Introduction
Universal Orlando’s Epic Universe is set to open on May 22, 2025. I was lucky enough to preview the park before opening and here is a simple breakdown of what is in each land and my thoughts on my experience during the preview. Spoiler alert: I think this is going to be a great destination to add to family vacations.
Before arriving at the park, I was expecting to be wow’d and it certainly did not disappoint. Anyone who has been watching the news updates on this park had high expectations and Epic Universe in person looks just like Universal’s renderings provided to the public during their planning phase. It’s really jaw dropping just how beautiful this park turned out. I found myself in Celestial Park more times than I expected just enjoying the ambiance and the water fountains
Epic Universe: The Basics
Epic Universe is comprised of five lands:
- Celestial Park
- How to Train Your Dragon: Isle of Berk
- The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Ministry of Magic
- Dark Universe
- Super Nintendo Land (including Donkey Kong Country).
Celestial Park has its own backstory and we can get into that in a separate deep dive, but for now just know the stars have aligned perfectly so that the main chronos (the entryway at the front of the park) is powering all of the other chronos entries to the other lands so that we can be transported to each land on this day.
The thing that surprised me the most is just how immersive each and every land is. When you’re standing in Celestial Park you cannot see inside each individual land and the same goes for when you are standing inside any of the other lands. Each one is completely immersive and feels like its own world. The decorations and the character interactions really lend to the immersiveness of this park.
Celestial Park
Celestial Park was designed to truly feel like a park. Universal wanted to “put the park back into theme park” and that they did. The entrance sprawls out into multiple water fountains and features with countless arrays of gardens and flowers. There were many benches to sit and relax as well as many locations to eat and drink in this land. From the front of the park when you enter looking all of the way to the other end of the park you can see the Grand Helios Hotel and grand it most certainly is. The Grand Helios towers above everything and is absolutely gorgeous. This hotel is the first of its kind in the United States boasting a private entrance to Epic Universe for guests staying here.
Celestial Park is not just a park though it also has two main attractions:
- Constellation Carousel: a beautiful carousel which moves differently than others you’ve seen before
- Stardust Racers: a super thrilling coaster.
These attractions could not be more different, but they lend to the feel of the land and help cater to every age in a family’s travel party.
This section of the park feels very peaceful. I can imagine my kids being captivated by the dancing water fountains and watching the coasters race on Stardust Racers. I found myself here just enjoying the space in-between whenever I had a chance.
Super Nintendo World
Super Nintendo World at Epic Universe boasts three attractions and the all new Donkey Kong Country which also opened recently in Japan. Here you can find:
- Yoshi’s Adventure
- Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge
- Mine-cart Madness
This land also has an abundance of activities and games to complete when you purchase a power up band. I could see our family staying in this land for at least half of a day being entertained by all there is to see and do.
Stepping into Super Nintendo World is a hit to all of your senses. It completely immerses you in the classic video games, but I also find it very overstimulating. The music is loud and the colors are very bright. If you’re easily overstimulated you may want to take breaks from this land and come back a little bit at a time as I tend to do.
I think children of all ages will love this land. If you have a Mario game or movie lover they will be fascinated by meeting the characters and playing all of the games. I am disappointed that Yoshi’s Adventure has a height requirement at all, making it unfriendly to families with small toddlers and babies. It seems like a miss for this very short, slow moving ride, but I think there is plenty to do here to keep little ones entertained while older siblings enjoy the rides.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic
If you’ve seen the second Fantastic Beasts movie in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter franchise your jaw will drop when you enter this land. The music from the movie is playing at the entrance and the view of the circus tent from the entrance is straight out of the movie. Harry Potter fans will love this land in the same way they love the other locations at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.
This land’s main attraction is:
- Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry
You travel by floo to the Ministry of Magic and once again enter a scene from the movie. My jaw was on the floor. When they gave us the plans for traveling by floo I had no idea how that was going to work, but Universal really delivered. The way they did it is seamless and surprising. The reveal of the Ministry of Magic is just incredible and the entire queue for this ride in jaw dropping. I imagine this ride will have very, very long wait times. They built the queue to hold up to a 9 hour (!!) wait.
The rest of this land will be enjoyed by even the youngest of guests by enjoying the main show and by purchasing a wand to do magic in the window displays. I imagine our kids spending a lot of time here just exploring and enjoying butterbeer of course.
How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk
Isle of Berk blew me away. Once again you are stepping straight into a scene from one of the How to Train Your Dragon movies. This land is brought to life by the many, many dragon animatronics living in the land’s design as well as the characters roaming about with, and without, dragons of their own. This land has three attractions:
- Hiccups Wing Gliders
- Fyre Drill
- Dragon Racers Rally
It also has an amazing meet and greet with Toothless himself, and an interactive play area that is just as immersive as the rest of the land.
Hiccups Wing Gliders is this land’s family coaster and our kids are absolutely going to love this one. I know they’ll want to ride it again and again. You get a great view of the entire land from this coaster as well as some fun surprises. Another fun attraction is Fyre Drill where you will most certainly get wet as you shoot water canons at targets and also mostly try to spray people on the other boats.
I have so many more things to say about this land and will certainly dive deeper, but what truly brought this land to life for me was the characters you can find roaming about. Quite a few characters from the movies are easy to spot as you travel through the land and the team members playing them are absolutely incredible. The voices and the mannerisms are perfect. I’m not usually one to meet characters without my children with me, but I did the Toothless meet and greet and who wouldn’t be amazed by just how cute this animatronic is?
Dark Universe
Dark Universe’s land takes place in Darkmoor, a town where the classic monsters have been seen throughout history. I was surprised by how much I really loved this land. The spooky vibes start as you enter through the chronos with a score composed by Danny Elfman just for this land. The land has two attractions:
- Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment
- Curse of the Werewolf
The main attraction, Monsters Unchained, is absolutely incredible. The technology and the animatronics in this ride are groundbreaking and the whole experience left my jaw on tche floor.
Many families are going to be wondering if Dark Universe is too spooky for younger children and I don’t think the land itself is. There are some scary elements and you can happen across some gruesome things (such as Ygor and his mangled limbs or a jar of eyeballs on a ledge), but if you’re just looking around generally I think the vibe is spooky, but not overly scary.
On the flip side, the attraction Monsters Unchained (the queue and the ride itself) I certainly think would be too scary for smaller children. There are many spooky elements sprinkled throughout Frankenstein’s Manor which is the queue and the ride has many large, scary animatronics that pop out at you. Unless you have a Halloween loving kiddo, I’d have the adults try this one before putting younger children up to it.
Conclusion: Why Epic Universe is Worth the Hype
Overall I was thoroughly impressed by Epic Universe. I think it has many must see and do attractions and experiences for families with children of all ages. There are plenty of places to keep younger children entertained while older children enjoy rides and attractions with height requirements. I can’t wait to bring my own kids back to get their reactions to each land and see which things in each land grab their attention and make them stop and linger.
I’ll dive deeper into each land in the coming weeks so come back to get more details and more of my thoughts on how Epic Universe is a great place for your next family vacation.
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Nicki M Travel 
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