I was lucky enough to score Maddie and I a passholder preview to Epic Universe last weekend! Read on if you want to know how our day went and for my thoughts and tips if you plan to visit this amazing new addition this year.
I made a last-minute decision to stay at Cabana Bay the night before our preview, even though I knew we wouldn’t be able to maximize our visit. I paid more than I wanted to/usually do because I decided last-minute to go down the night before, but it was still worth it for me! I learned that Epic was opening an hour early for hotel guests, and I thought this would be worth the extra splurge to go down the night before… but it wasn’t. I’m still not sorry we went down the night before, I only had to skimp on sleep for one night instead of 2, and we still got a head start to the day without being sleep deprived. There was a mini hurricane over Orlando the morning of our preview, so we didn’t leave super early to go to the park for the extra hour. We did leave in the middle of the storm, and it took us about 25 minutes to drive 4 miles. We considered taking the bus from the resort, but I wanted to bring the stroller since I anticipated buying some new merch and knowing we would ride the water ride, so we were bringing dry clothes/shoes, plus I knew that we had to head home when we were done, and waiting for a bus and getting back to my car at the resort was just going to add extra time to our already late exit.
One of my friends got to preview the park the week before, and he told me that he upgraded his parking to premium for just the difference between the general parking and premium price since he was a passholder. I don’t normally go for this type of thing, I would usually just use whatever free benefits I get with my pass, but I did take advantage of this parking ‘hack’ for this trip. I figured since it was a mico-hurricane over Orlando when we were parking, it would be nice to not have to walk as far to the entrance, plus, it would be better for easy exit at the end of the night. I wasn’t sorry I spent a little extra for that benefit!
We got through security just a couple of minutes before 11 (the official park opening time that day), but we were able to start walking to Isle of Berk. We were going to start in Super Nintendo World, but 2 out of the 3 rides were delayed, and the one that was open had a very long wait. Once we got through the gates, the rain stopped, and the sky started to clear up. We still had ponchos on from the monsoon we walked in through, so we decided to hop on Fyre Drill in Berk because it had a 5 minute wait. It wasn’t hot out yet, but since we had the ponchos on, we figured it would be a good time to try the ride and see how wet we would get. The milage with moisture on this ride truly varies! The other boats in the ride also have the water-shooting cannons, plus the various water effects of the ride. We didn’t get nearly as soaked as we do on Popeyes or Dudley Do-right, but it would have been about half that if we weren’t wearing ponchos. We got a couple of desserts from ‘How to Treat your Dragon’ after, then got lunch from Spit Fyre Grill (Astrid’s shrimp bowl- and it was delicious! Though I wish it had a couple more shrimp because Maddie ate almost all of them, haha). I REALLY wanted to ride Hiccups roller-coaster, so we were lingering there for a bit, seeing if it would open, but it didn’t. Maddie played in the viking training camp area for a while though, and that was very cute!
Next, we went to Super Nintendo World and OMG… so cool!!! I really wanted to ride another ride by this time, so I coaxed Maddie into the Yoshi line, which was the shortest in the park at that time (listed 35 minutes, but we waited maybe 20!) She was pissed that we didn’t get the power-up bands before we rode that ride, and she tried to get out of line when she saw there were power-up spots in the que. I convinced her to just stay and get the power-up band after we rode. In hindsight, I would have gotten the bands before, but it wasn’t that big a deal that we rode Yoshi first… we just re-rode it later in the evening to get the egg stamp when the wait time went down. After we had the power-up bands (Maddie got Princess Peach and I got Yoshi), we played several games around the land. At first, we were just exploring, then we realized there was a whole experience you could do once you got 3 golden keys! So, of course, we went on a quest for the golden keys, then we went to defeat Bowser Jr.! I am actually STILL astounded by how much fun this is!
By this point in our day, we were hungry again, and I wanted to check out Wizarding World Paris. Plus, it was almost time to try for a virtual line for the ministry of magic ride (which didn’t open until 3 pm on our preview day). I made a mobile order for the Cafe Sirene, but when we arrived there, the line to get a table was pretty long, and we were both too hungry to wait. I canceled that order and made one for Le Goblet Noir, and that was such a great move! The food there was absolutely delicious and there was NO WAIT!!!
We didn’t get a virtual line, though it faked me out for a few minutes 😞. I wasn’t expecting to ride this on this first visit based on what I’ve seen and read. I actually don’t expect to ride it at all this year, but I would love it if I were proven wrong! That is probably my first piece of advice: don’t get your hopes up with any one attraction in these first few months, ESPECIALLY during the technical rehearsals. There is so much to do, see, and eat in this park, so try not to let a delayed ride or missed virtual line ruin what could be an amazing day.
We walked around Wizarding World Paris for a bit after we ate and checked out the new shops. Cosme Acajor has some GORGEOUS wands!!! I was a little surprised that none of them are gen-2! Only the 4 that were released several weeks ago in the original parks are gen-2! They do have those for sale there also. We didn’t do any magic on this visit because I didn’t put our wands in the stroller due to the weather when we arrived. I look forward to doing magic there in the future. We also didn’t even go over to the ministry ride and check out the floo network because I would like to be surprised when I go back. I like to have things to look forward to, and riding that ride is definitely on my list! We hopped on the constellation carousel after we left the Wizarding World. It’s really pretty and somewhat different for a carousel! It’s worth a ride, but I wouldn’t wait more than maybe 20ish minutes for it.
By this point in the afternoon, Hiccups roller-coaster had opened, so I wanted to go back to Berk. The wait time said 50 minutes, and Maddie wasn’t happy, but I really wanted to ride it, and I suspected that the line wouldn’t take quite that long… I was right! We waited about 35 minutes, which really wasn’t terrible, and boy, were we glad we did! That ride was my favorite of what I’ve ridden there so far! It was so much fun!! Maddie loved it, too!!!
We walked through Dark Universe after to see if we wanted to ride the roller-coaster, but Maddie wasn’t a fan AT ALL. We left before we even saw half of what was there.
We went back to Super Nintendo World after the failed Dark Universe attempt, and we re-rode Yoshi for the egg stamp (there was hardly any wait for this ride by that time) and the wait for Mario Cart finally went below an hour, so we got in line for that! We maybe waited 25-30 minutes total and I enjoyed that much more than I thought I would! I typically get nauseous from screen-based or virtual reality rides, but this wasn’t bad at all! We got the trophy stamp for our collection too! 😀
By the time we got off the Mario Cart ride, we had a little less than an hour left of park time, and I had been watching the wait times, specifically for the Hiccups roller-coaster. The wait time went down to 15 minutes, and we were dying to ride that again, so we went back to Berk! The 15 minutes was really 5 minutes the first time, and by the time we got off, the line was gone! We decided we were going to keep getting in that line to ride that coaster as many times as we could until the park closed! We ended up being able to ride it 7 times in the last 45 minutes!!! It was one of the BEST theme park experiences I’ve ever had!!! We laughed and screamed, laughed, and laughed until our throats were scratchy!
We walked through one of the stores on our way out, but it was so crowded that I didn’t want to stay and look around. We left around 9:30 and made it home quite late, but Maddie slept on the way home, and I got a few hours in before I had to go to work. It was a great trip, and I’m really glad that we got the opportunity to check it out before it opens to the public!
I will say that if you are planning a visit this year and are only able to visit Epic for 1 day: Do not expect to ride every ride. This is an amazing park, by far the best yet… the level of immersion in every world compares to Galaxy’s Edge/Pandora/Diagon Alley. The rides we experienced all have something extra, whether it’s the constellation carousel and how it moves, Hiccups roller-coaster having a couple of Hagrid-like launches, the water ride being an interactive game within the ride, plus Yoshi and Mario Cart adding to the games and stamps that you can collect with the power-up bands. The food is also delicious, and we barely scratched the surface! A lot of these rides are outdoors, and Florida is coming into the temperamental/rainy summer season, so there could be weather delays or just operational delays. I know these issues will be resolved as time goes on and I’m looking forward to adding Epic to our annual passes and visiting regularly!
Are you planning to visit Epic Universe in its preview year?!? Why, or why not?!?
Once Upon a Lifetime 