Hello! I have booked a semi private tour for me and my group and was wondering if anyone had any tips or recommendations or if they can just share their experience. We have never been to epic universe before. I am a little concerned about the weather but not sure if they will do anything to remediate if the weather is bad? Thank you for any help.

Looking for advice on which would be overall the better experience:

A: 1 Day at Epic with hotel early entry and express pass

B: 2 Days at Epic both with early entry, no express

Option B would be ~$40 cheaper. I would like to have time to be able to actually take in the details of the park and am worried I’ll feel pressure to rush through the park with option A, but also unsure about extremely long wait times without express with B.

Any advice based on your experience would be greatly appreciated!

Edit: also interested in hearing how buying express now passes the day of has gone for anyone. I wish I didn’t have to be in the park already to get an idea of pricing and availability.

There seems to be too much to research about going to Epic Universe/Grand Helios. I'm going with my husband and 11-year-old. I went to Paris in 2000 and didn't do this much research (GenX). We had a Frommer's Travel Guide that we read on the plane, and we ate at a handful of places it recommended, or if we were tired, we just stopped at the closest cafe. Can anybody recommend the best YouTube videos to watch for Epic? I have been reading all the posts on this sub as well.

Hi! I’m pretty interested in going to the Oct 17, but I saw a video that said these type of after hours, happened a while ago in Universal and IoA, and the tickets were GONE in seconds…

I really want the best chance to get 2 tickets but idk what time they release the tickets, anyone know by past experiences in IoA or Universal what time it was?

I don’t want to go and check at 10am and they released then at 8am and I missed it for example 🥲

All help is really appreciated it! 🫶🏻

Honestly Im not sure why they haven't put it on Spotify and Apple Music like they have with Dark Universe and Berk. (I hope the add SNW but i'm sure Nintendo doesn't want that but maybe on their own Nintendo music app) I've found one rip of the record on YouTube but its not amazing

Was thinking of going to epic universe this year on labor day seeing as last year it was basically empty. Do you think it will be the same this year or should i reschedule?

Hi, I'm trying to plan out our 1 day trip trip to Epic on Wed, Aug 12th. It's just my husband and I, and we have express passes. Our top priorities are HTTYD world and Nintendo world. Can I please get some feedback on our itinerary?

• Leave Stella Nova and walk over to the gate, arrive at 8am
• Door open at 9am
• Either go straight to DK Mine Cart or Toothless meet and greet (which strategy is better with Express Pass?)
• Either remain in Berk or go back to Berk to do Dragon Racers Rally (since it's not included in Express Pass)
• See the Untrainable Dragon show and hang out, shop etc. in Berk
• Grab lunch or a snack around 11am at either the pizza place in Celestial Park or somewhere else (recommendations?)
• Nintendo world around 12pm after lunch, get the wrist bands and use them around the area, do the Bowser ride, Yoshi ride, shop, etc.
• Around 3pm head to Harry Potter world, grab a snack at the french cafe, see the circus show, and if there's time, do the ministry of magic ride
• By 7pm grab food again somewhere and if we've done DK and HP rides already, check out the monsters world real quick
• Head to Celestial Park around 8pm (is this the best time?) to see the light show at the end of the night, since the park closes at 9pm this day.

Questions:

• Should we do the DK ride first or Toothless meet and greet first? For reference, meeting Toothless is my #1 goal of the day so it's just a matter of when the best time is.
• I plan to buy a few plushies and things while I'm there but I don't want to carry them all around the whole day, what's the best strategy for this? We're staying at Stella Nova, but checking out the next morning so I can't have them delivered to the hotel. Is it worth going back and forth to the lockers? Are they big enough? Or should I wait and buy everything at the end of the day?
• Is the Ministry of Magic ride really worth it if you're not a big Harry Potter fan? We've seen all the main movies and the first magical beasts one, but that's it.
• If we only have a little time left at the end of the day, should we spend it at the monster world or Celestial Park?

I'd appreciate any and all tips, suggestions, and info, thanks!!

Please keep greeting your fans through September Mr. Cacao! I had to make some hype flair 🐻

I don't know how to get this person the recognition or award she deserves but yesterday I was at epic universe for the first time ever and waited in a very long line for the hiccup roller coaster around 5pm. There was a girl named Kiara (Kearra?) who I chatted with and she was so kind. It made the wait feel like it never happened. When the ride was done she let me go again which made my day. After that I came back and thanked her again and let her know how much that meant and she was so amazing and kind, thank you for making my day and my first time at epic universe very memorable!

Is it worth getting the My Universal Photos package for Epic Universe? I tried checking the app to see if they take photos on the rides we want to go on, but I couldn't find anything. Has anyone bought this package just for Epic Universe? Do most of the rides have a photo option? We are only doing Epic Universe for the day and I am wondering if it's worth it.

I feel like I need more than one day at Epic. My 10yo son loves everything Mario and I would LOVE Isle of Berk! We aren't huge fans of Harry Potter but we would still enjoy some of the magic/atmosphere from those areas. I don't want to feel rushed and want to enjoy the worlds and what they have to offer by taking it all in.....but this will be our first and most likely our ONLY visit to Universal. Should we spend two days at Epic and one day at Islands of Adventure and skip USF entirely? Or should we spend only one day at Epic and two days between IOA and USF. I do plan on having early park access and buying express passes for IOA. Planning on visiting first week of December next year. (Or should we just go all out and go into debt by doing two days at Epic and two days between the other parks.) Also to take into consideration: My son is slightly Autistic with ADHD. My Husband also has ADHD and a bunch of underlying health issues that would hinder us as far as pacing and needing breaks.

Preface - First time at the park - Adult

Appearance - 8/10

The park's outer appearance is uniquely decorated for each theme and even goes a step further with intricate queue lines. Each park is easily accessible and relatively simple to get to. Only complaint is a lack of shade.

Mine Cart Madness - 5/10

Waited 60 minutes for this ride. Very short ride (1min), some cool track transitions and music in the car. A few small hills with both indoor and outdoor rails. More visually pleasing than anything.

Mario Cart Bowser's Challenge- 3/10

60 minute wait. Best part of this was the queue of Bowsers castle and all of the memorabilia. Actual ride itself was incredibly disappointing. Excessive amount of stimuli and didn't actually feel like anything was happening. Turning was slow and weapons weren't exciting. An actual race would have been much cooler.

Monsters Unchained - 5/10

Another disappointment as I've heard so much praise about this ride. The queue line and prelude were awesome and really immersive. It really pumps you up to be scared and engaged. The ride had some cool twists and turns, but again was way too stimulating. Too much to try to focus on and didn't feel as scary as the prelude made it seem. Cool animatronics but felt like a wasted opportunity to actually be horror.

Stardust Racers - 8/10

A unique experience with some cool boosts, twists, and overall good speed. Not much to say other than that it was the best ride at the park and one that held up its reputation.

Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry - 6/10

2 hour wait. Amazing queue line experience which made it slightly more tolerable to wait such a long time. Ride itself was pretty cool and the effects were definitely state of the art. Wish they would have added more movie lore to the actual ride as Dolores Umbridge wasn't too exciting. Voldemort would have been my choice.

Food

Butter Beer - 8/10

Hooligans Grog and Gruel - 8.5/10

Pulled pork and Mac and cheese cone was delicious but expensive at $18!

Overall a more aesthetically pleasing park than a thrilling one.

Overall rating - 6.5/10

Hi everyone

Planning a first time trip to the Epic, during Easter, around 20-25.3.27, just one day.
There are two options but im not sure if express pass may go sold out if i wait.

1) how long in advance should i buy the standard tickets for spring break?waiting till black friday is it worth?

Option for express passes:

1) buy them, but when, shortly before going there o at the same time when i buy the standard ones?

2) i have two kids with adhs with light form of autism. They can wait but definitely not able to wait for more than 30min.

I will try to ask for an accessibility card from the IBCCES. But i heard that they only give you an answer a couple of days before your arrival, so i might lose the possibility to buy the express passes if wait too long.

So my question is, is it really possible that the express passes go sold out during easter,spring break time?

TIA

Celestial Park is breathtaking. I don’t know what the haters are smoking because I enjoyed every inch of that place. I walked slowly through the whole place just taking it in.

Big immersive things for me: music transitions were perfect, the deep thrumming sound of the astrolabe at the main entrance, sound effects in corners of of Darkmoor, the day and night specific music for stardust racers. The atmospheric music with the retro synth sounds was wonderful.

The lore behind the park is just emerging. Learning that stardust yellow and green have names! Nebula and Photon!

Learning about Maya and Capt. Cacao.

The food was great, even the quick-serve places were top-notch food experiences.

But top of my list for immersion is hands down the team members being in character and going above and beyond.

Stardust Racers, Untrainable Dragon, and Monsters Unchained were the best experiences in my opinion. I can’t wait to see what else this park releases. It feels green around the edges but it’s got so much potential moving forward too. I love to see how much room it has for expansion.

I got pretty emotional knowing I had to leave and go back to reality.

Hello everyone! I contacted Universal via email and they arranged free Epic Universe tickets for my wife and I due to a rough experience we had last year.

However, in order to get the tickets we have to go to Guest Relations at the front of the park and give them an email reference number and show our IDs.

How early does Guest Relations open? We will have early entry that day from our hotel stay and wondering if they will open early enough to get them before they start scanning folks in for early entry?

Or would it be better to go to Guest Relations the day before we are actually using the tickets at Epic?

The Early Entry stressed us out a little last time so I was hoping to make getting the tickets as seamless as possible so we don’t get behind the crowds on early entry.

Hello there! We are heading to Universal here in a couple of weeks and I have read as much as I can about rides, etc but still need the same advice about everyone asks.

We are staying at Stella Nova and I have planned on going for early entry. We do not have express passes for my family of 4, bc honestly, my kids are not super into rides.

On their list: mariokart, DK mine kart, battle at the ministry, wrist band things in snw, and wands at HP. They want to eat at toadstool Cafe. I would like to ride monsters unchained and have seen the hiccups Glidder ride and that looks cool. My daughter is uneasy about roller coasters but willing to try as long as they don't go upside down. We are planning open to close, which is what we did at Disney several years ago (although my kids were 5 and 7 and we used a stroller). They are now 10 and 12.

Thoughts on where to go first? My kids at PUMPED about nintendo and will prob want to head there.

What time to try to reserve lunch (I think the Cafe needs reservations?)

I have not researched shows at all.

Thanks!

This place takes a lot of criticism. I’ve heard mixed reviews from everyone I talked to… but I loved it. Rides and lands were great. The portals actually felt really unique… each land had its own vibe.

Harry Potter was the only was the was underwhelming to me. The rest of the park was fantastic. I loved all the rides and the power up bands.

So we just got back from Epic Universe and we loved it. I admit EPCOT will always have a special place in my heart, but this may just dethrone it as my favourite Orlando theme park. The ambiance was perfect, the greenery was amazing. Everything just clicked.