Universal Epic Universe in Orlando: inside Universal’s most Ambitious theme park yet

Orlando has never been short of theme parks, but Universal Epic Universe is bringing something completely new, Antonia Windsor takes her children to check it out.

Evening fireworks, Universal Epic Universe, Orlando

Built from scratch on 50 acres of previously undeveloped land just south of the current Universal complex, Epic Universe aims to change how theme parks work, not by adding bigger rides, but by building whole worlds you can walk into, eat in and get briefly lost inside.

Lose yourself in the worlds of Universal Epic Universe

The park is designed so that each world radiates out from one central hub called Celestial Park which has lawns, paved garden terraces and water displays to provide breathing space between adventures. The four lands – Super Nintendo World, The Wizarding World: Ministry of Magic, Isle of Berk and Dark Universe – are among Universal’s most immersive yet.

Also, each fictional environment is built at full architectural scale and packed with delightful details. Tails of sleeping dragons twitch as you walk past in Isle of Berk, windmill blades intermittently burst into flames and a cat gargoyle meows in Dark Universe and walls whisper spells in Wizarding World.

As well as more than 50 attractions, restaurants and shows, including two major coasters, the park also boasts a Frankenstein ride through theatrical sets, and an AR-powered Mario Kart race that lets you compete with family members. Most importantly for parents: each land includes high-thrill, mid-thrill and zero-thrill experiences, so siblings of different ages don’t feel left out or forced to skip.

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Universal Endless Summer Surfside Inns & Suites, Orlando

How to find the best rates for this Orlando family holiday

I visited in October half term with my 9-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son as part of a British Airways Holidays package. BA Holidays is the official launch partner of Universal’s Epic Universe and offers the best rates for packages that include flights, accommodation, car hire and theme pack tickets.

We chose to stay at 3-star Universal Endless Summer Surfside Inn & Suites, one of Universal’s best value hotels. It’s a little further than some of the more expensive hotels but a shuttle bus runs every 10 minutes to Epic Universe and the broader resort, and you still get that crucial early entry to the park an hour before everyone else, which saves on queue times for the more popular rides. 

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Entrance, Universal Epic Universe, Orlando

Can you tackle Universal Epic Universe in a day?

Although you could try to tick off the most popular rides and get a sense of the park in one day, but you really need two days to get the full experience and give yourself enough time to return to your favourite rides.

As we went for a week, we booked Universal All Parks tickets which meant we could space out our trips to Epic with visits to Universal Studios, Island of Adventure and Volcano Bay (the waterpark). This worked well for us.

The first day we went to Epic we were jetlagged and so had an early start, but left before it got dark. We scheduled our return visit later in the week when we had adjusted to the time zone and it meant we had stamina to return in the evening (you can come and go as many times as you like during the day of your visit) and see the final fountain and light show as the park closed, which was a magical experience.

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Super Nintendo World, Super Mario Land

What’s it like inside Super Nintendo World?

On our first day we headed straight to Super Nintendo World which you access through a six-metre-high green Warp Pipe and when you come out the other side it’s like stepping into a video game.

The sound design alone is half the job: coin jingles, Kart engines, Bowser roars. My 12-year-old immediately challenged us all to Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge; a ride that blends a physical kart with projection mapping, screens and AR goggles that turn the track into an animated Mario Kart race. Riders sit four to a kart designed to look like the ones from the game. Each wears a Mario-style visor fitted with AR lenses, which overlay digital characters and obstacles onto the physical set. You see classic elements: floating question blocks, banana peels, Koopa shells and characters like Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and Bowser weaving in and out of view.

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A mix of wild coasters and gentle rides works well

To combat a slight feeling of motion sickness, and to get a good overview of the World, we next went on Yoshi’s Adventure, which is gentle, scenic and perfect for younger riders, before attempting the bone-shaking Mine‑Cart Madness; a roller coaster in the Donkey Kong Country section of Super Nintendo World that uses “boom coaster” technology to create track-jump illusions.

On our second visit to Epic, it was night time and Super Nintendo World was completely lit up. This time we focused on finding all the hidden games and collecting as many coins as we could on our power up wrist bands, which you can use to punch blocks to collect coins and activate mini-games. These involve physical play: turning wheels, solving puzzles or working as a team to ‘defeat’ the enemy. The band syncs with the Universal app and we enjoyed checking which one of us was in the lead – needless to say the kids finished way ahead of the adults.

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1920s Paris, Wizarding World: Ministry of Magic, Universal Epic Universe

What’s Wizarding World: Ministry of Magic at Universal Epic Universe?

Our next stop on the first day was the Ministry of Magic, which is a beautiful reconstruction of the streets of Paris in the 1920s inspired by the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them film series.

The kids braved the queue for one of the parks more popular rides, Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, while me and my sister sat on a bench in the Florida sunshine and it felt like we were on a Paris minibreak (we both suffer motion sickness with any ride that uses screens, so gave that one a miss). There’s a circus in this area that runs several times a day but the kids were too into the rides to want to see it.

We didn’t purchase any interactive wands, but if you do you can use them to activate secret effects. We saw someone use their wand to make water squirt out of the fountain. 

As the ride wasn’t one of the children’s favourites we didn’t return to this area on the second day.

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Pizza Moon, Universal Epic Universe, Orlando

What are the restaurants like at Universal Epic Universe?

We had one of the best meals of our entire week in Orlando at pan-Asian venue The Blue Dragon in Celestial Park – the kids had $13 bento boxes and I had a Thai coconut curry that was packed with fresh vegetables.

There’s also a full-service seafood and steakhouse called The Atlantic that I heard good things about from people we talked to on the transfer bus.

Elsewhere in the park there’s Café L’air De La Sirène, a French-themed cafe in Ministry of Magic serving baguettes and Niçoise salad; Das Stakehaus, a steakhouse with vampire-themed décor in Dark Universe; Spit Fyre Grill serving up flame-grilled chicken in Isle of Berk and Toadstool Café serving Mario-themed food in Super Nintendo World. Of course there’s also a large array of snack stops serving the usual theme park fare.

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What’s there to do at Isle of Berk at Universal Epic Universe?

The Isle of Berk was our favourite world and the area in which we spent the most time. It’s inspired by the How to Train Your Dragon films and is a full recreation of a Viking village with oversized timber doors, carved stonework and working water features. Overhead, dragon calls play at irregular intervals and the sound design carries across rooftops and through the lagoon area, where full-scale Viking boats sit in the water.

This area contained our favourite coaster in the park: Hiccup’s Wing Gliders. You need to store bags in lockers for this one and it’s worth mentioning that the lockers at Epic use facial recognition and are much larger than the ones at the other Universal parks – and they are also free.

I think over the two visits, we must have done this coaster nearly 10 times. It has just the right mix of thrill and approachability, fast enough to feel like flight without tipping into white-knuckle territory. The track hugs the landscape rather than towering above it, so you skim past carved rockwork, sail over the lagoon and hear the sound of wings beating through the speakers as if a dragon is just ahead.

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Waiting to ride the dragon, Dragon Racer’s Rally, Universal Epic Universe

Dragon Racer’s Rally is as close to flying as it gets

The other ride we really loved in this area was the Dragon Racer’s Rally, which is as close to the sensation of flying as I’ve ever experienced. You decide how daring you want to be; if you pull the lever you can tilt or spin your dragon through the air – I wasn’t brave enough to do this and kept my dragon firmly upright, but the kids had fun making theirs spin.

Although we did the more leisurely River Adventure boat ride, where you get to shoot at things with water pistols – this is great on a hot day (or a wet day, as we’d already been soaked by a sudden downpour and didn’t mind getting squirted at). 

Also, when we came back on our second visit we watched the live show, The Untrainable Dragon, in which actors work alongside a full-scale dragon puppet that moves with surprising weight and expression. There’s singing and dancing and it’s a good opportunity to sit down for half an hour. 

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Darkmoor Monster Makeup Experience, Universal Epic Universe

What is Dark Universe like?

We also loved Dark Universe, which brings the monster-movie world to life in a wooded landscape that features Gothic buildings, open coffins, gravestones and flickering lanterns.

My 9-year-old was a bit scared to try Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein experiment, a ride that takes you into the subterranean chambers of Frankenstein and Dracula, and I saw other children crying in the queue having changed their minds. However, once she’d been on it once she asked to go on it again and again.

It’s got just the amount of fright to be enjoyable rather than overly scary. The coaster Curse of the Werewolf has spinning carriages and careens through woodland and fog-shrouded tunnels with a short drop. That was another hit and we went on it several times. This world also has a make-up lab, which you have to pay for separately, but my son twisted my arm and was turned into a vampire for the day. 

We enjoyed all the Universal Parks during our week’s stay, but Epic was definitely the most … well … epic, the worlds have a real quality to them that is truly transporting, and you feel as though you are spending a day inside someone’s vivid imagination. 

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