When I first visited Universal’s Epic Universe theme park in Orlando, Florida during a media preview event, I was blown away. This is a park that takes every lesson Universal has learned over the past 15 years about theming, storytelling, and the creation of designed spaces that are simply a pleasure to be in and applies it to every nook and cranny. When I returned recently to experience the park on a proper operating day months removed from the carefully guided media tour, I was expecting to find the glow diminished.
Instead, I found a park that lived up to its initial promise. In fact, when filled with paying guests and operated by team members with lots of additional experience under their belts, Epic Universe is even better than I remember.
Naturally, there was only one thing to do with a day so fulfilling and fun: Make a list on the internet. Having experienced every show and attraction at Epic Universe multiple times, I can say this is the only ranking of every major experience at the park you will ever need. (My apologies to all other lists.)
Note: This ranking only includes full-fledged rides and theatrical shows, not character meet-and-greets, walkaround actor interactions, snacks, restaurants, shops, and all-around vibes that make Epic Universe such a complete theme park experience. But I did touch on that in another article.
It’s not that Dragon Racer’s Rally is a bad ride, it’s just that in a park full of truly unique, one-of-a-kind attractions, a fairly simple spinner probably won’t top anyone’s list of major priorities. Cute theme aside (you’re learning how to control an in-flight dragon!), you can find similar experiences other theme parks, which means this one should only be prioritized if the line is short.
Unfortunately, a low rider capacity sometimes means wait times for Dragon Racer’s Rally can get a bit long. And although the ride’s biggest selling point is that a rider can manipulate the experience to be as intense or as serene as they want it to be, this requires a fair amount of practice to master. Which means your first trip through may not be what you want it to be. And do you really want to wait in line again to get good at it?
The views of the Isle of Berk alone make Dragon Racer’s Rally a totally worthwhile experience if you’re able to jump on with a shorter wait. But with a few world-class rides just minutes away, a pleasant filler ride like this just can’t match up to the stiff competition its neighbors offer.
Super Nintendo World offers one of the few Epic Universe attractions made purely for young children, and it’s a pretty good “one of those.” Specially, it’s an omnimover-style ride where guests board their own Yoshi (Mario’s adorable lizard buddy) and take a serene, slow-moving voyage through and above the land and through a few show scenes. Those scenes are cute and full of characters that will have gamers doing the Leonardo DiCaprio finger point meme, but for older riders, the real joy is the views you get from your Yoshi, letting you savor the color, detail, and sheer verticality of Super Nintendo World.
While the interactive elements will largely only appeal to very young kids (you press the corresponding button when you spot hidden eggs), there’s nothing wrong with a ride that’s all about vibing through an aesthetic, and Yoshi’s Adventure offers that in spades. Should it be the first thing you do when you arrive in the park? Probably not. Is it the one of the best ways to take a break after braving Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge and Donkey Kong: Minecart Madness? Absolutely.
Epic Universe’s sole water ride is a savior on a hot afternoon. Like the other attractions in Isle of Berk, the theme of Fyre Drill is adorable and does a fair amount of heavy lifting. Specially, you’re training to put out fires from your boats, competing against a rival vehicle to prove who is the best at snuffing out accidental dragon blazes.
It’s good time! You get wet, but not too wet. The younger set especially will get a kick out of aiming their water cannons at various targets, and enacting swift vengeance when the rival boat splashes them. However, it’s a bit slight compared to other Epic Universe attractions. Fyre Drill is lovely, the art design charming, and it’s a welcome way to cool off when the Florida sun comes out in the early afternoon. But visitors should treat this as a cooldown and palate cleanser between the bigger attractions, not the focus of your day.
Let’s make one thing clear right off the bat: Constellation Carousel is probably the most underrated attraction at Epic Universe and I feel downright awful that it’s placed this low on the list. This is a tale of two rides: the daytime carousel, with its clever ride vehicles inspired by the animals of various starry constellations, and the nighttime version, where the lighting package goes into full effect and the already charming soundtrack takes a turn toward the joyfully chaotic.
Unless you have a young one begging otherwise, you can probably skip Constellation Carousel during the daylight hours. But when the sun sets and Epic Universe becomes its beautiful nighttime self (seriously, devote some time to just stroll when it’s dark), this becomes a must-ride. Everything that was merely very nice in the sunlight becomes spectacular in the evening, and huddling together on a fanciful animal with someone you care about while you swirl and twirl through the lights of sounds the ride offers is a definitive Epic Universe experience. Good luck getting the various musical arrangements out of your head.
In many ways, Le Cirque Arcanus is the most “classical” Universal attraction at Epic Universe. This stage show, cleverly hidden in a seemingly tiny circus tent in the Wizarding Paris of the Ministry of Magic land, harkens back to the kind of ambitious live performances that were a staple of Universal Studios Florida in its first decade. Set across multiple rooms and employing a mixture of live actors, giant animatronics, performers in suits, projection technology, and astonishing stage-shifting that has to be seen in person to fully appreciate, it feels like a theme park artifact dusted off, polished, and given incredible new life. In many ways, this feels like the successor to the late, great Poseidon’s Fury over at Islands of Adventure, which had similar ambitions and execution.
The downside to Le Cirque Arcanus is that it’s directly and specifically tied to the “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” film series, a corner of the Harry Potter franchise that even dedicated fans rejected with a profundity that left its movie studio stunned. The result is one of the most impressive live shows you’ll ever see in any theme park, based on characters that very few people in the audience actively care about. It’s most successful when it strays as far as it can from the films, telling its own original story set in the broader Wizarding World. The direct connections simply don’t land with the intended impact.
Still, if you put all of that aside, the sheer grandiosity of the performance should win over everyone but the biggest grumps in the crowd. If this is how Universal sees the future of their classic multi-room, actor-driven experiences, the future is bright for theme park fans.
Dark Universe’s secondary attraction may lack the jaw-dropping ambition of its headliner attraction (more on that in a moment), but there’s no denying that Curse of the Werewolf is a great time for thrill-seekers. The theming is comparatively light, but it gets the job done: You’ve entered a Romani caravan, the moon is full (look above you in the loading station), and there’s something lurking in the nearby woods. That’s all the set-up this coaster needs as it launches you through the forests of Darkmoor and a dilapidated old shed where something is waiting to pounce. Once again: Look up.
With its multiple launches, forwards and backwards movement, and ride vehicles that freely spin as much as the laws of physics allow, Curse of the Werewolf is a bit more intense than Hiccup’s Wing Gliders while not reaching the intensity of Stardust Racers. As long as you can handle the spinning (and please note there’s a chance you may spin a lot), this is a terrific coaster for enthusiasts looking for a unique voyage and families looking to upgrade the intensity just little bit before they try something bigger. The spooky theming is a bonus, albeit welcome and well-implemented.
If you want a steady, less queasy ride, try to get in a vehicle where all four seats are evenly loaded. If you want to start spinning seconds into the ride and never stop spinning, try to sit with people either much bigger or smaller than you. Thank me (or curse me) later.
The most unique ride at Epic Universe, and the rare ride that is as much fun to watch as it is to ride, Donkey Kong: Minecart Madness is the kind of design marvel that, once you see what it’s doing, will make you grin for the sheer cleverness of it all. Utilizing a brand new ride system, this family coaster recreates the famous levels from the Donkey Kong Country video games where players navigate a treacherous mine on an out-of-control cart and literally jump over gaps on the track.
Even after you see how they pull off the illusion, it’s impossible to not be overjoyed by the execution. To stand in the Donkey Kong section of Super Nintendo World and watch the carts fly by you, leaping over twisted and broken track, is another unmissable Epic Universe moment.
The attraction itself is also a blast, taking riders through temples, over water, and past tableaus and near-misses with various Donkey Kong characters. This ride is a bit rougher than you’d expect, and while kids probably won’t care or notice, the unique ride design will give anyone over the age of 30 a chiropractic appointment. Personally, I find this to be a wild ride worth the bumps.
Minecart Madness is both massively popular and cursed with a low rider capacity compared to other headliners at Epic Universe. Arrive and ride early, or be prepared to wait a long time.
The best live show at Epic Universe is a visual and aural marvel that offers joy and spectacle in equal measure. Tucked away in the corner of the Isle of Berk, The Untrainable Dragon tells a simple story on a massive canvas. Set between the second and third films in the “How to Train Your Dragon” series, the show finds Hiccup, Toothless, and other characters from the films dealing with a — you guessed it — dragon that simply refuses to be trained. Anyone who has seen at least one movie in their life will see where this is going, but this is all about the experience, not the destination. And boy, what an experience it is.
Live singers, thundering percussion, crisp projection, engaged performers, and most importantly, giant dragon animatronics and puppets bring the story to life. Even if you’re just in the theater to get off your feet for 30 minutes (and even if you’ve never seen one of these movies), it’s impossible to not get swept up in the big emotions and visual beauty on display. It’s all so earnest and lovely!
Hiccup and Toothless’ big entrance is reason enough to carve out a chunk of your day to see this show.
One of the more controversial rides at Epic Universe, Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge tends to divide many theme park fans. I’ll admit that I wasn’t sure what to make of it at first, since this blend of dark ride and interactive AR video game left me a little baffled during my first trip. If there’s only one issue with the incredible queue that snakes through Bowser’s castle, office, library, and workshop on the way to his kart race against Mario and his allies, it’s that it doesn’t explain the “game” aspect of the ride well enough.
But once you know how to play (literally look where you want to aim your shells), the ride becomes an addictive delight. The blend of giant practical sets and creatures with digital enemies and effects projected through your personal AR goggles is overwhelming until it isn’t. Once you realize what you’re looking at, you can not only appreciate the delightful recreations of classic Mario Kart levels, but also the gameplay itself.
Some folks will want to play again and again to beat their scores, and the ride itself helpfully tracks the recent winners to give you something to measure your efforts against. I don’t think I’ll ever be good at the gameplay, but I quickly learned to love it and know what to look for, giving me extra time to admire the sets and locations as I played. If you can budget the time, this is the one Epic Universe ride that benefits the most from a second pass.
There’s a lot of stiff competition, but Hiccup’s Wing Gliders may be the best pure family coaster in any Orlando theme park. Bigger than the Trollercoaster at Universal Studios Florida but not quite as intense as Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure at Islands of Adventure, it’s the perfect stepping stone coaster for young enthusiasts who have summoned the courage to try something a bit bigger and more exciting than the kiddie rides. And for adults, it’s a fast, smooth, delightful aerial tour of the Isle of Berk, leaning on the triumphant “How to Train Your Dragon” theme music to sell the most dramatic parts (it works).
There’s a story here — an animatronic Toothless accidentally launches your experimental flying vehicle into the sky before Hiccup can attach the wings — but this isn’t a story ride like Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry or Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment. Even with two show scenes, the focus here is really on the visceral feeling of flying over, through, and even under Berk. While never too intense, all of the coaster elements (including a few launches and some tight turns) punch above the family coaster weight class. It’s difficult to imagine a brave kid not loving this ride, and equally difficult to imagine a serious coaster enthusiast not grinning at how well the ride layout incorporates the environment to sell the thrills.
The most popular attraction at Epic Universe continues Universal’s ongoing mission to use the Harry Potter franchise to push the boundaries of theme park technology. Set after the events of the film, and filling in some unanswered questions that die-hard fans would likely want to have answered, Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry is the kind of action-focused, narrative-forward ride that Universal has been mastering since The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man first opened back in 1999. Even if the brand new ride system can sometimes prove finicky — when you visit, have a back-up plan for when it inevitably goes down for a window or two — there’s no denying how, well, cool this experience feels, and how its presentation opens up new possibilities for theme park storytelling.
I wrote about this attraction at length already, and my feelings haven’t changed since that piece was published. One of the most astonishing and detailed ride queues of all time, one that you actually want to spend at least a little bit of time waiting, leads to an experience that feels massive in scope and ambition. Blending the biggest screens you’ve ever seen alongside practical sets and plenty of robots, and utilizing an impressive and often staggering array of physical movements, Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry opens up all kinds of possibilities for the future of theme park storytelling. If this is Universal’s first stab at a ride with this system, imagine what comes next.
Stardust Racers is the most intense attraction at Epic Universe, dominating the skyline of Celestial Park and doing what the most thrilling roller coasters do: It dares you to ride it. As the name implies, the loose space fantasy theme is built around two ride trains setting out at the same time and “racing” alongside tracks that are initial parallel before they twist and turn and curve all around each other, simulating all kinds of near-misses (both vehicles get closer than you’d imagine). It’s exhilarating, with the near-miss after the second launch being one of the most gratifying moments I’ve ever experienced on a roller coaster.
Although very different in theme (and built by a different manufacturer), Stardust Racers does borrow one element from the Velocicoaster at Islands of Adventure that is seemingly emerging as a Universal coaster specialty. While the first half of the ride is terrific, it’s the second half that ups the ante. Roller coasters traditionally peak early, often with their first drop and ultimately limp back into the station. But Stardust Racers understands that dramatic tension of escalating the thrills and ending on a high note. The back stretch is the most exciting part of the ride, and you end it with your knees shaking and your blood pumping, wondering what the heck you just experienced. This may not be a story coaster, but the original music blasting through the speakers certainly makes you feel like you’ve just gone on a journey.
This isn’t the kind of ride that will appeal to the timid theme park goer. For thrill junkies, though, this is a world class roller coaster. If you can, ride it at night to experience a different soundtrack and a wild lighting package.
Look, I’m a broken record about the cursed village of Darkmoor and its headlining attraction, Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment. I wrote about why it works so brilliantly after I first experienced it and I stand by everything in that piece. However, my more recent Epic Universe visit allowed me to confirm a sneaking suspicion: Yes, this is my personal favorite theme park attraction in the world.
Granted, part of that is my undying adoration for the Universal Monsters and their place in the horror pantheon. Even if you strip that away, though, Monsters Unchained in a staggering accomplishment that every theme park aficionado needs to experience at least once. Even those who got queasy riding Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, which utilizes the same ride system, need to check this one out — Universal took that promising KUKA arm tech and perfected it here. The vehicle movement still feels powerful and limitless, but without the nausea that impacted some folks before. Potter walked so the monsters could sprint.
This is the complete package. A thrilling story that begins in the queue and plays out on the ride. Dynamic characters, brought to life via incredible animatronics. Screen tech that enhances the sets and storytelling without being the sole focus. And, of course, that perfected ride system that makes your tour of the catacombs beneath Frankenstein Castle a wild, unpredictable, and still silky smooth experience. I can’t wait to see how any other theme park tries to top this one.