33 Tried and True Epic Universe Tips for Your Universal Orlando Trip

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Epic Universe is Universal Orlando’s newest addition and after spending hours scouring the internet for the best strategies, recommendations, and tips, I spent the day at the park from early park admission to park close testing it all out.

Despite my studious research, I still learned SO MUCH that I just couldn’t find elsewhere. As an annual passholder to the parks (although Epic Universe is not included yet) and your travel planner BFF, I promise I know exactly what questions you’re asking right now as you plan your trip.

And since that first trip, I’ve now been back a couple times to further test things out and figure it all out.

Allow me to share my tried and true Epic Universe tips including everything you need to know before arriving, best strategies for your park experience, and ideas on what to bring!

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Before You Blast Off

1. Where is Epic Universe?

As you’re planning your trip to Universal Orlando, it’s important to know where exactly Epic Universe is in relation to the other parks.

Epic Universe is 4.5 miles from CityWalk, which is the entrance to Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios of Florida.

The hotels are dispersed between and there’s an extensive shuttle system so you can get between everything.

Just so you aren’t surprised when it takes a bit of time to get to and from everywhere!

2. Only one-day tickets are available

Let’s talk ticket options. You can buy single day tickets for Epic Universe now where you choose your date and can change it by calling the customer service line.

However, unlike Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida which you can do in a day, there’s no park-to-park ticket option that includes Epic Universe. That’s for a couple reasons.

First, the park is 4.5 miles away from the other parks so it wasn’t designed to be experienced in the same day. There’s no direct connection within the parks to get between them like how the Hogwarts Express connects Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida. You have to exit the park and get on a shuttle to go between them.

Second, the park truly takes a full day to experience or even more than one day. As a long time passholder, I’ve perfected the one day itinerary for the other parks using a park-to-park ticket. But for Epic Universe, even with practice there’s just SO MUCH there that takes the full day.

Therefore, a single day ticket is your only option. You can get that with various vacation and ticket packages, but don’t expect to find a park-to-park option that includes Epic Universe. You can also buy multiple single day tickets to visit Epic Universe multiple days.

3. Two days > one

I’ve been to a lot of theme parks and I truly believe you can do pretty much all of them in just one day. I know theme parks are expensive and many of us can’t afford to go multiple days.

However, I’ll say that for the first time, I left Epic Universe feeling like “wow, 1 day was not enough time at all.”

And I don’t just mean because of the novelty of the park. But, because the portals are so immersive and interactive, there’s so much to do in each of them that 2 days is ideal if you can spare it.

For example, in my one day at Epic Universe, we did a lot – Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge, key mini games to battle Bowser Jr., Fyre Drill, The Untrainable Dragon show, Le Cirque Arcanus show, Battle at the Ministry, Curse of the Werewolf, Monsters Unchained, and Stardust Racers.

But we still didn’t go on Mine-Cart Madness, Yoshi Adventure, Hiccup’s Wing Glider, Dragon Racer’s Rally, Constellation Carousel, meet Toothless or any other characters, or do any of the interactive wand locations.

Not saying you can’t have a wonderful one day, but if you can manage more than one, you’ll definitely be able to do more.

4. Get comfortable with the Universal app

If there’s one thing modern theme parks are implementing it’s the use of their apps. Universal parks are no different, so the app is pretty essential to planning your day.

I highly recommend getting it set up with your park tickets and a card on file ahead of time.

I’d also spend a little time connecting your Power Up bands (used to interact with the games in Super Nintendo World) if you have them by scanning the QR code on the back (the app keeps track of your progress with the games), looking at the park map, and getting comfortable finding wait times and where you’ll mobile order food.

Play around with it, and when in doubt team members in the parks can help you if you can’t get things going ahead of time.

5. Early park admission is for hotel guests only

One important logistic thing to know ahead of time is that Early Park Admission is for hotel guests only. Not even annual passholders can get in early for Epic Universe. 

You need to show your room key for any Universal hotel – it doesn’t have to be the Epic Universe hotels (Stella Nova, Terra Luna, and Helios Grand Hotel).

How it works is that they let in all guests an hour early, but in order to access the Early Park Admission rides like Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge or Yoshi Adventure, they ask to see your room key at the ride entrance.

That also means it’s important that everyone in your party gets a room key upon check-in.

6. Staying onsite? Know your shuttle timing

One of my favorite perks of staying at a hotel on property (aka with Universal) is that they have an extensive free shuttle system to get between all the locations including Epic Universe, CityWalk (with access to Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios of Florida), Volcano Bay, and all the hotels.

With the development of Epic Universe, they also created an entirely new road system to accommodate the shuttle buses with special lanes in the center of the highways for the buses only.

That said, from the Epic Universe hotels (Stella Nova, Terra Luna, and Helios Grand Hotel), it takes 20 minutes to get to and from CityWalk, but less than 5 minutes to get to and from Epic Universe.

It also takes 15-20 minutes to get from the other hotels to Epic Universe.

Keep those ride durations in mind as you plan your trip.

7. Where shuttles don’t go

And speaking of the shuttles, they go everywhere except for one route and that’s directly between hotels.

So if you’re staying in multiple hotels, you’ll have to ride to a mutual location like CityWalk or Epic Universe then transfer shuttles.

Your Epic Game Plan

8. Parking options

As you’re planning your arrival, if you happen to be driving in, Epic Universe has its own parking lot that costs $32 for self-park or $32-75 for valet depending on the length of your stay.

9. Check the app that morning

As your resident obsessive planner, I have religiously checked wait times for early park admission and throughout the day. In doing that, I noticed that the rides that are open for early park admission are not consistent day to day.

Sure, some are – like Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge, Yoshi Adventure, Stardust Racers, Monsters Unchained, and Curse of the Werewolf.

But depending on the day, early park admission may or may not grant early access to Mine-Cart Madness and Constellation Carousel.

I also noticed that some of the core rides for early park admission that are regularly available, sometimes will open later in the day if the ride was experiencing prolonged delays the day before.

All this to say, the morning of your park day, check the app to see which rides are open at which times. They’re definitely still working through kinks and tailoring opening times accordingly.

10. Don’t go portal by portal

Speaking of obsessively checking wait times, it can be tempting to tackle Epic Universe portal by portal, but if you’re looking to cross off the rides, being flexible in where you go based on wait times is actually a more fruitful strategy.

…if you can handle the walking and heat. 

11. Tackle outdoor rides early or late

In terms of which rides to do in which order, the most important thing is to be mindful of weather including rain and heat, and some knowledge about which rides have a history of breaking down causing delays.

If visiting in any season but winter, I recommend knocking out the outdoor rides first because those queues are also outside. While they do have fans and are mostly shaded, it’s still a swift kick in the pants to stand outside in the heat and humidity for prolonged periods of time.

As for rides that break down, the most common I’ve observed in my stalking of the app have been Mine-Cart Madness, Battle at the Ministry, and the Berk rides. Luckily all of those except Battle at the Ministry are also outdoors, so it’s easy to be mindful of the heat and breakdowns simultaneously.

12. Plan for rain (and lightning)

Rain delays are brutal in Epic Universe because 7 of the 11 rides close if there’s threat of lightning. Some will still operate in light rain.

Those that close are Mine-Cart Madness, Yoshi Adventure, Stardust Racers, Hiccup’s Wing Gliders, Dragon Racer’s Rally, Fyre Drill, Curse of the Werewolf.

In the rain, the only rides that stay open are Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge, Monsters Unchained, Battle and the Ministry, and Constellation Carousel.

So checking your weather app’s hourly predictions should be a bit second nature in navigating your day.

Related read >> Guide to Epic Universe in the Rain

13. Super Nintendo World then Isle of Berk is best

If there’s one tip for strategy I wish I had implemented myself, it’s to do Nintendo World rides first with Early Park Admission then go straight to the rides in Isle of Berk.

I took the time to go to Stardust Racers between the two and while the line was only 25 minutes, it sucked up precious time for rides whose wait times were much consistently higher throughout the day than Stardust Racers was.

I’d rope drop Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge (or Mine-Cart Madness if available for Early Park Admission), then Yoshi Adventure, then straight to Berk.

14. Don’t sleep on the shows

I know that the rides are main stars of the show at theme parks, but Epic Universe has some truly impressive stage entertainment options. 

These are perfect to escape the heat mid-day or if you just need to get off your feet for a bit.

First is The Untrainable Dragon in Isle of Berk, which tells the story of the village of Berk when they can’t seem to train or connect with a new dragon. You’ll see Astrid, Hiccup, and Gobber!

The other show is Le Cirque Arcanus (pronounced are-can-oo), which has a Fantastic Beasts tie in.

They both have some insane animatronics and nice easy-to-follow stories that everyone will love!

15. Use wait times to your advantage

You’re probably wondering how wait time trends tend to go so you can better plan your day. Here’s what I’ve found.

The rides with consistently low wait times (30 minutes or less) are Monsters Unchained, Yoshi Adventure, Stardust Racers. So those can be a low priority.

Some rides have noticeably lower wait times in the early morning and in the evenings. Those are Fyre Drill, Hiccup’s Wing Gliders, Dragon Racer’s Rally, and Curse of the Werewolf.

The rides with high wait times pretty much always are Battle at the Ministry, Mine-Cart Madness, and often Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge. I’ve seen the wait times drop at the end of the night though, so if you want to risk the ride breaking down or reaching capacity, you can wait until closer to park close to capitalize on lower wait times.

I also found that Celestial Park rides stay open an hour later than park closing, so if you hop in line right before parking closing, you can still ride those. The waits are higher at night for Constellation Carousel and Stardust Racers because this part of the park really comes alive at night.

16. Make use of wait time notifications

In using the Universal app to its fullest potential, one feature you should definitely use are the wait time alerts. If you go to the ride’s individual page, there’s a button to set a wait time alert. You can slide a bar to set the maximum time you’d be willing to wait and it will send a notification to your phone when the wait time drops to that time.

I’ve used this for Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure and all day at Epic Universe and it’s very helpful in planning your day by wait time.

17. Let’s talk size inclusivity

Universal Parks are notoriously not very size inclusive, so how does Epic Universe hold up? Honestly, it’s quite similar to their other parks and not in a good way.

Each ride has tester seats and my friend Bailey’s very tall husband tested them all out and overwhelmingly her husband couldn’t ride many of the rides.

Some rides have more accessible seats in the last row or as part of each ride vehicle like Monsters Unchained, so definitely ask about the options with a team member.

Rides that are accessible are Battle at the Ministry because it has a lap seat belt only, Constellation Carousel, and Fyre Drill, which doesn’t have restraints at all.

18. Single rider line vs standard queueing

Most of the rides at Epic Universe have a single rider line in addition to the standard queue.

Those include Stardust Racers, Monsters Unchained, Curse of the Werewolf, Mine-Cart Madness, Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge, Hiccup’s Wing Gliders, and Battle at the Ministry.

Those that do not have a single rider line are Constellation Carousel, Fyre Drill, Dragon Racer’s Rally, and Yoshi Adventure.

However, while it can be tempting to jump in the single rider line, it’s not a guarantee to be a faster queue. In fact, it’s become so popular for larger groups to use the single rider line that it’s clogged up the queues, so it’s often a longer wait.

Finally, if you’re considering it, it’s important to know that any parties will be split up when riding if you’re in the single rider queue and you’ll miss a good portion of the queue. This might seem like no big deal, but in reality the queues are so well designed and thoughtful that they’re super entertaining!

For example, at Battle of the Ministry you get to see the inside of the Ministry of Magic beyond the main lobby including Neville’s, Harry’s, Ron’s auror lockers. In Monsters Unchained, you’ll see the inside of the Frankenstein estate including Victoria Frankenstein’s experiments!

Mid-day Survival Tips

19. Escape the heat at shows and indoor dining

When it heats up in the middle of the day, it can be unbearable to be outside. This is the perfect time to see the two shows – Le Cirque Arcanus in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and The Untrainable Dragon in Isle of Berk.

Shows are every 45 minutes and they’re offset from each other so you can jump from one to the next pretty easily.

Another option to escape the heat in peak hours of the day is to pop into the indoor dining restaurants. I loved Cafe L’Air de la Sirène, Burning Blade Tavern, and Pizza Moon for this. 

While I didn’t have a chance to visit, I’ve also heard great things about Le Gobelet Noir and Das Steakhouse, both of which are dark and have some nice spooky vibes. 

20. Ministry of Magic viewing area = best AC break

My favorite spot for an AC break is hands down the Ministry viewing area at Battle of the Ministry. When you approach the line, there’s a sign for Single Riders and in tiny font “Ministry Viewing Area” (on the right side of the main queue).

You can walk straight through the floo flames to the ministry where it’s wonderfully air conditioned and has a big round bench that goes around the whole middle statue.

It’s quite perfect!

Eat Smart, Not Hangry

21. Mobile order food early, modify if needed

Dining at Epic Universe has moved to be almost completely via the app. In every restaurant except Atlantic and Blue Dragon and select kiosks, you order through the app and then either pick it up from a window like at Spit Fyre Grill, or they’ll bring it to you like at Cafe L’Air de la Sirène when you input your table number.

If you are picking it up from a window, you’ll get to choose a pick up time window. And, if you know that’s what you’ll want to do, I highly recommend mobile ordering your food well in advance if dining during peak hours.

For example, I ordered Meatlug’s Chicken Bowl from Spit Fyre Grill from the queue for Fyre Drill. I set the pick up window for 11:30-11:45 am. When the line’s wait time got extended while we were in line, I quickly and easily changed the pick up window to 12:00-12:15pm. Easy!

And so nice to have it ready for when everyone is scrambling just to order filling up those pick up windows and pushing the next available pick up window to much later than you want to potentially eat.

22. Dine at off-peak hours

Restaurants and kiosks can get very crowded during peak dining times like 12-1 pm for lunch and 6-7 pm for dinner.

To avoid the crowds, try to eat at off-peak hours.

For example, I had lunch at 11 am and dinner at 4:45 pm. I also dined at Café L’air de la Sirène at around 1 pm and it was packed with a line out the door just to be seen at a table, not even to order. I will say, they’re pretty fast at bringing orders out regardless of crowd levels.

What to Bring to Epic Universe

23. Reusable water bottles are essential

You absolutely can and should bring reusable insulated water bottles into the park. There are freestyle machines in every portal except the Wizarding World.

It’s free to use your own bottle to get water from these machines, but sometimes they can be a bit finicky.

The best method is to get ice, then pick up your bottle, select “water”, then place the bottle down and push the button to dispense the water.

If you try to put your bottle down before selecting water, it will stop you and say “you don’t have the right kind of cup” because it’s made for freestyle souvenir cups.

24. Find water fill stations at each restroom

You can also find water fill stations at every single restroom in the parks.

There’s even some in line queues like for Fyre Drill and Curse of the Werewolf!

25. Bring a UV umbrella

My favorite thing I brought for this park was by far my UV umbrella.

It’s been a common complaint that Epic Universe has no shade. That’s actually because they’ve planted immature trees that will grow with time as the park ages.

So while shade will be more prevalent at some point, it’s certainly not very common now, especially through Celestial Park which is the middle of the park where you pass through to get to and from each portal…meaning you have to go through there.

UV umbrellas are designed to block the sun and are also effective at blocking the rain. However, using regular rain umbrellas really don’t have the same effect in protecting from the sun.

26. Stop worrying, pack an external battery

Using the Universal app throughout your day is a given. You’ll be mobile-ordering food, checking the park map and setting wait time notifications.

So, it’s too easy to quickly run down your battery. 

One of the most essential things to bring is an external battery. I like this one that has the cords attached so you don’t need to pack any additional items.

27. Pack light or pack smart

As you’re deciding what to bring, I have to tell you that stowing your belongings during rides is a little mysterious and complicated. Some rides have lockers like Stardust Racers, and if that’s the case the lockers are within the queues, so you don’t exactly get a heads up that lockers are used.

Surprisingly, more rides than I expected did not have lockers and just had you put your belongings on the floor of the ride’s car.

This was totally fine if you have one bag or one water bottle, but I was also carrying my camera. It wouldn’t fit in my bag that was stuffed with all my other stuff, so while I’ve typically been able to keep it around me, on Curse of the Werewolf, they were pretty adamant that I stow it somehow…which meant it ended up on the floor…of a roller coaster.

There were no loops, but the jostling definitely cracked my camera’s screen protector.

All this to say, if you have any fragile things, make sure you have somewhere to stow it when you place your belongings on the floor of the ride cars.

28. Lockers at Epic Universe (they’re different!)

Many of the rides at the Universal parks have a locker system. However, the lockers at Epic Universe are a little different than at the other core parks.

First, they’re all free while riding and only come in one size at 11.8 inches high x 11 inches wide x 13 inches deep. No more small and large lockers with tiered pricing.

Second, they use facial recognition to rent/return them. This is such a game changer so you don’t need to worry about holding your park ticket throughout the ride. In the past, for rides with metal detectors, if your digital ticket was on your phone, you’d have to speak to a team member, get a paper voucher, and leave your phone in the locker.

Now, you can just use your face without carrying anything.

PS if you want to avoid facial recognition, you can still speak to a team member to receive a paper voucher. There’s always someone stationed at the lockers.

Save on Extras (and still get the magic)

29. Buy power up bands and wands secondhand

I don’t know if it’s because I haven’t been to a theme park in awhile, but everything in Epic Universe felt exceptionally expensive.

For example, my butterbeer crepe was $20!

Obviously, you can look up menus, anticipate expenses, and budget accordingly. However, there are a couple ways to save that I was so glad I took advantage of.

First, Power Up bands for Super Nintendo World work from park to park and can be reset.

That means if you have one already from Universal Studios Hollywood or Japan, you can use it in Orlando too.

It also means that you can buy the bands secondhand. When you receive a secondhand Power Up band, you just scan the QR code on the back and connect it to your app and it resets. 

By doing this, I was able to get 2 Power Up bands for $35, instead of $90.

This is also true for interactive wands. There are a couple versions of interactive wands now and many of the spell locations can be at least partially completed with the first generation wands, which are cheaper by $20 ($65 instead of $85). Alternatively, you can buy the second generation wands secondhand and reconnect them via the app.

30. Get free interactive maps

If you are participating in the interactive activities in the portals, whether thats Super Nintendo World or the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, there are maps for each portal that show you where to participate.

For example in Super Nintendo World, the map tells you about the Bowser Jr. challenge and how to unlock it by completing activities where you earn keys.

In the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, it shows you all the spell locations!

Even if you buy your band or wand secondhand, you can go up to any retailer in that portal and ask for the map for free! They always have extras on hand. It’s also one of my favorite (and only) free souvenirs!

Magical Moments Not to Miss

31. Yepp, the bathrooms are an experience

This probably reads as a weird tip, but as you explore each land, don’t skip the bathrooms. They’re all very intentionally designed to be on theme and are worth seeing.

For example, those in Dark Universe have black toilets and the Wizarding World bathrooms have the toilets’ water tanks high above the toilet just like they are in Deathly Hallows when Harry and Ron flush themselves in to get to the Ministry of Magic.

32. Take notice of the portals

Be sure to spend a minute admiring and noticing each portal. Each one has an inscription, centerpiece, transition to the portal’s world, and a topper that represents the world.

For example, the portal to Super Nintendo World has the most beautiful topper with warp pipes, a star and rainbow on top (similar to Rainbow Road).

33. Stay for the goodnight show

One of my favorite little surprises of my time at Epic Universe was that when we exited at the end of the night, Celestial Park had a nice little goodnight send off celebration with lights, a cute message, fountain show, and music. 

The main portal for all of Epic Universe had a light show and the icons for each world were animated.

It was a cute thing to plan around if you can.

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