Epic Universe: What You Need to Know

The time is almost here. It is the end of April at the time of this writing. Next month (May 22) marks the official grand opening of Universal Orlando's 4th theme park, Epic Universe. Orlando has not seen a new theme park of this size and magnitude since the opening of Disney's Animal Kingdom back in 1998 and Universal's opening of Islands of Adventure in 1999 and needless to say there is a lot of excitement and buzz around this new theme park opening. And we are here to help guide you through this new park and provide some info we think you need to know before planning your first visit.

First, let's recap what Epic Universe entails. There are 5 main areas wihin Epic Universe; The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Ministtry of Magic), Super Nintendo World, How to Train Your Dragon Isle of Berk, Dark Universe and Celestial Park.

Celestial Park is the main hub of the park which will have two different attractions along with lots of shops and the park's main sit-down restaurant, The Atlantic. The area is described by Universal as, "the cosmic heart of Universal Epic Universe, where wondrous discoveries await among the lush greenery and dancing fountains." Around Celestial Park will be 4 other "portals" that guests will use to enter the other 4 lands of Epic Universe. Each of the other 4 lands will have a mix of quick service eateries, shops and attractions (some more intense than others). Each land will have at least one main thrill atraction in addition to rides and shows geared towards the whole family.

EXPRESS PASS

Out of all of the lands, here are the rides/attractions that will be on the Universal Express Pass system:

Constellation Carousel

Curse of the Werewolf

Fyre Drill

Hiccup’s Wing Gliders

Le Cirque Arcanus™

Mario Kart™: Bowser’s Challenge

Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment

Stardust Racers

The Untrainable Dragon

Yoshi’s Adventure™

The one attraction that didn't make this list will be the Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry™ attraction. So far this is being planned as a virtual queue due to the expected high demand. That may change as time gets further from the opening and they get a sense of how long other queues will be etc., but for now that is their plan. One thing to also note is that it appears a lot of the attractions will also utilize a single rider line to help offset some of the longer wait times in the standby line.

OPERATING HOURS

As of the time of this writing, Universal is planning on opening Epic Universe at 9am and closing by 9pm. This announcement has been somewhat of a shock since so much of Epic is designed to be seen after the sun goes down. Will this change as Epic gets more days under its belt once it's open? Hopefully.

NEW RESORTS/TRANSPORTATION

Universal has officially opened three brand new resorts within close proximity to Epic Universe; Stella Nova, Terra Luna and Helios Grand. This new park is not in the same vacinity as Universal's other two main parks, Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. If you are staying at any of the resorts over in the area of City Walk or the other two parks, you will need to take a shuttle bus over to Epic (or drive). But if you book one of the three brand new resorts, you can either take a short bus ride (Terra Luna and Stella Nova) or walk right in via your own entance (Helios Grand). Helio Grand is considered one of Universal's newest "Signature Resorts" but that does not mean that it will come with Universal's Express Pass that you would get when you stay at 3 of the other signature properties. Again we are hoping that changes after the grand opening of the park. But for now Helios Grand will offer the same advantages you would get staying at any of the other signature resorts minus the included express pass, but with it's own dedicated entrance making it the first Universal Resort that is connected and technically inside one of their theme parks. All of the Universal Resorts come with early entrance into Epic. That will be a huge benefit for Universal Resort guests when this park officially opens. And one other key point should be made. At the time of this writing, Epic Universe's Express Pass will have to be purchased separately. Staying at Portofino Bay, Hard Rock or Royal Pacific will NOT give you access to the Express Pass lanes inside of Epic.

OTHER TIPS

We suggest going hungry. We are hearing amazing things about the food within Epic Universe. While they will still offer some standard theme park choices such as chicken fingers, hotdogs, hamburgers etc, each land will have it's own themed choices to try and these choices are nothing like we have seen before in a theme park. We don't want to spoil some of unique choices, just trust us when we say to make sure you get real hungry during your visit.

We also suggest making Epic more than a one day visit. This new park is very large and has some amazing attractions in each land that will make it impossible to try them all in one visit. Plus Epic is an actual PARK! They have done a wonderful job bringing lush landscape and tons of water features back into theme parks. It's a park you will want to take some time enjoying all there is to see around you. So don't rush and run the whole time. Plan acordingly to make the visit even that much more "epic."