Epic Universe Rides Ranked

The rides of Epic Universe

I have finally gotten back to Epic Universe after a four-month separation, and I felt that incredible excitement to be back into the brand-new park. Stepping into the portals and riding the new rides and hoping for a better experience with maintenance. For the most part, this was true for all except Ministry of Magic. I think it is time to revisit the top rides of Epic Universe.

Constellation Carousel- Bringing up the rear is the unique flat ride in Celestial Park. This ride is just not for me. I like that they tried to make it a bit more unique, but I just will not have to go on it again. The seatbelt check takes a long time, so you are just sitting there waiting for everyone to finish. This extends the line, and it just takes longer than a typical ride. This is an okay attraction. No need for me to get back on it.

Fyre Drill- I like that they tried to make do with a limited footprint but my goodness, it is slow, it is missing a key element like a scoreboard. If it had more of a keeping score element, this would be much more fun. It is another okay attraction, that is a long wait due to the small capacity. The worst ride in Berk in my opinion.

Dragon’s Racer Rally- Going back to Berk for this flat ride and it immediately shoots up to one of my favorite flat rides. The gaming element of trying to flip your dragon is very appealing to me, and I hope one day I can actually do it. Two failures in a row. But once again… This is an okay attraction.

Yoshi’s Adventure- I love the PeopleMover at Magic Kingdom. It is perfect length, speed, provides great views, people watching, and indoor portions, it is the blueprint for these attractions. Islands of Adventure did great with Suess Trolley but the lack of themed inside portions are missing. This attraction is also very short. Yoshi Adventure is a step back. This ride is in the center of Florida with no cover. One inside portion will give you a break but these ride vehicles are open. This is a terrible attraction for Florida. It shuts down for lightning in the area, you can get rained on, and you have no shade. I love this type of attraction, but this is the worst version. It has some great views of Nintendo World and even Donkey Kong Country. This ride goes so slow, and it is still so short that I can’t move it any higher. The Yoshi theme song is STRONG on this attraction. It gets stuck in your head for the rest of the day. My love for Yoshi as my main in Mario Kart, and Mario Party makes the attraction higher than the ones below. I also like the gaming aspect of finding the eggs, and I love the inside portion.

A gap.

Donkey Kong Mine Kart Madness- The capacity of this ride makes me sick. I rode this on one of the first preview days and we waited 75 minutes for the ride. It was a jarring experience, and it is fun, I like some of the elements, but a four-person ride vehicle is terrible. The queue is not anything exciting either, the animatronic of Cranky is amazing but other than that this ride is just not on par with the next five. The long waits for an underwhelming attraction practically guarantees that I won’t be getting on this ride very often.

Mario Kart- I rode this the first couple of times, and even said no to this attraction to ride Monsters Unchained instead. This last ride through my expectations of speed fell and I enjoyed this ride. It is a game. I love Toy Story Midway Mania at Disney, and this is similar with much more physical elements. The queue is fun; the ride is fun. The fact that is is one of the few rides with actual air conditioning is also a large reason it is up in my rankings. Also, that facade is incredible. Takes me right back to the Mario video games.  

A GAP

Ministry of Magic- This spot was the hardest to rank. I have only been on Ministry of Magic one time, and I didn’t have a great experience at first. A few breakdowns while in the line, and it broke down during the attraction. I can’t say enough good things about the queue. The scale of the queue is incredible, and the wait doesn’t seem as bad with how much detail is located in the ride. I also appreciate that there is no preshow. The line is the line. Like Guardians can have a five-minute wait but there is 25 minutes of preshow. Similar with Rise of the Resistance. I think they rely too heavily on screens in the first section. It can be a bit disorienting at first, but I can’t deny the scale of this attraction. The blend of screen and physical set is really good in the middle portions. The animatronics of the deatheater and the rhino fantastic beast are incredible. The deatheater really does look like a live actor. It is a cool attraction. The final climax that is mostly screen based is a bit disappointing with the sands of time elements. Overall, it is good. Just dropped down a bit due to leaning on screens a bit too hard for my taste. I need to ride it again. It was broken down when I went.

Hiccup’s Wing Gliders- This was a tough ranking. Three and four can almost be interchangeable. I am actually listening to my focus playlist of movie themes and I am actually on a How to Train Your Dragon song, which is pretty funny while I am writing this. Berk is an incredible land and this attraction gets to cut all the way through it. It adds a ton to the land even without being on the attraction. The queue isn’t great but everything about this experience is good. All of the Berk queues are a bit rough. This ride is a baby Hagrid, with how low to the ground is, how there are a few show scenes with animatronics and it zips throughout the land. The one huge improvement to this ride from Hagrid’s, is that the song, “Test Drive” playing while you zoom through the final moments. I love that song and it is used incredibly here. This is a steppingstone coaster, not as intense as Stardust and the older I get the more I like this level of attraction over the huge crazy heart in your stomach moments of bigger coasters. I loved this attraction during the day, and at night I think it might have been better. It is just FUN. I will keep going back to it day after day. Also the Toothless animatronic launching you is so cool. Excellent ride.

Stardust Racers- The big coaster of Epic Universe came out swinging. I didn’t think it would be better than Velocicoaster but after a few rides, I am ready for it to take that spot. During the day it is amazing to watch you duel and wave to the person sitting on the other train as you roll through the layout. At night though. This ride is 100X better. It turns into a world class attraction as Epic Universe lights up the night as you zip through the sky. I guess all of Epic Universe at night is just fantastic. All the rides improve. Even some of the inside rides improve at night. The queue isn’t great, that is one thing I will say that Velocicoaster wins in but the double launch on Stardust is just unbelievable. They also have a baby version of the Mosasaurus roll. But this one flips over another coaster train. Every time I get off of this I can’t believe how good it is. The capacity is incredible; the flux capacitor is on the back. All of this just makes a fantastic coaster even better.

And then there was one.

Monsters Unchained- Could it be any other? No. Not for me anyway. The first time I rode this ride I couldn’t believe how good it was. How close you get to those animatronics, how cool the queue is, how they used screens to SUPPLEMENT the physical sets. Something that its little brother, Forbidden Journey couldn’t do. That ride used physical sets to supplement the screens. The story makes sense; it has some creative scares. The theming is incredible, it truly feels like you have been thrust into the story. And it starts the moment you enter the castle. I think the best part of this attraction is that it is a top three attraction in the park with tremendous capacity, so it has been a walk-on every single time I have rode it except during weather delays or technical difficulties. This is one of the few rides that can still run during the weather, so the line gets busy. This is also a love letter to Universal’s past. They have long deserved their own attraction, and to get one that is this caliber makes me happy. This ride is incredible.

I love that this is only the beginning. We still have so many expansions and attractions to come but even now, this park has my favorite ride in the world right now. These three to four rides are world class attractions and should be world class attractions for some time. I will continue to ride these attractions as much as I can, but I think the first two are entrenched in their position. The one I need to reride the most is Ministry of Magic. Updates to follow.