On May 22nd, 2025 Universal’s newest theme park Epic Universe opened their gates in Orlando, Florida, and by no surprise was a massive hit among both the locals and tourists visiting. With the social media traction this park created online it’s easy to follow the trend and go out there to see if this park truly is that “epic”, but with park tickets reaching up to $200 dollars per person the question of “is it really worth it?” arises. Luckily, this July 4th I was able to go down and see for myself if this park truly was everything it deemed to be, and my decision was made very clear near the end of my trip.
Epic Universe in itself has 5 unique lands consisting of the following: Super Nintendo World based on the popular Nintendo franchise Mario, Dark Universe based on the classic Universal Monsters, The Isle of Berk inspired by the hit How To Train Your Dragon movie series, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic based on both The Fantastic Beasts and Harry Potter franchises, and last but not least Celestial Park, the space themed center of the entire park. Each land consists of unique offerings making it easy for both adults and children to find something that piques their interests. Throughout my 3 days at Epic Universe I found that children were most interested in Super Nintendo World, as the rides in this land proved to be unique and kid friendly. Besides Super Nintendo World, The Isle of Berk was also a popular land for children to enjoy, with rides like the smaller roller coaster Hiccups Wing Gliders and the water ride Fyre Drill all having high wait times despite the time of day. While both areas of the park were kid focused, people of all ages can enjoy the rides as well as the activities offered throughout Super Nintendo World and the Isle of Berk.
Now, If you aren’t interested in the kid-focused areas of Epic Universe, Universal certainly did not forget about you! During my trip I found that the area with the most adults and least amount of children was the Dark Universe. This area was a massive crowd pleaser to fans of the Universal classic monster movies, with a favorite being the ride Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment. In terms of the attractions, this one always had the lowest wait time due to its frightening ambiance, but this ride surprised me with how much I enjoyed it. From seeing classic monsters like Dracula to looking at the high-tech set pieces and animatronics, Dark Universe and Monsters Unchained easily made its way to my list of favorites. Moving forward, in Celestial Park, Stardust Racers also awaited adults and thrill seekers above the 48 inch height limit. This high speed roller coaster had to have been one of my favorite rides in the park, with it reaching up to 62 miles per hour and doing inversions called “Celestial Spins” numerous times throughout the 1 minute and 30 seconds you are riding it.
Finally, the most anticipated area of Epic Universe for myself was The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic, and it certainly did not disappoint. Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry was the main appeal of this land, with the ride reaching record breaking wait times of almost 300 minutes within its opening months. The ride follows Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger awaiting the court trial of Dolores Umbridge after the Harry Potter movies have taken place. Much to classic Harry Potter fashion, Dolores Umbridge causes trouble at her trial during the ride and it is up to the guests to stop her before it’s too late. This attraction was definitely the most technologically advanced in the park, and while the wait times were high it was for a very good reason.
With most of the good things being said, I did want to point out the food offerings in the park as there were many to choose from. Guests can choose to attend a high dining experience like The Blue Dragon or The Atlantic, or can settle for one of the many quick service options in the park. Besides this, many of the restaurants had vegetarian and vegan options incorporated into their normal menu, allowing food options for everyone to be available. In my experience, the food was pretty hit or miss, as I had great food at The Blue Dragon but when it came to other quick service spots like Pizza Moon in Celestial Park I was left a little unsatisfied.
Now that I focused on all of the good, I did want to mention some things that truly made me question if the $200 dollar park ticket was worth it. The wait times during my stay were very high, with some rides like Hiccup’s Wing Gliders and Donkey Kong Mine-Cart Madness reaching up to 200 minutes even before early entry was over and the park opened to regular guests. An option to skip the lines would be buying the Express Pass, but this can range from $150 to $330 dollars per person. With that being said, many of the rides in this park were also outdoors, meaning that whenever there was rain or lightning in the area almost 80% of the park went down, with only 3 ride options and 2 shows being open to the approximate of 20,000 guests in the park.
The last true “problem” I found with the park was it’s offerings in terms of Single Rider lines. Typically, these lines are designed to move faster than the normal paced line, however, after getting in the Single Rider line for Stardust Racers, I found that I waited longer to get on the ride than the normal listed wait time. I’m not quite sure if this was a mistake on Universal’s behalf or if it happens more frequently, but my party was sure to steer clear of the Single Rider lines after that. I do acknowledge that I went during a busy tourist season, meaning that there would be more people at the park, more unpredicted difficulties, and the usual stormy Floridian weather, however, Universal truly needs to add more indoor offerings and simply learn from their mistakes to make the prices of their ticket worth it.
With everything being said, I still have to answer the big question: “Is It Really Worth It?”. In my opinion, within my 3 days at Epic Universe, I think it is safe to say that you realistically cannot get everything done in just 1 day due to the unpredictable weather and wait times. Throughout my 3 day trip we had to stagger out which rides we did on which days in order to get on all of them before our trip was over, meaning that we only got to do a few rides per day due to the wait times. Even after my trip, I found we couldn’t do every single ride as it just wasn’t possible given our time frame and the amount of people in the park. While I highly enjoyed my trip and did have fun on every ride I went on, until Universal makes the park tickets and express passes cheaper, I cannot say that my experience for one day is truly “worth it”.
Now, I do not want to end on a negative note. Despite everything being said I still had a great summer vacation at Epic Universe and I do think that everyone should try to visit this park at least once, even if it’s in the future. Looking past the price, it is a fantastic family spot that can accommodate both children and adults while still being highly entertaining, making it an ideal vacation spot for anyone who would like to go. In the end, my experience was unforgettable thanks to this theme park and it’s offerings, which is why I would like to return again one day once adjustments are made.