A couple of months ago, I took my family to the new theme park at Universal Orlando. Since then I wrote a scathing review of the Mario Kart ride and a reflection on a couple of little kids who could teach the world a thing or two about acceptance and kindness. But I never shared my opinion on the park itself.
Well let's just say the park lived up to its name. It truly was epic! In fact, it is definitely the best of the three parks at Universal Orlando.
The park is split into five different worlds. These include: Celestial Park (the central hub), Super Nintendo World, How to Train Your Dragon (Isle of Berk), Dark Universe (Universal Monsters), and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Ministry of Magic). Each world has a cool gimmick where you walk through a spectacular portal in order to enter it.
The Celestial Park is pretty useless. It really just connects all of the other worlds. I believe it was meant to be headlined by the Stardust Racers roller coaster but we did not even bother going on this ride. Actually no one in the entire park did. After hearing horrible reviews it is no surprise that the line was never more than 15 minutes long all day. There are some cool fountains and its pretty cool to look at when it is lit up at night. But it is not a destination.
Super Nintendo World was definitely sensory overload. They were trying to make you feel like you were in a Mario video game... and they succeeded. There are non stop coin capturing noises and everything lights up. Every kid under the age of ten seemed to be strolling through their version of heaven. There is a cute kid friendly Yoshi ride which my adult son rode and said was cute but i wasn't missing anything. This is also where the overrated and often broken Super Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge ride was. I hated it. If you want more info about why, please check out my previous rant. By far the highlight of this world is the Donkey Kong Mine cart Madness. It is a very clever roller coaster with some very cool effects. We rode this twice and would have ridden it more if the lines were shorter.
Because it is Universal, it will of course include yet another Harry Potter World. This one is supposed ot be base don the Ministry of Magic but it is really just the exact same thing as Diagnal Alley... but in France. It was OK but it was nothing special. The featured ride: Harry Potter and the Battle At The Ministry is another one of the 3D motion simulation rides. It was fine. We only rode it once. As always the displays as you walk through the line were far more impressive than the ride itself.
Dark Universe was incredible! The theme of this world is classic horror movie monsters. Think Dracula, Frankenstein, Creature from the Black Lagoon and the Wolf-man. I honestly was not expecting to like this land so much. Although the rides, Wolf-man and Frankenstein, were fun in the day, the world was simply amazing at night. This world was done perfectly with little Easter eggs like being able to listen in on Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde arguing or meeting the Invisible Man. yes I am a dad so every five minutes I said to y family "Look the Invisible Man!" while pointing at nothing but there really was a cast member dressed and acting like the lunatic. He comes out and chats with the crowd. He's a cranky scientist who loves to insult people. Being the good guy I am, I decided to give him some material to work with because everyone else around was being silent. At one point he asked me "What potion did you take to make you so stupid?" It was awesome! The Frankenstein ride is basically the exact same thing as the original Harry Potter ride. It relies on visuals more than thrills. It was ok. But the Wolf-man roller coaster is a ton of fun.
By far the highlight of the park is the How to Train Your Dragon Isle of Berk World. It was perfect. It is decorated just like Berk with lots of dragons everywhere. The featured ride, Hiccups Wing Gliders is one of the best roller coasters I have ever been on. It is important to note, I am old and don't like loops anymore. So I look for smooth and fast roller coasters. This one definitely had those. In addition to the thrill of the ride, the decorations are amazing. There is even an incredibly fun audio track that changes every time. It involves Hiccup talking to you while a dragon carries you and your fellow passengers. It was amazing! We rode this one five times! Again, this one looked even cooler when it was lit up at night.
Even though the park is insanely expensive, it is definitely worth it if there are Monster, Dragon, or Mario fans in your group. I also bet Harry Potter fanatics would love the new addition as well... but we found it a bit redundant.
Has anyone been to Epic Universe? What did you think?