I have heard some amazing things from some people, and many valid critiques from others. Recently I saw a tiktok of a girl criticizing the park for many things, and many people in the comments flocked to say they were just a Disney adult and shouldn’t compare it to Disney.

However to me, her criticisms seemed valid. She received a lot of hate for this, so I was just curious what your alls genuine thoughts on epic universe is and how it compares to other theme parks across the globe and the other Universal/Disney parks in Orlando!

I’ve been gone from the theme park community for the better part of a year so I’ve been a bit out of the loop.

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.

My sons and I spent today at Epic Universe. Arrived as the park opened for the general public at 10:00 am. From then until 7:00, we were able to go on exactly four attractions: Stardust Racers, Ministry of Magic, Mario Karts, and Monsters Unchained.

All four rides experienced periods where they were delayed while we were in line.

While we enjoyed what we got to experience, we ended our day feeling exhausted, hot, and underwhelmed. While there are really stunning aspects to the design (I think Darkmoor is by far the most interesting portal), the vibe of the park felt empty despite epic wait times.

Coming into this, I was looking forward to Ministry of Magic as being some revolutionary ride. I’ll hand it to Universal for beautiful design, but the ride experience left me and my son disappointed. While it is clearly a more advanced ride system than the other Harry Potter rides at USF and IOA, it was basically big screens with a few bonus animatronics. Same same, but different. After, I was thinking how Rise of Resistance does a much more effective job of telling a great story and using different modalities to tell that story. I was expecting a latter day Tower of Terror here, but the outcome wasn’t very original.

Stardust Racers is a well-executed coaster that is fun to ride. We experienced multiple delays as we waited to get on…wish I could have experienced it at night.

My younger son and I had previously experienced Mario Karts in Hollywood. We again experienced multiple delays - but it really is a different type of ride experience. Even if you have no idea how to shoot anything, it’s a fun and unique ride. Bonus points for it being a longer than usual dark ride. The environment of Mario World, while exceedingly immersive, can just feel overwhelming with the heat. It just turns the already hot Florida heat into an inferno. We were happy to get out of there…and we were not going to wait 95 minutes for Donkey Kong.

Darkmoor was my favorite area of the park. It’s just silly and nicely detailed. There is a fog effect as you are coming in that helps you cool down. We were once again delayed when we were on Monsters Unchained - after we boarded it, we had to unload and wait for the ride to cycle through. Once we were able to experience, it was such a goofy and not super intense experience. It gave me a good laugh, and it was the most enjoyable ride of the day.

When we got off of the ride, my son noted that most of the park what shut down because of the weather. We decided to call it a day at that point. As we were walking to the front, they were able to hop onto Stardust Racers for a second ride.

We got talking to a park manager as we were leaving, and we talked about how we were disappointed by our experience. She directed us to customer relations, and after a nice chat with the rep (I appreciated how she took the time to listen to my kids), she offered us three Epic Universe tickets for future use along with three Express Passes each. I thought this was a nice gesture. We didn’t exactly dislike our experience. It just did not live up to the hype.

Earlier this week, we experienced USF and IOA. When I think about this resort as a whole, I was thinking that maybe the $7 billion spent on Epic could have been used for some TLC at the original parks.

As of 2025, I don’t see Epic as being much of a Disney killer. It needs 3-4 more rides to fill in the gaps (make them all indoor please) and a lot more indoor spaces just to escape the heat - I grew up in Florida, but the overall lack of shade, vegetation, and water elements make this a tough place to be in the summer.

Overall, I see the potential. I wonder why these investments weren’t made at the other parks (I mean, who gave the green light for the moving sidewalk/gun/Villian-Con thing?). I think that Disney has the overall advantage in creating cohesive environments that tell stories you want to revisit.

Not sure when we’ll use our free Epic tickets (we live in California), but I could totally see this park evolving into something really special. At the same time, I’d think I’d rather visit Universal Studios Hollywood for a “best of” what is developed in Florida…besides, no humidity!

I’ve heard a lot of somewhat negative things about epic universe. Shade, customer experience etc. Is it worth going to or should I wait until these issues are fixed?

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

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.

I’m going to epic next Monday and I’m trying to do everything in the park in just one day. That includes all rides(both tracks on stardust) and both the shows. For anyone who was able to accomplish this what was your strategy/ the way you went about the day?

Curious to know your best tips for Epic Universe and whether it’s worth it. I’m considering a visit but I’m seeing conflicting reviews from people. What are your honest thoughts?

My boyfriend and I are visiting Orlando late August/early September this year and currently have entry to Epic for 1 day. We are trying to work out what the best option is for us in terms of maximizing our time and making sure we get everything done. We are coming from the UK and have 14-day tickets, 1 day of which grants entry to Epic. We can't decide whether to;

A. Stay on site for 1 night to gain early entry (~£120)

B. Buy an express pass for EU (~£320)

C. Buy an extra day ticket for EU (~£200) (As far as I know can only be done by calling if you're from the UK)

Which of these currently seems like the best option based on Epic just now? We are slightly leaning towards option C but I don't want to buy a ticket for no reason when it would be overall cheaper to stay on property if we're likely to get everything done. Any help/opinion is appreciated :)

Hey guys! I’m planning a trip in the beginning of January to go to Disney World for four days and visit Universal Orlando for two. One day in Universal/Islands of adventure and one day in epic universe. I was wanting to know what would be less busy for epic universe, the weekdays or the weekends? Because I’m seeing different opinions on here.

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.

Just dropped

We are going to be staying in Delray Beach from August 12-20 for a baby shower and to visit friends. My 13 year old daughter has never been into theme parks, and doesn't do roller coasters. We went to Sea World 2 years ago in February, and it was a great time. I know it's going to be hot as all heck in mid August, but thats the only time we could get down there in the near future, and with the baby shower schedule.

My daughter wants to go to Epic Universe specifically for the How to Train Your Dragon part. When I look online, it looks like you can't get a multi-park pass with the Epic Universe tickets. My questions is, is it worth it for $500 just for entry for me, my wife, and daughter in mid August? Any tips or things to avoid? I like roller coasters, my wife and daughter do not. Do you know if the Epic Universe pass also gets you into City Walk? I remember that being really fun in the evening.

Thanks in advance from a complete theme park ameteur. I last went to Universal wwith my dad when I was about 14 and remember having fun, but thats about it.

Hey everyone! I’ve usually just lurked for tips, but after visiting the brand new Epic Universe twice, once during preview and once after the grand opening (May 22), I thought I’d share some helpful info.

There's a TL;DR at the bottom as well

Crowds & Express Pass

I didn’t use Express Pass either time and still rode everything just fine. Universal is limiting daily capacity until the end of June, so crowds are very manageable. I even rode Stardust Racers (rollercoaster) three times in a row via standby.

1. Hotel & Early Park Admission

You guys know if you stay at a Universal hotel, you can enter the park one hour early. I stayed at Cabana Bay and Stella Nova. If you want to walk to the park, stay at Stella Nova, Terra Luna, or Helios Grand Hotel.

Helios is the fanciest option, it has its own dedicated park entrance and a stunning night view if you book a parkview room.

Only Super Nintendo World and Stardust Racers open early, but sometimes Harry Potter rides start a bit early too so if you’re a Potter fan, it may be worth heading there first.

Early Admission Attractions:

Mario Kart

Yoshi’s Adventure

Mine Cart Madness (Donkey Kong)

Stardust Racers

My pick: Mine Cart Madness (but Mario Kart can have longer wait times depending on the day)

2. Tickets

Buying a bundled ticket with Universal Studios Florida or Islands of Adventure is cheaper than buying a single park ticket.

But even with park-to-park access, you can’t hop between Epic universe and the other parks.

If tickets show as sold out online, check with the hotel Vacation Center, they often still have availability. Also, same day tickets sometimes open up around 9–10 AM, but I recommend buying in advance just to be safe.

3. Express Pass

It’s like Disney’s Lightning Lane, lets you skip the regular lines.

You have to buy it separately (it’s not included with hotel stays), and only the standard Express Pass is available for Epic Universe right now, no unlimited option. You can only ride each attraction once using it.

Note:

Express doesn't work for: Dragon Racer Rally, Mine Cart Madness, Battle of the Ministry of Magic

Prices fluctuate: up to $300 during peak times, as low as $140 off-season.

Also the pass uses facial recognition, so it’s non-transferable.

4. Epic Universe Worlds Overview

There are 5 total worlds (4 themed + 1 central hub), and you move between them through portals. During the grand opening, each portal had themed characters doing little ceremonies, it was a nice touch.

Celestial Park (hub area):

Beautiful landscaping, Bellagio-style fountain shows.

Food recs: Pizza moon (quick service), Atlantic (seafood) and blue rragon (asian) are full-service restaurants with good reviews.

- Stardust Racers: thrilling and smooth, possibly my favorite coaster ever. The spinning effect when two coasters rotate at once is jaw-dropping. Ride once in the day and once at night.. it feels totally different

- Constellation Carousel: Meh during the day, but surprisingly magical at night. Each animal dances individually. Nice for photos.

- How to Train Your Dragon Land: Kid friendly but still packed with stuff adults will enjoy. The Toothless and baby dragon meet and greets are adorable. Don’t skip them.

- Hiccup’s Wing Glider: Feels like a mini version of Hagrid’s ride. Soaring over the water is super refreshing.

- Fyre Drill: Water gun ride. You will get soaked. Skip if you hate getting wet.

- Dragon Racer Rally: You can control left/right motion. But ride time is really short. only 4–5 spins.

- Untrainable Dragon Show: High quality animatronics and great storytelling. Sit further back to fully enjoy the flying effects.

Super Nintendo World

If you’re a Nintendo fan, it’s a dream come true. Starts on the 2nd floor, so the view over the whole park is incredible.

- Power-Up Bands ($50) let you play mini-games. not essential, but highly recommended for fans. (If you can go to Japan, they sell for $20 there)

- Yoshi’s Adventure: Short and outdoors, but super cute. Not ideal under direct sun.

- Mario Kart: Uses AR goggles. Very divisive. some love it, some get motion sickness.

- Mine Cart Madness (Donkey Kong): Simulates jumping tracks. Front seat = better experience. Ride’s a bit short, and some visual effects weren’t working yet when I went, but still worth it.

Wizarding World — Ministry of Magic

Visually stunning, but a bit small. Only one ride for now (a broomstick VR ride was canceled).

Butterbeer crepe was a standout snack!

- Interactive Wand version2: Only sold at Epic Universe. Lights up, vibrates, and syncs with a mobile app. Costs $85.

- Battle of the Ministry of Magic: Most immersive queue I’ve ever seen. its a mix of screens + real sets made it hard to tell what’s what. Animatronics were insanely smooth.

Only complaint: not quite enough drops/thrills.

- Arcana’s Circus: Loved this show. Honestly preferred it over the dragon one. There's a pre-show and main show, both are super entertaining.

Dark Universe

Universal’s classic monsters come to life in this gothic, moody zone. Check out Burning Blade Tavern! a windmill erupts in flames on a timer

- Monsters Unchained: Uses a next gen robot arm ride system with fewer screens and more animatronics. top 5 dark rides I’ve ever done. Short lines (for now), which is wild considering how good it is.

- Curse of the Werewolf: Seats spin while you ride. Depending on where you sit, you might get tossed around a lot. Fun, but not super immersive.

TL;DR

Crowds: Super manageable through June due to capacity limits. Rode Stardust racers 3x without express.

Hotels: Stay at Universal hotels for 1-hr early entry. Helios Grand = best views + easiest access.

Early Entry Rides: Mario Kart, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Stardust Racers. Prioritize Donkey Kong or Mario depending on wait.

Tickets: Can’t park-hop to/from Epic. If sold out online, try buying at hotel’s Vacation Center.

Express Pass: Only standard (1 ride per attraction), no unlimited. Doesn’t work for Donkey Kong, Ministry of Magic ride, or Dragon Rally. Uses facial recognition.

Best Rides:

Stardust Racers: my fave coaster ever (try day & night!)

Monsters Unchained: insane animatronics, top-tier dark ride

Battle of the Ministry of Magic: amazing queue + visuals

Mine Cart Madness : jump track coaster, sit in front row

Food: Pizza Moon is solid; Butterbeer Crepe & Blue Dragon also good.

Shows: Arcana’s Circus (Harry Potter) and Untrainable Dragon. both worth seeing.

Buy Power up Band ($50) only if you want to play minigames in Nintendo World.

Thanks for reading!

We all know Epic Universe will open on May 22, so I personally hope Epic Universe as a whole will be as great as Universal's Islands of Adventure. What about you?

I think some things like fyre drill and werewolf are getting crazy hate and I don’t understand why. This park has no misses, I would take one of these any day over a ride that just moved around like transformers or Mario kart

Please keep all feedback and thoughts regarding today's technical rehearsal of Epic Universe here. The highlights, the frustrations, etc. There has understandably been a huge influx of posts regarding technical rehearsals, so this will help keep the sub feed clean. Thanks!

Note: Buying, Selling, and Trading are not permitted in r/universalorlando. Offering money for entry into Battle at the Ministry does not follow community guidelines and will be removed.