Is Epic Universe Worth the Money?

Is Epic Universe Worth the Money

I have been to the newest theme park at Universal Orlando Resort over five times now. Some as an invited team member preview and some as a normal guest. This has been the first major Orlando theme park in over 25 years. Safe to say there was some hype surrounding this new theme park, especially in the parkhead communities that I am involved in. I was watching this place get built little by little. From patents being filed to the first dirt being moved. Walking into a fully built theme park was incredible.

The price STARTS at $139 per person but can shoot up much higher during the busier parts of the year. Annual passes are not allowed to get in as of right now, and there is also a three-park option that lets you get into the two existing theme parks and Epic Universe. The big question being asked.. Is it worth it?

In my experiences at the theme park, it is a yes. With no season passes being available, and everyone that comes is on a single day ticket or team members that have two tickets to use per month. It is a much smaller crowd than perhaps next year around the same time when they open the flood gates. In early December, which isn’t a wildly busy time at any of the Florida parks, but we were able to get done all attractions excluding, Le Cirque Arcanus, Constellation Carousel, and Fyre Drill. We were also able to get ice cream, a mac and cheese cone, and have a sit-down meal at Atlantic. We got to the theme park at around three.

I have heard mostly positive reviews of this park, but there are some voices saying manage expectations, it’s not a complete park, the rides are sometimes unreliable, and I would agree with some of those points.

Overall, I think it is one of the best theme parks I have ever been to.

The theming just really can’t be overstated. It feels like you are stepping into another world as soon as you go through one of those portals. There is so much detail in each world, so much kinetic energy, so much vibrant colors, and so many things to look at. The design team at Universal Creative made this park incredible to look at.

The rides when they are working fully, are some of the best rides in the world. Stardust Racers is an incredible roller coaster that is a coaster similar to Velocicoaster that can hold up amongst the other roller coasters in the world. A night ride on this attraction is one of the best theme park experiences I have ever had, the way this park lights up at night is truly incredible.

The Constellation Carousel is beautiful at night, and I get more value out of the exterior building than experiencing the attraction. I like that they changed up the typical carousel formula, but someone with no kids, I don’t really waste too much time on this attraction.

Monsters Unchained is the best dark ride in the world right now when everything is working. I have thought that as soon as I rode it the first time, and I still believe that after ten different rides on this attraction. One issue that terrifies me is the maintenance of this attraction. These animatronics are incredibly advanced and they are subject to downtime. The ride goes through its normal route, but some of the animatronics don’t work which really takes you out of the immersion. I would say that maybe 33% of the time is where I had a perfect run on this ride where every animatronic was working and it was beautiful. I will give them a pass during team member previews but on regular days, I would say that it works 60% of the time. It is disappointing when an animatronic doesn’t work. I will also add another piece to the greatness of this attraction…. It is almost always a walk on. The best ride at Epic Universe is a walk on with tremendous capacity. At any point of the park day, I have always been able to ride this. The most I waited for this was during team member previews when it had been down all day, it opened briefly, had everyone slam into the queue, and then broke down shortly after for the rest of the day. Even though that was disappointing, I will give them a pass because of it being team member previews.

 I don’t hear very many nice things about Curse of the Werewolf. It makes the land uglier, it’s too short, the static figure at the end of the ride is cheap, and it doesn’t spin enough. Those are valid issues with the ride but I think we need these types of rides at theme parks. Not every ride needs to knock your socks off with like several rides in this park. Every time I ride this ride I have a good time. I can agree that it is short, but it isn’t supposed to be an E-ticket attraction. I think for what it is, it is a fun attraction. The static figure at the end should be removed though. It just makes it look very cheap in comparison of the incredible Monsters Unchained. Giving it a small show scene in the barn with the werewolves could be a good idea in lengthening this ride time, and letting people see the static werewolves. I will still have fun on this ride, any time I go though.

Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry was marketed as Universal’s most groundbreaking attraction and it has slowly started to fall more flat for me. The queue is incredible, one of the best queues in the world. The first section from Floo Powder to inside the Ministry is the most immersive section of a line that I can ever think of. It looks exactly like the movie. It has been much easier to experience this attraction on every trip after the team member previews. It feels like they have this attraction down and ready for bigger crowds next year. I waited 25 minutes at the end of the night in October, and I waited less than 10 minutes for the ride at the beginning of December during the evening. It feels like it’s the Spiderman attraction but Harry Potter. The scale is undeniably impressive, and some of the animatronics are so fluid, it’s hard to believe it isn’t a live actor. Some animatronics are projection faced and they are not flattering projection faces. The climax of the ride where the timeturner explodes and we see Umbridge’s animatronic, is very underwhelming. It just looks like a mess. The middle sections are much better than the beginning and ending section where they almost work EXCLUSIVELY off screens. It felt like a step back after Monsters Unchained took a big leap forward for having physical sets with just supplemental screens.

Le Cirque Arcanus is a fun special effects show. Once again, the beginning and ending portions of this show is not great. The beginning is a preshow where you stand in a crowded room and try to watch what’s happening on stage. I wish you could walk in late and skip the preshow because it provides exposition, but it lasts a little bit too long. After that, it is a fun show with circus acts, impressive animatronics, and fun effects. That is until Newt Scamander comes on screen and starts talking to you.

I was a big critic of Mario Kart. I didn’t even want to waste my time on this attraction. I got it spoiled for me on Youtube and it just looked incredibly boring. Why make a Mario Kart ride go slow? The facade is fantastic. Walking into Bowser’s Castle and seeing all of the details in line is so much fun. I have been lucky enough to walk right into the preshow for all of these rides and with it being a small wait, it makes me love it even more. I was a huge fan of Mario Kart growing up so I was going to be a stickler when it came to this attraction. I have thoroughly enjoyed the chaos off it ever since my first ride. The glasses might be a bit heavy, the ride was slow and everything was too chaotic were my first thoughts of this attraction. After a few ride throughs, it has gotten a more positive view in my mind. Yes it is extremely chaotic still but it is a fun chaos now. It gives an overview of classic maps, and the small rainbow road portion is good immersion. It has shot up into my top five of attraction list and after multiple ride throughs of every ride, I think it should stay in there. I love gaming aspects on attractions. Men in Black is one of my favorite attractions at Universal and this is somewhat similar.

Yoshi Adventure is a small attraction that typically has a short wait time with it being an omnimover and is surrounded by two popular attractions. I can’t help but think this is a missed opportunity. This attraction is slow, and doesn’t cover a lot of area. The dark ride portion is awesome, and the views it gets of Nintendo World are great. I just wish it would go around the entire world, and it would be a bit quicker with a few more dark ride portions. Slowly moving across the track with no shade on a hot summer day is uncomfortable.

Donkey Kong Mine Cart Madness is one of the most popular rides in the park. It is a fun ride. The capacity is TERRIBLE. This line moves at a snail pace, and it is often an area of the park that I completely ignore. The trip to Epic in early December was the only time where this line was manageable. Right before park close, we were able to wait less than five minutes for this attraction. With a five-minute wait, I was able to look at this ride in a brand new light. It was really fun. It still is a very rough attraction in the first year which scares me for the future of this attraction. It won’t get any smoother. It was much better this time around. My first time riding this was an 80 minute wait that felt like it took FOREVER. This queue is one of the multiple queues that I do not want to wait in at all. Even though there are two amazing animatronics.

The food is a step up in quality from the old Universal food options, but with that uptick in quality, the price has climbed up with it. The Mac and Cheese cone at Isle of Berk is one of the most popular items, and it comes at a steep price of $18 for a snack. The quality was amazing the last time I went, but an $18 snack is too much for me to get it too often. The $20 Butterbeer Crepe is another popular item, but once again the price is too extreme for a snack. This increase of price is across the board. It can be found in meal prices, it can be found in the Donkey Kong Float which is another close to $20 SNACK. They look good for social media but the pricing is too much. I ate at the Atlantic restaurant the last time I went and it was a fine meal. Not incredible by any means but the quality is a step up from the older parks. Once again, the pricing was too much. $40 for 4 small scallops. The scallops were tasty, but wow was it expensive. Pizza Moon is another big step in quality. The pizza is actually GOOD. A huge step forward for theme park pizza. The Oak and Star Tavern was good barbecue. I was very surprised when a theme park BBQ restaurant was good. The mango bread was good. The sauce was yummy and my sandwich was yummy. The Mead Hall in Isle of Berk was just okay. Unfortunately, it was not very strong. Spit Fyre Grill, right next to Fyre Drill. I heard mostly good things of this before I tried it, but the beef was chewy and the service was weird when I went. I did go at the end of the night which could have messed up the quality similar to the Mac and Cheese cones. I have also tried the ice cream in Celestial Park which was just okay. Also $8… Overall the food is expensive, but there is a jump in consistent quality when looking at the other Universal Parks.

The rides are great, the food is solid, and the theme park ambiance is incredible. I have loved every trip I have gotten to go to this park on, and it makes me excited that this is just the beginning. There is already action in some expansion plots, and at its beginning stage, it is an incredible park. It is absolutely worth the money right now, especially with no season passes opening up yet.

I feel extremely lucky to have gone to this theme park on the first year it opened, and before it officially opened. I got to see the differences of quality, and how they improved the operations over the course of different visits. This is the type of stuff that made me move to Orlando. To get these moments where I get to enjoy theme parks as much as possible just made me feel grateful.