The grand opening of Universal Orlando Resort’s newest theme park, Universal Epic Universe, is on the horizon, and IGN got the exciting chance to experience the entire park in the lead-up. I spent a whole nine hours exploring Epic Universe’s five worlds and rode just about every ride–here are my first impressions of the park and some of the coolest things I experienced.
Before I dive into the coolest things, here’s some background information on Epic Universe. The park consists of five uniquely themed worlds: Celestial Park, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic, How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk, Dark Universe (a gothic world of Universal Monsters featuring Darkmoor Village and the Frankenstein Manor), and Super Nintendo World, which also includes Donkey Kong Country.
It’s a clever premise. From the loosely space-themed Celestial Park, the “heart” of the park, you’ll find four portals to the other worlds (and the on-site Helios Grand Hotel). Though lacking the hyper-immersive theming of the other worlds, the original Celestial Park has dazzling bright fountains, statues, and well-manicured gardens, making it nice enough to stroll through between portals, and it’s smartly laid out to make it easy to get to wherever you’re trying to go.
I loved the portal idea and it’s executed superbly. Walking through each of the portals for it to open up into a completely immersive new world was incredible, each world unique and spectacular on its own.
It’s a dense park with tons to see and interact with, not even counting the rides. Though I spent nine hours there and skipped every line while on the media tour, I feel like I barely scratched the surface of everything that Epic Universe has to offer. This is with only a one-hour lunch break and around 45 minutes of “free” time. I didn’t even get to play with the interactive spots that utilize the Harry Potter wands in the Ministry of Magic or the power bands in Super Nintendo World (both, admittedly, at an extra cost.) I also didn’t get to meet Toothless, which I was pretty sad about. That’ll be a next-trip goal.
Now that you’re primed on what Epic Universe is, here are my favorite things I noticed or experienced that sparked a unique sort of joy, in a completely arbituary order.
1. The Intense Stardust Racers Coaster
Sure, a little cliche to include the park's “signature” coaster, but it really was so memorable. I grew up in Florida, so I’ve been on a lot of coasters at all the parks in the sunshine state (bar the more recently launched Jurassic World VelociCoaster, unfortunately), and I can say this is easily the most intense roller coaster I’ve ever ridden–and my media group member’s agreed it was more intense than the VelociCoaster, too. I don’t want to “spoil” the experience for anyone, so I’ll just tell you this: it starts with the intensity of a shooting star and maintains it with barely a single moment of reprieve but with a variety of movements that kept me surprised. Add on the dueling coaster aspect, where the other coaster train is right there, and you have a star of a ride, even if the lead-up to it in the line is a tad under-themed compared to the elaborate set-ups many of the other rides at the park have.
2. All the Dragons
Okay, I love dragons, so the Isle of Berk was absolutely my jam. There are moving dragons, big and small (and sheep!), all around the How to Train Your Dragon-themed world, and I love them all too much to pick just one. If you’re lucky, you’ll see an impressive little robot of Dart, one of Toothless’ and Light Fury’s children, being escorted around the park, too. There’s also a special meet and greet with Toothless and Hiccup you can wait in line for, and occasionally you’ll see Astrid and her dragon Stormfly (who is a person in a suit, not a robot, but still cool!)
3. This Donkey Kong Themed Float (and Mug)
My tour ended just thirty minutes before the park closed, and with my free time, I backtracked to Donkey Kong Country to cop one of the fancy floats I saw at The Bubbly Barrel, a snack stand next to the Minecart Madness ride entrance. The line was long, but it moved fairly quickly and was worth the wait. The DK Crush Float includes pineapple soda with banana and pineapple Dole Whip, topped with toffee and chocolate caramel corn, surrounded by a fresh waffle cone. (Quick note, I’ve never seen Banana Dole Whip?) I opted to get it served in this souvenir DK Barrel Cup, which should probably be used to hold plastic cups like in this instance rather than be used straight up. The tasty concoction hit the spot and left me $19 poorer, but the souvenir mug is cool enough to justify it for me. I enjoyed my treat sitting beside the Mine-Cart Madness ride with the DK theme playing in the background as the sun began to set–not a bad way to end a long day!
4. One of The Longest Most Intricate Queues for a Ride I’ve Ever Seen
The Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry of Magic ride has a line that took about 1,300 steps to get through–which is about a half-mile–but the entire thing is decked out to the nines to look exactly like the to-scale inside of the British Ministry of Magic. I have a whole separate article about how the Battle at the Ministry of Magic's line is half a mile long, going over the “magic” of this place, but be prepared to be impressed and, hopefully, entertained enough as you wait for this attraction.
5. These Custom Coca-Cola Freestyle Machines
Okay, I’m sure not everyone will be absolutely stunned by the styling of the interior of a restaurant, but I’m a nerd who appreciates William Morris and loved the American craftsman (or “arts and crafts”) vibe of the Oak & Star Tavern in Celestial Park. It even had custom Cocoa-Cola Freestyles to match the crafty, woodland-inspired theming. The whole restaurant had me wanting to live there, which is insane, but you like what you like, right? I wish I had been able to visit any of the other restaurants because, by the look of this one, I assume they must be well put together at the least. May I also add, that the BBQ at the Oak & Star was incredible–I highly recommend the brisket and the mac and cheese.
6. This Little Guy Messing with a Lock
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic world is mostly set in the 1920s “wizarding Paris” from the Fantastic Beasts films, and it does a great job at tricking you into thinking you really are in a city where there are plenty of cafes to try and window shopping to indulge in. One of these windows included piles of ornate locks, and inside was a moving Bowtruckle. This cute little guy made adorable sounds as it worked at picking a lock, something Bowtruckles are adept at. It’s discovering tiny, missable details like this that greatly enhance immersiveness and little moments of joy.
7. Pikmin!
It’s called Super Nintendo World, but this world is clearly Super Mario World that leads to Donkey Kong Country. Stepping through the initial green warp-pipe portal leads you to the parlor of Princess Peach’s Castle, and just outside, the bright colors and many moving parts of the Mushroom Kingdom greet you, complete with Question Blocks, Piranha Plants, Goomba, and even Bowser’s Castle. Turn a corner down the stairs, and you’ll see the clear entrance to Donkey Kong Country–but to the left are a few red Pikmin on the wall! What are you doing here, little guys? What a delightful little discovery.
8. Captain Toad Repeatedly Saying, “Thanks to you, We Found the Golden Egg” in His Silly Toad Voice
The Yoshi’s Adventure ride in Super Nintendo World is definitely a slow-moving “kiddie ride,” but it’s highly produced, plays nostalgic music from familiar games throughout, and tasks you with finding three colored eggs during the ride by pressing their corresponding buttons when you see them. At the end, if you found them all, Captain Toad enthusiastically thanks you for the help. Well, since this is the end of the ride, we were a little backed up, and hearing him say this repeatedly in the silly Toad voice had me and my ride partner (The Nerdist’s lovely Rotem Rusak), cracking up.
9. Fragrant Gardenias in Celestial Park
I admit this is a little silly to include on a “coolest” list, but something about the moment the lush scent of gardenias hit me while I took in the views around the statue of Luna, the Goddess of the Moon, stuck with me. I grew up with the fragrant white flowers in my small yard, so it’s a nostalgic scent for me. When I commented on them, our tour guide said Celestial Park is designed to put the “park” back in “theme park,” and this little moment that encouraged me to stop and smell the “roses” definitely backed that sentiment up.
10. An Intimidating Vampiress with a Violin
Dark Universe is a spooky, gothic town with a foreboding castle as its centerpiece and monstrous denizens that inhabit it. I only got to very briefly see two of these characters–The Invisible Man, who menacingly said something along the lines of, “I remember what we talked about,” to our tour guide before stomping away, and a violin-playing vampiress. The vampire stood on a short balcony, telling us we’re only alive because they allow us to be, before aggressively playing her violin and walking away. These characters seem like they’d be so fun to interact with, and I heard there are many, many more to find around the park.
11. The Underwater-Themed Super Mario Bathroom
Everything in Epic Universe is themed, some more heavily than others, but you can bet that even the bathrooms match wherever they’re placed. No boring, bland, beige bathrooms here (at least of what I saw!) Though not the fanciest, my favorite was probably the Super Nintendo World bathroom that not only had this cute underwater theme but played the Underwater Theme from Super Mario Bros., too.
12. Getting Spit on By the Wolf Man
Okay, look, hear me out. Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment was an incredible ride with huge production value and the coolest effects. To board the ride, you sit down on seats that are moving on a conveyor belt of sorts. As I approached, I noticed the seats were wet, so I asked the cast member why. He said with a mischievous smile, “Don’t worry about it,” then followed up with, “don’t you know this goes underwater?” Okay, cheeky, I didn’t worry about it. But I was still surprised that the reason those seats were wet was because when the Wolf Man ferociously snarls at you during the ride, his drool slings all over you. Gross. But also, cool.
Universal Epic Universe will officially open on May 22 in Orlando, Florida. What are you most looking forward to experiencing at this immersive, ambitious theme park? Let us know in the comments below.
Casey DeFreitas is a deputy editor of guides at IGN and is the team's resident Floridian. Catch her on social media @ShinyCaseyD
