Epic Universe is Universal Orlandos is newest theme park and opened in May 2025 to great fanfare – and rightly so! Like Universal’s other parks it has a some contemporary attractions but also leans on some nostalgia and of course, a bit of Harry Potter magic as well. It’s situated about a 4 miles south from the main Universal Orlando campus of Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios, CityWalk and Volcano Bay. There are shuttle buses all day to transport guests to and from the main Universal area to Epic Universe. These take around 15 minutes with no traffic.

The park is designed with 5 distinct areas each with its own entrance portal which is meant to feel like being transported to that world. The first portal is at the main entrance to the park and from here you access Celestial Park, a stylised space fantasy area which is also the central hub of the park and from here you can access the other 4 portals and lands – Super Nintendo World, which actually features 2 immersive lands – Mario land and Donkey Kong Country , Dark Universe is a very atmospheric land showcasing the classic monsters from Universal’s early movies, The Isle of Berk from How To Train You Dragon and 1930s Paris from the Harry Potter spin-off trilogy Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them and the Ministry Of Magic from the later Harry Potter films. The very back of the park features a large circular lake with the Cosmos Fountain Show which occurs prior to park closing and the impressive Grand Helios hotel. This is the premier hotel for Epic and has direct access in and out of the park for guests. The other two Epic hotels, Terra Luna and Stella Nova are just across the road from the theme park entrance.

Celestial Park

This serves as the park’s central hub and is home to the Celestial Lake which has an impressive fountain show throughout the day and and choreographed light and fountain show in the evening just before the park closes.

Constellation Carousel is great for your little ones.

The main attraction in Celestial Park is the twin track ‘duelling’ Stardust Racers roller coaster. This has the green and yellow track where the ride vehicles both launch together.

We were able to do both tracks in the day but it looks really good at night. We all agree the green track is a bit more of a thrill. Wait times tend to be quite good especially mid-afternoon so expect a 20-30 mins wait.

Super Nintendo World

This is as close you can get to a fully realised video game. It’s got so much crammed into one space and if you’re a big Mario fan you could literally spend all day here. By purchasing one of the 8 different character Power-Up Bands the kids can complete interactive challenges around the land and then get access to Bowser Jr. Shadow Showdown. This is an interactive game which can only be accessed once 3 of the challenges are complete. You cannot enter this attraction without this. Link the band to your Universal app to keep score during the day.

Aside from these interactive games there is of course some rides. The very popular Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge (40″ / 122 cm) attempts to immerse riders into the game. You’ll board your own 4 person Mario Kart vehicle and are supplied with a Mario hat to attach the ride goggles to. This uses a mixture of motion simulation and augmented reality through the goggles to create and unique experience. Not the most thrilling ride but a must do attraction and the queue area has so many fun Mario related easter eggs.

Little ones that don’t meet the height requirement can have fun on the Yoshi’s Adventure which is a slow moving ride through the Mushroom Kingdom.

Within the Super Nintendo Land is also Donkey Kong Country. Accessed from the lower floor of the area this has a a small cafe and the Mine-cart Madness (40″ / 122 cm) ride is a Donkey Kong themed roller coaster which is lots of fun and has parts where it looks like your ride vehicle jumps the broken tracks!

Dark Universe

This land harkens back to Universal’s older black and white monster movies and is based around characters like Dr Frankenstein and his monster, the Werewolf and Dracula.

The Monsters Unchained (48″ / 122 cm) dark indoor ride takes you through a mission to capture Dracula and you’ll encounter all the classic monsters on the way. A few scares await so be aware if you’re taking little ones that meet the height requirement. The ride vehicle is similar to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey in Islands of Adventure.

Curse of the Werewolf (40″ / 102 cm) is a spinning outdoor roller coaster which twist through the woods as you attempt to escape the werewolf.

Of course this land really looks its best at night and since the rides tend to have lower queues in the evening we would definitely recommend a visit after sunset.

Isle of Berk

This is home to the vikings from the How To Train Your Dragon film series. It has a great roller coaster and probably the best show Universal has ever staged – The Untrainable Dragon. If you’ve only got time to one of the shows at Epic (the other is Le Cirque Arcanus in the Ministry of Magic) then we would highly recommend this one.

The afore mentioned roller coaster is Hiccup’s Wing Gliders (40″ / 122 cm) where you soar like a dragon on one of Hiccup’s inventions. It’s got great theming and is thrilling enough for everyone in your family. We would definitely include this in a day at Epic.

The Fyre Drill is a a great ride for everyone where you train to become a Viking firefighter. You’ll board a Viking long boat and shoot targets around the course with your water cannon and activate some of the displays and features which might result in you getting wet!

Dragon Racers Rally (48” 122 cm) is a fun but fairly slow ride where you’re lifted quite high to practice manoeuvres in your dragon racer vehicle. If you’ve only got 1 day to experience Epic we would suggest to skip this attraction unless it’s under a 30 min wait time. Hiccup’s Wing Gliders and the Untrainable Dragon show are a better use of your time.

Ministry of Magic

Although this land appears as the Ministry of Magic on the maps it is actually covers 2 different timelines from the Harry Potter films. For the most part the land is mainly 1930s Paris from the Fantastic Beasts spin-off film series. But after entering the Metro Floo network you are magically ‘transported’ in a puff of green smoke to the Battle Of The Ministry ride featuring Harry, Ron and Hermione as you defend London from the Death Eaters.

This ride is easily Epics most popular with the wait time often over 3 hours throughout the day. Also when we visited there were signs that the ride would be closing early that day. They don’t specify a time but the crew member indicated that it was around 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours before the park closes to otherwise they would have to continue to operate the ride way after park closing. The best strategy is to enter as early as possible (Helios Grand hotel is just next door) or like we did, use the single rider. Of our family of 5 the 3 kids were placed in the same ride vehicle while the adults were in separate ones. But the single rider line can reach capacity during the day and so frequently closes but always check back later to see if re-opens. Our strategy was to queue in the standby line which we were in for around 30 mins before the single rider opened again which we then entered. In total we waited about 50 mins compared to the 235 mins that was posted.

You can enter the Minstry of Magic area and experience the impressive interior and have a go in to and out of the Floo Network without having to enter the queue for the ride.

Like the Harry Potter themed lands in IOA and Universal Studios this is a highly detailed area full of magic Easter eggs which fans will love. And of course there are plenty of locations to use your interactive wand and operate magical items and displays.

The Ministry of Magic area also features Epics other impressive stage show Le Cirque Acanus. Here you experience a look inside a Newt Scamander’s magical suitcase full of unusual and exotic animals. Expect lots of special effects, animatronics and live action puppets and actors. If you’re really pushed for time we would recommend The Untrainable Dragon show in Isle of Berk over this one.

Hotels

Epic Universe has 3 on-property hotels – the premier Helios Grand and the two more budget friendly Stella Nova and Terra Luna and these are in addition to the other hotels also available at Universal’s main campus area. All Epic hotels qualify for early entry to any of the Universal theme parks.

We stayed at the space themed Stella Nova hotel in 2025 with 2 connecting rooms both of which were quite spacious for our family of 5. One room had a bath with a large shower head while the other had a walk-in shower. Each floor has an ice machine and drinking water fill station. There is ample parking ($30 fee each night of your stay of course) and free shuttle buses to and from Epic and to the main Universal campus. Although the entrance portal at Epic is less than a 10 minute walk anyway the bus takes about 3 minutes. The pool is a good size and has a sand area with outdoor games and they show movies on a projector each night. During the day music is piped around the pool deck and to underwater speakers so can sing while you swim!

The ground floor has a small quick serve restaurant, a coffee shop where you can also pick up snacks and a small Universal merchandise shop where you can get yourself park ready with Mario Bros, How to Train Your Dragon and other Epic Universe items (don’t forget Target and Walmart will do some similar items much cheaper).

Terra Luna hotel is very similar to Stella Nova in terms of facilities and theming but is an extra few minutes walk to the Epic Universe entrance portal.

If you want to get right into the action then the Helios Grand hotel is practically inside the Epic Universe theme park. It has a dedicated entrance to the park from the hotel building and if you’re a Harry Potter fan it is very close to the entrance of the Ministry of Magic portal so you can get in for early entry and be one of the first on the very popular Battle at the Ministry ride. The hotel also over looks the Celestial Park lake so you will get a great view of the evening fountain show from the hotel. Traditionally the premier hotel grants guests with Universal Express Passes for the duration of their stay but currently no such deal exists for any the Epic hotels. In time it is rumoured that the Express Pass will be added to Hellos Grand stays although none of the rides at Epic Universe have an Express Pass facility yet either.

Transportation

As mentioned there are free shuttle buses to and from all the Universal theme parks from Epic and the on-property hotels. Our bus from outside Stella Nova to Epic took just 3 minutes. Most of that was waiting at a red traffic signal to cross over into the Epic bus drop-off area! A brisk walk from Stella Nova is only around 7 minutes. The bus from Stella Nova to CityWalk when we visited Islands of Adventure took around 15 minutes with no traffic at 7:30 in the morning. Most of the route has lanes exclusively for the shuttle buses but some of the journey uses International Drive and crosses other highways so we have heard claims that some days the journey can take up to 40 minutes if traffic is heavy.

Local area

As mentioned at the top of the page Epic Universe is approximately 4 miles from the main Universal Orlando campus and as yet there is no central restaurant and entertainment area like CityWalk at Epic. Yes the hotels and Epic theme park have restaurants but International Drive and the southern section of Universal Boulevard are just around the corner so there are plenty of shops and restaurants like IHOP, Cheddars Scratch Kitchen, Chick-fil-a and a Publix supermarket should you want to venture out of the resort. The Orange County Convention Center is also near by on I-Drive and Sea World, Discovery Cove and Aquatica are just a few minutes in the car as well.