My Second Visit to Epic Universe

Epic Universe at Universal Orlando Resort opened to the public on May 22. My daughter and I first visited during previews. You can read my thoughts from that day here. We went back on Saturday, May 31. Instead of writing a recap of what I already said about Epic Universe, I thought I’d share a few new thoughts.

This is the first time that I’ve been to Epic Universe since it officially opened. We already knew the layout of the park. Our game plan was this; hit Curse of the Werewolf (our favorite ride) first and then check Wait Times. We missed Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry our first time because it was down for most of the day, so that was a top priority. I had been watching Wait Times on the app on the days leading up to our visit, and based on those we decided to ride near the end of the day.

Mother Nature had other plans. It was pouring when we arrived just after 9:00, and the rain was supposed to continue for a couple of hours. Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry already had a two hour wait, and it was supposed to rain for that long. Coincidence? Probably, but we decided to go ahead and get in line. At least we’d wait indoors.

Our two hour wait ended up being two and a half hours, but that was okay. Our plan worked, the rain had stopped by the time we were off. I plan to write a review of Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry soon. (Update, here’s my review.) Right now, all I’ll say is that it’s a fantastic ride!

I’ve heard that Universal is keeping capacity down at Epic Universe right now. I don’t know if that’s true, but the park certainly wasn’t crowded. We were able to do everything that we wanted and more. We also did more exploring than during our preview visit.

One world that we spent more time in than before was How to Train Your Dragon: The Isle of Berk. A big difference between our first visit and this one was that we watched the first movie. The world made so much more sense when we knew what it was all about! We plan to eventually watch the other movies as well, much of the world is based after the original. That said, having some knowledge of Hiccup and Toothless enhanced our enjoyment of the world. It might now be my favorite of the five.

On our first visit, we somehow missed the live show The Untrainable Dragon. I’m kind of glad that we didn’t see it then, since we hadn’t seen the movie. This show is so well done! The cast is fantastic, and there are great effects. It will make you want to fly on the back of a dragon.

We returned to Das Stakehaus for dinner. On our preview visit, we ordered Our Favorite Vegan Familiar’s Stuffed Cabbage. We liked it so much that we couldn’t wait to have it again. This ended up being our biggest disappointment of the day. The recipe had changed, and they had upped the spice level. Neither of us can have spicy foods, and we threw most of it out. A wonderful Team Member offered to get us something else, but we decided to head to Frosty Moon for ice cream instead.

I do have a warning about Epic Universe. There are a lot of stairs. There are elevators for those who need them, but there’s just so much up and down! Even if you’re used to walking, those extra stairs can wear you out by the end of the day. That’s especially true for someone who banged her knee climbing onto a bear on Constellation Carousel and it felt wobbly the next few hours, although I don’t know who that might have happened to. (My knee was fine the next day, even after all the walking and the stairs.)

Epic Universe does have one major flaw. Most of the rides are outdoors. Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry is indoors, as is Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment. Constellation Carousel is outdoors but covered. If it rains all day without lightning you could throw on a poncho and plan to get soaked. If there’s lightning, most of the rides will be delayed. We’ve hit the Rainy Season in Central Florida, there will be lightning. Have a plan for where you’ll go if a storm hits, and keep an eye on the weather. It will make your day go much smoother if you’re prepared.

I love Epic Universe. It’s a beautiful park that takes immersion to the next level. I probably won’t be back for a while because there’s no Annual Passholder add-on yet. It’s rare that my daughter and I will spend an entire day in a theme park, but we did on May 31. We didn’t want to waste a moment!