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!

Was lucky enough to go to Epic Universe for the first time, and I had an amazing time. Just wanted to share my honest experience about this new theme park. SPOILERS AHEAD so please be warned!

LANDS:

All of the lands (Celestial Park, Dark Universe, Isle of Berk, Super Nintendo World, and Ministry of Magic) are expertly themed and immersive. I can't rank any one over the other, because I feel like they all have such immersive elements that really make you feel like you stepped through a portal into another world.

1. Celestial Park - a great, sort of world-between-the-worlds. I really like the green, covered walkways in this area. A beautiful carousel in the center along with great views of the portals and parks from anywhere around this circuit. Atlantic is an amazing restaurant. There's a Starbucks, a giant theme park store, and even a Christmas shop.

2. Dark Universe - I can't explain how much I really love this land. A great nod to the Universal Classic Monsters movies. Has a foreboding atmosphere that's even better at night. The Burning Blade tavern is without a doubt worth checking out, even if it's just for the aesthetic.

3. Isle of Berk - this might be the largest land. As a huge HTTYD fan, I was completely blown away but how great this land was designed. Feels like I walked right into the movies. Mead Hall is stunning - try the Yaknog it's delicious :)

4. Super Nintendo World - going up the escalator into this land was a breathtaking experience. This land is so much fun, and there's a lot to do. Interactive wristbands are available for purchase to collect keys, coins, and the like.

5. Ministry of Magic - name is a bit of a misnomer. This place is really set in Place Cachée in Wizarding Paris, which is one of my favorite places to walk around. This place just FEELS huge. Some of my favorite places to eat in the park: 1) Café L'air De La Sirène, which makes you feel like you're eating at a super nice cafe in Paris and 2) Le Gobelet Noir, a sort of darker themed restaurant which is really spacious and had a lot of great food options.

RIDES (RANKED by tiers):

GOAT TIER (MUST DO)

1. Monsters Unchained: Frankenstein Experience - without a doubt, my favorite ride at Epic Universe. Sort of a cross for me between Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, but for me, even better than both of those rides. I had a really fun time going through the castle queue. The ride itself is exceptionally immersive with a great story and cool scenes and animatronics.

2. Stardust Racers - close contender for #1. This ride is similar to the Dueling Dragons ride we all miss, but is even better. The two tracks you can go on are Pulsar and Photon (I liked them both). Super fast-paced with a lot of cool "dueling" elements. I walked off with a huge grin on my face, especially after seeing the Flux-Capacitor ;)

3. Hiccup's Wing Gliders - a really fun, family rollercoaster. Sort of a little brother to Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure. Had some really great views of Isle of Berk. Not super crazy, so the whole family will be able to enjoy it! Much better than a lot of other rollercoasters at parks in the area (COUGH***Slinky Dog Dash***COUGH).

MID-TIER (ONLY WORTH IT IF THE WAIT IS SHORT, <60 MINUTES)

4. Mine-Cart Madness - first ride I went on at Epic Universe. Queue is amazing and the fans in the outside area were much appreciated. Ride itself is fun, jostles you around a bit, and has visuals that make you feel like you're going off the rails. Ended up waiting around 75 minutes for this ride, which was over in just a few minutes. In retrospect, I think it's like 3 minutes, but it feels a lot shorter than that. A fun time nonetheless, and favorite ride in Super Nintendo World!

5. Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry - HUGE hot take. Please don't hate me, and I'm really sorry if I ticked a lot of people off by ranking this ride lower than most. FWIW, I love the Harry Potter series and yes even the first Fantastic Beasts movie. I'm assuming that the Wizarding Paris location in set in the current day, because I'm really not sure how it would work taking the Metro Floo from 1920s Wizarding Paris to late 1990s/early 2000s Ministry of Magic :/. That aside, the queue itself is one of the best I've ever been through. The people who designed this place should be lauded on how great this is. A lot of people came just to see the queue without even going on the ride. As far as the ride itself, I got off with a mixed experience. I really like the premise, but found the whole time-turner side plot to be a little wonky. The Erumpent was a nice callback to the FB series, but wasn't really needed. The overall experience was just fine in my opinion. No major drop, no major twist or turns, kinda just felt like I was there. The visuals were STUNNING, and credit to Imelda Staunton for really making this ride so much better. Overall, this ride was okay. Nothing I'd wait more than an hour for.

6. Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge - a good, okay ride. I was really looking forward to this ride ever since I heard about it. Again, the queue is really fun and well-designed. The premise is cool, and I like the little helmet/goggles aspect that makes you feel like you're actually in the game. I found it to be a little all over the place though, and I really wasn't sure what was going on. I was just turning my wheel and hitting random buttons hoping it would all work out. Maybe I just need to ride it again to really master it, but I got off the ride happy that I did it but not wanting to wait a long time for it again.

SKIP TIER (COULD SKIP WITHOUT MISSING ANYTHING, OKAY TO DO IF <25-30 MINUTES)

7. Curse of the Werewolf - a bit of a let down, because I really like this theme and was hoping this would be an exciting addition to Dark Universe. The idea of a spinning coaster is a lot of fun. The queue itself I found to be a bit bland, nothing much about werewolves, just a tent and some tarot cards and crystal balls. Waiting outside here was a bit painful because of how hot this queue gets - it's all outside. The ride itself was entertaining, had some cool spins...and then it kinda just ended abruptly. The fortune teller at the end of the ride was kinda sus, and was giving me Spirit Halloween vibes. Maybe worth doing if there's a short wait, but you're not missing out on a whole lot sadly.

8. Yoshi's Adventure - really a ride for little kids, only reason I put it up here was because it's super immersive (really, they did a good job with it), and you get some nice views of Super Nintendo World :). Similar to the High in the Sky Seuss Trolley but better I think

9. Constellation Carousel - it's just a carousel. That being said, the aesthetics are 10/10 and instead of just going in a linear path, each figure kinda spins in a circle. Hard to explain but cool. At the end of the day, it's a carousel that's okay to do if there's not a huge wait, but you're not gonna miss out if you don't do it. A lot of great views of the Celestial Park area though!

CHOPPED TIER (NAH)

10. Fyre Drill - honestly not a bad ride. You board a ship and fire water cannons at targets (and the people in the other ship). It's designed really well and a fun time. Would probably do the other rides first, but it's fine to do if you have some time to kill.

11. Dragon Racer's Rally - I'll never forgive myself for waiting over an hour for this ride. I'll give credit where credit is due - it looks amazing, and the ride itself has some really nice views. You can manipulate the wings to try to flip yourself. Only bad thing is that you do like three laps in the air and that's it. I'd probably say it's a skip for me.

HOTELS:

1. Stella Nova - I've stayed at pretty much every Universal hotel (except the really expensive ones: Helios/Portofino Bay/Hard Rock/Royal Pacific). Good theming, plain white motif in the lobby interspersed with some space theming. Lobby is fine. There's a really cool floor with stars on the ceiling. Parking was kind of expensive for no reason ($30 a night). I actually booked my reservation earlier with a lower price for parking and they tried to charge me the higher amount. Had to talk with them but they were nice enough to honor my original reservation price, which was still kind of expensive. Pool is HUGE and really nice. Food was kinda overpriced and mid. I thought $15ish dollars for one person for breakfast was kinda wild. I paid $16 for a burger too which I thought was fine, but definitely not worth the price. No Starbucks at this hotel, and coffee/grab and go options were okay. I would honestly rather eat at the park. Gym is nice with great views. My room however was great: really good-sized and had a comfortable couch near the window. I really do like the walking path to Epic Universe which was really convenient if you don't want to wait for the shuttles. The shuttles come pretty routinely though.

2. Terra Luna - Pretty much the same as Stella Nova. I liked the lobby here better though, because of those really cool chairs that turn in a circle. Also has a plain, white motif. Parking has the same issues as Stella Nova expensive for no reason. The pool is smaller than Stella Nova but still good-sized and has a cool shape. Food, again, has the same problems as Stella Nova. I didn't really think it was worth the price for the quality and portion size. Service was exceptional at both places though. The staff is really nice and well-trained. No Starbucks at this hotel, so a bit of a bummer. Again, I would rather bring my own groceries/eat at the park. Gym is also really nice with great views! The rooms are the same, except I think I like the backdrop in the Terra Luna rooms a little bit more. A downside here is that there is no direct walking path to Epic Universe. It's a little awkward to try walking there, but the shuttles come pretty often.

Both fine, good hotels. They're both a tossup depending on what pros outweigh the cons for you. I'd probably pick Stella Nova for the walking path and ease of grab and go/cafe. But if Terra Luna is significantly cheaper, I'd pick it over Stella Nova. Stay in these hotels if you're planning on going to Epic, but if you're going to all the parks, I'd say maybe stay at one of these hotels for the Epic portion and one of the others for the Universal/Islands portion.

OVERALL:

I definitely enjoyed my time at Epic Universe. It is well-built, fun, and you can tell a lot of creativity went into it. I wish they had more shaded areas (it was incredibly painful during a hot, Florida day), but the team members and variety of stuff to do and see made it worth it. I wish the quality of rides were on par for me with Universal and Islands, but I probably need to experience them again to appreciate them more. Without a doubt, worth checking out because Universal is definitely taking the right steps to be one of the best theme park experiences in the area

Please don't roast me too hard in the comments, this was just my honest opinion of my experience. Much love ;)

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 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

Florida native, I grew up going to Universal Studios and IOA. I’m back in Florida for a few weeks and was thinking about going to the new Epic Universe, but was shocked at the low reviews on Google Maps.

It seems most of the reviews are due to long wait times for ride and rides breaking down; however, I don’t do roller coasters or “scary rides”, so that wouldn’t bother me. I just like walking around, seeing shows and characters, etc. Also do love Mario and Harry Potter

Given that, is there anything I should be aware of as to why this is apparently the lowest-rated theme park in Orlando lol

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.

Well our two day trip to Epic Universe did not dissapoint! Let me start by saying we are die hard Universal fans so we were really looking forward to this new park. We go to Universal every year for Thanksgiving, a tradition we started when my husband was deployed! We have gone 13 years and counting! So when we were able to get preview tickets with our freedom pass we, of course, packed up and went. Never mind my son and I had just gone two weeks earlier for a quick weekend getaway to Universal lol!

All I can say is Epic was just that, epic! We had early park admission and went immediately to Stardust Racers. My new fav coaster…I get so scared on Velocicoaster, but this one was so fun…we rode it about 7 times in our two days there. We then went to Dark Universe and rode Monsters Unchained (amazing) and curse of werewolf (sadly ours didn’t spin). My fav portal was Isle of Berk…love me some toothless. We were able to ride all the rides in the park except Mario and the donkey Kong one (too long of wait times both days), but the land itself was amazing.

We were fortunate to get a VQ for Ministry of Magic on our second day after we had already accepted the fact that we may not get one….it was a *itch to try for one..we were in line to ride the carousal when my son quietly showed me his phone that we got a time…we immediatly got out of line and went to ride….and it was (in my opinion) the best ride in the park next to Monsters and Stardust! I hear some people say it was disappointing, but I feel if your a Harry Potter fan, then you will definitely appreciate this ride!!

Now for the food!! I can say we ate around Epic. All the food was amazing, not your regular theme park hamburger, hotdog, pizza for sure. Our favorite was Mead Hall (the salmon was delish). Adult beverages were yummy at Burning Blade Tavern! Toadstool cafe was cute themed food…and the butter beer crepes in Harry Potter and red velvet coffin cake at Das Steakhouse were all delish!! So much food, and mobile ordering was fast and efficient!

I have no bad things to say about this park! Did it have some hiccups? (of course). Some rides got delayed and we expected that, it was a preview, they are still working out the kinks! Is there no shade? Not alot, it was HOT!! Especially in the line to get the mac and cheese cones and the line to meet toothless (thought I was having heat stroke lol!). All the team members we met and characters were all friendly and doing their best to deal with things!! The VQ definitely needs some tweaking…!!

My suggestion is go with an open mind, don’t expect everything to be perfect, and enjoy this beautiful park! It’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea and that’s okay, but for us, it’s going to be a great addition to the Universal Parks!! And on a final note, if you go in the summer, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate….its HOT!! 🥵😂

Were you lucky enough to check out Epic Universe before it officially opens? Want to tell everyone about your experience? Use this thread. All other threads that are review based will be removed and asked to be posted here.

Looking for recent reviews? Be sure to sort this thread by latest.

I have now been to the park several times and have managed to get on all rides, some of them multiple times. I like the park a lot but it doesn't quite live up to the influencer hype.

Here is my breakdown of attractions in my order of preference:

Startdust Racers - Great ride! Night time rides were amazing. Not sure I'd put it above Velocicoaster but it's close and still stands on its own. I'm still a little shocked that Duelding Dragons closed yet this was created because this two cars seem to collide closer than Dragons ever did.

Monsters Unchained - Well done attraction! Not quite as amazing as some have made it out to be, as more movie screens than I expected, but by far the stand-out dark ride at this park. Cars are exactly the same as FJ but I prefered this to FJ as it didn't make me as queasy.

3.Hiccup's Wing Gliders - What a fun coaster! Not getting a lot of attention but I feel like it should.

4. Donkey Kong - It's bouncier than it should have been but still fun. Really cool looking at night.

5. Mario Kart - I wish this was a fast moving roller coaster ride like Test Track. It is still pretty good. Took me a while to learn how to play the game. I would probably put it over Monsters but I had ridden the Hollywood version so it wasn't new to me and while that shouldn't factor in to my ranking it still does.

6. Yoshi's Adventure - I feel like I'm starting to run out of rides here, which is another issue with this park, so I'll just put this one next because it's cute and I like Nintendo.

7. Curse of the Werewolf - My least favorite of all the roller coasters. It was lame and it seemed the most Six Flags of all the rides there. This should have gone to Sea World.

8. Dragon Racer's Rally - I've ridden this ride at Mall of America and it spinned like crazy. I've ridden both sides, twice each now, couldn't get the thing to flip once.

9. Fyre Drill - Rode it once. It's cute but lame.

10. Constellation Carousel - I forgot about the carousel because that's the impact it left on me.

11. (Hot Take) Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry - Worst ride in the park. It made me so sick. I never want to ride it again. The line was amazing. But when you have a ride where the line is 10x better than the ride, that's a problem. I saw all the hype from the influencers and I waited nearly 3 hours to ride it and never again. It just wasn't that great of an experience overall. I prefer the other movie based potter rides and even Spider-Man and Transformers are better rides.

Other takeaways:

There isn't enough to do at this park.

Nintendo area is too small. Gets way too crowded and this is during previews.

Ministry area looks really nice, but it is my least favorite of the three Wizarding Worlds.

Both the How To Train Your Dragon and Ministry shows were enjoyable but forgettable. I like the pre-show to the Ministry show better than both of the actual shows.

How to Train Your Dragon land looks great. Probably my favorite land but only because I had seen the Nintendo land before. There just isn't that much to do in this land tho. Kind of a problem with the whole park imo.

Toothless is just sitting there in the open and you watch everyone go through the same show. Why wasn't this in a building where you couldn't see what was happening?

Celestial Gardens area is nice but if we are comparing gardens the new Epcot area looks more impressive than this.

Monsters area looks really nice. The castle reveal was strange though. Was expecting it to be right out of the portal but it isn't.

The park is very nice, a great addition to the variety of Orlando parks, but it is no way the best park in Orlando, not even the best Universal park. I still prefer Islands of Adventure.

Was lucky enough to go to Epic Universe for the first time, and I had an amazing time. Just wanted to share my honest experience about this new theme park. SPOILERS AHEAD so please be warned!

LANDS:

All of the lands (Celestial Park, Dark Universe, Isle of Berk, Super Nintendo World, and Ministry of Magic) are expertly themed and immersive. I can't rank any one over the other, because I feel like they all have such immersive elements that really make you feel like you stepped through a portal into another world.

1. Celestial Park - a great, sort of world-between-the-worlds. I really like the green, covered walkways in this area. A beautiful carousel in the center along with great views of the portals and parks from anywhere around this circuit. Atlantic is an amazing restaurant. There's a Starbucks, a giant theme park store, and even a Christmas shop.

2. Dark Universe - I can't explain how much I really love this land. A great nod to the Universal Classic Monsters movies. Has a foreboding atmosphere that's even better at night. The Burning Blade tavern is without a doubt worth checking out, even if it's just for the aesthetic.

3. Isle of Berk - this might be the largest land. As a huge HTTYD fan, I was completely blown away but how great this land was designed. Feels like I walked right into the movies. Mead Hall is stunning - try the Yaknog it's delicious :)

4. Super Nintendo World - going up the escalator into this land was a breathtaking experience. This land is so much fun, and there's a lot to do. Interactive wristbands are available for purchase to collect keys, coins, and the like.

5. Ministry of Magic - name is a bit of a misnomer. This place is really set in Place Cachée in Wizarding Paris, which is one of my favorite places to walk around. This place just FEELS huge. Some of my favorite places to eat in the park: 1) Café L'air De La Sirène, which makes you feel like you're eating at a super nice cafe in Paris and 2) Le Gobelet Noir, a sort of darker themed restaurant which is really spacious and had a lot of great food options.

RIDES (RANKED by tiers):

GOAT TIER (MUST DO)

1. Monsters Unchained: Frankenstein Experience - without a doubt, my favorite ride at Epic Universe. Sort of a cross for me between Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, but for me, even better than both of those rides. I had a really fun time going through the castle queue. The ride itself is exceptionally immersive with a great story and cool scenes and animatronics.

2. Stardust Racers - close contender for #1. This ride is similar to the Dueling Dragons ride we all miss, but is even better. The two tracks you can go on are Pulsar and Photon (I liked them both). Super fast-paced with a lot of cool "dueling" elements. I walked off with a huge grin on my face, especially after seeing the Flux-Capacitor ;)

3. Hiccup's Wing Gliders - a really fun, family rollercoaster. Sort of a little brother to Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure. Had some really great views of Isle of Berk. Not super crazy, so the whole family will be able to enjoy it! Much better than a lot of other rollercoasters at parks in the area (COUGH***Slinky Dog Dash***COUGH).

MID-TIER (ONLY WORTH IT IF THE WAIT IS SHORT, <60 MINUTES)

4. Mine-Cart Madness - first ride I went on at Epic Universe. Queue is amazing and the fans in the outside area were much appreciated. Ride itself is fun, jostles you around a bit, and has visuals that make you feel like you're going off the rails. Ended up waiting around 75 minutes for this ride, which was over in just a few minutes. In retrospect, I think it's like 3 minutes, but it feels a lot shorter than that. A fun time nonetheless, and favorite ride in Super Nintendo World!

5. Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry - HUGE hot take. Please don't hate me, and I'm really sorry if I ticked a lot of people off by ranking this ride lower than most. FWIW, I love the Harry Potter series and yes even the first Fantastic Beasts movie. I'm assuming that the Wizarding Paris location in set in the current day, because I'm really not sure how it would work taking the Metro Floo from 1920s Wizarding Paris to late 1990s/early 2000s Ministry of Magic :/. That aside, the queue itself is one of the best I've ever been through. The people who designed this place should be lauded on how great this is. A lot of people came just to see the queue without even going on the ride. As far as the ride itself, I got off with a mixed experience. I really like the premise, but found the whole time-turner side plot to be a little wonky. The Erumpent was a nice callback to the FB series, but wasn't really needed. The overall experience was just fine in my opinion. No major drop, no major twist or turns, kinda just felt like I was there. The visuals were STUNNING, and credit to Imelda Staunton for really making this ride so much better. Overall, this ride was okay. Nothing I'd wait more than an hour for.

6. Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge - a good, okay ride. I was really looking forward to this ride ever since I heard about it. Again, the queue is really fun and well-designed. The premise is cool, and I like the little helmet/goggles aspect that makes you feel like you're actually in the game. I found it to be a little all over the place though, and I really wasn't sure what was going on. I was just turning my wheel and hitting random buttons hoping it would all work out. Maybe I just need to ride it again to really master it, but I got off the ride happy that I did it but not wanting to wait a long time for it again.

SKIP TIER (COULD SKIP WITHOUT MISSING ANYTHING, OKAY TO DO IF <25-30 MINUTES)

7. Curse of the Werewolf - a bit of a let down, because I really like this theme and was hoping this would be an exciting addition to Dark Universe. The idea of a spinning coaster is a lot of fun. The queue itself I found to be a bit bland, nothing much about werewolves, just a tent and some tarot cards and crystal balls. Waiting outside here was a bit painful because of how hot this queue gets - it's all outside. The ride itself was entertaining, had some cool spins...and then it kinda just ended abruptly. The fortune teller at the end of the ride was kinda sus, and was giving me Spirit Halloween vibes. Maybe worth doing if there's a short wait, but you're not missing out on a whole lot sadly.

8. Yoshi's Adventure - really a ride for little kids, only reason I put it up here was because it's super immersive (really, they did a good job with it), and you get some nice views of Super Nintendo World :). Similar to the High in the Sky Seuss Trolley but better I think

9. Constellation Carousel - it's just a carousel. That being said, the aesthetics are 10/10 and instead of just going in a linear path, each figure kinda spins in a circle. Hard to explain but cool. At the end of the day, it's a carousel that's okay to do if there's not a huge wait, but you're not gonna miss out if you don't do it. A lot of great views of the Celestial Park area though!

CHOPPED TIER (NAH)

10. Fyre Drill - honestly not a bad ride. You board a ship and fire water cannons at targets (and the people in the other ship). It's designed really well and a fun time. Would probably do the other rides first, but it's fine to do if you have some time to kill.

11. Dragon Racer's Rally - I'll never forgive myself for waiting over an hour for this ride. I'll give credit where credit is due - it looks amazing, and the ride itself has some really nice views. You can manipulate the wings to try to flip yourself. Only bad thing is that you do like three laps in the air and that's it. I'd probably say it's a skip for me.

HOTELS:

1. Stella Nova - I've stayed at pretty much every Universal hotel (except the really expensive ones: Helios/Portofino Bay/Hard Rock/Royal Pacific). Good theming, plain white motif in the lobby interspersed with some space theming. Lobby is fine. There's a really cool floor with stars on the ceiling. Parking was kind of expensive for no reason ($30 a night). I actually booked my reservation earlier with a lower price for parking and they tried to charge me the higher amount. Had to talk with them but they were nice enough to honor my original reservation price, which was still kind of expensive. Pool is HUGE and really nice. Food was kinda overpriced and mid. I thought $15ish dollars for one person for breakfast was kinda wild. I paid $16 for a burger too which I thought was fine, but definitely not worth the price. No Starbucks at this hotel, and coffee/grab and go options were okay. I would honestly rather eat at the park. Gym is nice with great views. My room however was great: really good-sized and had a comfortable couch near the window. I really do like the walking path to Epic Universe which was really convenient if you don't want to wait for the shuttles. The shuttles come pretty routinely though.

2. Terra Luna - Pretty much the same as Stella Nova. I liked the lobby here better though, because of those really cool chairs that turn in a circle. Also has a plain, white motif. Parking has the same issues as Stella Nova expensive for no reason. The pool is smaller than Stella Nova but still good-sized and has a cool shape. Food, again, has the same problems as Stella Nova. I didn't really think it was worth the price for the quality and portion size. Also, the set up is a little worse. They divide the grab and go, cafe, and restaurant into 3 separate lines, whereas Stella Nova is just two lines: the grab and go/cafe and the restaurant. A little nit-picky but it made grabbing a quick breakfast and coffee more difficult than I wanted it to be. Service was exceptional at both places though. The staff is really nice and well-trained. No Starbucks at this hotel, so a bit of a bummer. Again, I would rather bring my own groceries/eat at the park. Gym is also really nice with great views! The rooms are the same, except I think I like the backdrop in the Terra Luna rooms a little bit more. A downside here is that there is no direct walking path to Epic Universe. It's a little awkward to try walking there, but the shuttles come pretty often.

Both fine, good hotels. They're both a tossup depending on what pros outweigh the cons for you. I'd probably pick Stella Nova for the walking path and ease of grab and go/cafe. But if Terra Luna is significantly cheaper, I'd pick it over Stella Nova. Stay in these hotels if you're planning on going to Epic, but if you're going to all the parks, I'd say maybe stay at one of these hotels for the Epic portion and one of the others for the Universal/Islands portion.

OVERALL:

I definitely enjoyed my time at Epic Universe. It is well-built, fun, and you can tell a lot of creativity went into it. I wish they had more shaded areas (it was incredibly painful during a hot, Florida day), but the team members and variety of stuff to do and see made it worth it. I wish the quality of rides were on par for me with Universal and Islands, but I probably need to experience them again to appreciate them more. Without a doubt, worth checking out because Universal is definitely taking the right steps to be one of the best theme park experiences in the area

Please don't roast me too hard in the comments, this was just my honest opinion of my experience. Much love ;)

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?

Before I start I will say I land in the extreme on the roller coaster preference scale. Extreme thrill seeker. Okay- I went to epic universe previewing on April 26th. I was amazed by the park itself. The park itself is absolutely beautiful and will take your breath away.

In terms of straight theming I will say nintendo world was most impressive with ministry of magic being a close second. The nintendo world is just phenomenal, when you enter it’s the only world that literally just makes you feel like you entered an alternate reality. The queue for the mario kart ride is astonishing. As for the ride its self, I thought it was terrible and gets a C- (only reason for it being that high is the queue was so awesome). I had no idea what was going on, and the left side of my glasses didn’t work. Minecart madness is good. It’s a cute ride for what it’s meant to be and I don’t see the hate on it too much. Personally i’m an extreme thrill seeker so i won’t be waiting more then 45 minutes for it in the future (yes I know i’ll probably never ride it again) but for what it’s SUPPOSED to be its a great ride with unexpected moments and faster then it looks. I just do wish it was a little longer and maybe not as rough for how new it is? Overall a B.

Moving over to dark universe I’m not going to lie I was overall very disappointed as this is what I was looking most forward to. The theming was from the outside is awesome. But once you enter the castle the line is the most exciting part. I looked forward to the monsters unchained ride very much but again the queue was the most impressive part. The rides animatronics are so awesome and detailed but you only get to look at them for literally a split second before it takes you away from it. So much money on amazing animatronics to not be able to soak it in. The ride can’t help but feel like you are on forbidden journey but with no purpose. Overall a C- .

Just across the path on the otherhand was curse of the werewolf, a ride I had very low expectations for but was overly pleased with. The ride is very short, but for good reason many will get sick on it, but it is super fun and feels extremely fast because of the spinning. I thought it was very good. Overall an A- (thought the theming could of been a little bit better)

Alright, across the park stardust racers is possibly the best roller coaster I have ever been on. I went on it with the mentality that velocicoaster was king and despite what everyone is saying it can’t be better. But it just might be. Very close. It’s extremely fast, the dualing affect is so awesome and the best part is the ride feels long. There was about 3 times I thought it was about to end and you would just keep going. Overall an A+ and this ride alone makes Epic worth a trip to for anyone.

Over to ministry of magic, to start Paris is beautiful and very well themed and has that same affect and feeling you get at hogsmead. As far as the ministry it’s self it’s surreal. The detail and queue for the ride is so amazing. As for the ride it’s self (yes I was fortunate enough to get on despite the virtual queue issues) it’s pretty good. I loved it and thought the animatronics were so good and real looking. However, the ride is going to be a serious problem for anyone who even somewhat gets motion sickness. I do NOT get motion sickness at all and have never experienced it in my life, but even I got a little light headed on that ride. But overall a A- as it’s extremely well done, a good length and fun, it’s just rough on the head.

Last, how to train your dragon land is awesome. Very well themed and beautiful. This is where we ate for the day at the mac and cheese place everyone is talking about. It was very good but I was still hungry after I ate it and that wasn’t a great feeling after paying 16 bucks for one of them. The how to train your dragon coaster was very good. Not as good as hagrids, but it was fun. It’s well themed and pretty quick. The “going backwards” part is an extreme let down as you don’t really go backwards you just go like 10 feet back slowly and relaunch. But it was fun. overall a B+

Overall conclusion of the park, the park is awesome and much worth a visit to at the wait times I had to wait for everything (averaged about an hour for everything) however I think it’s going to be a nightmare when it opens. I couldn’t imagine waiting 2 or more hours for anything there other then stardust and maybe ministry of magic. The place is going to be a nightmare in the summer. Once you are in a queue you are almost always in a/c or some type of shade (except for the how to train your dragon coaster) which is awesome and I think all theme parks need to follow how they handled that. But the rest of the park there literally isn’t an inch of shade. it’s gonna be hot. The park is awesome though and I had a great time. If the park had one more coaster that was a step below stardust but a big step above the others (kinda like velocicoaster and hagrids or hulk) it would be the best universal park. But because it’s missing that, I say the other 2 park combo gets the cake. Overall park grading is a B+. If you actually read this whole thing thank you for your time.

Edit: another problem is these rides have a lot of issues. I understand it’s a preview, but i don’t know. Hiccups was down the majority of the day. Every ride was delayed atleast once with minecart madness and stardust seeming the most reliable of everything. But at one point every single ride except for stardust was delayed. It seems kinda bad it’s like this less than a month before opening day.

My wife and I were lucky enough to do 2 Epic Universe previews, stay at both Stella Nova and Terra Luna, and explore Helios Grand while also going to Bar Helios. This is going to be long, but here’s my review of everything I did and what happened throughout the days. I’ll go into details of everything and explain truthfully what’s amazing, what’s underhyped, what’s overhyped, and what is concerning. Spoiler alert and if you don’t want to read the rest: Epic is amazing and there’s no doubt about it, but going to the park after the preview is yet to be seen on what it is going to provide.

HOTELS:

I’ll start with the hotels. We’ve stayed now at both Terra Luna and Stella Nova. Maybe we got lucky, maybe they’ve fixed everything but I can easily say these hotels are WAY underhyped. The rooms are clean, extremely spacious, and on the cheaper side (IF you have an AP. Can’t speak for what the regular prices are like). My wife and I walk basically everywhere so when we heard there was a walking path to Epic from Stella we expected like a 20-30 minute walk similar to Cabana Bay to the parks. We were wrong. If you don’t miss the light for the crosswalk, we made it to Epic in under 8 minutes from Stella. Easy walk and we never felt the need to take a bus or uber. After a long park day, would Helios be a better choice if you wanna save like, a couple minutes to get back to your room? Absolutely. But if you don’t mind walking just a little extra, Stella’s price compared to Helios is pretty spectacular. For Stella, everything at the hotel was working during our trip, elevators were great, lights in the room were fine, everything appeared to be finished, etc. For Terra, it was the same thing, everything was working and fine, but I wouldn’t stay there over Stella unless I had no plans to visit Epic (that walking path makes the few extra bucks at Stella WAY worth it). I can’t speak for Helios’ rooms, but I did go to bar Helios directly from the park yesterday evening. First, the team members everywhere have been amazing across the board, and that’s no different at Helios. The bar itself was also amazing (and the drinks were pretty big). My wife got sliders and a cocktail, and I didn’t try any, I just got a beer. I had looked at getting us a room at Helios before the visit, but you’re looking at $450-600ish (very dependent on park view) if not more a night for what is a great view (if you get park view) for the room and a couple minutes off your walking time compared to Stella. If hotels and views are your thing, this is definitely your hotel, but I personally was fine with saving over $300 a night and adding just a few minutes to our walk with a room that could potentially be just as nice, especially for just two people. I would personally rather take the money from the hotel and spend it on food and merch throughout the park (which oh man, we did) but it’s really up to personal preference. The negative for Helios is that we had to go back to Stella after our late night trip to Bar Helios and the only way to get back is to 1. Uber or 2. Take a bus to CityWalk and then BACK to Stella when Stella is only a few minutes away from Helios. This has to be fixed SOON because the trying to get back from two Universal properties that are definitely within walking distance should not take you 30 minutes plus on a bus. This honestly wouldn’t be an issue if there was a walking path (EVEN if it took 30+ minutes). I’ve heard rumors of a sidewalk that can be walked but just as a heads up, we were told last night you could NOT walk from Helios to Stella, even a long walk. This would be even less of an issue IF Uber of Lyft worked. For some reason, Uber drivers will not put the address into google or Waze, even after asking them to in a private message (perhaps it’s policy) and Uber and Lyft have not updated their maps yet with the hotel address. So we were left at the front of the hotel for 20+ minutes waiting on an uber that eventually canceled because he kept going in circles after repeatedly telling him it’s a new hotel and he needs to put the address into Google or Waze instead. I can say if you’re staying at Helios, Bar Helios is amazing and WELL worth going to (great drinks and food, amazing views, amazing bar) HOWEVER, if you are staying at another Universal property it is NOT worth visiting until they fix the transportation. I will also say that I’ve heard people from the park say they had issues getting into Helios after leaving Epic. We did not personally experience this and were able to walk straight into Helios from the park without any complications, questions, etc. They literally just let us, and everyone else going in, straight in.

EPIC UNIVERSE PREVIEW:

Now let’s talk about the preview. I can’t begin to speak highly enough for what exactly the previews are. We got 2 days back to back, one of them being a Sunday, at what appeared to be EXTREMELY limited capacity. We’re talking lines said 35 but waited 10 minutes capacity. Never waited in ANY line for food, drinks, merch for more than all of 5 minutes. We got to witness things appear dead that will likely never be that way again. We walked through Frankenstein Manor and the Burning Blade with all of 2-3 other couples, if that, able to take as many pictures as we wanted. Some parts of the park seemed “slightly” more crowded than others but I don’t think they were, I think it was just a space thing. For example, Super Nintendo World always felt more crowded, but that’s just because there are so many props there and it makes it feel more crowded. I never brushed up against someone accidentally to get by, never felt like I could have gotten a better view of something, was able to get on certain rides back to back for repeated ride throughs, etc. 

WITH that all being said it comes at a caveat. Things are going down or delayed frequently. Because lines are so short, this doesn’t make it bad at all. As a matter of fact we never had issues with rides being delayed and it causing us not to be able to do it during the day. Monsters was delayed for a huge portion if not the majority of the day yesterday. It opened up and was somewhere at 105 minutes to wait (supposedly) but then quickly dropped to 40. We got in-line at 40 fully expecting it to be 40 minutes and, it wasn’t, it was 15 minutes. Huge tip… if the signs during preview say anything under an hour DON’T trust it. It’s likely 15-30 if even that from our experience. Werewolf almost always said 25 when we went over there and we never waited more than 10. Stardust was a similar story, it would say 15-25 and was always a direct walk on (to the point that we didn’t even have anyone else on the train with us other than people directly on the front, which only would’ve been a wait of 2 parties in front of us. 

The delays are wildly obnoxious at first however, until you figure out how to navigate around them and plan other things you want to do during the delays. You absolutely (during previews, I want to make that clear) can navigate around it unless something is unexpectedly closed for the day. However what I will say is that we got into Darkmoor right as it opened. We were the first in-line, literally, as in we were the first guests to step into Dark Universe for the day. We got in line for Monsters and were about to board when it got delayed for what was over an hour. As the first thing of the day, it definitely scared my wife and I because we thought the whole day was about to be waiting in line for hours for delayed rides and then unable to do them because they close for the day. We talked to a TM during the ride who updated us and said they weren’t sure how long it would be down for but however they do expect it to come up pretty shortly and that it wasn’t closing down for an extended delay. That was amazing info, and all the TMs are incredible, my only thing is that I wish there was a way for the TMs to communicate with everyone in line to let them know rather they expect the experience to be down permanently or for a delay that could result in us being kicked out of line OR if it is excepted to come back up. The same thing happened with Toothless’ Meet and Greet and the TM DID announce to us that he was expected to be “feeling better” shortly, they just didn’t know how long it would take and we were more than welcome to stick around. 

I’ll put this shortly though. I can easily say (I’ll get more into detail about specific lands too, later on) that this is the best themepark on the planet, with the only comparison and honestly a very similar park, being Tokyo Disney Sea.

CONCERNS ABOUT OPENING DAY:

I have nothing but good things to say about our experience if this is how it was going to be forever. If crowds were this limited and this low during the rest of the year HOWEVER, things were delayed, not everything was working, etc. I think charging full priced tickets for the preview is perfect. It was an amazing experience. So amazing that we woke up this morning extremely sad that we were leaving, and we come to the parks often enough that we are almost never sad to leave, because we know that we’ll come back and have a good time. I don’t think it’s possible to have as good of a time as we had, and we have tickets for early September with express for Epic.

Here’s the big issue. Things are going to delay. And it…. doesn’t appear to be getting any better. Things just kind of appear to staying steady. I heard about the worst day during TM previews where basically everything was delayed during the same time…. But even though it hasn’t done that again for APs, there is just no possible way this park is ready to open to a large crowd. If they opened to the same crowds as previews I think everyone would have an amazing time. But, if they open up the park and are having the same issues with Potter, Monsters, etc. that they are currently having, I can’t see it being a great time for guests (without express) when the park opens and you won’t be able to go on what you want and when the rides do open they are 90-100 minutes each, but then delay again and you have to get out of line. With monsters, Potter, and Mario, we got delayed ON ride on all 3, with not all effects in those rides even working properly. For the previews, I assure you, this changes nothing…. But for opening and throughout the rest of the year when you’re shoulder to shoulder with other guests, this would be upsetting. I understand this is a technical rehearsal, but with how things are going, I can’t see any of this being fixed in the near future. 

THE PORTALS/LANDS:

I’ll save my favorite land for last, but let’s chat a bit about each land. These are in no particular order other than the fact that the last is indeed my favorite (doesn’t mean it’s the best, just my favorite. As a matter of fact, I think the quality of 4 are equal but 1 definitely feels off).

ISLE OF BERK: my wife is a huge How to Train Your Dragon fan, and I really enjoy the franchise. This land is truly massive. Someone said that when you walk into a portal, you forget what universe you were just in or what land you were in, and I fully agree. Each land’s theming and detailing is over the top and absolutely incredible. There are tons of free (you’ll understand why I’m saying this later) interactive elements throughout the land, the walk around characters are SPOT on, the attractions are ALL great, the food was excellent, the music and theming was perfect, it was beautiful, there was so much “movement” around the area with animatronics everywhere, and it actually made my wife emotional to get onto the rides because of how much they nailed HTTYD.

Super Nintendo World: I am not a huge Nintendo fan, its alright, but my wife and I both were stunned by how amazing this land is. Everything there is so fun and colorful, and LOUD. It definitely feels like you’re in an actual video game. Again, lots of movement in the areas, lots of things to look at, tons of little animatronics, beautiful lighting, attractions are “mixed”, and I can’t comment on the food.

Celestial Park: This specifically doesn’t feel like a theme park land (and that’s not a bad thing). It feels like a weird combination of video game theming similar to BioShock Infinite and The Outer Worlds, but throw in Disney Springs. When you first walk in, it is MASSIVE. Where at other parks you kind of know what you’re getting into and everything feels like it just kinda “morphs” into the land you’re going into, this actually felt like you were in some sort of hub with portals leading to other universes. And once you go into the portal, there’s no trace of where you came from. The attractions in Celestial I’ll get into, but they were both great as well. The best thing about it is that it just feels like a large shopping and dining district with two very spread out attractions, and not a singular area to “take pictures” of like a park icon (other than the opening portal which is very cool of course). It feels like you could take beautiful photos anywhere in that area. There are all different sorts of cool souvenirs there as well, along with really cool restaurants with amazing theming. Kinda wish Universal would close all the rides in the area at 9, like they did, but leave celestial open until 11 for dining, drinking, and relaxing while looking at the amazing lighting they have done for the land.

Wizarding world Paris: Let me start off by saying this land is amazing to look at and the windows are very fun to interact with (if you have a wand). The food, candy, and drinks there are also very good. The ministry is very very mixed for me, and I’ll get into that later. The circus show was actually really cool though, and was a ton of fun. That’s about where my positives end for this land though. It’s pretty, and it looks like what it’s meant to, and the land itself is very cool to “look” at. However, there’s not much to do. It feels very VERY empty. The walk around characters are fine I guess, but because they are just random students, a detective, and the owner of the wand shop, there’s no attachment to them from a story perspective or familiarity perspective (from my wife and I at least). I’m not saying they should have actors and walk around characters here of the Fantastic Beast Characters, but what I am saying is that the ones they do have just don’t hold the same weight in our opinion as the characters in Monsters, Isle of Berk, or even Mario… heck throw the walk around entertainment in at Celestial too because the living statue looked AMAZING.

Dark Universe: I could speak about this land for hours. I still can’t believe I was able to experience this land already. It’s the smallest land in the park but we spent the MOST time here. I still haven’t fully gathered my thoughts on this land, but just know that every bit of hype you’re seeing and hearing about this land is true. I actually think the size of the land leads it to be more intimate than the other lands and in some cases, easier to hang out in and have a drink because you can find a central spot to see just about every major landmark in the land. I am biased, I create professional theatrical costumes and props that are generally horror or horror adjacent, and I am a horror/Halloween junkie. Our house is filled with monster props, figures, statues, paintings, etc. and I usually use my PTO to go down to HHN for 2-3 weeks in a row. Our honeymoon was at Cabana Bay where we did Horror Nights for 3 weeks straight. Everything in this land is themed incredibly. There are little things you miss upon visiting for the first time that you end up realizing the next time you go in. For example, the first time we went in, I didn’t even notice that the creature in the cage on the left was a Moleman, a more lesser known Universal Monster, and there is definitely what appears to be the head of a Metaluna Mutant in the Burning Blade. My wife noticed that the chimneys are stuffed with spikes to prevent Monsters from going down them. This land also did something I didn’t think was possible and somehow combined a horror atmosphere with a very fun and somewhat lighthearted feeling story, WITHOUT making it overly goofy like the Haunted Mansion (although I love the haunted mansion), and still very much PG-13 without reaching that R rated gore that HHN provides. The result is a Tim Burton feeling classic Universal Monsters world, complete with a Danny Elfman soundtrack.The characters here are also so fun and were amazing. Although the monster hunter is similar to what I said about the students and detective at Wizarding world, he somehow was so funny and interactive while we were eating that I almost completely forgot he was a character and just wanted to hear more about the absolutely insane and hilarious monsters he had come across. Our experience with the Bride and the Monster was also amazing (AND caught all on video) and they were two of the most fun characters I have ever had the pleasure to meet. Igor was hilarious as well and was a lot of fun to interact with. The invisible man walked straight up to me (I was wearing a shirt with him on it) and he absolutely got in my face and was super uncomfortable (in the BEST way possible. Absolute props to the actor because he NAILED it). Food was great, lots to say later, attractions were amazing (yes, even curse of the werewolf) but Monsters is 100% the GOAT of all attractions period, and this is coming from someone who very much thought that was Rise of the Resistance for the longest time (it’s now 2^nd best). This is the land where all that money we were going to spend on Helios went.

ATTRACTIONS:

Some of these will be shorter than others, and I will say If they are overhyped, just right, or underhyped:

Dragon Racer’s Rally: Unexpected and very fun attraction. Wouldn’t wait more than a solid 15 minutes for it, but it’s not a thrill ride. Needs some music, but I’d say it’s underhyped. There isn’t a lot of capacity on this so the line seems to take a while.

Fyre Drill: Underhyped, it’s actually a lot of fun. Again, not worth waiting more than like 15 minutes to do, but I really think it’s fun. Props are super cool, you get pretty wet, and shooting the little water cannons is fun. Nice on a hot day.

Hiccups Wing Gliders: WAY underhyped. I think this is an almost Hagrid’s level attraction (but not quite). It’s not a simple roller coaster, more of a story coaster with animatronics. Super smooth, fast, and a ton of fun.

Toothless and Hiccup meet n greet: Just right for hype. It’s exactly what you think and it’s awesome. Toothless is so fun to meet specifically and he definitely felt different to pet than what you expected. He isn’t necessarily rubbery like expected, kinda has a scaly feeling, and he actually makes a “purring” feeling while you’re petting him. Line is very hot though and directly in the sun.

Mario Kart Bowser’s Challenge: Overhyped, other than the queue. The queue is amazing, great atmosphere and props. BUT, the ride itself is just alright. Slow, and the goggles are kinda distracting. I wish there was animatronics and props on it instead of the virtual goggles and it would be cool being just a little faster.

Donkey Kong: Just right, but wouldn’t wait more than 30 minutes for it. Unexpectedly a lot of fun. VERY rough and shakes you around (on purpose) but tons of animatronics and things to see. Overall very fun. Queue is alright.

Stardust Racers: Underhyped. There’s a lot of hype for this, but it’s not what I expected. It’s better. I don’t personally believe that Velocicoaster is less intense, it’s definitely more, but this is just so much smoother and faster than that. Not as many upside down spots as velocicoaster which I thought made it more fun.

Constellation Carousel: Underhyped, it’s so pleasant to get on this at night and look at all the lights. Music and ride path changes as well.

Ministry of Magic: NOW I’m going to start going into more detail. Virtual Line for this is terrible. The capacity for this and the fact that it breaks down so frequently is also really causing this ride to suffer. This is extremely overhyped, as it is even without the terrible virtual line and capacity issues. I’ve heard people say it was better than Monsters and so I was expecting a mind-blowing attraction. Just so we’re clear, we are huge Potter fans. The Queue was in no doubt amazing, and in my opinion, that’s the best part of the attraction. It’s screen heavy, don’t let anyone tell you differently. There ARE animatronics (not much) and sets but there are only 2 animatronics in it that are really super cool (the Erumpent is SO cool and the death eater moves and looks like an actual person in a costume). The other animatronics are just alright, kinda reminded me of the Frozen animatronics at Epcot. The screens are clear, absolutely, and the ride system itself is pretty neat. But, to give you an understanding of how I feel, if the screens in Forbidden Journey were updated to look like these screens, Forbidden Journey would be a better attraction than this one. Kinda thrilling, similar to Forbidden Journey, and I did REALLY enjoy the story. But again, this isn’t even close to the best dark ride of all time, which this park already has, and it isn’t even close to Rise of the Resistance.

Cirque De Arcanus: Unexpected show with some unexpected things that happen. Underhyped, and really fun. I’m glad they don’t allow filming or pictures because it was fun to not know what to expect. 

Curse of the Werewolf: Underhyped, no one is talking about this ride in a great light and I honestly had a blast on it. Very smooth, the spinning is fun, and the props are cool even if you only see them briefly. It’s a very short ride is the only thing, but the theming, coaster, and music are all really fun. Queue is actually really neat too.

Monsters Unchained The Frankenstein Experiment: Aight…. Every bit of hype you’ve heard about this doesn’t begin to touch how amazing this ride actually is. The queue is wildly good with crazy props, fun things to watch, and beautiful lighting. I could actually live in the manor and wish I owned all the props inside of it. The animatronics may fool you on camera as being about the size of a person… don’t make any mistake, they’re massive. Frankenstein’s monster is HUGE, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s close to 8-9 feet tall. Same with literally all the other characters too other than Victoria and Igor who both are about 6’ tall or so If I were to guess. What I will say is that the ride does have two halves that I think are really interesting. Neither is better than another, but the atmosphere changes drastically from the first half which has a much scarier and eerie feeling to it, and then it becomes very action packed with Monsters fighting and lots of cool scenes to look at. The only thing I will say is that there is definitely one single part of the ride that might actually be unfinished. I’m hoping it is because right after Dracula escapes, there is this large curtain with chains over it, and it’s so obviously a curtain and stands out against the rest of the ride. The rest of the ride is very clearly complete and the curtain just makes no sense with the rest of the attraction. It’s either that there is a set with screens behind the curtain that are still being completed OR it’s an evac route, can’t say for sure. However, the audio suggests during the ride there is SOMETHING you’re supposed to be looking at as Dracula mentions letting the “nightmares” loose and then you hear cages opening. The animatronics also go down pretty often and I’m hoping they get them all running for opening day and beyond. When we rode the first time, Frankenstein’s monster fighting a Dracula bride, the mummy, and the last Dracula that flies out at you were all not working. Our second ride through, the Phantom, the Mummy, and the last Dracula were still not working. It definitely doesn’t ruin the experience but it sure would be great if the Mummy and Phantom at the very least worked consistently because those are easily (in my opinion) the two coolest animatronics in the attraction. Right now, I do believe it is my favorite and the greatest dark ride of all time. However, if you could get it to run smoothly with all animatronics working, this would be untouchable as the greatest dark ride attraction of all time for many years to come.

FOOD:

Berk:

Mac and Cheese Cones: We tried the PB and J and the Hot Chicken cones. The hype is real for both, and just right. I couldn’t try the PB and J due to my allergy, but I had the Hot Chicken (which is amazing). I didn’t expect it to be pulled chicken instead of fried and that was something I was super happy to learn. On top of that, the bread cone itself is incredible and tastes like a really good crispy garlic bread, but with everything bagel seeds.

Gobber the Belch Wings: Underhyped, these were my second favorite thing I tried at the park. HUGE turkey wings with an insanely good BBQ sauce and delicious veggies. If you like wings and BBQ you’re going to be very happy with this.

Celestial Park:

Vegan Vanilla Ice-cream (Frosty Moon): Underhyped, my wife got this and she had no idea they even had a vegan ice cream. She got cake pieces which were really well sized and tasted good according to her over the vanilla ice cream, and the marshmallows were delicious. Very reasonably priced as well.

Paris/Ministry of Magic:

Au Currant Saison (beer): I had this and really enjoyed it, hadn’t heard anything about it so I would say underhyped. I’m more of an ale, IPA, or wheat beer kind of guy and had never had a Saison. The only reason I wouldn’t get this again is purely because there is a much better beverage down the line. It had a bit of a sour taste to it as well which I honestly enjoyed.

Lavender Lemonade: Great, hyped just right! Not too sweet, not too sour, perfect blend of lavender. REALLY nice on a hot day.

Dirigible Plum Juice Mocktail: Very sweet but it’s underhyped, really unique flavor that I thought was a ton of fun and also great on a hot day. Hard to describe the flavor but It’s well worth getting. 

Dark Universe:

Blood Orange Chicken Sandwich:  Overhyped, but not bad. Heard great things about this and probably made the mistake of having it after an item down on the list. It’s good for sure, but there are better items in Dark Universe. I would absolutely get it again but the bread was a little tough on the bottom of the bun. Sauce was delicious, and the chicken was too.

Bird on a Stake: Hyped about right, chicken is good but a bit dry. Could’ve used a sauce for sure, maybe even the blood orange sauce, but still good.

Labocotocotta: REALLY unexpectedly good dessert at a reasonable price. Amazing dessert and the theming on it is incredibly well done. Hard to describe the taste but almost a sweet cold vanilla custard with a white chocolate coating on the bottom, pop rocks, and some sort of berry sauce.  Underhyped and delicious.

Monocane (mocktail): Hyped just right, but this is my favorite non-alcoholic drink we had. It’s a cool presentation and all glittery and looks like a potion and BRIGHT green. Tastes like a fun Halloween drink you’d make for a party. It’s supposed to be a citrus taste but I don’t think it necessarily has that, it almost is more apple flavored, although there’s no apple in it.

Burning Blade Burger: Way underhyped…. This is it, this is the best food item you can get at this park. It’s one of two things I had both days I was there. Let me just say, I love a good burger, and we love the burgers specifically at Cowfish. This one rivals any burger I’ve ever had at any high end restaurant or anywhere else. I’d argue it’s the best burger not only on property, but in Orlando in general. You gotta try this if you can. 

Hunter’s Garlic Stake: Hyped just right, but it’s better without the dipping sauce. If you like a theme park pretzel, this is not that, but if you really like an actual soft pretzel and you’re a big fan of garlic, this is for you.

Warm Hearted Cinnamon Bites: Hyped just right and the cream cheese sauce on these is magnificent. Ours were a little cold but if these were fresh and hot I could see this being as good as the Labocotocotta.

Darkthorne Mead: We drink Mead at home, and this is my favorite Mead I’ve had. Way underhyped and if you like a red wine or a dark berry flavored Mead, you should try it. I love a red wine and I don’t like overly sweet alcoholic drinks and I thought this was perfect. We had it in Das which I think is the way to do it as even though it’s very cold, it’s heavy. So walking around in the florida heat with it might be a little much. However if you get it either in the evening as you are relaxing before dinner or sit down and have it with lunch I think it is well worth it.

Reaper’s Reserve: Underhyped. This is my favorite ale I’ve had in a while. Taste’s like Halloween, possibly more than a pumpkin ale. A perfect combination of cinnamon and nutmeg, giving it a really interesting flavor that is hard to pinpoint as being a “flavored” ale, but more like just a really good “fall” tasting beer that can be had throughout the year since it is so light and crisp. I wish I could buy this stuff for my house, but that would also take away from how special it is to get in the park. I had this twice along with the burger. 

TL;DR This is the best park I’ve ever visited and going to any other theme park will make you wish you were at Epic Universe. If you can get a preview ticket, I highly suggest doing so. The park is actually underhyped in total, even if some things in it are overhyped.

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!

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

My Epic experience…your mileage may vary…

Before I start, for context, here are some MUST DO’s that I have at the other Universal parks:

Must Dos:

Hagrids
Velocicoaster
Mummy
Forbidden Journey
Jurassic Park
E.T.
Men in Black

Nice to do (if the line is short or I need an AC break):

Minion’s Villians Blast
Jimmy Fallon – nice AC break and silly ride
Spiderman
Kong

Avoid (mostly for health reasons - I got hit by a car when I was 3 and still have some mild TBI issues from it at 41):

Hulk
Rip Ride Rocket
Simpsons

Ok…now that we have that out of the way, I’ll separate my Epic review into three areas – Vibes, Food, and Rides. We visited Epic twice last week on April 29^th and May 1^st.

Vibes:

The park is absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous. The portals really do feel like they’re transporting you to another world. I don’t know that I’d change anything about the way these worlds “feel” when you enter them. It truly is immersive and magical.

Celestial Landing - It is HOT walking around out in the Florida sun. The trees will grow, but in the interim, stay hydrated and wear hats and sunscreen. Still a very pretty place to meander through the different worlds.

Isle of Berk – Gorgeous. There are dragons everywhere. This was never one of my favorite movies, but they did amazing creating this land. I loved their show the best.

Wizarding World – This was hands down my favorite land. I’ve been to Paris and Universal did Paris justice with their recreation. My husband and I are grown adults with interactive wands, and we loved doing all the new interactive spells…most were working, but if they were down they’d have an anti-jinx spell sign up in the window. We had the most interaction with team members here in the wand shop and walking around the world. Those impromptu interactions really help with the immersion into the world.

If I had one nitpicky complaint about the Wizarding World its that theyre not leaning into 1920’s Paris and the Fantastic Beasts movies enough (I know those aren’t everyone’s favorites), but seeing Harry Potter in some of the interactive spells or seeing Hogwarts merchandise in Paris feels off. There was hardly any merch from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. I’d just love to see more shops and merch here focused on the theming of the land. There are plenty of other places to buy Hogwarts merch.

Dark Universe – Loved this land. So much to look at and explore even though its relatively small. Don’t miss out on coming here at night….the vibes are much better at night.

Super Nintendo – This land made my 80’s heart sing. Walking through that portal and going up the tube (holy cow)….and walking out to see the land. Literally breathtaking. If I was a kid and I had one of those power up bands, I could have spent the ENTIRE day here interacting with the different elements. It could be very overstimulating for some kids. It is loud, bright, and feels like you fell right into your old Nintendo games. Donkey Kong Country was equally amazing.

Food:

We aren’t enormous snackers, but we did eat some of our meals in the park. We’re also budget conscious consumers, and our choices somewhat reflect that. We weren’t eating for the insta-pics…we were eating for sustenance.

Café L'air De La Sirène : Loved the outdoor seating at this quick service location. It felt like sitting outside a café in Paris. It was a great spot for people watching. When we revisit in December, I’ll definitely be trying some of their warmer items like the soup. On this visit we tried the following items:

·       Baguette de Dinde - Sliced cracked black pepper turkey, apples, brie, arugula and topped with mustard butter and apple butter served in a warm crusty baguette

This sandwich was big enough to share, which we did, both times we visited for lunch. It is a delicious sandwich and comes with fries. If you’re on a budget or don’t relish dropping $20 per dish, this could be a way some families can save money because this sandwich was substantial and delicious.
This sandwich was so delicious to my husband that I doubt I’ll ever be able to convince him to get anything else in the future. He fell in love with this sandwich.

·       Lavendar Lemonade – very refreshing

·       Giggle Water – sweeter than I expected from a prosecco spritz, but still good. I’d avoid if you don’t like sweet wines.

·       Paul Buisse Touraine Blanc – just a simple dry white wine. Very refreshing

Das Stakehaus: Dining inside a vampires lair. So much to look at in here.

·       Meatloaf Skewer (it is quick service, so yes, adults can order off the kids menu). These were really good and once again, PLENTY enough food for most adults. I love that they’re doing kids meals at more of their quick service restaurants at Epic.

·       Darkthorne Mead – I was looking forward to trying this but found it underwhelming. To me, it tasted almost like a mix between Lambrusco and sparkling grape juice. It was just a little too sweet for me. I wish I had saved my money and went with a dry cab instead. If you love sweeter wines, you might love this.

Burning Blade Tavern (we would choose this over Das Stakehouse in the future):

·       Charred Loaded Potato – $11.49
Hickory char-crusted, Monterey Jack, sour cream, jalapeño bacon, chives

(this was 100% meal sized, filling, affordable, and delicious)

·       Staked Grilled Chicken – $11.49
Char-crusted chicken skewer with garlic naan, garlic tzatziki sauce, shaved cabbage, salsa roja

(my husband was not sad about this purchase – he found it very filling and similar sized to the gyros you can get at IoA, but without fries)

Water Pro Tip:

Every restaurant, bar, or snack stand will give you free ice water upon request. Instead of lugging around big water bottles, we just made it a point to stop frequently to get water and ice. ICE water on a hot Florida day is incredible. Stay hydrated.

Ok….now on to the more controversial section….the rides….yes yes, I attended during technical rehearsal. My reviews will reflect on that.

Rides (in no particular order):

·       Curse of the Werewolf – Fun if there is a shorter line. The ride is rather short and the amount of spin you get is sort of random since you don’t know what the weight distribution will be in your car. The car in front of us spun like crazy, but ours barely turned. It was short, cute, and not worth more than a 35 minute wait IMO.

·       Monsters Unchained – Must ride. Do not miss this one. The queue is amazing and the ride doesn’t disappoint. After riding it and walking through the normal queue at least once, the single rider line does not disappoint. We rode this one four times during our visit and there’s always new stuff to discover and look for.

·       Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge - **Huge disclaimer** I get motion sickness playing some video games like first-person shooting games. I worried that this ride would make me motion sick, and it did not disappoint. If, like me, you’re prone to video game motion sickness, DO NOT….I repeat…DO NOT put on the goggles. The queue is amazing and apparently there’s lots you can look at on the ride without the goggles. Overall, this is one I’ll be skipping in the future. I was sick for hours after riding this.

·       Yoshi’s Adventure – I loved this ride, but I also called it the Epic Universe “peoplemover”. It is cute, you get a great view from the ride, and it is extra spectacular at night. I wouldn’t wait more than 20 minutes for this ride, but it is definitely cute.

·       Donkey Kong: Mine-Cart Madness – I think I enjoy watching this ride more than riding this ride. We did single rider and only waited about 20 minutes. That was worth it to try it. It was cute and unique. When people kept saying “the ride is ROUGH”, I imagined something like Big Thunder Mountain – but that isn’t a good comparison. It truly is very jerky and rough. If you have back or neck problems, beware. Worth riding one time. Won’t be riding this one again.

·       Stardust Racers – On our first visit, April 29^th, only the yellow side was running. Green was down. After hearing how “smooth” it was, I was super excited to try it and hoped for something similar to Velocicoaster.

I don’t know if the ride was having issues that day or if it is always has such deep vibrations, but this one hurt my head, a lot. I go on some roller coasters where the vibrations make it feel like my brain is being smashed over and over into my skull (Hulk is a classic example of this). I spent this ride holding my head because laying it against the headrest was pure torture. This ride did not shake my husbands brain so if you don’t get headaches on Hulk – you might love this one. If you do get the brain shakes from some roller coasters, I would avoid. The internet tells me the vibrations are from G-Forces which might be why I can’t tolerate Hulk or Starsdust, but I love Velocicoaster. Know your body – your mileage with this ride may vary.

·       Hiccup’s Wing Gliders – ok at this point, you’re probably thinking – geez, did this lady like anything at this park? Well…I’m sorry to disappoint you. Hiccup’s is one I’ll be avoiding for at least the next year or so until they get some kinks ironed out.

No doubt, this one has a ton of potential. The theming is great and it has the potential to be on par or similar to Hagrid’s. The problem I encountered during technical rehearsals is the lap bar. I hope they get this figured out. I’m about 5’1 and 110lbs or so (petite). When getting on the ride, the lap bar was secure, but not cutting off circulation to my legs. Once we launched, the lap bar clicked in another two times. It was so tight, I almost wanted to cry. I was riding the whole time thinking *let me off let me off let me off*. The lap bar actually bruised my thighs from how tight it was. I thought it was just a fluke so I didn’t say anything, but turns out, this is semi common - https://www.reddit.com/r/UniversalOrlando/comments/1k5nho3/hiccups_wing_gliders_is_painful/.

I hope they iron this out during technical rehearsals, but if not – just something to be aware of, especially if you have kids who are similarly sized. The ride didn’t cause my husband any pain so it may just be affecting specific body types.

·       The shows – both shows are good and worth watching. I preferred the Untrainable Dragon show in Isle of Berk, but I think both are worth watching.

·       Constellation Carousel – Didn’t ride it, but it looks pretty

·       Fyre Drill – Didn’t ride it (I hate getting soaked sneakers), but it looks like a lot of fun if you don’t mind getting soaked.

·       Dragon Racer’s Ralley – Didn’t ride it. We got in line on the 29^th and the 1^st and both times half the ride went down. This is a short ride and don’t think it is worth spending 40+ minutes waiting for.

·       I saved the best *LOL* for last – Ministry of Magic.

I implore you – please do not let this ride ruin your day at Epic Universe. They’re in technical rehearsals right now, but I’ll be shocked if the complications they’re currently having are ironed out by opening day.

On our first day, we tried and failed three times to get a virtual queue. We told ourselves we weren’t going to let it ruin our day…and it didn’t ruin our day, but I was probably a little cranky for at least an hour. I was mostly irritated because we talked to guest services at IoA the day prior and they told us that you couldn’t get a virtual queue for MoM unless you had a ticket linked in your account. Instead of my husband and I both trying on our accounts, they told us to just try on my account alone. Clearly, that was bad information. Not sure if it was on purpose, but the VQ isn’t linked to your tickets at all right now. The VQ is a hot mess. I’m not anti VQ, but I’m anti doing them in this haphazard fashion where VQ’s aren’t linked to tickets and some individuals are getting VQ’s multiple times in one day while others cannot ride at all. Universal needs to really iron this out before opening day.  

On our second day, we failed at the 11am drop, but my husband managed to secure a 6pm slot during the 3pm drop (this time, avoiding the advice guest services gave us). We got in line for MoM at 6pm. By around 7pm, we made it to I guess the “beginning” of the queue where a team member told us it would another 140+ minute wait from that point in the queue. I’m REALLY not the type who will wait 3 hours for a ride. We hadn’t eaten dinner yet and we didn’t bring any drinks or snacks in with us. I didn’t think getting the VQ could equal a 3+ hour wait. Just bring snacks and drinks before you get in this line cause you never know.

After about another 40 minutes of waiting, the ride kept going up and down and getting delayed, the ride stopped functioning and we were told TBA on when or if it would be resolved.

We left the queue. We’d already spent almost 2 hours in line and there was still about another 2 hours of queue. I kept checking the Universal app….the ride said “closed” shortly after that so I’m glad we bailed and got food instead.

After getting food, we absorbed the nighttime vibes of the park. MoM might be an amazing ride, but I’m not sure it would have been worth sacrificing everything else we did that night with magic and food and seeing every portal in the dark.

Go into MoM with limited to no expectations. It might be an amazing ride, but it isn’t worth ruining your entire day over.

Ha so in conclusion to the worlds longest review, the park is gorgeous. The vibes are incredible. On our second day visiting, we barely rode any rides and had a much better day just wandering around and taking everything in.

The rides aren’t my favorite. I still prefer the OG parks for the rides, but the feel of Epic is truly…epic.

It is worth visiting, but maybe manage your expectations going in, especially if you visit during technical rehearsals.

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?

Just got back from Epic Universe employee preview so I thought I'd do a full spoiler review for anyone who's interested. I'll go by land and then do full thoughts at the end. Obligatory “this was a preview and things could change before opening” disclaimer.

Celestial Park

While I wouldn't really call this a themed land, it serves its role as nice looking dining and transition space extremely well.  Music is great throughout as it smoothly transitions between different themes for each part of the area, including remixed versions of the IP music near the portals.  The water breaks up the pathways without interfering with guest flow. The flower beds are a real high point, they're super dense with a huge variety of colors.  It's a very large area but they kept the portals pretty close together so I kept being surprised at how quickly I could get from land to land.  The park in general is very fast to traverse vs something like IOA where walking around the lagoon can feel endless.  The biggest issue is lack of shade.  Trees will grow in obviously but the pathways are very wide and all the buildings very short so I think it will always be an issue.  Universal has talked about putting the park back in theme park but I'm not sure it really feels like that yet.  Like many have said it feels more like future world haha.  At night though the land really comes alive with excellent lighting, vibrant restaurant signs, and spotlights from the 5 portals all converging in the sky. The carousel looks especially amazing from across the water.  

Stardust Racers 

To no one's surprise this coaster is amazing.  Good launches for a mack and a first half that is packed with airtime. Most of the air is normal ejector but there's a few surprisingly strong pops thrown in there.  The second half goes for more variety, higher intensity and better dueling.  The Celestial Spin is good everywhere but I think my favorite spot for it was back row on the yellow side for the whippiest downward roll.  The dueling throughout the second half is pure art as both tracks continuously rotate around each other for the entire last third.  Ive had headache issues on some larger macks like helix and Ride to Happiness due to the way they can thump in pos g moments but thankfully that isn't really the case here.  There's a little on the first few valleys but it's quite mild.  I still like Velocicoaster more because I think Intamin puts a bit more bite and surprise in their layouts but Stardust isn't far off, and I think many will prefer it since it's longer and more consistent. With the insane capacity, I think this ride will single handedly make Epic endlessly revisitable since there's no way the line will be that long.  Gonna be some night ride marathons for sure.  

Dark Universe 

Dark Universe makes an extremely strong first impression.  The portal transition is the best of the four and then the town and manor are slowly unveiled as you walk around the corner.  The theming quality here is very high.  Unfortunately this section is pretty small and once you get past the manor the rest of the area feels a bit thrown together.  To be frank, the nets on Werewolf look terrible.  They dominate the whole back half and block views of the Burning Blade.  The windmill looks great and the fire show is incredible, but it's weirdly tucked away with few good sight lines for such an impressive effect.  Also, when you're back here it's pretty clear that you're one fence away from backstage.  They need more trees to hem the area in (though who knows what future plans are).  

Monsters Unchained 

I think this is the dark ride that most of us were most excited for and it lives up to it, with a few caveats.  The queue is long and highly themed, with a good amount of cool effects and glowing blue tubes that get more and more dense and chaotic as you get closer to the experiment.  For some reason this is the only ride in the park with real preshows - two great ones with animatronics and fun effects that set up the story without dragging.  Once the ride begins you're greeted with more crazy effects including an animatronic playing an organ that blasts fire shockingly close to you.  This first act of the ride is spectacular, flawlessly executed with several genuine wow moments.  The kuka arm is used better than Forbidden Journey with some very aggressive movements and no time wasted in projection domes.  Once the monsters escape it's still great but I'm a little less in love with it.  It becomes very chaotic and overwhelming and is basically just 3 minutes of stuff attacking you.  The amazing effects and animatronics are still plentiful it just feels a bit less well put together than that perfect first third.  That brings me to the caveats - first, reliability.  Two major animatronics were broken, including the climactic flying Dracula that ends the ride.  Obviously they're still figuring things out (my friends told me the other broken one has barely worked for all of previews) but there are just so many complex animatronics that I can imagine it being difficult to get rides where everything works.  Second, it's very clear that creative did not have the money to fully execute their vision.  Rather than spread it too thin, they poured it into the things that really matter and accepted that a few scenes would not look at good as they probably wanted.  As such you have many absolutely insane moments but a few parts with unthemed black walls, curtains, or poor lighting.  I think this was the right choice but it's definitely noticeable.  Still, this is a top 3 universal dark ride along with Spiderman and well, you can probably guess.

Curse of the Werewolf 

There's really not much going for this ride.  It's blatant filler and feels redundant when the park already has a much better family launch coaster.  The ride experience is decent but that's about it.  The werewolves in the launch shed are static and on the brake run there's a shockingly bad looking statue of a woman.  With how bad the nets look I really hope it eventually gets overhauled or even removed for something better.  

Harry Potter Paris Land idk the real name

The second you walk into this land its immediately clear where the park’s budget went.  It really is staggering… the build quality and level of detail on every building is a significant step above the rest of the areas.  The Parisian buildings combined with beautiful unique murals make for, in my opinion, the best looking IP themed land ever built.  This is both a blessing and a curse, as you imagine how good all the other areas could have been with this level of money.  I ate at Goblet Noir and tried one of the new beers and they were both great. This is really just an area you need to see and explore for yourself so I'll leave it at that.

Battle at the Ministry

I couldn't believe I actually got to ride this.  It's only operated to the public on 3 days and it was closed until 3 pm.  It's still running at less than half capacity.  The virtual queue system is borderline non functional, as it shows you tons of times that are already taken - they really need to get a better system in place before opening.  The queue is massive in length and in scale and looks stunning.  As for the ride… holy shit.  If you have seen the pov leaks and were disappointed by how screen heavy it is, I can tell you that you do NOT understand what this looks and feels like in person.  These are not projections, they are massive, building sized LED panel walls that meld seamlessly into giant sets.  I'm someone typically not immersed by screens but there were times here where I had trouble telling what was physical and what wasn't.  This combines with what I think is the best ride vehicle ever.  The massive amount of vertical travel allows for some crazy motions and it really feels like you're floating through these scenes.  Within 15 seconds of the ride starting I was laughing out loud at just how audacious it is.  The ride immediately kicks it up to 11, stays there for four minutes, and then boots you off.  There is almost no build up and almost no resolution.  Not a single second is wasted, probably because every single second cost a million dollars at minimum.  Every scene feels like its in a spend the most money possible competition.  Potter rides have a tendency to feel like tech demos to me, with crazy prototype ride systems that are really cool in theory but have issues in execution. This is not like that. It is absolutely seamless.  Narratively I think it's a bit poor and it could REALLY use a real preshow, but this is undoubtedly the most insane thing universal has ever built.  No matter how much of a pain it is to get on once the park opens, it should be your top priority.

Isle of Berk

I didn't spend much time here but the land looks really great.  It's very large and sprawling with tons of movement between the rides and dragon animatronics.  I especially like how you can watch people on Fyre Drill in the center of the land.  Mead Hall looks amazing on the outside and inside, and I got another very good unique beer here.  I skipped the sky fly as I've done several in Europe and the cycle looks pretty bad. Also skipped Fyre Drill for the sake of dryness but my friends say it's actually really fun and hilarious because you can soak people in the queue and station.  This land suffers from the same “obviously right next to backstage” problem that dark universe has though.  Stardust dominates the whole left side and the back feels very open.  It could really use a ring of rockwork or even trees to close it in and make it feel more immersive.  

Hiccup’s Wing Gliders

Kind of a miserable hot queue on this one so ride it when it's not busy.  Ride wise this is just a great family coaster, fairly mild but with some nice Intamin zippiness.  Flying over the water is beautiful and the helix before launch 2 is surprisingly intense. Not much else to say, this one is exactly what it looks like.  I think this is going to be the ride to do mid day when everything else has a long line.  My only complaint is the restraints, they crunched into my thighs in an uncomfortable way but your mileage may vary.

Super Nintendo World

I went to the Hollywood Nintendo World two years ago and really disliked it.  (https://www.reddit.com/r/rollercoasters/comments/12blq08/universal_studios_hollywood_report_nintendo_review/) It's kind of comical how much better this one is lol.  While still relatively small, the more open, multi level space makes it feel so much more grand.  The background walls look a lot better and there are way more moving props with way less exposed machinery.  Like potter the area is fully closed in so you don't have the openness issue from Dark Universe and HTTYD.  Again I spent very little time here but it was a delight to be in (though this might change when the park is at full capacity).  Donkey Kong country is a little weird though.  Minecart Madness looks amazing but the land has some ugly walls and fences that make it seem sort of unfinished.

Mario Kart

I won't dwell on this because I wrote a whole essay on it two years ago.  I still don't like this ride.  The simulated sense of speed doesn't work for me at all and I think the AR looks terrible.  It's so jittery and too bright and fuzzy and chaotic.  I at least had more fun with the game aspect this time having had some practice.  But as a fan of the games, the ride is a total miss for me and it bums me out.  

Yoshi Adventure 

This is clearly a ride for tiny children and should be treated as such.  I really wish it went around more of the land because it's like 100 feet long with mostly static figures and only a fraction of the course has good views.  Only ride this if the wait is under ten minutes.  Please.  

Minecart Madness

I've saved the best for last.  By now you might have heard rumblings of this ride maybe not tracking the best.  But I was NOT READY for how this rides.  This is legitimately one of the roughest things I've ever ridden.  My friend compared it to Tulireki but that ride is honestly significantly smoother.  The ride clobbers you around from side to side in a way that is absolutely hilarious but made me feel physically ill.  The section from the spike pit to the end of the indoor part is especially horrific as you just get battered around non stop.  Allegedly the Japan one is smoother so I wonder if there is some fix because there is no way universal is okay with how this rides currently.  But also I kind of hope they don't change it because I want to see and hear my friends reactions.  This is a legendarily bad attraction and even funnier because it always has one of the longest lines in the park.

Overall thoughts

I've always found Universal a company of messy creativity.  They'll build crazy things, rides and areas that are obviously labors of love, and they'll do daring stuff that no other company does.  But they also miss the level of detail and immersion that makes Disneys best work so special.  Poor sight lines, unthemed warehouses, overall level of detail, stuff like that.  Epic Universe is very much all of these strengths and weaknesses taken to the extreme.  The level of scale and ambition here cannot be understated.  Stardust, monsters and ministry are all top tier attractions.  Each land is either beautiful or has major parts that are beautiful.  Food and drink is consistently great.  You can feel the effort from creative here, not just the theming but the absolutely stellar lighting and audio in every area.  But for all this quality, other things are not where they need to be.  Sightlines are particularly rough.  I'm not talking about stuff like seeing rides from other areas, as I actually think that's cool.  But the unthemed right side of potter land, and the massive 2d wall of Mario are just ugly and they loom over you from lots of spots in Celestial Park.  Budget difference between areas is very obvious and especially Berk had a lot of exposed electrical and HVAC equipment.  Hopefully stuff like this improves over time (they did recently paint the warehouse wall of Unchained) but we'll have to see.  

Ride selection is a bit odd and all over the place.  Three dark rides, all of which are technology pushing E tickets.  Then four coasters, three of which are family oriented.  And that's kind of it outside of a few smaller things.  I think Epic is really begging for one or two smaller, lower budget dark rides - maybe one in Berk?  Or a major water ride would also really help.  To be fair there are also the two stage shows which are apparently excellent.  I didn't have time to do them but they're a priority for my next visit.  

As for how it compares to the other Orlando parks, well it's kind of hard to get a feel in one whirlwind day, especially one you've been watching construction of for five years.  Obviously its better than Studios.  Vs IOA, it's hard to say.  I've been to that park so many times and it's so much more developed and grown in in comparison.  But I think at the very least they’re of a similar quality, which would mean definitely a top ten park in the US if not top five.  So yeah, if you’re going this year have fun and good luck with the crowds!