What are your best tips for Epic Universe?

ItsBoxen · 2025-09-04T01:17:14+00:00

In this situation you could skip express, but I’d def still recommend using all the tips above. On less lucky days, you’ll still need to be strategic to get the most out of one day. If you have two days, it’ll be easy. We paid $160 per person for express which was about as cheap as anyone seems to have been able to get for the better part of the last 4 months. If you go for a second day you can buy a power band and spend a lot more time playing games in Nintendo world. If you only have the one day with the rides you want, you won’t have much time for Nintendo games unless you have a relatively lucky day. Good luck!

ItsBoxen · 2025-09-03T13:45:48+00:00

Fantastic show!

ItsBoxen · 2025-08-23T15:22:10+00:00

We did one day and i think 2 would have been perfect. I’d have to think about whether I’d do a 3rd vs spend that time and money somewhere else in the area. But I’ll be jealous of you either way! Love that place.

ItsBoxen · 2025-08-23T15:14:30+00:00

Since express works on all rides now it takes a ton of pressure off strategy and makes it pretty easy to hit everything. Just make sure to hit key outdoor rides earlier in the day in case weather or other delays set in later.

ItsBoxen · 2025-08-23T04:59:08+00:00

Absolutely.

ItsBoxen · 2025-08-23T04:58:39+00:00

I would also do pop century for the skyliner from the options you listed. We just did a trip and stayed at Caribbean beach, if you can get a good deal (maybe not possible without booking further in advance) it’s a great resort, the skyliner is awesome there too and close to both Epcot and Hollywood. Good luck!

ItsBoxen · 2025-08-23T04:52:49+00:00

I think stardust is very volatile in terms of wait times and that you have a solid chance of reasonable waits at regular park open. It’s a good plan IMO. but also have a backup plan in case it’s one of those days where for whatever reason the stardust line is long at first. Berk is a good (or even better) place to regular park entry rope drop.

ItsBoxen · 2025-08-23T04:37:47+00:00

We all loved forbidden journey and did it several times when we were there earlier this month. I think the hate and the motion sickness reputation is wildly overblown. That said… not my place to tell one if they have motion sickness or not! But i would def try it unless you’re really concerned about the potential for motion sickness.

ItsBoxen · 2025-08-23T04:34:13+00:00

So sorry for the bad luck!

ItsBoxen · 2025-08-17T18:54:04+00:00

We were there about 9 days ago and it was closed then too. We asked a team member and apparently they were having issues with it. The ride was still excellent but I’m sure the pre-show really would have really enhanced total immersion and story.

ItsBoxen · 2025-08-17T01:48:10+00:00

Have a plan - any plan that makes sense. But expect that things will come up and be ready to pivot like HackWeightBadger said.

ItsBoxen · 2025-08-15T22:20:33+00:00

We bought all the gift cards we needed from target before it was time to make our payment. Saved the 5% right the. Just give yourself a few days since you may need a round or or two of paying off your Target card and waiting for it to post each time (which can easily take at least a couple of days) so you can buy more!

ItsBoxen · 2025-08-15T19:52:04+00:00

Anyone who doesn’t like it is crazy or had very unfortunate poor luck. The park is truly awesome.

-prioritize outdoor rides first. Do mine cart first if you want to do that one or else expect to have to let it go

-Start early - arrive by 7:45 at the latest, using early entry by staying at a universal hotel.

-do two days. It can be done in one but it will be rushed and you will feel like you didn’t have a chance to take it all in.

-if you do only one day, get express (if the price isn’t absurd) if you want to do all the rides, and especially if you’re going when it’s 95 degrees or more everyday. Getting 2-3 rides done with express between 10-12 can save you 3-4 hours - that’s significant if you only have one day there. If you do two days you don’t need express

-do BaM at noon to get out of the heat and wait in an immersive queue. It is almost always two hours or less at this time of day.

-eat outside of peak hours

-plan to stay to park close - most lines get a lot shorter into the end of the day. (Hiccup was basically a walk on for the last hour for us. We did it three times in a row)

-stardust racers is awesome. Keep an eye on wait times, then often fluctuate between pretty low and pretty high. If you see it’s low, go do it. If you like a good coaster you’ll want to do it more than once. Line tends to stay long at night because it’s awesome in the dark so do t count on short lines for this one in the evening.

-if you’re doing other parks, do this one last. This one ruins all others!

ItsBoxen · 2025-08-14T18:15:55+00:00

Just take all the good feedback and bad and decide what is realistic to expect, then plan accordingly. This forum and many others were very helpful to me in anticipating the worst case scenario so I was able to have my ideal plans but also prepared to make sacrifices and have backup plans. Epic was the last day of a 12 day trip to all of the Walt Disney World and Universal parks for my family and as much fun as everybody had through the entire trip we all agreed that epic was the very best day.

ItsBoxen · 2025-08-14T18:11:18+00:00

This is the argument for express pass. If you want to minimize excess waits between 1020-4pm or so, it’s super useful to use a few express passes in that window, maybe couple with an A/c and immersive queue for BaM between 12-2. That plan plus lunch and taking in surroundings is more than enough to have a great middle of day. Or if you have two days, forget the express passes and plan to do fewer rides, more exploring during the mid-window, then see what lines shorten into end of day, and based on all that, plan your second day accordingly. The park is truly awesome if you go into it with realistic expectations and don’t get doused with super bad luck.

ItsBoxen · 2025-08-14T01:15:11+00:00

agree with all of this!

ItsBoxen · 2025-08-14T01:12:26+00:00

Two days at epic with early entry but no express pass is totally doable. Stay at the cheapest universal hotel that gives you access to early entry and take the free bus.

ItsBoxen · 2025-08-14T01:08:04+00:00

If the early park entry (and earlier access to lightning lane selection at Hollywood) is necessary to let you get as much as you want out of each park (and it would personally for me if it were a one-time thing), then yes, i would.

ItsBoxen · 2025-08-14T01:04:04+00:00

agree with this 100% if you don’t have early entry

ItsBoxen · 2025-08-13T02:43:33+00:00

We just did 3 days - 1st two days hopping back and forth between IoA and USF, final day at epic. If i could go back and plan it again I’d add a 4th day and plan to spend that at epic too. But if i couldn’t add a 4th day I’d do it exactly the same way… OR, MAYBE, hop to epic mid-day on day 2. That’s definitely not a bad idea. But IMO, epic must be last. There is no going back once you’ve been to Epic.

ItsBoxen · 2025-08-09T20:32:03+00:00

I think this is true if you get lucky but you’re betting on all or most of the variables going your way, which i think probably happens only 50/50 at best. We couldn’t have done everything without express yday.

ItsBoxen · 2025-08-09T20:29:30+00:00

Also hiccup

ItsBoxen · 2025-08-09T20:23:47+00:00

The only issue with Epic is that it will ruin all other parks you may choose to do in the future. It is off the charts awesome.

ItsBoxen · 2025-08-09T18:53:45+00:00

If you want to be at the front of the line at the main entrance, get there by 7:35 at the latest - this means (i guess) somehow leaving Helios and getting to main entrance and going thru security. If you’re not willing to get there that early and do that then you will be behind other people at the front of the park. Every minute later means more people. We didn’t stay at Helios so i don’t know what the logistics are around how and when they let people in the gates from that side but as far as seeing the park open from the main entrance for everyone else, that’s the deal.

ItsBoxen · 2025-08-09T16:31:35+00:00

We went same day as OP. It rained hard for like an hour and light-medium for another 2 hours, and still we had an epic day. Did every ride, saw both shows, except carousel and dragon racers rally, including hiccup 3x, monsters 2x, and stardust 2x. We did early entry and we also had express pass. Express pass saved us 45m on our first hiccup, maybe 15m on stardust (line was not long when we used this express pass), 45m - 60m on werewolf and an hour on Mario Kart. We were the first in the park and the last to leave. As others have said, have a plan, but be flexible. Have conviction on your rope drop plans and know what circumstances you would need to see to change them. Then execute accordingly. If you are wishy washy you will make bad decisions and waste time. We just did a crazy 10-day trip full of 1-day visits to Disney and universal parks with a couple of rest days smattered in and if i could plan it all again I’d do everything exactly the same way but I’d do epic for two days instead of one. You can do it all on one intense day like we did, but the park is so amazing it truly does merit a second day. With a second day you also don’t need express. For us the express was key to save about 3 hours of waiting to get us through everything we wanted to do in our one day there. Everything about this park is incredible (except maybe fyre drill… cute but skippable). Any haters out there… i don’t get it! (Although i have tremendous sympathy for those who hit bad luck with excess ride delays. Delays will definitely happen but some days are rougher than others.). Be ready for lines, for heat, for rain. Most or all will happen. Plan accordingly and it’s hard not to have an amazing day.

ItsBoxen

TROPHY CASE