Our 1-day Universal Epic Universe itinerary offers a plan for an ideal visit, with strategy to minimize time waiting in lines for the Nintendo and Harry Potter headliners, along with tips for avoiding the worst crowds & ride breakdowns. This includes advice for restaurants, shows, snacks, entertainment, and more.
This is going to be a more ‘lightweight’ itinerary than normal, offering a rough outline for your day as opposed to a strict step-by-step plan of attack. This is out of necessity and our desire to not overpromise and underdeliver. The practical reality is that Epic Universe is still brand-new, and the park still hasn’t hit its stride. It’s been a bit of a rough ride, with the only consistency being inconsistency.
Speaking of which, we’ll start by yet again making a plug for our rundown of Why You Should Skip Epic Universe. Our advice for the majority of tourists is to stay on the sidelines and wait until Epic Universe improves its operations and efficiency.
If you haven’t yet purchased tickets and are averse to high wait times or aggressive strategizing, you should really consider waiting to visit Epic Universe until 2026. Alternatively, check out our Secret to Conquer Crowds at Epic Universe: Best Dates to Visit in 2025 & 2026 for advice on when to visit for the lowest wait times.
There are several reasons for waiting to visit or choosing the best dates, but the big one is that Epic Universe is seeing astronomical wait times for a number of reasons despite relatively low attendance. Epic Universe has had several record-setting days and weeks since, breaking the 80 minute wait time barrier multiple times this summer.
The park once again exceeded 80 minute averages three times last month: October 7, 12, and 14. There’s a very real possibility it’ll hit 90 minutes during Thanksgiving week, and it might be able to eclipse 100 minutes between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
Keep in mind that these are averages. Wait times tend to be even higher midday, but lower first thing in the morning or evening. Some attractions are averaging waits that are over 2 hours, but that’s offset by a few people-eaters or less popular attractions that are below 30 minutes. All told, Epic Universe has 5 rides plus one meet & greet averaging wait times over an hour this month. Three of those are in triple-digit territory.
This may not seem that bad. After all, many rides at Walt Disney World have wait times that are over an hour. But keep in mind that this is an average across all rides and throughout the day, and it doesn’t take into account downtime. The highest average wait times Walt Disney World has had since 2019 have been 71 and 70 minute waits–both came during the weeks of New Year’s (early 2020 and late 2023).
Epic Universe has had two full weeks with higher average wait times, and dozens of individual days breaking 70 minutes. Suffice to say, Epic Universe wait times have been really high, making it difficult to accomplish everything in a single day.
All of this is a bit beyond the scope of this post, but we mention it to underscore just how difficult it can be to strategize for Epic Universe. Moreover, that you might need to make tough decisions on what to do and what to skip. On busier days, you absolutely will not be able to do it all. We’ve received reader complaints from some guests who only did 3-5 attractions all day.
That’s an extreme example, but we’d nevertheless recommend consulting our Rankings & Reviews of All Epic Universe Attractions, and making a list of 4-5 attractions that are must-dos, another few that you’d like to do, and a few that are okay to skip. Such a list is helpful in expectation-setting, and also not overemphasizing rides. A lot of Epic Universe’s appeal is atmospheric–there’s no line for that!
With that all out of the way, let’s get to the brass tacks of the itinerary…
Line-Skipping at Epic Universe
A couple of things before we get started. First, this Epic Universe itinerary assumes that you do not have Express Pass, which is Universal’s skip-the-line option. If you do have Express Pass, that takes away a lot of pressure of following an itinerary for rides. It does not take away all of the pressure at Epic Universe, so don’t let Express Pass make you complacent.
If you have Express Pass, we recommend following this itinerary in the morning via standby lines when wait times are minimal or nonexistent, and then revisiting rides in the afternoon and using Express Pass then. By and large, this itinerary offers step by step strategy so you don’t need to purchase Express Pass. See Should You Buy Express Pass at Epic Universe?
It’s also worth emphasizing that there’s another low-cost option: most rides at Epic Universe offer Single Rider lines. And not only that, but with the park skewing towards tourists during its opening season(s) due to a lack of local Annual Passholders, those Single Rider lines are the ultimate intersection of time and cost efficiency. See Single Rider Lines Are a Game-Changer at Epic Universe.
Early Park Admission at Epic Universe
Early Park Admission (EPA) is essentially Universal Orlando’s twist on Early Entry or Extra Magic Hours at Walt Disney World. Going forward, Early Park Admission will be offered at Epic Universe daily through at least December 31, 2025. It’ll almost certainly continue in 2026 and beyond, that’s as far as the calendar goes.
During Early Park Admission, all on-site Universal Orlando hotel guests and other select groups can access one of our amazing theme parks up to one hour before the park opens. It’s yet to be only 30 minutes at Epic Universe, and there’s no reason to expect that to change anytime soon. Unofficially, we’ve already experienced it starting slightly earlier than an hour in advance, and expect this to continue to be the trend going forward at Epic Universe.
Here are the available attractions during Early Park Admission at Universal Epic Universe:
- Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge
- Yoshi’s Adventure
Donkey Kong Mine-Cart Madness- Stardust Racers
- Constellation Carousel
- Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment
- Curse of the Werewolf
This means the lands open during EPA are Celestial Park, Super Nintendo World, and Dark Universe. With the exception of Mine-Cart Madness in Donkey Kong Country, as reflected in the strike-through above.
Super Nintendo World is the obvious starting point for EPA at Epic Universe. Frankly, we would recommend starting elsewhere, as covered in Why to Skip Super Nintendo World’s Morning Madness During Epic Universe’s Early Entry.
Rope Drop Run at Epic Universe
If you’re staying off-site, you don’t have access to Early Park Admission. Accordingly, you will want to prioritize the other portals that aren’t open during EPA as opposed to racing to Super Nintendo World and being behind all of the on-site guests. That’s objectively bad strategy.
There are a few exceptions to this. First, Donkey Kong Mine-Cart Madness is the park’s #1 or #2 average daily wait time, and it is not open during EPA. Unfortunately, it’s in Super Nintendo World and the entrance to the ride (and Donkey Kong Country as a whole) is inaccessible to off-site guests prior to park opening. Many on-site guests will pre-queue for Mine-Cart Madness during EPA. That also makes this is a poor starting point.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic and How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk both open at regular rope drop. Accordingly, you should start in one of these two worlds…
Another exception to the above is that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic is occasionally open during Early Park Admission. If it is, it’s just open to everyone. This portal is not part of EPA, so anyone can access it.
If you’re staying off-site, you should absolutely arrive a full hour (or more!) prior to official park opening. You’ll be allowed to enter Epic Universe at the same time as EPA guests, you just won’t be able to enter Super Nintendo World or Dark Universe.
Instead, go check out the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic to see if the portal is open and, with it, Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry. Along with Donkey Kong Mine-Cart Madness, this is the other attraction that’s typically #1 or #2 at Epic Universe in terms of average daily waits.
Battle at the Ministry is one of those attractions that often seems to open whenever it’s ready. The ride is notorious for downtime and delays, so it may not be up when you first enter the park. If it is, do Battle at the Ministry ASAP.
If it’s not, you have some time to enjoy the atmosphere in Ministry or Magic, wander around Epic Universe to enjoy the park with low crowds, etc. If Battle at the Ministry isn’t open to start the day, cut your losses! We do not recommend loitering around, waiting for it to open. We also don’t recommend doing BatM early-on if there is a delayed opening; its wait time tends to peak early, so later in the afternoon is optimal if not very first thing.
In a perfect world, you’ll either be done with Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry in 45 minutes. That gives you enough time to rope drop How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk. (If Battle at the Ministry is not open early, we’d recommend lining up at the Isle of Berk portal ~30 minutes before official park opening.)
If you’re at the portal in time for regular rope drop, we’d recommend the following approach to How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk:
- Hiccup’s Wing Gliders (x2)
- Dragon Racer’s Rally
- Meet Toothless & Friends
- Fyre Drill
The one asterisk here is Meet Toothless & Friends. This is an incredibly popular encounter and it’s an outdoor meet & greet with exceedingly low capacity. It’s the #4 average wait time in Epic Universe at around 90 minutes. If you plan on doing this at all, knocking it out towards the beginning or end of the day is ideal.
If you’re at the absolute front of the pack, Meet Toothless first. If you are not, then don’t. Rope drop is the time to knock out as many attractions with low waits as quickly as possible. Even if the line looks short, it can take a while to Meet Toothless. (Again, super low capacity.) That time has tremendous opportunity cost, and you’re forfeiting quick rides on roller coasters (etc.) with brief waits.
I would also note that Dragon Racer’s Rally and Fyre Drill are both among Epic Universe’s most skippable attractions. If you’re not interested in those or meeting Toothless, you might just ride Hiccup’s Wing Gliders (a great coaster) a couple of times and then bounce over to Dark Universe, where you should be able to knock out Curse of the Werewolf with only a brief wait.
For everything else you need to know about rope drop at Epic Universe, see Epic Universe Morning Strategy: Rope Drop Rides to Do & Avoid to Save Time!
Eat Early at Epic Universe
It might seem like a waste of valuable morning hours to get food so soon, but in our experience, wait times can get bad for a few of the most popular counter service restaurants at Epic Universe.
If you’re still in Isle of Berk, Hooligan’s Grog & Gruel has one of the longer lines throughout the day at Epic Universe. Hooligan’s Grog & Gruel is home to the fan-favorite mac & cheese cones, which are enormous and delicious. They make for a great mid-morning snack. It might even make sense to slot this above the meet & greet depending upon how long the line is for that.
Then there’s Café L’air De La Sirène in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic. This is arguably the best counter service restaurant at Epic Universe, and also among the most popular.
We once waited 45 minutes for some of our food during the lunch rush, and have heard this is not uncommon! Café L’air De La Sirène is open early for breakfast, so you could do that if you want to eat as much at Epic Universe as possible. We recommend an early lunch.
The other hugely popular counter service restaurant at Epic Universe is Toadstool Cafe in Super Nintendo World. This is a place to go for theme park Italian food if there are no other crowd-pleasing options suitable for your party, or if you really want the Nintendo atmosphere.
It’s fun, but the food is mediocre. What I might recommend instead is going for the Princess Peach’s Birthday Cake. Getting that dessert to split for a taste of the atmosphere is probably the smartest move. Do this early or late in the day to avoid the crowds.
For other dining advice, see My Favorite Foods at Epic Universe & Must-Eat Restaurants!
All-Star Attractions at Epic Universe
After finishing up an early lunch, it’s a good time to knock out the least-popular attractions by wait time. These are actually a couple of all-stars:
Monsters Unchained – This state-of-the-art dark ride that takes guests deep into the catacombs of Frankenstein Manor, where Dr. Victoria Frankenstein conducts her twisted experiments. Guests are 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.
Monsters Unchained 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, but they are mostly used to supplement the action. Monsters Unchained is the #1 or #2 ride at Epic Universe in terms of quality.
Monsters Unchained is not as popular with general audiences and it has a very high hourly capacity when it’s firing on all cylinders. This was the first Epic Universe attraction to hit 1 million guests; this people-eater is the headliner ride with the lowest wait time on average. Don’t let that fool you–Monsters Unchained is a 10/10 must-do!
Stardust Racers – 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.
Stardust Racers is also one of the more reliable and high-capacity attractions in Epic Universe, owing in large part to it essentially being two roller coasters on one load platform. So long as it doesn’t have downtime, you should find a pretty manageable wait here–reasonable enough that you might be compelled to re-ride.
The theoretical hourly capacity of Stardust Racers is estimated to be over 2,750 guests, which is a big reason why it frequently has the shortest waits in the park. Like Monsters Unchained, the roller coaster is a people eater and also another 10/10 ride.
Constellation Carousel – The centerpiece of Celestial Park is a lovely carousel that’s absolutely gorgeous, especially at night. But it’s still just a carousel. If you’re going to do it at all, do it before evening. Wait times are much lower earlier in the day.
You’ll definitely want to make a point of seeing it at night, but we don’t recommend riding it then. It looks pretty whether you’re riding or looking at it, and the evening hours are too valuable to spend 30-45 minutes here. The midday wait time should be under 15 minutes. That’s the maximum we’d wait for it–and even that’s a stretch.
Midday Clock-Killing at Epic Universe
Wait times at Epic Universe typically peak between 11 am and 1 pm, after which time they start dropping. On many dates, that decrease can be rather steep. We’ve seen the same at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, where the top-heavy nature of the ride roster results in many guests getting burnt out or hitting a wall after encountering a surplus of high wait times.
As is the case there, we strongly recommend “getting over the hump” by doing lower-stress stage shows. Fortunately, there are two fantastic ones at Epic Universe:
The Untrainable Dragon – This dragon-filled live spectacular is Isle of Berk 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. They are absolutely jaw-dropping, and there’s a certain wow-factor of the creatures. The show is somewhat simplistic, but it’s incredibly enjoyable.
Untrainable Dragon is 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.
Le Cirque Arcanus (10/10) – The Wizarding World of Harry Potter’s live show in the heart of the Ministry of Magic is pure magic. 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. This is a multi-phase show, so don’t fret if you don’t have a great room in the standing area–that’s just a pre-show.
Like Untrainable Dragon, the highlight of Le Cirque Arcanus is the mythical creatures. They are majestic and breathtakingly beautiful. Le Cirque Arcanus is something special. The live performers and acrobats that open the act are impressive, and sure to be appreciated by adults. But it’s the puppets that truly steal the show. They are elaborate and adorable, and the way the performers bring them to life is pure magic.
I know absolutely nothing about Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts, but I absolutely adore Le Circus Arcanus. I’m sure familiarity with the franchise enhances the experience, but it’s not necessary. This is a self-contained story, and besides, cute mythical creatures are a universal language. Consider prioritizing one of the earlier performances, as Le Circus Arcanus often has technical difficulties and gets cancelled later in the day.
Afternoon in Paris: Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic
Butterbeer Breather – Since you’re already in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic for Le Circus Arcanus, consider experiencing more of the land now. Take an afternoon break with some Butterbeer, and enjoy it while exploring the area, soaking up the sights and sounds of Wizarding World Paris.
Butterbeer is like a really sweet & creamy version of cream soda, perhaps like root beer if you removed the bite and dialed up the creaminess to 11. Regardless of whether that sounds appealing, drinking a Butterbeer is a must–it’s a Universal/Harry Potter rite of passage.
Wizarding World Paris Performers – Once finished with that, continue exploring the Wizarding World Paris. There’s a variety of shops, back alleys, and more. The whole land is brimming with detail. I’m more of a France fan than a Harry Potter enthusiast, and I love Ministry of Magic.
We really enjoy Place Cachée Jazz Band with Plume the Puffskein, which is an atmospheric music act that performs 10-15 minute sets throughout the day. There’s also a wide variety of free-roaming characters that improvise and interact with guests.
These performers are good, but this is more awkward for me than anything since Harry Potter isn’t my jam. I have no clue what they’re talking about and never know how to successfully riff with them. There’s this detective lurking in the shadows back there who I swear gets his kicks by giving me jumpscares when I’m setting up for photos. I assume this would go better if you speak Hufflelump or whatever.
Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry – If you didn’t knock up the Harry Potter headliner earlier, mid-to-late afternoon can be a good time. It’ll probably still have a long wait at this point, but the upsides of doing it now as opposed to waiting longer are three-fold: 1) it’s an indoor escape from the heat; 2) it’s breakdown prone, so waiting isn’t without risk; 3) doing it now frees up your evening.
I do not think it’s prudent to save Battle at the Ministry until the very end of the night. Reliability (or lack thereof) is a big issue, meaning that putting it off might result in not getting to experience it at all. On the other hand, if you do it now and it does have a short wait later in the night (as is often the case), you can do it again!
Nighttime in Nintendo
The best theme park itineraries are basically the same forward or backwards, and that’s true with Epic Universe. If you don’t knock out Super Nintendo World at the beginning of the morning during Early Park Admission, you should save it for the end of the evening.
Assuming it wasn’t a rough day with downtime and delays, you’ll notice wait times for Super Nintendo World start to decrease by 4 pm. On a moderately busy day, they’ll really drop off by 5 or 6 pm. By 7 pm, Yoshi’s Adventure should be under 30 minutes and Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge should be under an hour.
There is no normal for Mine-Cart Madness; it’s not uncommon for the Donkey Kong coaster to have a 3-hour wait when everything else is at or under an hour. Do Mine-Cart Madness in the last hour of the evening or not at all.
An underrated part of doing Super Nintendo World at night is that it’s much more pleasant. Crowds are chaotic earlier in the day, and the shiny surfaces reflect and radiate the heat. It can get really uncomfortable. At night, the artificial lighting really makes the colors pop, and it’s much more manageable with fewer people.
This nighttime beauty and pleasantness is not unique to Super Nintendo World. Every portal in the park is arguably better at night, and we recommend making a lap of the park to check them all out. Dark Universe is the one that garners the most attention, and for good reason, but every single land/world of Epic Universe is stunning at night. And the good news is that the portals are usually open for a bit after park closing, so you can do this lap once you can no longer ride the rides!
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. For regular updates, news & rumors, a heads up when discounts are released, and much more, sign up for our FREE email newsletter!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What would you include in your perfect day in Epic Universe? Any favorite rides, shows, restaurants, or snacks you recommend? Which attractions are safely skippable for you? Do you agree or disagree with our strategy? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!