutes by the afternoon. Unfortunately, the Harry Potter show was down for much of the day, so we missed the showtimes.

• Dark Universe: This area looks incredible at night. The "Monsters" ride was only a 15 minute wait and has a great ride vehicle similar to Forbidden Journey. I highly recommend grabbing a drink at the tavern there.

Between rides, we explored the gift shops and sampled snacks throughout the various lands. I was very happy with the experience and can’t wait to go back!

Went today for the second time, did all the rides. Had a blast, such an amazing theme park. All the worlds are truly awesome, so much thought and detail have been put in them.
Definitely get the powerup bands for Nintendo land, adds a lot more fun and I was surprised with all the games they had for it. Also the play area for kids in Isle of Berk is super nice, very big and a lot of things for kids. Here are some of my thoughts on the rides.

Curse of the Werewolf: 8/10 Super fun small coaster, it’s pretty unique from anything universal has.

Dragon Racer's Rally: 4/10 kind of like a fair ride. A bit of fun but ends wayyyy too quick.

Fyre Drill: 7/10 cool ride, especially if you have kids. Didn’t get soaked but fairly wet. You have a water gun and you get to hit targets. My daughter got to go on it but was too young to actually use the water gun.

The Battle at the Ministry: 10/10 ride isn’t open but did the queue which is BREATHTAKING!! Your jaw will legit drop, all I gotta say.

Hiccup's Wing Gliders: 10/10 really loved this ride, similar to Hagrids.

Mario Kart: Bowsers Challenge: 8/10 the VR is a bit weird but overall a good ride.

Mine-Cart Madness: 10/10 was amazing !! Super unique, loved the details.

Monsters Unchained: 9/10 the queue is crazy. The ride details and atmosphere is next level. It’s not as fun as forbidden journey in terms of movement though.

Stardust Racers: 10/10 truly epic, it’s pretty intense and has quite a few moments of airtime. During the end of the ride the other coaster goes right above your head, it’s an amazing sight.

Yoshi's Adventure: 7/10 very slow and chill ride. You get to see the whole of Nintendo land from it and the view is great.

Also we ate at Das Stakehaus and the food was great

Unfortunately didn’t get to do the two shows but people say they are great.

My boyfriend and I are going on July 5th (prob going to be a very busy day) so I was wondering if we should rope drop battle of the ministry ride or should we wait? We have the express passes

Finally got on all 11 Epic Universe rides today and here’s how I rank them

11: Constellation Carousel

It’s a carousel it does it’s job and it does it very well. But this is the highest I can possibly rank it

10: Dragon Racers Rally

Too short for how hard it is to spin.

9: Fyre Drill

Nice way to get wet in a park that is admittedly very hot. Still think there is much better to offer

8: Yoshis Adventure

Very good vantage points of Epic Universes best land. You ride it more for the view than the actual experience

7: Curse of the Werewolf

Fun ride but unfortunately way to short and kind of a wasteful supporting attraction for Dark Universe

Note from 6 on I love pretty much all of these attractions

6: Minecart Madness

Yes it’s rough but I like that it is. Adds so much to the fantastic theming of the attraction. Was honestly torn between which SNW attraction I like better.

5: Mario Kart Bowsers Challenge

As I said before I just can’t fathom that this ride gets as much hate as it does. It has one of the best queues of any theme park, The sets are absolutely astounding to look at, And the gameplay once you get the hang of it is so much fun. I really love this attraction

4: Hiccups Wing Gliders

Hagrids mini is exactly the perfect description for this. Slinky Dog Dash wishes it had even a fraction of the pure fun Hiccups gives me. If the queue didn’t suck I would ride it over and over again.

3: Harry Potter and The Battle at the Ministry

I know it’s a hot take on this sub to say Ministry is really good but Ministry is really good. Feels like Universal Creatives culmination while also opening up new possibilities. This also has by far the greatest queue line ever built.

2: Stardust Racers

As a pure thrill there is nothing that tops this. Such perfect elements mixed in with phenomenal dueling. Alone this would still be one of Universals best rides. But as a dueling experience it’s practically perfection

1: Monsters Unchained

Yeah this is my favorite dark ride ever bulit. Been on it 4 times by now and it gets better with every single cycle. I owe G Prodigy my life at this point.

I know universal is strict so you don’t have to get into too much detail but please share with us what you can 😁

Column Categories are:

A - Which Land B - Name of Ride C - Type of Ride D - What to Expect

Super excited! :)

Here is my ranking after my visit last Saturday. Here is the link if you would like to make one too: https://tiermaker.com/create/epic-universe-18131515

I was a little nervous about going to Epic because my expectations were sky high and I kept seeing a lot of negativity surrounding the park opening. Overall, I loved the park. It’s tied or possibly better than IOA for me. I’ll just list my thoughts in an internet friendly numbered list a la Jenny Nicholson.

1. It’s not perfect but wow it still blew me away. I was aware that new parks always have growing pains and I think I went on a pretty busy day. It was fairly packed, but I still enjoyed it. I really was not expecting the scale of everything. Truly a masterpiece in modern theme parks. I went in spoiler free outside of knowing ride names so it really felt like a discovery the entire day.

2. I think express is a requirement to enjoy the park, I just can’t find any joy when waiting in line. I would rather only get 1 day with express vs 3 days with no express. The queues are massive and there were many rides that were a 2+ hour wait and Ministry got to 4 at one point 😭🤯

3. Yes, the shade is an issue. Even though it’s November, it got into the low/mid 80s. It’s hot, there isn’t a lot of shade and some areas feel like they are roasting you, specifically in Super Mario world. The Harry Potter area was great because of the large buildings creating shade. Idk how to solve the super Mario shade problem without ruining the look of everything being in the cartoon Mario style. Although many of the queues are shaded or have ac which is fantastic. Hiccups had large portions of waiting in direct sunlight, it did have trees so hopefully they grow in and help that. I did my best to do the areas with shaded queues during the hottest part of the day.

4. I was extremely disappointed that monsters was closed the entire day of my visit. Got to walk the queue and it was incredible but this was my most anticipated ride and it being closed really put a damper on the day. The incredible park made up for it but still so sad I didn’t get to experience the ride.

5. Stardust racers was fantastic. Got a morning and night ride and it was even better than expected. The night ride was one of my favorite coaster experiences if I try and forget about the smell. I’m so happy universal is continuing to add large scale thrill coasters because they do them sooooooo well. I know they aren’t for everyone but wow, they keep making hit after hit.

6. The Smell. I was a little confused when I kept noticing a… sewage type smell throughout the day. I only noticed it in Berk, stardust racers, and the Harry Potter area. After googling it, it’s some kind of water treatment plant nearby. I guess that’s why the area wasn’t very developed before universal got there. I know there’s nothing they can do now but yikes it was really strong in some areas. Maybe I was just there when the wind was blowing the wrong way.

7. The Mario area surprised me. I’m not a big Mario fan, I’m aware of it but haven’t played the games or anything in forever. It was incredible to see it, so many moving parts, it really felt like the games come to life. I do think real trees would ruin this illusion but they need some shade. Maybe a retractable canopy or something because I know Florida storms make something like that difficult to achieve.

8. Battle at the ministry has the most impressive queue ever made. Wow. It’s unbelievable how good it looks. I’ve been to the studio tour where they filmed in London and it has nothing on this. This was a true work of art and I can’t believe how good it turned out. I also loved the ride even though I’m not a big fan of this type of ride all the time. This was the right way to do it. Screens but not an over reliance on them, only there to enhance the experience. The line was about an hour even though I rope dropped with express pass because there was maintenance delays. If the line wasn’t insane the entire day, I would have ridden again. I think this ride will gain a better reputation once the line isn’t 2-4 hours long. I think Hagrids is having a similar evolution over the years, of people not all liking it their first ride because they waited an insane amount of time but now that the wait isn’t quite as bad most days, I feel like I see more positives. It’s much easier to enjoy something you waited an hour for. If I waited 2-4, it better be the best ride ever made and those expectations can ruin the experience for some.

9. They need to do away with the standing pre-show at the circus show in the Harry Potter area. This show was fantastic and a surprise as I’m not a big fan of fantastic beasts. Totally worth it though. They do this standing preshow here and at Bourne stuntacular. It’s very unneeded. I was already standing outside in line, then standing inside the tent in line, then you get let in and you’re excited to sit down and relax, enjoy a show in the ac. Only to find out you have to stand like sardines for 15 more minutes as they herd people in to a circular room and do a preshow that could have been done on stage. Amazing animatronics and character actors. I honestly only did the show because we had some extra time and it was the hottest part of the day, very glad we saw it.

10. Dark Universe is the best idea a theme park has ever had. Horror and monsters is a huge genre and a very successful genre. People love horror and Halloween year round. Yet very few theme parks take advantage of the wealth of horror related themes. This is the best theme park land I’ve ever been in. It’s perfect and I really hope they expand it. Still so sad I couldn’t fully experience Monsters Unchained but the building and queue was already one of the best I’ve ever seen. The castle?! Such an amazing backdrop for the land. The tavern was much smaller than I expected and the blades weren’t burning but it was still cute. Curse of the werewolf was a fun little ride. Very short but it’s a good supporting ride, the land definitely needs Monsters Unchained because Werewolf doesn’t work to me as the main act. It’s cute but nothing compared to the scale of Monsters. I ate at both the tavern and Das Stakehaus and enjoyed both. I really hope this land is a success because I want more. Definitely my favorite area in the park.

11. The hotel. This isn’t a complaint or a compliment. Just a little confused why they chose an in park hotel. It just takes up so much space that could’ve been used for an expansion to a current land or a couple of extra lands altogether. It looks cool from the outside, I’m just surprised they didn’t do it in its own area like all the other hotels at universal. The fountains and ambiance of it at night are beautiful though.

12. The park at night. If you can, make sure to spend as much time as possible at the park at night. It’s gorgeous. The lighting on the rides, the lighting in the park, the spot lights from each one entrnace, I could go on and on. No Florida sun, it’s makes the park look 10x better and it’s so much more pleasant to experience. I was only planning on going to Dark Universe at night but ended up exploring each land at night again because of how nice it was. Berk and Mario was so much nicer without the blazing sun. I could explore and look at all the details without being fried. Most parks are better at night but this park beat them all out, incredible at night.

Overall, one of my favorite parks I’ve ever been to and I’ve been lucky enough to travel to many theme parks. I’m a huge theme park buff and loved it, my partner is not a theme park buff and also loved it. So although it still has some kinks to work out, it’s a very well done park and I would go back over and over again if I could.
I really expected worse because although I tried to avoid any info on the parks, I constantly saw negative reviews about it. It definitely has potential to be the best park ever made, maybe a 5th land and a few more rides to spread people out some more. Can’t wait to see what the future holds for this park. Thank you for reading my thoughts.

Spent the day there yesterday, very low crowds during the "technical rehearsal" before the official park opening. Only employees of Universal and their invited guests. Pictures and video were not allowed as some parts of the park are closed off or not working and there is still a lot of final polishing to do around the park.

Overall it's not a very large park but it's not a small one either. The art deco styling of the center section was really nice. The four themed worlds that branch off from the center were well done too. But I have to give a special mention to the Super Nintendo World area. You enter through a green pipe and emerge into what I can only describe as a Super Mario Brothers fever dream. I'm a theme park veteran of many decades but this had my mouth hanging open.

On to the rides. I'll only list the thrill type rides that I rode as this is r/rollercoasters

Monsters Unchained: Was temporarily closed for much of the day due to glitches, whenever it opened the line would be very long as people rushed over to try it. Cool ride, same sort of concept and vehicles as Harry Potter Forbidden Journey. It was more thrilling than Harry Potter but less likely to cause motion sickness.

Curse Of The Werewolf: Fun coaster with spinning cars but it doesn't get high up or go very fast and it was too short to be worth more than a 30 minute wait. Ops needs to speed up the launches to prevent the line from getting ridiculous. Hopefully they'll get faster as the official opening approaches. The tracks were a bit bumpier than you'd think for it being a brand new ride.

Mine Cart Madness: Medium thrill coaster with the neat effect of it repeatedly looking like you're about to jump off broken tracks and crash. I liked this ride better than Werewolf but it had the same issue of the line not moving as fast as I'm sure it could.

Ministry Of Magic: Not open yet but the que was open for walk throughs. They did a good job on the que areas, lots to look at. Better than the other rides for sure.

Stardust Racers: This is a really, really good coaster. Two tracks, both trains launch at the same time, curve underneath the loading docks, level out, then you're blasted twice by electromotive force up to an impressive speed and you feel like you're being hurled up the first hill. The positive G's were good without being terribly brutal but the negative G's were intense. Just before you reach the top of each hill you're given another electro shove forwards which is spicy. When the trains twist around each other is really neat, first you're looking up at an inverted train then you're inverted looking down at them. The trains are closer together than you'd think during much of the ride which adds to the thrill. The tracks were smooth as glass which increases the feeling of flying. At night the tracks aren't lit but the trains are, so people on the ground just see what looks like two comets dancing together through the sky.

A fun time was had by my group. We walked about five miles total including the parking lot but we were back and forth chasing open rides and shorter lines. Listed pricing for food, drinks and alcohol was about average for a theme park. All in all I'd say it's worth a day if you've already hit the big parks or there's something there you're especially interested in.

I visited Universal Orlando (r/UniversalOrlando) in early August (August 1) and I am here to provide a detailed review for all the redditors and browsers just like myself for r/UniversalEpicUniverse . You can find my universal orlando IOA guide here. My overall rating of Epic after visiting Monday, August 4th is a 2/10, I would not recommend.

**Yes, this is a detailed review because when I was searching for reviews of Epic, all I could find were influencer reviews and nothing else about the parks. Also this review is based on students (20-30yrs old) visiting the park for the first time, without early admission or fast passes.

Admission

We started our day early, around 9:00 AM when the park opened, but still saw crowds already entering. At the entrance, admission went smoothly. We noticed a sign saying Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry was closing early, so we headed there first. Along the way, we saw that Stardust Racers had a 45-minute wait, but we decided to prioritize the Ministry ride instead. I do wish I had gotten on the Stardust Racers because it looks like a great ride.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter– Ministry of Magic

By the time we reached Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, there were already huge crowds waiting. It felt like they were releasing guests in waves. We waited outside for about 30 minutes before moving inside. The queue split into multiple sections: three front lines leading to a much larger holding area with nine long lanes, housing perhaps 200–600 people.

Despite arriving early, the ride was closed for maintenance. After waiting for an hour, the ride still hadn’t opened, and repeated announcements offered no guarantees. We had planned not to leave the queue before 11:30 AM. Ironically, right as we exited the line, having walked through the mesmerizing green flames (the Floo), the ride reopened. But, by then it wasn’t worth waiting 3–4 more hours. We left around 11:30 AM.

How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk

Hiccup's Wing Gliders (5/10)

Around noon, we reached the Isle of Berk. The wait for Hiccup’s Wing Gliders was posted at 75 minutes, but in the scorching 90°F Florida sun, it felt even longer. Unlike Universal’s Islands of Adventure (which offers fans and misting), here there was no airflow, and many guests looked overheated. I think there is serious potential for heat strokes at Epic! The ride had several lanes (about seven), but the experience was short and not particularly immersive. Compared to the rides at IOA, I’d rate it a 5/10, more a children’s ride that didn’t warrant long waiting. The park itself didn't stand out to me. There was a lot of detail in the area, but the scorching sun and lack of shade made this one of the least enjoyable sections of the Park in the mid afternoon.

Super Nintendo World – Mario Land

Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge (2/10)

Mario Land looked visually stunning with immersive sets, moving platforms, and authentic soundscapes. But again, shade was minimal, and the heat reflected off shiny surfaces made it unbearably bright and hot. It's like whoever designed Epic never heard of Florida heat or sun, or even never considered the importance of trees!! I think the design of this section is insane, and beautiful to look at if you are a Mario fan. However, there are tons of unsupervised children and lines to do to the interactive sections in the land, so it was a bit annoying.

We queued for Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge, which showed a 175-minute wait. The queue led through Bowser’s mouth into multiple indoor lanes, then through a library-like area...over an hour spent just waiting ad waiting in the entrance. There was minimal theming or distractions, and no convenient access to bathrooms. I’d recommend having music or a game to pass the time because it was extremely draining.

Right before boarding, we were herded into a room for ride instructions expecting movement, but then more waiting. Then we waited on steps to go down to the ride. By the time we got on, it felt like two hours had passed. The ride involved wearing AR goggles and “racing” by shooting at objects. It lacked immersion, speed, and felt awkward like seeing smudges through shaded lenses. I honestly had no idea where I was shooting. I would even say that the Mario Cart racing games you see at arcades is a better experience than this. I’d score it a 2/10. Not thrilling and not worth the wait. I don't even know why there needed to be instructions, just for them to repeat the instructions before the very confusing and mid ride.

Donkey Kong (Mine-Cart Madness)

Next, we tried the Mine-Cart Madness ride in the Donkey Kong area, but as we waited (about 40 minutes), rain began (light rain, barely noticeable), turning into drizzle which led to a shutdown of this and all other outdoor rides at around 6:00 PM. With few indoor options, the day felt quite limited. I recognize that this is Florida, and you can't anticipate rain. However, to basically shut down everything for light misting is crazy!

Dark Universe – Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment (9/10)

We then headed to the Dark Universe land and boarded Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment, which had only a 10-minute wait. Despite my expectations (given earlier frustrations), this turned out to be the highlight of the day. The queue smelled of iron and felt atmospheric, very perfect for a vampire-themed ride. Animatronics and pre-show elements, including a Frankenstein “warrior,” made things immersive.

The ride itself was smooth and engaging: it featured classic monsters (Frankenstein’s Monster, Werewolf, Dracula) animated in thrilling yet non-vertiginous scenes. I enjoyed it thoroughly; no dizziness, lots of character, and surprisingly memorable. There is a mix of both simulation and special effects, but I enjoyed the ride experience despite the simulated pieces. I purchased a Frankenstein figurine, which is very very cool and colorful. This was the only purchase I made outside of MoM.

Back to Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic (9/10)

Around 7:00 PM, with many attractions closed, we wandered the park before heading back to the Ministry of Magic around 8:00 PM. The wait was just 20 minutes! We re-entered through the same green Floo flames and finally experienced the ride. Once you get through the line inside, I could tell that this would have taken us at least 7 hours to get through the full line because there are so many winding pathways behind the entrance area that lead you to the ride; it would take you forever under normal 175min wait time conditions.

The Ministry ride features a trolley-style motion-simulated experience, taking you through Harry’s courtroom scene, twisting elevator ride, and a suspenseful chase involving a masked figure. The special effects were so convincing, I genuinely questioned whether they were digital or practical. It ended with a photo op, about $60 for two, but the print quality, date stamp, and newspaper-style holder made it a memorable keepsake. I’d give it a solid 9/10...but not worth several-hour wait! If you don't make it to the ride within two hours, I would recommend leaving. Stop investing in these rides and ask Epic to do better!!

Other Highlights and Ratings

• Food: 1/10 Food was mid! The park’s offerings felt generic with pretzels, fries, burgers...very meh. We tried Toadstool Café: a 45-minute wait to sit (!!!), app-only ordering, small portions, and spaghetti with meatballs seemed out of place in 99°F weather. Walking around there's nothing interesting to eat on the go, and no where to sit even if you did want to sit and have a meal. I personally had no interest in trying (Hooligan's Grog & Gruel) mac n cheese cone as that sounds gross and heavy in hot Florida conditions. I do think I could have tried the restaurant in the Harry Potter section as that had good reviews, as well as Das steakhouse.

• Drink Options: 1/10 Limited unique choices. I tried “Giggle Water” in the Harry Potter area, it was okay. But overall, few frozen or refreshing options were available. Beyond beer, there weren't many themed alcoholic beverages. It was super hard to find those vending machines to refill water, and the only other water availability is during the lines in the outdoor rides. Even the frozen butterbeer in the Harry Potter section felt misplaced because the design felt more like Paris, and butterbeer just didn't fit the aesthetic.

• Shops: 0/10 Merchandise was uninspired. Same souvenirs seen at other Universal parks. Mario’s wristband for sound effects didn’t feel worthwhile. Everything seemed overpriced and dull. You either get a keychain or stuffed animal, there weren't like figurines, cool shirts, stickers, or anything unique to the place. I love a good souvenir, but the only thing I purchased was a photo from the ministry of magic ride.

• Experiences: 2/10 We enjoyed the “Fantastic Beasts” show, it was spacious and moved quickly with impressive effects. Wand-using in the Harry Potter area was fun. But beyond rides, options were sparse, which likely contributed to overwhelming queues.

• Design: 5/10 Mario Land was the most visually impressive and sound wise fit the atmosphere. Although, the repeated Mario music can get annoying. Other areas felt cramped or lacking entertainment. Isle of Berk was immersive but hot and limited. Dark Universe was dark and eerie, but not visually engaging outside of the ride. Harry Potter felt like a generic European town rather than a dynamic fantasy realm. I feel like that could’ve relied more on the fantastic beasts, and making it more like the universe inside of the suitcase. Also, there needs to be more shade!! There's no where to sit or walk outside of the sun.

• Navigation : It's easy to get around and move between parks. It's very small in my opinion and doesn't require too much to enter each section. You can walk through Isle of Berke, Mario, and Harry Potter in about 30mins.

• Restrooms : 10/10 Every restroom is easy to find and very accessible and clean. The restrooms were better than Universal Studios. They smelled very nice.

• Night time experience: 3/10 Mario looks cooler at night because it's brighter and the sun isn't shining so hard. But everything else looks about the same. It is nice to walk around when there are less people in a rush and irritated about 2hr lines :)

• Shade and seating: (-1000/10) There's no where to go! If you aren't on a ride, there's literally no where to sit without paying for food. There is a small place near Isle of Berke where you can bring your food, but this gets busy with so many people trying to find somewhere to sit down out of the sun.

Would I return?

No! And I wouldn't recommend. There are serious changes that need to happen at Epic to improve the experience. They need more things to do, better rides and crowd control, and more food options and seating.

If I rode Stardust Racers and if I tried more food options would I change my mind about revisting?

No! I don't think it's worth it. Each universe needs to reinvest in the experiences and ride availability. I also don't think Epic should only be known for it's sit down restaurants or 3hr wait time rides. As an audience we should all want more for the costs of these parks.

Universal Island of Adventures versus EPIC

Hands down IOA is better than Epic! I would love to return to IOA, I got on a lot of rides and experiences in one day at IOA than one day at EPIC. I also think the stores, movie theatre, variety of food options, and entertainment pieces made IOA better than Epic. At this state I would recommend multiple days in IOA or Studios, and wait to go to Epic. Don't waste your money for the photo op!

Just spent 3 days at the parks. Went with one other person. I was on here a BUNCH before going since I like to be on top of things and know everything, and now I can share what I learned and what you may not see on this subreddit or think about in general.

1. Express Passes

If you can drop the money, Express Pass is a MUST. These are a total life saver. You do not need to think twice about any wait times with an EP. DK's was i think 185 minutes when we got in line, ended up waiting maybe 20 minutes. If you can fork over the money, do it without a second thought. You don't need to bother with an itinerary if you have them, you'll be able to do anything you want and not have to worry about missing anything. We hit everything we wanted to in both IOA and US with ease in 1 day, same for Epic.

2. More Walking Than You Think

You're gonna hit around 20,000 steps in 1 day. I thought I had comfortable shoes, I was wrong. I'm an athletic guy - not in a cardio sense though - and my legs and feet were hurting after each day. Either make sure your shoes are very comfortable, or consider buying those gel soles for your shoes. I would do that if I went back.

3. Epic Blows Away the Other 2 Parks

We initially had 2 day Park to Park + 1 day Epic. We did IOA/US Day 1, then Epic Day 2, and ended up buying another Epic ticket for Day 3. It was worth it. We were able to do IOA/US to hit 2 rides we wanted to go on, grabbed a drink and shop, then head to Epic the rest of the day. The other 2 parks are good (IOA way better than US) but Epic is just another level. Our waiter at dinner explained Epic has a way higher budget for food, and it was very obvious. Everything we ate and drank was a step up from the other 2. Every 4D/3D ride (all Harry Potter rides + some others) are obviously way more high tech and look so much better. If you can, consider just getting 1 Day P2P, and 2 days Epic - though depending on how long you're going for, thats just what I wish we did.

4. Early Park Admission

If you go to IOA/US with Express Pass, dont even bother rushing for EPA unless you want to. You can show up at 10am and you'll hit everything you want to with ease. Epic is different though. We wanted to meet Toothless (no EP for this) so EPA was crucial. We met him right when it opened (don't wait for later in the day, it's packed the whole time).

5. Extra Notes on Certain Areas/Rides/Food

- Stardust Racers, DK's ride, and Wing Gliders are much better when it's dark out. Keep that in mind if you want to save your EP.

- Was worried about delays/closures, did not have much of an issue with that at all. Ministry was delayed for like 20 min one day. Monster's Unchained was delayed once as we were in line, and the Hogwart's ride literally froze as we were in the middle of it first ride of the trip. Other than that everything was smooth.

- Breakfast at Three Broomsticks is pretty good. Most of the food at IOA/US is basic, mediocre food aside from specific spots, but the breakfast here was better than expected. Closes at 10:30.

- Universal Studios is honestly a skip in my opinion since RipRide Rocket is gone. Diagon Alley is very cool, but none of the rides in that entire park are very great - excluding the Mummy ride and the Gringott's ride. The place looks very cool at night, but the rides need a revamping since everything else is just that much better.

- The Untrainable Dragon show at Epic is worth the watch. Whether you have small children or not, if you like HTTYD or just rest it's worth it, only about 20 min too. Try to get a seat on the right side since that's where you exit.

If you have any questions about specific things LMK Im pretty unbiased. As a party of 2 we were able to hit every single thing we wanted to with 0 issues.

For me is the How to Train Your Dragon and Donkey Kong, both seems pretty unique and really fun, can’t wait to try it