10 Most Surprising Things about the Universal Epic Universe Park [for better & worse]

After years of impatiently waiting and dreaming, I got to visit Universal Epic Universe – where I experienced several surprises you should be aware of if you’re planning to visit.

Despite reading and watching plenty of Universal Epic Universe reviews, I experienced plenty of surprises at the park.

From overhyped rides to the amount of time you actually need in the park, there was a lot that caught me off guard – and may have changed the way I planned if I knew this in advance.

So, let’s talk all unexpected things related to Universal Studios Epic Universe Orlando.

This post is all about the 10 most surprising things about the Universal Epic Universe Park Orlando.

Table of Contents

Epic Universe Park

When in 2025 will Epic Universe open?

The new park is officially open (the Universal Epic Universe opening date was May 22nd, 2025). So if you plan a trip to Universal Orlando Resort, you can choose to visit the newest park too!

Is Epic Universe going to be its own park?

Epic Universe is the third official theme park at Universal Studios. This is separate from Universal Studios Florida and Universal Islands of Adventure.

1) One Day at Epic Universe Can Be Enough

If you’ve read or listened to a handful of Universal Epic Universe reviews, you’ve probably heard that you really need 2-3 days at Epic Universe.

Whilst this may be true if you want to thoroughly experience the majority of the park, not everyone needs that much time in a single Universal park.

Partly because one day tickets at Universal aren’t cheap (they’re priced similarly to Disney World’s Magic Kingdom Park), so spending more than one day will cost at least a few hundred dollars.

But it’s also possible to have a productive day at Universal, negating the need for several days at the park – even on your first visit.

Here’s how you can save time at Universal (many of these I learned from my own 1 day at Epic Universe):

Staying on-site is key for maximising time – A major perk of staying at an on-site Universal hotel is that you get Early Park Admission at the Universal parks (including Epic Universe). This means you can enter the park one hour before off-site visitors. Whilst not all rides are open, it can put you ahead of many guests, which is ideal if you’re only planning to go for one day. Make sure to check the current list of rides open during Early Park Admission before your visit

Start waiting to get into Epic Universe early – Staying on-site? Get the earliest Epic Universe bus you can. Staying off-site. Start waiting before you can get on the rides. I know it’s not much fun but it can help you to have a more productive morning.
Consider staying at Universal Helios Grand Hotel – This hotel is a big splurge – and I don’t think it’s worth it for a lot of guests. However, I stayed here for one night this summer, and it made the whole morning process more comfortable. We started waiting in line around 90 minutes before Early Park Admission, and spent around 40 minutes of that waiting inside the hotel – in air conditioning. It made the process so much more comfortable. And you are arguably in a more preferable area of the park at park opening (for on-site guests) if you’re rushing to rides – particularly at Dark Universe.

Express Passes – I love the Express Pass at Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure. I think it’s a crazy expensive “FastPass” system. However, by staying on-site at one of the three qualifying Signature Collection Hotels (Loews Royal Pacific, Loews Hard Rock Hotel or Loews Portofino Bay Hotel), you can get it included with the cost of your stay. However, as of now, you can’t get Epic Universe Express Passes included with any hotel stay – even at Helios Grand. So, an Epic Universe Express Pass will cost around $190 – $340 per person, per day (not including tax). Please note that Express Pass is valid on 10 of the 11 rides at Epic Universe (excluding Fyre Drill in How to Train Your Dragon: Isle of Berk). That said, if you decide to splurge this can cut down on your wait times. More on Epic Universe Express Passes on #7 on this list!
Have a Priority List – Whilst it is possible to ride 11 Universal Epic Universe rides in one day, even without Express Pass, if something goes wrong (i.e. ride breakdowns), it may ruin your plan. It helps to have a list of rides that you HAVE to experience, whilst acknowledging some that you may be okay with skipping. For example, if you’ve been on Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge at Universal Studios Hollywood, maybe you could skip it at Epic Universe to save time (unless you just really love it!).

2) The Rides with the Longest Wait Times Aren’t Necessarily the Best

Here’s the weird truth about Universal’s Epic Universe: the rides with the biggest lines aren’t always the ones you’ll remember. At least, not for the best reasons Harry Potter and the Battle of the Ministry draws a crowd, but is the ride great. No, it’s a boring ride system that looks like the elevator of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disneyland Paris etc. but doesn’t offer major thrills.

Instead, you characters (especially Hermione) on screen who look unbelievably fake (understandably, as the Hogwarts students are no longer a teenagers). But even the animatronics (specifically Ron and Harry) look more like mannequins.

The best part of the ride is the queue (which is unbelievably impressive – as it genuinely looks like you’re in the Ministry of Magic), but the ride is a bit of a letdown afterwards.

Particularly because there’s already some great Harry Potter rides at Universal Orlando (including Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey). And you would expect the newest to be the best.

Similarly, Mine Cart Madness is a super popular roller coaster, as it looks like your cart jumps the track. But the reality is this is a short roller coaster that is fun, but not the most thrilling (and rarely worth the over an hour wait).

It’s also important to note that a ride having a long wait time doesn’t necessarily mean it’s one of the most popular attractions. After all, it can just mean that it’s a low-capacity ride (like Mine Cart Madness).

On the contrary, Monsters Unchained: A Frankenstein Experiment (in Dark Universe) has lower wait times than many attractions in Epic Universe. Which is surprising as it’s a well-themed and innovative ride with great animatronics (it uses the same ride-system as Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, but feels like a great, updated version). The wait times are most likely lower for this because it’s a higher-capacity attraction.

3) The Epic Universe Rides Aren’t as Thrilling as You May Expect

Here’s something that might catch you off guard: only one ride in Universal’s Epic Universe park actually goes upside down.

That’s right, Stardust Racers is the only attraction with loops. The rest keep your feet below your head at all times (except Dragon Racer’s Rally if you opt for a more intense experience with flips).

Whilst there are some family coasters (such as Mine-Cart Madness, Cures of the Werewolf and Hiccup’s Wing Gliders), they’re not terrifying.

As of now, Epic Universe hasn’t overtaken Universal Islands of Adventure, in terms of thrilling roller coasters.

4) The Quality of the Epic Universe Stage Shows is Inconsistent

Stage shows at Universal’s Epic Universe are not all made equal.

Take The Untrainable Dragon (in Isle of Berk) for example. People can’t stop talking about it. The puppetry work is top-notch and the effects feel bigger than anything you’d ever expect from a theme park show.

On the other hand, there’s “Le Cirque Arcanus” which is a letdown in comparison. The performers are talented but the storyline falls flat and the show never quite comes together. You sit there wondering when it’s going to pick up steam, but it just… doesn’t.

They would’ve been better off creating a show more based on the Harry Potter books/movies than The Fantastic Beasts. But then again, Wizarding Paris has more to do with Fantastic Beasts than the original Potter films.

If you’re going to choose between the two shows, I highly recommend checking out The Untrainable Dragon.

5) Even the Epic Universe Pre-Shows & Live Shows Can “Break Down”

Let’s talk about something you probably didn’t expect to run into at Epic Universe: broken pre-shows and live entertainment that just…stop.

You hear plenty of horror stories about rides going at Epic Universe. But when you’re told you can’t get onboard because the pre-show broke, it a little unreal.

That happened with Monsters Unchained on my visit. I started waiting in line just a few minutes before Early Park Admission officially began, but ended up waiting 21 minutes for nothing (despite being one of the first in line) because the pre-show—yes, just the intro—was not working.

Thankfully, the cast members decided to just skip the pre-show and let us on the ride. However, the ride probably would’ve made a lot more sense if we’d actually seen the whole thing!

Similarly, The Untrainable Dragon show usually wows the crowd with sharp effects and flying puppets, but even this blockbuster hit had to stop in the middle when I watched it.

For a few minutes partway through the show, there was NOTHING happening on stage. And then it just resumed like unplanned interval had never happened.

(But sadly, we didn’t get to see Toothless fly, most likely due to technical difficulties).

6) The Epic Universe Ride Wait Times Can Be Very Inflated

I’m not here to tell you that the advertised 3 hour wait times are actually just masking 30 minute wait times for the most popular rides at Epic Universe.

However, in my experience, the advertised wait times for these rides were usually nothing like the reality. For example, I visited on a Wednesday in mid-August 2025, and here were some of my actual VS advertised wait times:

Harry Potter and the Battle of the Ministry

Advertised: 155 minutes

Actual: 75 ish minutes approx (would’ve been around 65 minutes but went down VERY temporarily just as we got on the ride).

Donkey Kong: Mine-Cart Madness

Advertised: 85 minutes

Actual: 75 minutes

Hiccup’s Wing Gliders

Advertised: 95 minutes

Actual: 60 minutes

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that 60-75+ minute wait times are great for any of these rides. But the wait times were at least a little better than what I had anticipated based on the advertised wait times.

This certainly may not always be the case (especially if there’s ride breakdowns), but proved to be a great way of managing my expectations for wait times through my Epic Universe day.

7) You Don’t NEED Express Pass at Epic Universe Park

Don’t get me wrong, as I spoke about earlier in this post, Express Pass can be beneficial at saving you time in line, but comes at a hefty cost – especially for families.

If you’re prepared to spend a lot of your day in line, you can get on at least most of the rides Epic Universe has to offer. Though this is largely dependent on weather and potential ride breakdowns.

And if you’re lucky like I was, the advertised wait times will be higher than the reality.

8) The Queueing Areas are Poorly Designed for Most Rides at Epic Universe

Imagine this: it’s summer in Florida, it’s unbelievably hot and humid, and yet somehow many of the lines are out in the open. Lots of queueing areas in Epic Universe have almost no real shade or cover.

A lot of the queues are also just really boring – whether it’s Stardust Racers or Hiccup’s Wing Gliders, there’s nothing particularly interesting to look at.

Even Harry Potter and the Battle of the Ministry and Mine-Cart Madness (which have animatronics in the queue!) have plain areas of the queue. (Though Mine-Cart Madness is certainly a lot worse than Harry Potter’s).

9) Epic Universe Hasn’t Replaced Universal Studios Florida & Islands of Adventure

Ahead of the opening of Epic Universe, it was easy to theorize that Universal Epic Universe would be incredibly innovative and exciting. So much that it would make the original two Universal Parks feel old and outdated.

Whilst Epic Universe is a stunning park (arguably the prettiest of them all) with some very good attractions, it can’t replace the original two parks. At least not right now – or for the foreseeable future.

Granted, Universal Studios Florida needs some new, non-screen based attractions, and Universal Islands of Adventure has a couple areas of the rides that are past their prime (ahem, Jurassic Park River Adventure).

But each park offers something different, and they can compliment each other. So honestly if you can visit all three on a Universal Orlando Resort vacation, I doubt you’d regret it.

10) Some Disrespectful Guests Leaving Litter

Now, let me just clarify two things:

Most guests at Epic Universe aren’t causing any problems.
Universal cast members work really hard to make sure the parks look – and are – great!

On my day trip to Epic Universe, I was in line for Mine Cart Madness when I noticed lots of litter in the queue.

There was no excuse for this, as there were trash cans accessible.

It’s just a shame that anyone has decided to leave their trash on the floor (or anywhere other than the trash can) in this gorgeous new park.

It’s not something I’ve really noticed at the other Universal theme parks, so hopefully it was just an infrequent occurrence.

Frequently Asked Questions about Universal Epic Universe Park

What parks are at the Epic Universe?

Epic Universe is a single theme park, not a whole set of parks like the name might suggest.

There are three new Universal hotels in the Epic Universe area, including:

Universal Helios Grand Hotel, a Loews Hotel (from the Signature Collection)
Universal Terra Luna Resort (a Prime Value resort)
Universal Stella Nova Resort (a Prime Value hotel)

How far will Epic Universe be from the other parks?

Universal Epic Universe is approximately 4 – 4.5 miles away from the other Universal Parks (Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure and Universal Volcano Bay) and the on-site hotels in that area.

Can you park hop between Epic Universe and the other parks using the Hogwarts Express?

Unfortunately, the Hogwarts Express can only take guests between Universal Studios Florida and Universal Islands of Adventure. The Harry Potter-themed train can’t take guests to and from Epic Universe.

Instead, bus transportation can be used. But as I mentioned earlier, I don’t recommend park hopping on your Epic Universe day, if you want to maximize your time at the newest park.

What is the biggest theme park in the world?

Walt Disney World Resort is still considered to be the largest theme park in the world. After all, amount of land owned by the company in Orlando is 25,000 acres – competing with San Francisco!

Final Thoughts & Ta Ta For Now

Epic Universe caught me off guard with how beautiful it is. Whilst Universal’s other parks have some incredibly impressive lands (the most notable clearly being Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley), this theme park is truly in a league of its own at Universal Orlando. At least when it comes to beauty.

But there’s certainly things that surprised me – sadly, for the worst, in more situations that not.

That said, it’s been a few weeks since I visited, and I’m already excited to plan my next visit . So the surprises clearly weren’t bad enough to put me off visiting!

Have you visited Epic Universe yet? What surprised you the most?

And if you haven’t visited Epic Universe, are you planning to in the future?

Thanks for reading, and please share your thoughts in the comments 🙂

This post was all about the 10 most surprising things about the Universal Epic Universe Park Florida.