Epic Universe is not a 2-day park for the average tourist. Despite claims to the contrary by diehard Universal Orlando fans, this is absolutely untrue for the vast majority of guests. I want to be abundantly clear about this, because the title might sound like pure praise, with us saying this is the first multi-day park in Central Florida since Magic Kingdom. It’s not.
This is more about there being valid reasons why theme park fans and repeat visitors to Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando might want to allocate more time to Epic Universe during its opening year. Some of that is self-evident: it’s new! Of course locals and Annual Passholders would want to spend disproportionate time at the new park, as opposed to the ones they’ve done dozens to hundreds of times.
Part of that is more strategic, though. That certain experiences and offerings might require multiple days at Epic Universe, that it behooves you to build in a buffer so you don’t walk away saying, “I wish I had more time to do X or Y,” or “I can’t believe that, even after multiple days in the park, there’s still so much I missed!” Those are my sentiments exactly right now, so it’s not exactly hypothetical!
Speaking of which, I’m torn when it comes to Epic Universe. I love Universal Orlando’s new park, and cannot wait to go back this summer and beyond. But there major downsides to visiting this highly-anticipated new park during its opening season(s), as laid out in Why You Should Skip Epic Universe (Subtitle: “or How to Learn to Stop FOMO and Wait to Visit Until Winter 2026 & Beyond”).
To be perfectly honest/blunt with you, that ‘skip’ article is aging really well just one week later. Although it was met with backlash by a vocal minority of Universal stans, I feel ahead of my time and fully vindicated in publishing it. I still do see upside in visiting early and am eager to return myself, but with each passing day, I believe that waiting until later is the “correct” advice for most tourists.
Nevertheless, I’m publishing this in the interest of balance…and because I said I would. Also, because by virtue of reading a niche site about theme parks, you already have put yourself in the minority when it comes to things like this. So it’s entirely possible that the advice here still applies to a majority of Disney Tourist Blog readers, even if the majority of all tourists should be avoiding Epic Universe until 2026!
I don’t have any first-hand experiences at Epic Universe in May 2025, just to be clear. It’s purely from watching on the sidelines as reports on social media pour in. I enjoy lurking the Universal Orlando reddit, which is a fantastic community, to keep me in the loop. It has been fascinating (and disheartening) watching the real-time shift there in the last two weeks. It has gradually gone from unadulterated hype and excitement to mixed/measured enthusiasm to defensiveness vs. reasonable expectations to almost pure pessimism. A wild ride rivaling the excellent Stardust Racers.
Point being, as excited as I am to revisit Epic Universe ASAP (and I’m very excited), I also recognize that not everyone is me. I already did every ride multiple times in a low-stress, low-stakes environment. If I go back and do nothing but Monsters Unchained, a couple of coasters, and a ton of eating & exploring, I will consider my subsequent days to be successes. The average tourist might not have the same time or tolerances to experience Epic Universe, operational warts and all, in the coming months.
To that point, I’m married to an average tourist (nothing about Sarah is average–but you get the idea), so none of this is theoretical! Our family had an Epic Universe trip planned for this summer that we are postponing for the reasons covered in that ‘Skipping Epic Universe’ article. While I will return to Epic Universe many times in the months to come, that’ll be by myself and primarily “for research.” I’ll undoubtedly have plenty of fun, but our family vacation will likely be delayed until early 2026 for more optimal conditions.
Anyway, here’s how I plan to make the most of my future visits to Epic Universe in 2025, and why I recommend the same if you’re planning on tackling the new park in the coming months…
Best Food Park in Orlando
I cannot say definitively that Epic Universe is currently the #1 food park in Orlando. Even after spending multiple days there, I’ve still only scratched the surface of what its culinary scene has to offer. But what I did try was largely exceptional, a fantastic mixture of fun, photogenic, delicious, and ambitious.
Based on that experience, it is easily the #1 food park in Universal Orlando. That’s not a high bar, though. The other parks can be a bit, ahem, limited once you get outside the Wizarding World of Harry Potter lands, with more crowd-pleasing cuisine of varying degrees of edibility.
Epic Universe is a massive departure from this, with both inventive & intriguing options and theme park staples done at a really high level. Take Pizza Moon, for example. It’s a counter service pizza parlor (hence the name), so you mind understandably have restrained expectations. It is somehow fantastic, being closer in quality to Via Napoli than Pizzafari. (Believe the hype about the ube-crusted Pizza Lunare.)
My concern is that this won’t last. It is very often the case that new restaurants at theme parks open with menus that swing for the fences, only to be dumbed-down over the months and years that follow to comport with the expectations of average guests, and in the name of operational efficiency and throughput.
I could see both being issues at Epic Universe. We waited over 45 minutes for part of our order one day at Café L’air De La Sirène (in fairness, it was fantastic). We also overheard another guest ask “why is the crust purple?” about the aforementioned Pizza Lunare (they appeared to send it back, but that wasn’t 100% clear).
Visiting earlier gives you a greater opportunity to enjoy the Epic Universe menus in their full glory. Going for two days gives you more time to try all of the ambitious and fun foods. And then, you’ll have craveworthy dishes to mourn decades from now: “Remember when Epic Universe had that unique and excellent ___? Bring it back, Universal!”
See Portals at Night
Like every theme park ever, Epic Universe is better at night. This is especially true of those in Central Florida during the summer, just by virtue of comfort from cooler weather and sunshine being replaced by artificial lighting packages. It’s my dream for Magic Kingdom to return to midnight closings during June and July.
Epic Universe is really pretty at night. The cartoonish colors of Super Nintendo World really pop under a deep blue dusk sky as the lights oversaturate the environments. How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk sees its environment become a moody and atmospheric landscape, with rich lighting that amplifies the rockwork and craggy cliffs. Then there’s the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic with its romanticized take on Paris–let’s just say it does justice to the “City of Lights” moniker.
However, the two unequivocal highlights of nighttime at Epic Universe are Celestial Park and Dark Universe. The former is the park’s central hub, and it is downright unpleasant during the day due to a dearth of shade and heat-reflective pavement. At night, Celestial Park is stunning, with fountains and lighting effects that make you want to linger and soak up its unique atmosphere and nuanced original design.
Then there’s pretty much the entirety of Dark Universe, which ‘works’ much better at night. (It’s not called Daylight Universe for a reason.) You will absolutely want to see Burning Blade Tavern come to life, linger outside the Frankenstein estate, and spend some time getting lost in the alleys of Darkmoor.
Due to park hours, all of this is not possible in a single night. Maybe on nights when the park now closes at 10pm (kudos to Universal for doing the right thing and extending some closings), but even then, it’ll be really, really rushed. You won’t be lingering or taking any time to absorb the atmosphere. The optimal approach is truly two portals per night, plus a slow stroll through Celestial Park on your way out. Even that is going to be a bit more rushed than you might like.
Slow Down & Drink the Details
Whenever a new theme park land opens, it has become the cliche to claim, “this is actually a full day land.” This happened with Pandora, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Super Nintendo World, and both Wizarding Worlds. And no doubt, I have spent full days in all of these lands–multiple, even–when they were brand new.
But I’m a dork who spends way too much time in theme parks who loves a shiny new object. It’s something to appreciate and obsess over, and there’s excitement in discovering all of the details and secrets these new lands hold. This is the case for many other locals and Annual Passholders, who have a willingness to spend inordinate amounts of time in new areas because everything else is “old news” to them. For a first timer or infrequent visitor, the circumstances are obviously different.
Nevertheless, without any background knowledge or intense fandom for any of these properties (save for Nintendo, but I’ve already experienced two other versions of that land), I found myself wanting more time within each portal. I kept stumbling upon new and interesting things while there, and I know my visits only scratched the surface.
Epic Universe is like a whole park of Wizarding Worlds in terms of design details, and unlike anything Universal has done before. In term of depth and attention to detail, it reminds me of Animal Kingdom. But frankly, with spaces that are more interesting and engaging to me, personally. It’s very difficult to both focus on riding the rides and savoring the spaces. You really need two days for that, even if it’s not a 2-day park in the traditional sense of the term.
Rainy Days, Downtime & Delays
Epic Universe has now had its first one-two punch of technical difficulties plus inclement weather causing ride closures. I’d say this is only going to get worse during the height of summer storm season, but there have already been times when only one (1) ride in the entire park was running, and it’s hard to imagine anything worse. Hopefully.
Storm season is going to be tough, just by virtue of the number of attractions with outdoor components. That will be exacerbated in the first year by the all-new attractions have growing pains that are often plagued by problems their first few months. Even without rain, things have been rocky recently–it’s often the case that only one-third of rides are operational at any given moment. Lots of ‘delays’ or flat-out ‘closed’ attractions. This is the nature of the beast as attractions become more complex.
Epic Universe is an entire park of new rides, many of which are innovative and envelope-pushing. Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry is by far the biggest offender in this regard–hence it using the Virtual Line–but it’s far from the only problematic attraction. Pretty much every single one of the park’s marquee attractions has levels of downtime higher than what guests would consider reasonable.
The bottom line is that you’ll want to give yourself two days if you’re visiting Epic Universe in its first ~6 months as a buffer. As opposed to tilting at windmills and ‘forcing’ things when the stuff hits the fan, go with the flow! Soak up those details, explore the park, and give yourself “permission” to have a good time during a bad day. This is very difficult with just a single day and no margin for error to get everything done, but easier with two. As someone who has made ‘lemonade out of lemons’ during many operational meltdowns at other theme parks, trust me–this is the way.
Increase Odds for Harry Potter
One thing I cannot stress to Disney fans is: DO NOT assume your skills and success rate will transfer to the Virtual Line for Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry. Universal’s Virtual Line system is way worse than even Walt Disney World’s first generation of Virtual Queue. It’s also less predictable and “skill” doesn’t matter as much. It feels unfair and arbitrary.
With each passing day, I hear more horror stories. Success rates have plummeted, and more and more people have reported going 0 for 3 or even 0 for 6 across multiple days. On some really rough days, the ride hasn’t been opening until the afternoon, and the earlier VL drops don’t actually even happen.
This is nothing new. The attraction was not open for the bulk of employee previews, as crews worked to improve its uptime and operational capacity. Once paid previews began, there was seemingly recognition from management that the attraction had to be available at least some of the time, hence the virtual queue.
Now, as the park races towards grand opening in less than two weeks with unreliability and downtime woes persisting, Universal Orlando has announced that Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry will be closed from May 10 through May 16, 2025. The ride is currently scheduled to reopen on May 17 for the final few days of previews before the May 22, 2025 grand opening of Epic Universe. Even that is subject to change.
What we heard a while ago is that there are major issues with Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry and it’s expected to be months before it’s firing on all cylinders (the timeframe I heard was Fall 2025, but that could be outdated at this point). Meaning that it’ll get worse before it gets better. If the ride doesn’t improve reliability and uptime even as capacity increases once official opening arrives, that could mean only 10-15% of guests experiencing Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry on a regular day.
Accordingly, giving yourself as many chances as possible at the Virtual Line is a pragmatic approach. With current success rates, it might take 2 days of tries, and even then, breakdowns or bad luck could stymie your success. (Honestly, we’d recommend going into Epic Universe mentally prepared for not riding–have that be the baseline so you don’t set yourself up for disappointment.)
When it’s working, Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry is unquestionably the objective #1 attraction in the park, and best ride Universal Creative has ever built. The most important planning post you can read is our VL guide: How to Join the Virtual Line for Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry.
N/A. Earlier is Optimal
Normally, we advise diehard fans to go earlier as opposed to waiting when it comes to ambitious and envelope-pushing attractions due to the likelihood of pesky and problematic effects being disabled later for the sake of operational efficiency. The most infamous example of this is Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland, with many long-lost effects that are the stuff of legends. More recently, this has also been true with Expedition Everest, DINOSAUR, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, and more.
My fear was that this would also be the case with Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment and Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry. However, it doesn’t seem like that’s the case. I’ve yet to have a perfect ride-through on Monsters Unchained, and others have reported Battle at the Ministry regularly running with broken effects. In this case, it appears these rides will get better over time, as further test and adjust hones their timing and gets the Audio Animatronics firing on all cylinders.
I’d also extend this to the park as a whole. During my visits, there were still closed-off paths in Celestial Park and other areas that needed their finishing touches. Maybe this will be done by opening day, but maybe not. Regardless, my perspective is that the park is going to grow into its own over time, and it may take a few rainy seasons to get it really looking good.
I’m well aware that this ‘positive’ article about spending more time at Epic Universe is fairly backhanded. Much of this is ‘lemonade out of lemons’ stuff. But if you booked an opening season trip months ago, that is the angle from which I’d now recommend approaching this new park. Go in with a restrained and reasonable level of hype, hoping for the best but prepared for the worst.
At the risk of belaboring the point, we do not expect any of this to be much of an issue in the medium or long-term. I’m cognizant of the reality that some recent posts have seemingly positioned me as an Epic Universe Hater, but I swear, I really am not. I love the new park! Almost every new attraction or land has initial growing pains, especially the advanced ones. Epic Universe is an entire park of those!
I’m not trying to be critical or nitpick–this is more of a sober “it is what it is” type of commentary in the face of what has felt like a runaway hype train. A year from now, Epic Universe should be operating smoothly and with a high degree of efficiency. It’ll hopefully have blossomed into its own. There’s something to be said for experiencing a brand-new theme park, but there’s also a non-monetary cost to doing so. Consider both before taking the plunge.
Need trip planning tips and comprehensive advice for your visit to Central Florida? Make sure to read our Universal Orlando Planning Guide for everything about Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida. Also check out our Walt Disney World Vacation Planning Guide for everything about those parks, resorts, restaurants, and so much more.
YOUR THOUGHTS
Will you be attending Epic Universe this summer for its opening season, or will you skip it until the new park settles into a groove? If you do visit, are you planning on spending multiple days at Epic Universe to appreciate the new park in its full glory–or give yourself more of a safety net to experience more of the park and endure downtime and delays? Concerned about unreliable rides, how hot the park gets, or anything else? Agree or disagree with our assessments? Any questions? We love hearing from readers, so please share any other thoughts or questions you have in the comments below!
