Benjsh
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
Well guys....here it is as promised. My deadly honest review of Epic Universe. The good, the bad and the ugly. Sorry that its a bit long but I think you will understand why.
Our time at Universal is sadly over after our 2nd day at Epic. We called it a day early today at 6.30pm as we are very tired and did the full day, park open to park close on our first Epic day so didn't feel the need to do it again.
So is it all I hoped it would be and does it live up to it's name of EPIC? More on that below.
First off before I talk about the portals, rides, themes, shows or food......lets just get straight to the point. Epic Universe is 1000% not a one day park. With 11 rides (some or which are very forgettable) you could be hoodwinked into thinking 1 day will be enough. Its simply not. The place is way too busy, express pass is massively oversold and sadly the place is experiencing too many technical issues on a consistent basis to be enjoyed in one day. If you're planning a visit in what remains of 2025 or even if you are going in 2026 then make sure you allocate two days to your agenda. You will need it and if you dont you will most likely leave the place a bit underwhelmed.
The Portals:
Wowzers. They are absolutely breathtaking. Pictures and videos dont do them justice. Visually its absolutely stunning what they have created. They have done an incredible job with the portals. Walking under them gives you an incredible buzz and they are great for photo opportunities.
Themed areas:
Again absolutely breathtaking. The attention to detail is second to none and every area gets you fully immersed into the area. You can have a good time just walking around them not doing any rides really. Loads to see and do.
My favourite area without a doubt was Dark Universe though. Genuinely walked around with a big smile on my face each time I went in there.
Least favourite was probably Potter although it wasn't bad, I just preferred the others.
Shows / Food:
Both the Untrainable Dragon and Cirque Aranus are fun shows and definitely worth catching. Acting quality and set designs were gorgeous. The food in the park is really good too and I can confirm the Mac n Cheese cones in Berk are truly delicious.
Rides:
This is where the review takes a slightly controversial turn and might surprise a few of you. Lets start with the positives...This park contains my number 1 Coaster and Dark ride in the world. Great start. But it also contains a whole lot of 'what were they thinking' rides which left me scratching my head a bit.
- Stardust Racers. Had 4 rides over 2 days including 1 night ride. Absolutely unreal. Its perfect. Velocicoaster spent JUST one whole day as my top coaster I had ridden and then was then surpassed. There's not loads in it but I give the edge slightly to Stardust as the racing element really makes it a special ride and the airtime is great. Did both the green and yellow tracks. I have to say I preferred the green but I have heard others say they preferred yellow. Either way you're in for a real treat whichever side you choose. 10/10
- Monsters Unchained.....words have not yet been created to describe how much i adore this attraction. For me its the best ride in the park and the best dark ride I have done, just edging out Rise of the resistance which I rode last week. The queue, the castle, the attraction's story, the audio, the anamatronics....its just perfect. I had 6 rides over 2 days as it doesn't get huge queues and often a walk on purely because its a throughput monster and also probably due to it being too scary for some of the younger guests. You simply have to go ride it. 11 /10
- Battle at the Ministry....Now this is the real interesting one. After riding it last week and getting stuck half way around and having to wait 55mins to be evacuated......I couldnt review it. I had to come back and ride it today with a fresh perspective. Well we rope dropped it this morning and were among the first 50 people to ride it today. My thoughts? It's a good Dark ride but nowhere near as good as I was expecting. The story is pretty weak for me and poorly executed. There's a few incredible animatronics in there which are truly incredible but overall the ride just didn't do it for me sadly. Its not something I'm dying to re-ride but I can see what they were going for. Some will enjoy it more than I did though. My son loved it and said it was his favourite ride he's ever done. 7.5/10
-Mario Kart Bowsers Challenge: For me the better of the two main attractions in Nintendo land but not without its flaws. The scenery is insanely good and the technology is clever. However overall as a package it just doesn't work that well for me. They have tried to replicate a video game where the aim of it is to to go as fast as possible and win the races and turned it into a slow moving Dark ride. That's the first major flaw. The second is the technology and shooting element takes you away from the incredible scenery. You completely miss out on some amazing scenes whilst you try to hit pointless targets. Definitely a ride you shouldnt miss but again I came off slightly underwhelmed and wasn't that bothered about a re-ride. We only did it again due to a free express pass we got because of the BATM Evac. 7/10
- Donkey Kong Minecart Madness....Oh dear oh dear. Truly awful. Absolutely hated it. It's short, it's boring, it's rough and I came off seriously underwhelmed. Don't think we will see many Boom coasters pop up elsewhere outside of Donkey Kong clones. 4/10
- Hiccups Wingliders - Definitely the stand out family coaster in the park and massively more fun than Minecart was. Could have perhaps been a bit longer if im being picky but definitely a nice attraction and a must do. 8/10
- Curse of the Werewolf.....Did they run out of money or time? I know it was a late addition to the plans for Dark Universe but they really didn't get this right at all. Its over before it gets going and those nets are even worse in the flesh than they are on photos. The only saving grace is its smooth and the launch sequence is fairly decent and that's why I rate it narrowly higher than Minecart. 5/10.
The rest of the rides are just supporting attractions really and none of them are particularly amazing. Fyre Drill, Dragon Racers Rally, the Carousel and Yoshi's adventure are rides you find in many other parks and pretty bog standard. Nothing to wrote home about and in fact we skipped Fyre Drill on both days. We just didn't think the queue length was worth it.
The verdict:
Epic Universe is a good park but its NOT a world class park just yet.....BUT it will be soon. The starting position is a strong one and with the addition of 2/3 more major rides its going to take the top spot in the Universal chain for sure. A few other issues they need to sort out is the lack of shade in the park and also the amount of downtime their rides experience. On both days we were there the rides went down frequently and it wasn't just weather related either most of the time sadly. Lots of teething issues they still need to figure out it seems.
If you're dying to visit and just can't handle not going yet then definitely book a trip. Otherwise I'd argue waiting until their phase 2 additions have been added in 2027/2028. By then the park will definitely be worthy of being labelled EPIC Universe.
Thanks for reading.
Our time at Universal is sadly over after our 2nd day at Epic. We called it a day early today at 6.30pm as we are very tired and did the full day, park open to park close on our first Epic day so didn't feel the need to do it again.
So is it all I hoped it would be and does it live up to it's name of EPIC? More on that below.
First off before I talk about the portals, rides, themes, shows or food......lets just get straight to the point. Epic Universe is 1000% not a one day park. With 11 rides (some or which are very forgettable) you could be hoodwinked into thinking 1 day will be enough. Its simply not. The place is way too busy, express pass is massively oversold and sadly the place is experiencing too many technical issues on a consistent basis to be enjoyed in one day. If you're planning a visit in what remains of 2025 or even if you are going in 2026 then make sure you allocate two days to your agenda. You will need it and if you dont you will most likely leave the place a bit underwhelmed.
The Portals:
Wowzers. They are absolutely breathtaking. Pictures and videos dont do them justice. Visually its absolutely stunning what they have created. They have done an incredible job with the portals. Walking under them gives you an incredible buzz and they are great for photo opportunities.
Themed areas:
Again absolutely breathtaking. The attention to detail is second to none and every area gets you fully immersed into the area. You can have a good time just walking around them not doing any rides really. Loads to see and do.
My favourite area without a doubt was Dark Universe though. Genuinely walked around with a big smile on my face each time I went in there.
Least favourite was probably Potter although it wasn't bad, I just preferred the others.
Shows / Food:
Both the Untrainable Dragon and Cirque Aranus are fun shows and definitely worth catching. Acting quality and set designs were gorgeous. The food in the park is really good too and I can confirm the Mac n Cheese cones in Berk are truly delicious.
Rides:
This is where the review takes a slightly controversial turn and might surprise a few of you. Lets start with the positives...This park contains my number 1 Coaster and Dark ride in the world. Great start. But it also contains a whole lot of 'what were they thinking' rides which left me scratching my head a bit.
- Stardust Racers. Had 4 rides over 2 days including 1 night ride. Absolutely unreal. Its perfect. Velocicoaster spent JUST one whole day as my top coaster I had ridden and then was then surpassed. There's not loads in it but I give the edge slightly to Stardust as the racing element really makes it a special ride and the airtime is great. Did both the green and yellow tracks. I have to say I preferred the green but I have heard others say they preferred yellow. Either way you're in for a real treat whichever side you choose. 10/10
- Monsters Unchained.....words have not yet been created to describe how much i adore this attraction. For me its the best ride in the park and the best dark ride I have done, just edging out Rise of the resistance which I rode last week. The queue, the castle, the attraction's story, the audio, the anamatronics....its just perfect. I had 6 rides over 2 days as it doesn't get huge queues and often a walk on purely because its a throughput monster and also probably due to it being too scary for some of the younger guests. You simply have to go ride it. 11 /10
- Battle at the Ministry....Now this is the real interesting one. After riding it last week and getting stuck half way around and having to wait 55mins to be evacuated......I couldnt review it. I had to come back and ride it today with a fresh perspective. Well we rope dropped it this morning and were among the first 50 people to ride it today. My thoughts? It's a good Dark ride but nowhere near as good as I was expecting. The story is pretty weak for me and poorly executed. There's a few incredible animatronics in there which are truly incredible but overall the ride just didn't do it for me sadly. Its not something I'm dying to re-ride but I can see what they were going for. Some will enjoy it more than I did though. My son loved it and said it was his favourite ride he's ever done. 7.5/10
-Mario Kart Bowsers Challenge: For me the better of the two main attractions in Nintendo land but not without its flaws. The scenery is insanely good and the technology is clever. However overall as a package it just doesn't work that well for me. They have tried to replicate a video game where the aim of it is to to go as fast as possible and win the races and turned it into a slow moving Dark ride. That's the first major flaw. The second is the technology and shooting element takes you away from the incredible scenery. You completely miss out on some amazing scenes whilst you try to hit pointless targets. Definitely a ride you shouldnt miss but again I came off slightly underwhelmed and wasn't that bothered about a re-ride. We only did it again due to a free express pass we got because of the BATM Evac. 7/10
- Donkey Kong Minecart Madness....Oh dear oh dear. Truly awful. Absolutely hated it. It's short, it's boring, it's rough and I came off seriously underwhelmed. Don't think we will see many Boom coasters pop up elsewhere outside of Donkey Kong clones. 4/10
- Hiccups Wingliders - Definitely the stand out family coaster in the park and massively more fun than Minecart was. Could have perhaps been a bit longer if im being picky but definitely a nice attraction and a must do. 8/10
- Curse of the Werewolf.....Did they run out of money or time? I know it was a late addition to the plans for Dark Universe but they really didn't get this right at all. Its over before it gets going and those nets are even worse in the flesh than they are on photos. The only saving grace is its smooth and the launch sequence is fairly decent and that's why I rate it narrowly higher than Minecart. 5/10.
The rest of the rides are just supporting attractions really and none of them are particularly amazing. Fyre Drill, Dragon Racers Rally, the Carousel and Yoshi's adventure are rides you find in many other parks and pretty bog standard. Nothing to wrote home about and in fact we skipped Fyre Drill on both days. We just didn't think the queue length was worth it.
The verdict:
Epic Universe is a good park but its NOT a world class park just yet.....BUT it will be soon. The starting position is a strong one and with the addition of 2/3 more major rides its going to take the top spot in the Universal chain for sure. A few other issues they need to sort out is the lack of shade in the park and also the amount of downtime their rides experience. On both days we were there the rides went down frequently and it wasn't just weather related either most of the time sadly. Lots of teething issues they still need to figure out it seems.
If you're dying to visit and just can't handle not going yet then definitely book a trip. Otherwise I'd argue waiting until their phase 2 additions have been added in 2027/2028. By then the park will definitely be worthy of being labelled EPIC Universe.
Thanks for reading.
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