Our guide to the best attractions in Epic Universe reviews & ranks the rides from worst to best, with numerical scores for every roller coaster, show, and dark ride in Florida’s newest theme park. If you’re planning a trip to Universal Orlando, this guide is a great starting point for things to do and what’s skippable.
One thing to note up front is that this Epic Universe ride guide does not take into account operational realities in the new theme park. 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.
This new park is going to have tremendous growing pains, and its envelope-pushing attractions are already plagued by downtime and unreliability. If you visit Epic Universe during its debut season or even first year, you’re likely going to encounter technical difficulties and other frustrations. You’ll notice that, with the exception of this introduction, these reviews largely pretend those problems do not exist.
The reason for this is quite simple–we’ve already focused tremendous attention on reliability and other woes at Epic Universe. Not just in that ‘skip’ article, but also in Here’s Why You Need 2 Days at Epic Universe, which is 50% positive and 50% backhanded compliments. Moreover, we never review new attractions, lands, or really anything else based on operational realities. We didn’t for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance back when we gave it a 10/10 review and called it a modern masterpiece, and we haven’t for other Disney attractions that have faced their own share of growing pains.
Suffice to say, we don’t think it would be fair to start factoring operations into the equation for Epic Universe–something we’ve never done for Disney. You’re already probably aware of those issues (or if not, you are now!), so there’s no sense in belaboring the point. The reason we’ve never done this before is also fairly simple–and it’s similar to movie reviews not factoring in misaligned projectors at their screenings (highly imperfect comparison, I’m aware).
This is all about the creative quality, technical achievement, sense of immersion, thrill factor, and more. It reviews the attractions at Epic Universe when they’re firing on all cylinders, and how you should prioritize them in such a scenario (and in any case, it’s impossible for us to know which rides are going to be problematic on your visit). You get the idea.
If you’re looking for an efficient step-by-step touring plan, we’ll have a 1-Day Epic Universe Itinerary as soon as possible. One thing to note here is that there’s a lot of excellent entertainment and themed design that doesn’t make it into this ride guide. That itinerary will cover an actual, substantive day in Universal Epic Universe with all of that, plus the optimal times to experience each land and attraction. This Epic Universe guide ranks the ride and gives you the info you need about each queue-based attraction to determine how to set your priorities.
Basically, same deal here as with our Universal Studios Florida Ride Guide or Islands of Adventure Ride Guide. Numerical scores are on a scale of 1 to 10, and only take into consideration overall quality relative to that specific type of attraction. Dark rides are judged against other dark rides, roller coasters against other coasters–and so on–to create a relatively level playing field.
Hopefully, this guide to attractions at Epic Universe will give you an idea of which ride are must-do, and which ones you can safely skip. It’s not a holistic review of Epic Universe, but should underscore just how strong the new theme park at Universal Orlando is from a “collection of rides” perspective. Because it really is.
From day one, Epic Universe is on par with Disney’s Hollywood Studios from a ride roster perspective–an impressive feat given that the latter is over 35 years old. We’ll separately address whether Epic Universe, as a whole, holds its own against Animal Kingdom, Shanghai Disneyland, or other recent(ish) Disney theme parks. For now, let’s dig into the attraction reviews…
N/A. Le Cirque Arcanus – For the first time ever in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, guests will enjoy a live theatre experience in the heart of the land with Le Cirque Arcanus. This show features live performers and aerialists, puppetry, special effects and more to take guests on a whirlwind journey where they’ll encounter fantastic beasts like never before.
The show follows Ringmaster Skender, who has stolen Newt Scamander’s suitcase – where Demiguise, Diricawl, Mooncalves and more reside – to try and bring the failing Le Cirque Arcanus back to its former glory. It’s then up to circus employee Gwenlyn to rescue these creatures before they end up in Skender’s greedy hands forever.
While I’ve done everything else multiple times, Le Cirque Arcanus is the one attraction in Epic Universe that I have not yet experienced. And not for lack of effort, across multiple days in the park. Fingers crossed that the fifth time’s the charm!
12. Dragon Racer’s Rally (4/10) – Berk’s new Vikings racers can practice aerobatic maneuvers and high-speed barrel rolls on two Viking-made dragon-riding trainers that reach heights of up to 67 feet in the air. Guests can control how “wild” or “mild” their experience will be as they perform high-flying, gravity-defying, swooping and soaring skills that are necessary to earn the accolades worthy of a true champion dragon racer.
Anyone remember when Luigi’s Flying Tires opened at Disney California Adventure, and the discourse was around guests being “too dumb” to figure out how to operate the ride vehicles? Hi, it’s me–I’m the dumb guest now. These dragons can allegedly me made to go upside down. Despite my absolute best efforts, I couldn’t even come close to achieving that. Even so, this is too short of a ride cycle and underwhelming. Even the views don’t really bring anything to the table that you can’t get elsewhere.
11. Yoshi’s Adventure (6.5/10) – On this family-friendly ride, guests of all ages board one of the non-stop parade of multi-colored Yoshis crawling their way through a meandering path above Super Mario Land. The outdoor section offers a sweeping view of the Mushroom Kingdom from Mount Beanpole and surrounded by Piranha Plants and other obstacles.
Inside, there are a variety of cute characters and an assortment of visuals. This, too, has an interactive element as you search for Captain Toad on a treasure hunt to find 3 mysterious eggs. You tap the corresponding colored button on a panel inside the carriage when you find one; pretty simple stuff.
The problem with Yoshi’s Adventure is that it’s over as quickly as it begins. Some fans have likened it to the PeopleMover, but it’s way shorter. Beyond the ride being brief, the dark ride tunnel is underwhelming and cheap-looking, and not in a charming, storybook style way. The great views and relaxed music make up for a lot, as does the off-the-charts cuteness factor. I’m sure our daughter will love this–and if I’m being honest, my perception of this attraction was improved a lot by virtue of that as contrasted with the first time I experienced this at USJ. I just wish it were a couple minutes longer. It’s unsatisfyingly short as-is.
10. Fyre Drill (7/10) – Mischievous Viking twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut invite teams of Vikings to compete to outscore and out-soak each other on this wet-and-wild boat battle. Guests will board a colorful dragon-headed boat and blast water cannons at flame-like targets to practice putting out fires – a crucial skill to master when living with dragons.
While the goal is allegedly aiming to hit targets, half the fun here is the interactivity among the boats, as guests can aim to blast one another. That makes it a lot of fun, like a squirt gun battle at sea. No one is safe on Fyre Drill–you will get wet, you may get soaked.
9. Constellation Carousel (7/10) – The grand centerpiece of Celestial Park. Here, explorers of all ages will take a fantastical whirl aboard constellations that glide forward, backward – and even make 360-degree rotations – through the milky way in a choreographed dance of music and starlight.
Constellation Carousel is absolutely gorgeous, perhaps the prettiest theme park flat ride outside of the double-decker Carousel Carousel oat Tokyo DisneySea. You’ll definitely want to make a point of seeing it at night, even if you don’t ride then.
8. Curse of the Werewolf (8/10) – Deep in the woods that sit on the edge of Darkmoor, guests will find Curse of the Werewolf, a spinning family coaster inspired by “The Wolf Man.”
Guests will enter the encampment of The Guild of Mystics where they’ll be greeted by the Maleva, the guild’s all-knowing seer and leader, who warns them that they bear the mark of the werewolf. Guests then board a wagon and venture into the forest – racing to escape the werewolves before they become one themselves.
Curse of the Werewolf is a pleasant surprise. I went in with no to low expectations, thinking it would be a short and underbaked coaster. And in some ways, it most definitely is underbaked. The thematics feel as if they were thrown together while raiding a Spirit Halloween on November 1. But the spinning roller coaster itself is shockingly satisfying, and a nice addition to the roster of roller coasters at Epic Universe.
7. Donkey Kong Mine-Cart Madness (8/10) – Guests will hop into a mine-cart and careen through the jungle to help Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong protect the coveted golden banana on this first-of-its-kind family coaster.
Utilizing an unprecedented ride system, innovative technology and a unique coaster design, Mine-Cart Madness will send riders on a thrilling adventure where they will experience the jaw-dropping maneuvers that they’ve seen Donkey Kong and the mine carts perform in the video games – including getting blasted out of a barrel, seemingly jumping over gaps as they speed along a rickety track, and so much more.
When it comes to Nintendo franchises, Donkey Kong is up there for me–higher than Super Mario, and lower than only Zelda. And there are few parts of the games that are more frustrating-yet-satisfying than the mine-cart segments. I’m terrible at them, which makes a perfect run feel even better. Mine-Cart Madness has that same frustrating quality.
I wanted to love this roller coaster so much, but it just doesn’t quite hit for me. The dark ride aspects are underwhelming, and there’s not enough meat to the scenes to make this a satisfying dark ride. But because of the show component, and due to the ride trying to do too much with its novel ‘hidden track’ technology, there are also too many starts and stops for a truly satisfying roller coaster.
Mine-Cart Madness tries to do too much, which ultimately prevents it from being a great coaster or a great dark ride. I appreciate that it exists and respect how it’s trying to push the envelope, but I suspect most of my future enjoyment of the attraction will come from watching it wind through Donkey Kong Country. It’s definitely an atmospheric asset to the land as a whole, and who knows–maybe my initial expectations were too high and it’ll grow on me.
Although wait times do not factor into our reviews or rankings, we can’t help but point out the mix of low capacity, high demand, and unreliability for Mine-Cart Madness. This is a recipe for the highest average posted wait times at Epic Universe once the dust settles on opening. For all but the most diehard Donkey Kong fans, Mine-Cart Madness will probably go down as the most “skippable” major ride at Epic Universe.
6. Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge (9/10) – Guests are invited to join Team Mario and battle Team Bowser for the Golden Cup in this groundbreaking attraction that fuses augmented reality, projection mapping technology and elaborate environments to bring the fun of the Mario Kart video game series to life in a compelling ride-through experience.
Guests up for the challenge will enter through Bowser’s Castle – where they’ll wind its corridors and get a glimpse of Bowser’s deceptive plans to stack the odds in his favor – before boarding their kart and heading to the starting line. The premise of Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge is simple but challenging, appealing to guests of all ages regardless of gaming experience.
As part of Team Mario, guests steer through a sampling of courses while collecting coins and shells, and shooting the latter at enemies in order to defeat Team Bowser. The ride-through game is both a shooter and a racer, skewing towards the former. It has a steeper learning curve than normal for this type of attraction, owing largely to the AR. It’s also a pretty well done dark ride if you’d prefer to enjoy it passively, but most of the scenes can’t be seen through the headset.
Bowser’s Challenge has proven polarizing with fans. Many expected something faster, others don’t like how the AR works. While there are legitimate criticisms of the ride, I love it. Like the best Mario Kart courses, it’s the perfect mixture of frustrating, fun, and addictive. You want to keep coming back, seeing what you missed before, and improving your results. I have many, many more thoughts about this attraction, and you can read them–and see more–in our spoiler-free Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge Ride Review.
5. The Untrainable Dragon (9/10) – Inspired by Universal Beijing Resort’s popular show, this dragon-filled live spectacular takes guests on a journey with Hiccup, Toothless, Gobber, and Astrid as they work together to solve the mystery of The Untrainable Dragon. This heartwarming story comes to life with musical numbers, large-scale sets and show-stopping scenes.
The Untrainable Dragon is carried by the dragons. As one might expect.
I was initially inclined to give the Untrainable Dragon a 10/10 score on the backs of those dragons, as the visuals of this show are so wowing that they overcome everything else. After mulling it over a bit more, the script does strike me as very basic (I’d hazard a guess it was ported directly from Beijing without much more than a straightforward translation). I still think it’s a must-see show, but not quite on par with the best of Disney’s Broadway style productions–even if the marquee moments are more awe-inspiring.
4. Hiccup’s Wing Gliders (9.5/10) – On this family thrill coaster, Hiccup invites brave new Vikings to take a ride in his latest glider contraption – a winged flying machine that launches aspiring Dragon Riders into the sky for a dragon’s eye view of Berk. Guests will fly alongside Hiccup and Toothless and reach speeds up to 45 mph as they soar around the perimeter of Berk – and even through the lagoon – while experiencing firsthand what it’s like to fly on a dragon.
Adults and older kids alike will love Hiccup’s Wing Gliders. It’s a mildly thrilling but extremely smooth roller coaster that, as the name suggests, simulates the feeling of gliding like a dragon above the Isle of Berk. The roller coaster offers breathtaking views of the land, making it the most visually engaging thrill ride in Epic Universe.
As the iconic John Powell score from “How to Train Your Dragon” swells during your flight and you skim over the lagoon, the power of this roller coaster really hits you. Hiccup’s Wing Gliders is a special ride, and just really hits all of the right marks for a family-friendly (albeit one that skews slightly older).
If the next entry on this list did not exist, I’d probably give Hiccup’s Wing Gliders a 10/10 score. However, there’s a big gap between these coasters (more than just half a point), and riding them back to back underscored for me that maybe Hiccup’s Wing Gliders is not a perfect coaster. Your mileage may vary.
3. Stardust Racers (10/10) – This dual-launch racing coaster that sends guests rocketing through the skies aboard comets in a race to see who’s the fastest of them all. Reaching speeds up to 62 mph and heights up to 133 feet along 5,000 feet of track, Stardust Racers is Epic Universe’s most thrilling coaster experience with unique maneuvers such as the “Celestial Spin,” in which the two coaster vehicles perform an inverted crisscross while speeding through the air, creating an otherworldly adrenaline rush.
I want to be clear: I am a theme parks fan first and foremost. If there’s one critique of my other ride rankings and reviews, it’s that I over-index dark rides and under-index roller coasters relative to the general public. When I started to see Epic Universe ride rankings trickle out that had Stardust Racers in the top half of the list, I was actually concerned that maybe this park wasn’t for me.
Now I get it. No explanation can do this roller coaster full justice, but it’s an absolute delight to ride. It’s an exposed coaster (or dueling coasters, plural) without much of a thematic pretense, but there’s just enough in terms of detail and design to give it personality. The entrance reminds me of the Grand Palais in Paris, with the exhibition-architecture meets cosmos stylization plus a nod to Back to the Future being just enough to elevate this above an amusement park roller coaster from a visual perspective.
In reality, though, this is all about the roller coaster. Wow what a roller coaster. From the fake-out of the launch to the initial climb, it feels like you’re blasting off to outer space. Like what I’d imagine happens in the Millennium Falcon when you punch it to lightspeed. This playful coasters are full of surprises, with high-speed thrills offset by moments of levity and amazing interplay between the two tracks. There’s a ridiculous amount of airtime, and even though it’s intense, it’s never punishing.
I also just cannot get enough of the racing. For me, that’s what makes Stardust Racers (riding with friends and both being in the front-row is ridiculously fun–highly recommend that for a party of 4). I’m not sure this would beat Stardust Racers from a track/ride profile perspective with my eyes closed, but they’d be neck and neck. With the dueling element, Stardust Racers blows it out of the water.
T1. Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment (10/10) – Saving the second-best for last, we have Universal Orlando’s most terrifying attraction ever, like a tamed-down Halloween Horror Nights but with a monster budget. Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment is a state-of-the-art dark ride that takes guests deep into the catacombs of Frankenstein Manor, where Dr. Victoria Frankenstein conducts her twisted experiments.
In a vain display of her genius, Victoria invites guests into her laboratory to witness a demonstration of her ability to control monsters – but her plans go awry when her attempts to control the most dangerous of monsters, Dracula, fails, unleashing a horde of enraged monsters. Guests are then thrust into an intense ride through the darkness as they try to evade the grasps of The Wolf Man, The Mummy, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Brides of Dracula and others.
The Frankenstein estate is done in the style of a European chateau, with the manor itself being one of the all-time great theme park facades. The gothic architecture is stunning, at once both lavish and foreboding, and one of many statement pieces for Epic Universe. This continues on the inside, from the ornate lobby with its grand staircase to the lighting–and literally everything else.
Monsters Unchained has an impressive queue that is heavy on lore, world-building, and references to classic Universal monsters. It’s the kind of line where an hour-plus wait doesn’t feel interminably long, because there’s so much to discover and uncover. Once you’re through the queue, you’re introduced to the ride’s protagonist and her ‘helpers’ via two pre-shows, both of which are not to be missed. (And you do miss them via the Single Rider line, so only do that after using the standard standby line once.)
The Frankenstein Experiment uses the same ride system as Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey over at Islands of Adventure, but iterates on that impressively. This is mostly an attraction with practical sets and Audio Animatronics–and massive ones that get up close and personal with guests. There are still screens, and maybe a bit too many of them, but they are mostly used to supplement the action.
Unlike the next entry, Monsters Unchained is not quite a “no notes” attraction. There are a few voids and immersion-breaking moments, and bits of sloppiness where physical infrastructure isn’t properly hidden from guests’ view. It’s nevertheless a formidable ride and technical feat, especially the advanced Audio Animatronics.
Monsters Unchained is tied for #1 because it might be my (subjective) personal favorite attraction in Epic Universe. It’s not just that it’s an all-time great attraction, it’s also that it has unexpected personality (which bleeds out into Darkmoor itself thanks to the hilarious and memorable Ygor), heart. It’s a ride that sticks with you and will develop an ardent fan-following over time. It’s hard to fully articulate, but Universal Creative captured lightning in a bottle with this one.
T1. Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry (10/10) – With its unique combination of massive environments, powerful storytelling and first-of-its-kind ride technology, Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry builds upon all of Universal Creative’s past innovations to date for its most impressive and envelope-pushing attraction ever.
The adventure begins when guests travel by Métro-Floo – a unique mode of wizarding transit inspired by the iconic Floo Network seen in the films – to journey from wizarding Paris to the British Ministry of Magic for the long-awaited trial of the infamous Dolores Umbridge. Upon arrival, guests will enter the Ministry’s jaw-dropping grand atrium and venture through other departments before boarding magical lifts to watch the trial take place.
Guests then join Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and a house-elf named Higgledy in a thrilling chase after Umbridge escapes that propels them up, down, forward, backward, sideways and more throughout the Ministry of Magic in an attempt to capture Umbridge.
Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry is a tour de force from start to finish. The grand atrium is every bit as jaw-dropping in person as it is in photos, with impressive tilework, statues, and lavish environments. What’s less discussed about the queue is how little it feels like a queue in some places. It’s a bit meandering–in a good way–and you feel like you’re traversing through the Ministry as opposed to waiting in a line.
As for the ride experience on Battle at the Ministry…the less you know going in, the better. Which is good for me as someone who is not a Harry Potter or Fantastic Beasts fanatic, as attempting to explain what, exactly, is happening with this attraction isn’t exactly easy. The plot is simple and straightforward–it’s your basic “and then something goes terribly wrong” ride conceit with a fairly predictable resolution. So probably can guess the basic plot beats and outcome just based on the description.
Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry is more impressive from a technical perspective, and the moment-to-moment action that keeps you guessing and leaves you speechless. There’s one “how did they do that?!” effect after another, with the scale and the scope of the scenes being jaw-dropping. The line between screens and practical effects is blurred to a degree the theme park world has never seen, to the point that you might wonder whether what you’re looking at is a screen, Audio Animatronics figure, or live actor. Seriously.
Comcast spared no expense on this ride, seemingly giving the creative team a blank check and allowing them to build the perfect “no notes” attraction. Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry elevates the medium in a new way, raising the bar and calling on a “response” from Walt Disney Imagineering more than anything else in the park. Without question, this is the objective best attraction in Epic Universe and a new high-water mark for Universal Creative.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of Universal’s Epic Universe? Which attraction are you most looking forward to experiencing? Excited for Super Nintendo World, Harry Potter’s Ministry of Magic, Dark Universe/Classic Monsters, or the How to Train Your Dragon lands and/or attractions? Think Epic Universe will be a third gate that’s a worthy addition to Universal Orlando Resort…and potentially on par with Disney’s best lands? Any questions? Coverage you’d like to see from us regarding Epic Universe? Need to know strategy or info? We love hearing from readers, so please share any other thoughts or questions you have in the comments below!