Epic Universe
For those who haven’t heard yet, Epic Universe is Universal’s newest theme park!
Opened in 2025, it is the largest of the Universal parks in Orlando – so be prepared to walk!
Let me tell you guys, this park is massive. There are 5 brand new lands: Celestial Park, Isle of Berk, Nintendo, Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic, and Dark Universe.
And it truly is a beautiful park!
In this article we’re going to talk everything Epic Universe – tickets, food, rides, and my overall experience (including my hot takes).
Hopefully I can help you prepare as much as possible for this massive theme park!
Tickets
Let’s talk about tickets real quick. Ticket options are likely to change eventually, but for now it’s pretty limited. Tickets are listed for $139 – $199 for 1 day, but don’t forget about taxes and fees!
You can purchase tickets from Universal’s platform as well as from authorized retailers (Orlando Informer, Undercover Tourist, etc.)
Basically your options are a 1 day ticket to Epic or multi-day tickets that include 1 day at Epic Universe.
Unfortunately, Epic has not been included in annual passes yet (fingers crossed for 2027)!
If you are an annual passholder – including the military ‘Freedom Pass’ – you can purchase discounted 1 day tickets. The only catch is that your annual pass must be activated first – not ideal for my type A girlies.
Annual passholders can purchase up to 6 tickets per pass. With the Freedom Pass you can only purchase 1 ticket per pass.
Last Minute Deals
I will say that despite every bone in my body wanting to purchase Epic tickets before our trip (probably because I kept seeing that they consistently meet capacity), it actually worked out better for us.
Our trip was the last weekend in May – right after Memorial Day. This is kind of the ‘kick-off’ for summer as this is when a lot of schools start summer break.
We activated our annual passes but had a few Hiccups (pun intended). The Hiccups were on our end, so not the fault of Universal.
At first we were looking at paying around $130 before taxes (on a Tuesday with a passholder discount). Once we finally straightened ourselves out, we went to buy the tickets (to visit Epic on Wednesday) and the prices dropped to $107/person!
As you can imagine we were so excited! Saving $20/person is huge.
That’s an entire meal.
For a group of 7 that is $140.
We could have brought an entire other person with our savings.
Okay, you get it. The point is that waiting to purchase tickets until the day before isn’t always a bad thing!
Sometimes you luck out.
Food
Does the food at Epic taste better than the other parks? I think Universal may have outdone themselves with this.
Obviously there is only so much a theme park can do for certain dining options. Not every quick service food stand can be a 5-star restaurant.
But seriously. My entire group experienced only delicious food!
Between all of us we ate in every land. Yoshi’s Snack Island, Mead Hall, Spit Fyre Grill, Das Stakehous, Café L’air De La Sirène, The Blue Dragon, Pizza Moon – all amazing!
Café L’air De La Sirène
I literally have not been able to stop thinking about the butterbeer crepes at Café L’air De La Sirène!
They were SO GOOD and I would absolutely spend $20 on them again.
The butterbeer creme filling and topping was actually lighter than I expected. Plus the strawberries added a nice freshness, so I did not feel gross and weighed down after eating them.
This was a snack that was easily split between two people. It would probably fill me up for at least 3 – 4 hours if I ate the entire plate.
Yoshi’s Snack Island
The Red Shell Calzone at Yoshi’s Snack Island was genuinely good. It was hot and tasted fresh. The dough was nice and slightly crispy on the outside, but soft and chewy on the inside.
Again for theme park food, exceeded my expectations.
I would absolutely eat it again, but I will say that it was a little smaller than I expected.
Don’t get me wrong, still a pretty good deal for $12.99 at a theme park. But it is definitely a snack for most people. If you prefer tiny meals or are just a snacker throughout the day – this will probably fill you up for a few hours.
Also, if you tend to be sensitive to dairy/greasy meats, I would definitely opt for the Green Shell Calzone (they have a vegan option!). I am slightly sensitive to dairy and greasy foods and it only upset my tummy a tiny bit. Overall, I regret nothing!
The real underrated star at Yoshi’s Snack Island though – the Apple Melon Smoothie!
Let me tell you, I almost braved the crowds and risked not being able to ride Curse of the Werewolf to go back for this smoothie.
Maybe it was because I was hot and tired – but this was exactly the pick me up I needed to end our night at Epic on a strong note – and I only had a few sips of my daughter’s smoothie. Probably much more than she wanted me to have though. It was just so good!
Overall, every food experience we had exceeded our expectations for theme park food!
Arrive Early Or Stay Late
Conquering Epic Universe in one day is a feat like no other – especially if you don’t have express passes or early park entry!
If you are serious about riding every single ride at Epic in one day – I would honestly recommend buying an express pass or using the single rider lines.
Epic is truly, well, epic at night. But if you don’t utilize early park entry (EPA) then you’re missing out on some of the lowest wait times of the day.
We made it to Epic just past 7 am for EPA at 8 am and we stayed until close at 9 pm.
13 hours was still was not enough time to ride all the rides and see all the shows!
This may have been different if we used some single ride lines, but that is not my favorite method when we have kids in our group.
Managing Wait Times
Unfortunately, it is really difficult to avoid the lines at Epic Universe. There are so many rides that have very long wait times.
If you can swing it, an express pass is the way to go. Otherwise, make sure you know which rides you can’t miss ahead of time!
We spent A LOT of time trying to nail down our can’t miss rides and preferred order of lands, all without having been there before.
It was really difficult to choose between rope dropping Ministry of Magic, Isle of Berk, and Nintendo World.
We really wanted to ride the Ministry of Magic and Mine-Cart Madness before the wait times hit 3 hours. But we also wanted to meet Toothless and we knew we’d probably be spending the majority of the day in Isle of Berk.
Whether you have express passes or go single rider (or stayed at Helios and get to be the first to the back of the park where Ministry just happens to be), make sure you download the Universal app to keep an eye on wait times. You can also get alerts for when rides drop below however many minutes you prefer!
Our Method & Entry Into Epic
Ultimately, we chose to rope drop the Ministry because the line can just get SO long.
Just in case you’re like me – neurodivergent AF – and need to know exactly how rope dropping works (despite employees literally telling you what to do when you get there) I’ll explain the entry process.
Officially, the busses begin transporting on-site hotel guests 1 hour prior to EPA. However, they usually start a little before that. I believe we were on the first bus from Portofino Bay to Epic and we left around 6:45ish.
The bus was completely FULL.
If you’ve waiting in line at Islands of Adventure to be the first group in to ride Hagrid’s or VelociCoaster – you’ll be fine.
It is basically the same thing, but you’ll go through security right before the actual entrance at Epic.
Typically, they begin letting people through security around 30 minutes prior to EPA. If you’re one of the lucky ones first through security, you’ll wait under a little covered awning type thing. We were stopped at security, with our bags literally about to be scanned.
Then just like IOA, they usually let people in the gates a little before the park officially opens.
But wait – then there is another line to wait in depending on where you’re going. If you’re going to Ministry of Magic or Isle of Berk – follow the crowd to the right. You’ll be stopped to check for your room key (or other) EPA eligibility.
If you’re going to Nintendo World – same thing, but go to the left.
Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic
Yes! After our much anticipated wait – we finally rode Ministry of Magic.
It took us about an hour to get through the queue and off the ride. It did slightly bother the people in our group who are prone to motion sickness, although it wasn’t as bad as some of the rides in Studios.
We took a few minutes to grab a butterbeer (obviously), use the restroom (right across the entrance of the ride) and do some magic.
But we were planning on stopping back by later in the day – so we made our way to the Isle of Berk!
Isle of Berk
Overall, we probably did spend the most of time in Berk – but still only met Toothless (and Hiccup!), rode Hiccup’s Wing Gliders, and Dragon Racer’s Rally. All excellent choices. We grabbed some food before we got in line for Dragon Racer’s Rally since it was about a 45 min wait and around lunch time.
One of the best things about the rides at Epic is how many utilize lockers closer to the end of the queue – just a few minutes before you actually get on the ride. Think VelociCoaster lockers.
After Dragon Racer’s Rally, our group split off to do different things. One went back to the hotel to rest for a couple hours (they said it was definitely worth it). Others went to eat.
But I headed over to Nintendo World with a few people!
Nintendo World
Unfortunately we ended up not riding any rides in Nintendo World because the wait times were around 100 minutes for all 3 of the rides.
We knew this was a possibility and even though I REALLY wanted to ride Mine-Cart Madness, it unfortunately has to wait until next time.
In hindsight, we probably would have had time to ride at least one ride. But it was hot, we were hungry, and extremely thirsty, so unfortunately we needed to make sure some of our needs were met.
Celestial Park
We hung out in Celestial Park for a little bit (the splash pad was SO NICE to cool off). And we rode Stardust Racers!
Back to the Ministry and Berk
I know, I know, but we were already there!
Sometimes it takes A LOT of walking to try and please everyone in a large group.
Plus, we were trying to get through most of Berk in the morning to avoid the heat. So we met back in the Harry Potter World to grab our butterbeer crepes, do some more magic, and watch Le Cirque Arcanus.
Then we headed back over to Isle of Berk to watch The Untrainable Dragon while a few of our group ate dinner at The Blue Dragon.
Carving out time to sit down in air conditioning during the hottest part of the day was so necessary since we were there the entire day.
We stopped back by Nintendo World just to walk through with our person who took a break. But then we finally made it to Darkmoor!
Dark Universe
Next up was Dark Universe! We did get to ride both rides here and they were SO good.
Monsters Unchained is a great indoor ride. And they can push a million people through so fast so the wait times are rarely over 20 minutes.
It began raining a few minutes before we rode Curse of the Werewolf, which was actually very refreshing!
Thankfully it was just rain and the lightning was too far to shut the ride down. Waiting an hour in an outdoor queue just to be turned away would have been devastating.
We tried to time it so we could be in Darkmoor at night, but that is so hard in the summer when it’s light out 20 minutes before park close.
Finally, we ended our night in Celestial Park! We only had time for part of party to ride Stardust Racers and the other part to ride Constellation Carousel.
Both were very cool at night!
Reflections
Overall, we ended up crisscrossing all over the park. But when you have a bigger group it’s a little harder to meet everyone’s needs.
Remember to be flexible if you’re in a group!
The wait times honestly seemed really inflated for the most part. Some of them were just around 5 to 10 minutes more than our actual wait time, but that’s not really unusual across the Universal parks.
The one that really stood out was Curse of the WereWolf. Actual wait time for us was nearly HALF the posted wait time. This could be due to the rain and some people leaving the queue – but it didn’t seem like that many people left.
My Hot Takes
Ministry of Magic is Overhyped.
There I said it. I know, I know, it’s one of the most popular rides at Epic with consistently high wait times!
Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed riding the Ministry of Magic. All the advancements that theme parks have made over the past couple decades is on full display here.
I think I just prefer actual roller coasters. Even the indoor coasters like The Mummy and Gringotts are more fun for me.
The ride itself was pretty good, but it honestly didn’t stand out that much.
The best part of the ride was the queue. They did such an amazing job bringing the Ministry of Magic to life! The theming is just amazing. A++
Maybe my expectations were too high, but I don’t think the Ministry of Magic is worth the high wait times. Unless it is #1 on your list, you’ve never ridden it, and you prefer 3D style rides over actual coasters, don’t stress about missing this.
Curse of the Werewolf is Underrated!
I said what I said.
My only complaints are that it isn’t long enough and the queue could be a little better.
What Would I Change?
Obviously, hindsight is 20/20.
And I went into the day prepared to be dissapointed by something. That is theme park 101.
But for our next trip, I would definitely change up the schedule a bit!
I would probably try to crisscross all over the park less – although this never seems to work for us no matter how many times we say it. We’re a sucker for “Oh! this ride [all the way across the park] is only a 20 minute wait right now!”
I’d probably start with Nintendo and go counter clockwise throughout the park.
Nintendo First
I think I would rope drop Mine-Cart Madness – the only problem is that it is often delayed (and was delayed during EPA when we went). But I still haven’t ridden it so I would probably take those chances.
We were also lucky enough to already meet Hiccup with Toothless around 11:30 am. But if meeting Hiccup, not just Toothless, is a priority for you, make sure you do this first! Hiccup is not always out, but it’s my understanding that he is always the first one out in the morning.
Anyway, so after rope dropping Mine-Cart Madness I would ride Mario Kart and Yoshi’s Adventure (as long as the lines aren’t too long). Remember Nintendo World has VERY LITTLE shade. So if you’re there during the summer, it will be brutal in the afternoons.
The Mario Kart queue is inside (and I’ve heard it’s amazing), so it would be a nice break from the sun.
After Nintendo World, I would head over to Berk. I would probably spend the majority of the day here again. There is just SO MUCH to do and see.
Isle of Berk Second
Depending on the time, I would probably grab a snack either in Nintendo World (looking at you Yoshi’s Snack Island) or as soon as we get into Berk.
I would prioritize the meeting Toothless and riding Hiccups Wing Gliders and Dragon Racers Rally. Definitely eat lunch here – I really want to try Astrid’s Shrimp Bowl at Spit Fyre Grill. After lunch, I’d probably watch The Untrainable Dragon and let my food settle in air conditioning (as long as it isn’t already past 3 pm)
After Berk, I’d finally head over to the Ministry of Magic.
Ministry of Magic Third
Thankfully the Ministry queue is entirely inside. So even if you have to wait 2 – 3 hours (only if it’s a must ride), it’s inside.
Since I’ve already ridden it, I probably wouldn’t ride again if I have to wait more than an hour – honestly maybe even less if there are other things I want to do.
I would definitely do some more magic, maybe grab a snack if I’m still hungry, and probably watch Le Cirque Arcanus (it was very neat to watch!)
If you’re more interested in Dark Universe though, head there for food and character interactions (Igor is hilarious!)
Dark Universe and Celestial Park Last
I still really need to spend a lot of time in Darkmoor. So for my next trip, I’m definitely prioritizing this.
It was really fun to be able to ride Stardust Racers as the park was closing – but honestly – I’d rather watch the ride cars. It was beautiful seeing the park lit up at night from the coaster.
But it goes so fast you don’t really get to enjoy it. Watching the lit up ride cars ‘racing’ in the dark from the ground was honestly a little cooler.
I think would probably finish out the night in Dark Universe next time.
We didn’t get to see the Burning Blade Tavern actually burning.
Curse of the Werewolf was SO cool at dusk, I can only imagine how it is dark. And honestly just the overall creepy vibes at night would be so much more impactful.
Key Take-aways
Obviously we have to be VERY flexible at the parks. Sometimes the wait times are higher or lower than expected.
Even after studying the average wait times on thrill data, the actual wait times are unique each day. Rides are delayed or closed sometimes – which wil inflate the wait times of other rides.
Don’t believe all the hype around Ministry of Magic. The queue is God tier while the ride is just good.
Curse of the Werewolf is underrated if you are into fun, unique coasters.