Universal Epic Universe is set to open May 22, 2025 as Universal Orlando Resort’s third theme park, fourth if you count the Volcano Bay water park. In our Epic Universe review, we’ll recap our experience during some early previews, along with some thoughts on the rides, food, shows, and more from Universal’s newest theme park. Epic Universe brings together popular Intellectual Property, some new, some old, and some from somewhere in between. Let me be clear from the beginning – Epic Universe is a major accomplishment for Universal Orlando and something that will change the center of gravity in the Central Florida theme park market for years to come.

That said, Epic Universe is not going to allow Universal Orlando to dethrone Walt Disney World. Instead, the arrival of Epic Universe is something far more nuanced. In this early review of the park, we’ll try to explore the nuances, give you an idea of what to expect, provide some (clearly marked) spoilers, be critical of the park, compare it to Walt Disney World, explain why that comparison won’t matter to many, and much, much more. I’ve got my coffee poured, and I hope that you do, too. Let’s explore Epic Universe!

Before we jump in, I wanted to start with a small section of what to expect from this review and our coverage of Epic Universe moving forward.

First and foremost, I want to make it clear that this is a review of my initial impressions of Epic Universe. This is not some end-all, be-all review where I drop some hot takes or (hopefully) make too many statements that are written in concrete. I’ve been fortunate enough to visit Epic Universe a couple of times during early previews, but a couple of visits to a brand-new theme park is not nearly enough time to soak everything in.

Things will change over time. Universal will make changes to the park. I will experience the park with different friends and family, seeing the park through their eyes. I will visit alone. I will visit where I don’t plan on riding anything. I will visit where I spend entirely too much time standing in line. I will visit as a hotel guest. I will visit as an Annual Passholder (Universal, sell the AP). I will visit with day tickets. I will visit with a camera, which will, perhaps, be the biggest change from my visits so far when photos and video are strictly prohibited. In short, my expectations and experiences will change so much throughout those different scenarios that I will almost certainly have a different opinion on some things in a few months from now, let alone a year from now. Other opinions will likely stand the test of time. The point of this article is to get my initial impressions on paper, so to speak, and to give you a glimpse into Universal Orlando’s newest theme park.

In addition to a caveat on the nature of an early review, I also want to try to explain how I’ll be approaching each element in this Epic Universe review. Having spent a lot of time in theme parks over the past 10+ years of this website (and years before that), I think it’s easy to get lost in the critique of something. I’ll try my best to review items through a less critical lens as I try to look at things through the eyes of a casual theme park visitor as well as a more critical lens as I look at things through the eyes of a more frequent theme park visitor. I think that it’s also fair to draw comparisons to Walt Disney World and the standards/expectations that Disney fans might have when visiting Epic Universe.

One final caveat is that of spoilers. This review will be in-depth and contain spoilers. My guess is that you clicked this article not to read 10,000 words that try to indirectly talk about Epic Universe. Some of the more egregious spoilers will be marked, but it’s really difficult to discuss and describe a theme park that has had a strict no-photo policy without spoiling some of the experience. In fact, by the time this article is published, you’ll likely have seen some in-park photos anyway as part of an invited media preview. We won’t have in-park photos in this article because we visited during a no-photo preview, but we will be discussing details of our visit with the assistance of aerial photos from friend of the site Bioreconstruct.

With those caveats out of the way, we’ll start where most reviews start – with a high-level description of the topic at hand. If you’re a frequent reader and someone who is really plugged into the theme parks, welcome back, and feel free to use the table of contents above to skip around to whatever interests you. If you’re reading this site for the first time and maybe more unfamiliar with Universal Orlando Resort, Epic Universe, or even Walt Disney World, welcome, and thank you for stopping in.

Universal Epic Universe contains five themed lands, including a land in the middle of the theme park, detached from IPs, called Celestial Park. The other four IP lands are Super Nintendo World, Dark Universe (classic Universal monsters), Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic, and How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk (clockwise from the main entrance).

Each of the lands contains major (and minor) attractions, dining, shopping, and so much more. We’ll dive deeper into each land as we continue our review below.

If you’re a Disney person, the parking lot setup reminded me a lot of the setup at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, with the central tram lane at Studios swapped for a simple sidewalk (complete with palm trees and other foliage) at Epic Universe. Even the parking plaza is in the same orientation and relative location as the one at Hollywood Studios.

The parking logistics are the same as what you’d experience at Walt Disney World. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Universal operations teams made some research trips out to Disney to nail down how to get cars into the lots and parked efficiently. Perhaps there is even some overlap in experience for the parking lot Team Members. Either way, the end result was a flawless parking experience on the days that we visited.

Beyond the parking logistics, there is the matter of that walk to the main entrance. Remember when we all complained incessantly that Walt Disney World took forever to bring back their parking lot trams? Well, at Epic Universe there are no parking lot trams. If the walk at the beginning of the day is a long one, just wait until 12 hours and some 15,000 steps later.

Some other notable features of the parking lot include some spaces that are covered by solar panels. These solar panels were still under construction when we visited, but they will be an amazing addition when completed. In fact, I hope that Walt Disney World follows suit and creates a sea of solar panel-covered parking spots in their theme park parking lots as well. I’m just guessing here, but it’s possible that Prime Parking will be under the solar panels. There was no clear marking when we visited beyond regular parking spots and handicap parking spots closer to the entrance.

Speaking of getting closer to the entrance, a slight curve in the walkway attempts to hide the reveal of the Chronos, or, more specifically, the security checkpoint, the ticketing checkpoint, and then the Chronos and Emerald Gate.

Just like the other Universal Orlando Resort theme parks, you can expect a metal detector/x-ray machine combo when entering Epic Universe. Standard theme park rules on safety apply here, as you’d expect.

In terms of the ticketing experience, it’s similar to what you’d experience at the other Universal Orlando theme parks. Right now, you will scan your ticket and then go through a facial recognition/picture capture process for validation. The machines seem to be a little bit slow, but perhaps no slower than the existing park entry process at Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure. Once you scan your ticket, it’s time to enter Celestial Park through a portal under the Chronos (or a couple of perimeter archways if the Chronos portal is too busy).

In the Universal Orlando-supplied photo above, you can somewhat see the Celestial Park overlook that greets guests on the theme park side of the Chronos. A flowing stream moves from the goddess Luna at this end of Celestial Park to the main fountains at the other end of Celestial Park. As such, guests are forced to choose to either go left or right as they make their way into Celestial Park proper and then onto their first destination via the portals that connect Celestial Park to the IP lands.

To the left, guests will pass the main Epic Universe gift shop called Other Worlds Mercantile. Head to the left if you’re looking for the most direct route to Super Nintendo World or Dark Universe. Head to the right if you’re looking to make your first stop the Isle of Berk land or the Wizarding World of Harry Potter land. Either way, you’ll be met with a lovely walk during most of the day, but probably a chaotic run-walk during the rope drop period.

On the right side of the streams, guests will pass by smaller gift shops called North Star Wintery Wonders and Sensorium Emporium. The theming in the shared North Star/Sensorium gift shop area is fun, with a workshop vibe that works well and even contains some backstory here with shop owner Vincent Various. Speaking of backstory, here’s a brief overview of the lore of Celestial Park.

Starting with the Chronos, it is a device that harnesses the energy of the universe to power Celestial Park. As the story goes, the power captured by the Chronos allows portals to open up to other worlds (themed lands). Celestial Park acts as a world between worlds. Designed to be a lush space to connect with others and recharge before heading on another adventure, Universal says that Celestial Park puts the “park” back in “theme park”.

Within the narrative created around the lore of Epic Universe, Celestial Park is the center of an ever-evolving universe that, throughout centuries, people — artists, musicians, explorers, adventurers, inventors — have visited for inspiration and connection, and maybe left a little piece of them behind.

Beyond being a connection point to the other themed lands, Celestial Park also has attractions, shopping, dining, and even a hotel! There are two table-service restaurants within Celestial Park, both of which we did not get a chance to eat at yet. Atlantic is located in the “front” half of Celestial Park, near a pool with fountains. Inside, it is a multi-level venue with massive windows for a wonderful view of the Celestial Park area. The other table-service restaurant is The Blue Dragon Pan-Asian Restaurant. It was not open during our previews, so I can’t speak to the views, venue features, or food.

In terms of attractions, there are two rides – Stardust Racers and the Constellation Carousel.

The first thing that you’ll notice when watching Stardust Racers is that it is a dueling coaster. The dueling feature is my favorite part of the experience, with the trains coming within what feels like just feet from each other, twisting and dancing at a top speed of 62mph and a max height of 133 feet. Sort of like the mistake of simply relying on a thermometer when dealing with Central Florida weather, we can’t just rely on the coaster stats alone. The “feels like” temperature tells a more complete story when it comes to Stardust Racers, if that makes sense. We’re headed into spoiler territory, so skip this next section if you want to be surprised by the coaster.

Stardust Racers Ride Experience Spoiler (click to expand)

When leaving the station, both ride vehicles make a turn toward an under-the-station launch tunnel that contains not one, but two launch sequences, blasting guests into a vertical climb and over a top hat after being thrown into the back of their seats by the acceleration.

What follows is a thrilling, smile-inducing (or scream-inducing) experience of twisting and turning through a 5,000-foot-long track. The ride experience includes plenty of zero G airtime moments in between the twisting interactions with the other vehicle. Perhaps the most memorable moment is the “Celestial Spin” maneuver, where the two coaster vehicles perform an inverted crisscross while speeding through the air. A mid-ride acceleration then takes guests into the second half of the ride as the vehicles “battle” to see who will finish the race first.

In terms of backstory, a periodic recording in the queue says that comets have been captured by the residents of Celestial Park, and guests get the chance to race them through the cosmos. Some fun tidbits that team members communicated to us is that each train has a flux capacitor on the back, thanks to some help from Dr. Emmett Brown of Back to the Future fame. There are 9 trains in the fleet, with a maximum possible capacity of eight trains running (four on each side). The trains are referenced by names inspired by inventors or significant scientists through the ages, such as Albert Einstein.

There probably isn’t much to spoil here, given that the entire ride is visible as you’re walking around Celestial Park, so we won’t hide any details. The dome is gorgeous, and the ride area is just as beautiful…mostly.

We’re going to take our first detour of many into a stance of critique against the backdrop of noting that the average guest might not care. The interior ceiling of the Constellation Carousel is comprised of constellation-style painting, extending the story of the experience skyward. There is a wonderful, giant wind spinner-style effect in the middle of the open-air ride platform that draws your eyes upward, but unfortunately, the ceiling theming and panels stop short of covering all of the components. A sea of wiring is visible where there should be stars. Hopefully, what we experienced was an incomplete product, and the ceiling panels will completely cover all of the electrical components that were visible, but this is far from the only time that we experienced theming elements going 70-80% of the way, but not completely up to par. More on that in a bit.

That said, Celestial Park does have some shortcomings – most notably, a lack of shade as the trees grow in. Celestial Park will look amazing in a decade as the trees fill out some of the negative space found within the skyline, along with providing some much-needed shade.

We also can’t conclude our review of Celestial Park without noting the recent entertainment cuts from the land. When we visited, there was no entertainment, despite a custom-built stage known as the Hemisphere Stage. The lack of entertainment may not be a big deal to guests simply looking to go from ride to ride, but nearly all of the lore of the land is lost, along with the crowd magnet that is live entertainment.

The most likely explanation for the entertainment cuts is that the acts simply weren’t working out from a guest satisfaction standpoint. It’s possible that whatever was created simply didn’t land with guests. That said, an obvious void exists now for guests looking for something more than racing from portal to portal and ride to ride. My hope is that Universal finds a way to breathe some life into Celestial Park in the form of live entertainment, giving guests a chance to slow down and immerse themselves into an original concept.

Ok, we’re some 3,300 words into this review, which means it’s time for another coffee. I’ll be back in a second to jump through a painting and discuss Super Nintendo World.

Super Nintendo World (SNW) should be mostly familiar to theme park fans, as it (mostly) exists already in Universal Studios Hollywood. That said, there are some major differences between the two versions of the land, with the Orlando version being significantly larger. Other major differences include the Epic Universe version having two walkable levels, along with the addition of a domestic-exclusive section called Donkey Kong Country. The Epic Universe version also has a domestic-exclusive attraction called Yoshi’s Adventure.

Within Super Nintendo World, there are a few places to eat, with the large Toadstool Cafe being the main quick-service restaurant. During our preview, we stopped to eat at Toadstool Cafe. If you’ve seen the Hollywood version of Toadstool, you’ve seen the Orlando version, from what we can tell. There is a single, colorful dining room, with some video screen “windows” that show some animated scenes. During our dining experience, Bowser attacked the restaurant, with a change in music effects, and some visuals on the windows, but hardly an “Andy’s coming” moment within the restaurant in terms of interactivity. That was nice as it allowed me to continue working through a 1lb spicy(ish) meatball for my meal. I’m sure I’ll be back at some point to take some proper photos, but a 1lb meatball looks exactly like you’d expect a 1lb meatball to look.

As you might be able to see from the photo above, the entrance to Mario Kart is through Bowser’s Fortress. A walk up some stairs (stairs, stairs, and more stairs was the theme of Epic Universe) leads you to some uniquely themed rooms, including a peek into Bowser’s study. The queue is wonderfully themed, with a nearly endless supply of Easter Eggs and nods to fans of the original video games (and the video games that have come out in the decades since).

Continuing through the queue, we get to see some fun “behind the scenes” look at a day in the life of the Bowser bomb making area, and more. The entire theme of the Super Nintendo World land is colorful sensory overload, and the Mario Kart queue certainly nails the colorful part, with the sensory overload coming in the form of just how many details there are to look at. Unlike the next land we’ll visit, just about every corner of Super Nintendo World is wonderfully themed, and the queue is no exception.

In order to utilize the on-ride Augmented Reality, we had to pick up our Mario “hats”, which would eventually allow us to attach the AR glasses to our head. Before we pick up our hats, we are sent through two pre-show areas, with the second pre-show being the one that explains the game mechanics. In short, turn your head to where you want to shoot your shell, and then press a button on the steering wheel to send the shell.

A not-so-quick walk down three not-so-short flights of stairs finally leads us to the load area. One thing that I thought was a bit odd was just how much time we spend holding or wearing the “hats” before we load – something like 10-15 minutes, depending on how well the line is moving. Anyway, once it’s time to load, be sure that you’re wearing the “hat” and then pick up the AR glasses to snap them to the “front” of your hat. From there, it’s basically four minutes of chaos.

Instead of describing the ride experience in detail, given that the other versions of the ride are available to watch on YouTube, let’s get straight to the review. I loved the ride. The AR blends wonderfully into richly detailed physical sets. In case you don’t know, AR augments the reality that you can see past the lens, whereas VR creates an entirely digital reality. Using AR against well designed physical sets makes this ride experience stand alone. For us, the AR worked wonderfully, with the only complaint being the weight of the AR setup on your head. It will probably be fine for adults, but children could find the weight of the setup a bit heavy.

In terms of gameplay, shooting the shells was generally accurate to the direction my head was pointed. Coming from something like Toy Story Mania where you have unlimited “ammo”, I found myself running out of shells quickly and then having to wait until we drove over an Item Box before I was replenished. Sometimes, that took too long to enjoy the experience, but I’ll be sure to be a bit more discerning when shooting shells the next time I get a chance to ride.

Starting with the queue, we find a very colorful, indoor queue that is reminiscent of the Cat in the Hat attraction at Islands of Adventure. With the attraction entrance on the ground floor of Super Nintendo World and the entire Yoshi’s Adventure on the second floor of the land, it’s time to climb a winding flight of stairs to get to the constantly loading attraction.

In terms of the “gameplay” of Yoshi’s Adventure, we are tasked with finding three eggs of different colors as we slowly move through the ride. Once we see a specific color egg, we hit the corresponding button on a panel on the ride vehicle to mark that we found the right egg. Three eggs later, the ride is over. There is a simple indoor scene with animated figures, and some effects similar to it’s a small world, but nothing to write home about.

To me, Yoshi’s Adventure would be in last place in terms of overall ride rankings, but I will probably end up having some stronger words for an attraction in Dark Universe in just a little bit, so there’s a teaser to continue to push past the 4,500 words we’re already at in this review.

Dark Universe (Universal Classic Monsters)

Dark Universe is the theme park land (world) that is home to Universal Classic Monsters. It’s here that guests will find Frankenstein Manor, and the highly-praised Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment attraction. Also in Dark Universe is the Curse of the Werewolf roller coaster. Other offerings include a paid monster makeup experience, and a few dining locations, and a shop. On paper, Dark Universe appears to be just as fully realized as any of the lands within Epic Universe, but we’ll have to head into the Darkmoor village to find out if that’s true or not.

Before we get to the two rides in the land, we did grab a bite to eat and drink at the Burning Blade Tavern. I was expecting a bit more in terms of complete theming for the venue, but it’s hard to argue against a windmill that catches on fire every so often. It’s a cool theming element that we hope continues as long as Dark Universe is open. I’ll also say that some of the emptiness of Dark Universe is probably due to the lack of mature trees, but there is also a lack of things to do. There are two buildings in Darkmoor village – one is a quick-service dining venue called Das Stakehaus (we didn’t eat there), and the other side of the village walkway is a monster makeup experience and shop.

Some monsters are expected to roam throughout the day, but we only saw a single monster and a musician during our 3+ hours spent in the land. Overall, the land feels a little bit underbuilt, but there are two attractions, and one of them is getting a lot of early hype.

Monsters Unchained for the Casual Theme Park Fan
We’ll start with some areas of overlap for the casual fan and frequent visitor. One area where I think everyone will agree is the facade design. Frankenstein Manor looks great! A foreboding manor sits where the village meets the forest, and Frankenstein Manor is certainly alive as communicated by the electricity surging into the building.

The indoor portion of the queue is a walk through the manor and various rooms. As you get deeper into the manor, you’ll start to see some of the work that Victoria Frankenstein is up to. There are two pre-show experiences, one more instructional in nature, and the other is story-driven with a show-stopper of a scene.

I feel like the ride system itself isn’t really a spoiler, given that its in the concept art. If you’ve been on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey at Islands of Adventure, you’re familiar with the Kuka arm ride system. That said, Monsters Unchained fixes a lot of the problems with the Forbidden Journey implementation of the Kuka arm system. Notably, and without getting spoilery, the motion is easier for guests who struggle with Forbidden Journey.

If you’re a casual theme park fan who has, perhaps, not even experienced Forbidden Journey, you’re going to be blown away by Monsters Unchained. The ride system will be novel to you, as will the ride capabilities. Go in blind, stop reading this section of the review, and soak it all in when you get a chance to ride. The next portion of this review will be for the more critical theme park fan, and it will contain spoilers for the queue, pre-show, and attraction.

Monsters Unchained: A Critical Review
Ok, this is going to earn me some backlash, but here we go. Monsters Unchained is overhyped. We’ve seen some reactions on social media that certainly get clicks, likes, and interactions, but they start to put Monsters Unchained on a pedestal that it didn’t live up to for me. To be clear, it is wonderful to see positivity spread on social media, but it becomes a little bit dangerous when it sets the bar too high for an attraction or experience, and I think that’s what happened to me when it came to Monsters Unchained.

Now, that’s not to say that it’s a bad attraction; it’s a 7 or 8/10 for me, but it has too much room for improvement to be considered the best ride in Orlando, which is what I’ve seen it portrayed as. We’ll start with the queue. Again, there will be spoilers throughout this section of the Monsters Unchained review, so skip to the next section if you’re looking to go into the experience without any knowledge of what to expect.

After entering the building, you’ll take a left before you reach the main staircase and head down a sparsely themed hallway. The paint job here is rough, not reaching the level of some Halloween Horror Nights haunted houses. In fact, the entire manor felt too clean to be believable – almost as if you’re visiting a movie set instead of being immersed in a lived-in manor that should be complete with cobwebs (I don’t remember seeing a single one through most of the queue) and significant staining.

A nice bit of blacklight work in the otherwise blank hallway sets an early dark mood that the queue just struggles to maintain until closer to the pre-show experience. After a walk down two lightly themed hallways, you’ll mostly likely head outdoors for the extended queue. If you’ve been following the Epic Universe construction, you’ll know that the outdoor queue has been scaled back significantly from what was presented in the scale model at the Epic Universe preview center. What used to be a graveyard with theming elements everywhere has turned into an overgrown garden area. Hopefully, you don’t need to spend too much time here, but if the extended queue becomes a big part of the wait time experience, it will be a bummer that it was scaled back so much.

Heading back inside the manor, following some switchback time in the covered portion of the outdoor extended queue, we are back in a lightly themed hallway before entering the first room, which appeared to be a reading room of sorts. The lack of grunginess was apparent throughout the first half of the queue experience, with some more detailed theming found closer to the pre-shows.

This first reading room area has the only jumpscare of the entire experience, and I believe that it is guest-activated. Expect that to become a thing once word gets out. From the reading room, we make it to the grand staircase, which is a cool part of the queue. It’s a tall room with some paintings (decals?) on either side of the staircase. Again, the finishing touches were not there to convince me that I was in a manor that was hundreds of years old. The whole thing should’ve felt like the Tower of Terror queue, and it simply didn’t.

Once upstairs (yes, more stairs during your day at Epic Universe), we start to see some of the details of what Victoria Frankenstein is working on. There are a few cool moments within the queue, including a physical representation of the original Frankenstein’s Monster (along with notes on how to improve the creature). There is also a cool effect involving a bat and a glasses-less 3D screen that had me second-guessing if what I was looking at was physical or digital (until we walked closer).

There is a found-footage-style video in the queue that sets the scene for how unnerving and scary the experience ahead will be. This video room is where I started to feel a bit unsettled as we headed deeper into the manor. Up until that point, the manor still had the clean movie-set feel, but now it was starting to convincingly immerse you.

Before you know it, you reach the first pre-show room. A giant TV sits above a miniature representation of the ride vehicle for the attraction. During the pre-show with Ygor, Victoria’s assistant, the ride vehicle swings around as Ygor demonstrates the limits of its capability. Earlier in this review, I mentioned that Monsters Unchained fixed some of the sins of Forbidden Journey. While not necessarily the most egregious sin, seeing other ride vehicles move through the building on Forbidden Journey was immersion-breaking to an extent. In Monsters Unchained, you are shown the ride vehicle from the very first pre-show, and it is part of the show of the ride itself. In many points of the Monsters Unchained ride, it is easy to see the other Kuka arm ride vehicles around you, but that’s forgiven now that they are part of the story.

The Kuka ride vehicle is simply another invention from the manor that will assist guests as they move through the catacombs, corridors, and more during the ride itself. In fact, Ygor is controlling the ride vehicle, and an early scene in the ride establishes that fact.

Making our way to the second pre-show room, we find the best pre-show in all of Central Florida, and probably better than any theme park that I’ve been to. The second pre-show contains two animatronics, one of Victoria Frankenstein and one of a full-scale version of Victoria’s new and improved monster. We were a little bit disappointed to see that Victoria has a projection-mapped face, but it is decently convincing as long as you’re not extremely close to it.

The showstopper is the 9-foot-tall, 800lb Frankenstein’s Monster, which is perhaps the most impressive Audio-Animatronic I’ve seen. Previewed in the Universal Orlando video below, Frankenstein’s Monster towers over guests after already being on a raised show platform along with Victoria. With Victoria at the control panel, a demonstration of her technology goes awry as Dracula, the main villain in a ride full of monsters, fights back.

I couldn’t take my eyes off of Frankenstein’s Monster throughout the entire pre-show, almost to the point where I’m sure I missed some story elements or something cool to look at. Frankenstein’s Monster is absolutely stunning, as is the use of him in the space. Huge kudos to those involved with this second pre-show.

Ok, with some of the queue and pre-shows out of the way, the only thing left to do is ride the ride. In terms of spoilers, I won’t shy away from what I remember, but I was only able to ride Monsters Unchained once, and it is a chaotic attack on the senses.

The load area is a giant, constantly turning gear that asks guests to step onto a spinning platform similar to Spaceship Earth, but that’s where the comparisons stop. The room is massive, and it sets an ominous tone. This is where we get our first look at the ride vehicle itself. Like Forbidden Journey, the seating is 4 per vehicle, side-by-side across. Another “sin” that Monsters Unchained fixed is removing the box that the ride vehicle sits in. The views are far more open as guests can poke their heads past the over-the-shoulder restraint and see much more of any given scene thanks to a more unencumbered view.

While we’re on the topic of the ride vehicle, we’ll discuss the ride motion a bit. Let me be clear: This is still a Kuka arm ride, which means that you’ll experience a wide range of motion during the ride. I felt like we spent way too much time on our backs, horizontally looking up at a scene or character directly above us. You’ll go horizontal, but I never felt like we dipped to the point of being upside down, although we got close.

The early scenes set up the ride a bit, with Victoria Frankenstein and Ygor making appearances in animatronic form. What has really saved this attraction from being purely a Forbidden Journey clone is the audio-animatronics. There are more physical sets too, which means that screens take a supporting role within the ride, but it’s the sheer number of audio-animatronics that create an impressive ride experience. According to Universal, there are 14 animatronics in the ride, and they’re just about everywhere you turn.

While I don’t remember every scene from the ride (chaos, remember?), there were some standout moments, good and bad. We’ll start with the good. There is an early scene with the Phantom of the Opera that includes actual fire spitting out of his organ. You’re close enough to feel the flames, which adds to an early sense of danger. Other standouts include the animatronics themselves – they move wonderfully (when they move. It’s still a preview, after all). They are fluid and quick, living up to the way they were presented in the teaser video above.

Another standout element of the ride was the quality of the screens. They mostly play a supporting role within the ride, sometimes to add depth to a physical scene and sometimes behind animatronics. Now for some of the bad.

When we experienced the attraction, there were some serious lighting problems. Having only experienced it once, I don’t want to use the word “problem” here as in a way to describe something that is malfunctioning, but rather as an issue that needs to be addressed. Simply put, there is way too much light in many of the show scenes, and I’m not sure that it can be substantially addressed in the next few months. Light bleed from either nearby screens or theming elements brings not only the audio-animatronics into view but also the supporting infrastructure and even theater curtains.

Scenes that stood out for the wrong reasons included a giant arm visible going into the back of Dracula during an early scene where he is “floating”, a scene with Wolf Man where we can not only see the black theater curtain behind him, but the warehouse behind that as well, and the only appearance of The Creature from the Black Lagoon features a clear shot of the concrete floor he’s standing on. Again, the audio-animatronics themselves are stunning and a work of art, but the set dressing is rough in places and inexcusably bad in other places.

The big caveat here is that I rode once, and during an early preview. There is time for Universal to install a bunch of fog machines to try and hide the infrastructure better. In fact, the complete lack of fog in the entire ride experience makes me think that it was missing during my ride. That said, if the show scenes look the same on May 22nd as they did when we experienced the attraction during a recent preview, it’ll be unacceptable from a Universal Creative department that is obviously working really hard to close the gap with the legendary Walt Disney Imagineering team.

One final note here before we move on to the Curse of the Werewolf attraction. One of the negative marks that I gave Monsters Unchained was that it didn’t feel like the ride experience was created a decade after Forbidden Journey. Yes, there is an impressive number of audio-animatronics on the ride, and that creates a far different show experience, but the ride experience isn’t a generational upgrade. The more I think about it, the more it demonstrates just how ahead of its time Forbidden Journey was, but it also worked to the detriment of my ride experience as someone who has experienced Forbidden Journey a lot. I expect that I’ll have the same opinion when I ride Stark Flight Lab at Avengers Campus in Disney California Adventure. The Kuka arm is dynamic, but when it is utilized the same way over and over, it doesn’t wow like the first time you experience something innovative.

Curse of the Werewolf is a spinning roller coaster located in the back corner of Dark Universe. To find the attraction entrance, head past the Frankenstein Manor and into the (still growing) woods to find a guild of mystics and their wagons. You’ll certainly see the roller coaster and the extensive safety netting far before you see the detailed wagons, but you’ll find them eventually.

As the story goes, Maleva, leader of The Guild of Mystics, welcomes you to a secluded wagon camp. Here, you’re warned of the creatures who prowl the deep woods. Before long, you’re riding Curse of the Werewolf, attempting to escape a pack of werewolves.

The queue and entire ride experience are outdoors, away from the cold air conditioning of Frankenstein Manor, but mostly covered from the unrelenting sun. There really isn’t much to spoil for the queue, as you’re just progressing through a series of switchbacks under large tents. There are small scenes of tables or trunks here and there, but nothing groundbreaking.

In terms of the ride experience, we’ll talk in generalities, saving some of the show scene discussion for the spoiler section below. The roller coaster itself is fun! It travels up to 37mph and has a free-spinning element to each ride vehicle, making your experience unique from ride to ride. I would say that the coaster is thrilling but accessible to younger riders who meet the 40″ height requirement. Universal says that the ride clocks in at over 2 minutes long, but I would say that it can feel short. Ok, time for some spoilers as we critique the ride.

Curse of the Werewolf Spoilers and Critique (click to expand)

There are two show scenes on the attraction, both underwhelming. The first show scene is in the middle of the ride as your ride vehicle passes through a run-down building. There are two static werewolf figures, which ensure that you can see them no matter which direction your free-spinning vehicle is pointed. This section of the coaster contains a multi-pass “swing launch”, sending us through the house twice. A ride at night might be better than the daytime experience, but as it stands now, the show scene is kind of over in the blink of an eye.

By far, the most egregious show scene that I saw all day at Epic Universe was the finale scene of Curse of the Werewolf. Pictured in the concept art above, the scene contains a static Maleva mannequin, for lack of a better term, but that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was just out of sight in the concept art above. Behind Maleva is a simple black chain-link fence. Beyond the fence is ride infrastructure in plain sight. It’s something that you’d expect to see at a local fair or small amusement park, not a world-class theme park.

It seems like something that could be easily fixed by adding some wood plank fence behind her. In fact, I would be shocked if Universal didn’t end up adding it, and I was shocked they hadn’t already added it. What makes me somewhat skeptical is that it would be something that they’d have to add that isn’t in the concept art, which could indicate that there was no initial plan to add them to this particular area.

Overall, Curse of the Werewolf is a fun roller coaster but falls short of a fully realized themed experience.

Ok, we’re north of 8,000 words now, which means it’s time to head to the next themed world: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic.

For now, we’ll discuss the theming and review the show. In terms of theming, it’s difficult to explain without the use of photos, but the whole area is massive. Full-scale buildings flank a central street that branches off to the right and left when it reaches the central Le Cirque Arcanus tent.

One thing that feels different about the Ministry of Magic land versus existing Harry Potter-themed lands is that you aren’t necessarily visiting a well-known locale. You’re visiting Paris as represented during a very specific time in the Fantastic Beasts movie. Or rather, you’re visiting Wizarding Paris after the Fantastic Beasts movie, but with visuals that may be familiar as represented in the Fantastic Beasts movie.

You aren’t walking through the streets of Diagon Alley, which was probably first constructed in your imagination before reaching the silver screen. In that scenario, Harry Potter fans have a deep connection to the location that I think simply doesn’t exist at the Epic Universe Wizarding World. That said, there are enough touches to make it obvious that something magical is afoot.

If you’re confused about the timeline, join the club. Universal decided to go with a theme for the land that is anchored in 1920s Paris, but then have the attraction take place in 1990s Great Britain. The Métro-Floo not only travels through space, but also time. From what we could tell, there was no real explanation or pre-show that prepared guests for the time and location jump, but we walked through the first part of the queue quickly, so it’s possible that we missed something.

To this Harry Potter fan, it doesn’t really matter once you walk through the Métro-Floo portal and are taken right into the British Ministry of Magic atrium. It’s a stunning reveal that rivals and even surpasses the Star Destroyer reveal for the Rise of the Resistance attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Walking into a grand atrium where Dumbledore and Voldemort faced off is unparalleled and lived up to the hype for me. Universal wisely created two sides to the atrium, one for the ride queue and one for the ride exit. On your way out, feel free to roam a bit and take in the ambiance of one of the most iconic sets from the Harry Potter films.

You’ll walk through various rooms from the Ministry of Magic, eventually making your way through the very pink office of Dolores Umbridge. It’s in Umbridge’s office that we meet Higgledy, Umbridge’s former house-elf. The Higgledy audio-animatronic is impressive, and guests get a wonderful, close view of her as they make their way through the queue.

For our preview, we were directed to exit the queue shortly after Umbridge’s office, and didn’t get a chance to see the ride load area or any details. Reportedly, Universal Orlando is still working through ride cycling for the attraction after some changes.

Ok, with Le Cirque Arcanus out of the way, we’re heading out from the Wizarding World and heading out our final portal of the review. At more than 9,300 words so far, we’ve had a long day, but the Isle of Berk awaits!

The main attraction in Isle of Berk is Hiccup’s Wing Gliders. Other attractions that we did not experience were the you-will-get-wet Fyre Drill, and the spinning Dragon Racer’s Rally. We’ll be back to experience those at another time.

Moving on to Hiccup’s Wing Gliders, we find ourselves testing out a contraption that simulates flight on the back of a dragon. The majority of the queue is an outdoor (covered) switchback, with some light theming throughout. We enter through a building with some well-crafted props before the slog of the outdoor switchback. Along the way, large stones describe various dragons and their traits. It’s something to look at, but really all you’ll be doing is trying to trace the line to see how much longer you’ll have to wait.

A locker area is available for anything from fanny pack size and larger. You can keep your phone, wallet, keys, and sunglasses on your person, although riders will be asked to hold onto their hats. It wouldn’t be an Epic Universe attraction without a flight of stairs. Riders who are able to are sent up a flight of stairs to a dual-load station. When we visited, only one side of the load area was in operation, and the ride was rather unreliable. The load station is wonderfully themed with different iterations of flying contraptions designed by Hiccup.

In terms of the ride experience itself, imagine something more thrilling than Slinky Dog Dash without the label of a high-thrill roller coaster. You’ll twist and turn as you zip through Berk, but there are no inversions and two smooth launches. Time to talk spoilers.

Hiccup’s Wing Gliders Ride Spoilers (click to expand)

There are two show scenes in Hiccup’s Wing Gliders. The first includes an animatronic Hiccup and an animatronic Toothless. They’re both wonderful figures, although if you’re sitting in the front you’ll zip right by Hiccup and not get enough time to enjoy his only animatronic appearance in the land. The first launch with the Hiccup and Toothless show scene is the catapult to get you flying. A stomp from Toothless drops a counter weight a flings you into the air on your flight around Berk. In terms of actual ride experience, expect a smooth LSM launch and a zippy ride around Berk.

The second show scene comes about midway through the attraction when you stumble upon a nest of Gronckle eggs. As you try to escape the exploding eggs, your flying contraption doesn’t quite make it up the hill, causing a planned rollback into the show scene where the Gronckles have hatched. A second attempt at the LSM launch sends you into the back half of Berk in a grassy area that isn’t really themed. However, before you reach that greasy area, you zip past a wonderful show scene under the structure of the Dragon Racer’s Rally and some dragon homes.

Overall, Hiccup’s Wing Gliders is a cute roller coaster that will be thrilling for young ones, and a fun ride through Berk for older vikings.

The show is wonderful, containing excellent puppetry, live singing, and effects. The first time that Toothless flies over the audience with Hiccup on its back is magical. The show itself has an easy-to-follow storyline that tells the story of a dragon that appears to be untrainable at first, but Hiccup finds understanding, and all is well in the end.

Toothless is more than 1,100 pounds and has a wingspan of nearly 27 feet, making it an impressive part of the show. There are two viewing sections in the theater-style show, and we found that our view from near the top of the lower section was awesome. Close enough to the stage to enjoy the more intimate moments of the show, while still being far enough back to watch in awe as Toothless flew what felt like just feet above our heads.

Overall, Epic Universe is a wonderful theme park that you’ll have a lot of fun visiting. There is room for it to grow, both literally with multiple expansion areas and figuratively as it relates to show quality. One feeling that I couldn’t shake was how Epic Universe felt like it was 80% of the way there but not 100% yet. I’m not sure if that’s just because it was a Team Member preview or if Universal decided to open the park instead of finishing the park. I’m not talking about concrete that is still drying or even ride reliability, I’m talking about finishing touches and show quality.

For the Disney fan that is planning to visit, there are obvious things that simply don’t meet the Walt Disney World standards, but then again, there are things at Walt Disney World over the past few years that don’t meet the Disney standards.

Universal also deserves kudos on the big things…like building a brand new theme park. Universal pulled a theme park out of the dirt, and they’ve demonstrated that they are extremely bullish with their theme park division. This is the first major theme park addition in decades for Central Florida, and the fact that it happened at all should be applauded by Universal fans and Disney fans alike.

Universal Creative has certainly demonstrated one thing with Epic Universe, and that’s that they can build non-Harry Potter lands on the scale of Harry Potter. Recent additions like Minions and Dreamworks Land have failed to impress, but Epic Universe does not.

The average theme park fan will have a blast at Epic Universe. A more critical eye can find flaws and room for improvement, but the vast majority of guests are going to have a great time. We can recommend a visit to Epic Universe, and we look forward to watching it evolve not only in the pre-opening phase but in the months and years after it opens.

As we wrap up this (lengthy) article, we hope to return to Epic Universe soon to capture the park in photos and video for more in-depth reviews of attractions, experiences, food, and more!

As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com for not only the latest Disney Parks news, but also news, photos, and info from great offerings Outside the Bubble!