Mario meets Harry Potter: What we loved at Universal Epic Universe
ORLANDO - The motion sickness pills came out at 2:46 p.m.
I was nearly five hours into my quest to ride, watch, do and eat everything I could at the hottest new theme park destination on the planet, Universal Epic Universe. And the mission was about to go into overdrive.
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My husband and small kids, who joined me for a preview of the park more than a month before its grand opening, were heading back to our hotel room for a break. Meanwhile I had a long list of roller coasters, thrill rides, immersive lands and snacks to power through.
As a Florida native, I knew my brain was about to be rattled. I have developed a love-hate relationship with roller coasters: I love the sensation of flying, falling and hurtling; I hate the wooziness that follows. But unusually for me, a Disney and Universal geek who has visited Orlando's theme parks since I was a toddler, this discombobulation was going to be all new. The area hasn't gotten a major new theme park in more than 25 years.
Over the next several hours, I would hopscotch around four of the park's five themed lands, shriek my way through six rides and consume only-in-theme-park concoctions. By the end of the 11-hour day, I still hadn't caught two rides, two shows, one adorable animatronic dragon and more than a dozen restaurants and bars.
The universe may be epic, but in this preopening stage, it operated in fits and starts. Everywhere, signs warned that the park was in a 'technical rehearsal' and that some elements might not be available.
Epic officially opens May 22, but employees, their guests and media have been visiting. When Universal said a preview for hotel guests and others would be available in mid-April - coinciding with my own Florida Spring Break road trip - we decided to book a room and add a stop on our itinerary.
Epic Universe includes five separate lands, most of them fully immersive and reached through dramatic tunnellike portal entrances.
-There's Super Nintendo World, versions of which have been built in Japan and California.
-Dark Universe highlights classic monsters.
-The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Ministry of Magic brings French flair to the canon.
-How to Train Your Dragon - Isle of Berk is an activity-packed Viking hamlet.
-Celestial Park serves as a centralized hub with fountains and restaurants at every turn. A massive hotel anchors one end of the park, and entertainers are spread throughout. We even snagged a poem-on-demand from a writer in residence.
Do my personal interests align with most of these themes? Not really. Did I still have a blast while roller-coastering my brains out? Absolutely. The experience wasn't perfect, but I didn't expect it to be.
The moments that stick with me: watching my daughter, 4, brave big rides and love them. Remembering how much I still love scary roller coasters. Sharing a frozen butterbeer with my husband like we did when we were dating. Riding the bus back to our hotel and comparing notes with the people around us: what broke down, what we got stuck on, what we loved. And, thankfully, not feeling a hint of motion sickness.
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Immersive delight at Super Nintendo World
Super Nintendo World - a loud, somewhat chaotic arcade come to life - wowed me, despite my apathy toward video games. Have you ever wanted to be like Mario and jump up to hit one of those yellow blocks with the question mark? You totally can. It'll even make a 'bleep.'
'I do feel like I've been dropped into a video game - and then I immediately wonder if I want to be dropped into a video game,' my husband said.
My 4-year-old and I rode the slow and endearing but not-very-thrilling Yoshi's Adventure after a 25-minute wait. Despite its lack of drama or speed, the family-friendly ride had a 34-inch height requirement that excluded my toddler. I would go again with small kids but consider it a skip for myself.
Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge was another miss for me: The ride required a heavy visor and goggles, and it had a heavy augmented reality component. You could press controls and pretend to steer, but I wasn't clear on the goal and felt underwhelmed.
Don't miss: The winner for me was Mine-Cart Madness, a cute and surprising Donkey Kong-themed coaster meant to replicate the sensation of jumping across gaps. Adventurous kids (and their adults) should enjoy it, and they may also dig the ridiculously sweet banana-and-pineapple float I tried while waiting out a ride delay.
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Kid-friendly rides
The world built around the 'How to Train Your Dragon' franchise was a favorite, and it also was the area I left the most untested. It felt like the most kinetic land, with a roller coaster snaking around, a swooping dragon flight ride, a giant playground and a water ride open to all ages. We ran out of time to try out the last three of those offerings, as well as a live show and dragon meet-and-greet.
We enjoyed the quick-service restaurant Mead Hall, where we skipped the mead but feasted on a kids' meal of sausage, dill-seasoned fries, mac and cheese bites and carrots.
Hiccup's Wing Gliders was an adorable and adventurous option for a kid who recently discovered she loves coasters; the drops and turns and speed were no joke, but appropriate for those 40 inches and over.
At 4 and 1½, my kids are not the ideal age for Universal parks, which are heavy on thrill rides. But it turned out there were plenty of options for the older one, as long as her patience held out for the lines. There was less than I expected for the toddler to do, but he had no idea: He created his own chaotic fun.
Don't miss: We all loved riding the shaded Constellation Carousel, a whimsical, waltzing take on a merry-go-round.
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Single-rider lines for speedy access
I considered paying about $213 above the $169-plus-tax ticket price for a skip-the-line pass that would give me quick access to most rides. But I decided to use other tools at my disposal - namely, the single-rider lines.
One of my biggest theme park tips is to look for the lines that allow people to ride as a party of one. Groups who join the line together will be split, so it's a no-go with little kids, but if the goal is speed, it's brilliant. At Epic Universe, most of the rides have this option, though its availability was spotty when we visited.
Once the family split off, I made a solo beeline for the rides I still needed to catch. It was a winning strategy. Ten minutes after I went into ride overdrive, I texted my husband: 'Single rider is a miracle.'
I practically skipped onto the buzzed-about ride Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment. (It's a swooping ride packed with amazing-looking animatronic monsters; more 'ooooh, cool' than 'boo!') The Mario Kart ride that had posted a two-hour wait in the morning took about 20 minutes to get on. After standing by during a delay for the Donkey Kong coaster, I breezed through the solo line.
Don't miss: My final solo ride and favorite overall also had a surprisingly short wait, with no single-rider lane required. Stardust Racers was the roller coaster that convinced me to chew up that motion-sickness pill. It's fast, with speeds up to 62 mph, and reaches heights of 133 feet. That amounted to a lot of time feeling like I was hurtling through the air. I screamed so much - and rekindled my love of roller coasters.
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Magic under maintenance at Harry Potter land
The ultra-designed, impeccably themed Harry Potter lands at Universal's other two Florida parks set a gold standard for immersive rides and entertainment when they opened in 2010 and 2014. Universal has passed the wand to its fancy new land, modeled mainly after 1920s-era Paris.
This area's ride, Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, is a battle just to get on, requiring luck and a quick trigger finger to reserve a slot on the app's virtual queue. On our visit, it might as well have been called Harry Potter and the Curse of the Constantly Breaking Ride. My husband snagged a spot for himself, me and our daughter; when we showed up at the ride during our allotted time, it was down.
Returning later, we found a queue area that was jaw-dropping - not just for its capacity, but for its design, scale and special effects. Though the pace slowed to a crawl and we were delayed at the very front of the line, my daughter and I made it on after about two hours while the rest of the family stayed in a dedicated waiting area.
The ride itself is a wide elevator car that zooms sideways, up and down, witnessing and interacting with the events around the trial of the villain Dolores Umbridge. It was herky-jerky enough that I held my daughter steady, and exciting enough that I want to ride again.
I made it off just in time to grab dinner at the nearby French cafe, high on my 'must' list, before the park closed. A massive crepe answered the question 'Is it possible to have too much butterbeer flavor in one dish?' (The answer was yes, but that did not stop us from eating most of it.)
Don't miss: This ride! If it's running. Even if just to marvel at the tens of thousands of tiles, cheeky government messaging or sensation of 'using' the Métro-Floo transit.
- - -
Frustrations with the app
Now, for a Luddite complaint: I wished all day that I had a paper map as I crisscrossed the park. Everyone I asked told me there were no maps yet, or maybe ever, and that all the information was in the app. But I would have loved to have seen all the rides, rules, restrooms (decor is themed to each land) and restaurants in one view.
Even in the warm but relatively pleasant mid-April weather, Epic Universe could have used more shaded or misted areas. That was especially true in the central section, where fountains spouted constantly. Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to cool us off.
There are so many restaurants that I'd need to visit a dozen times to try them all; that said, more kids' meal options and quick snacks would be welcome for a fast-paced day.
I understand that delays are part of the deal during a technical rehearsal, but it was frustrating to find the app didn't always reflect wait times correctly. There were rarely details available about how long a delay would last. The virtual queue experience for the Potter ride was a tricky scramble for us and most people we talked to.
Still, I found the day to be full of thrills - and reasons for this lifelong theme park nerd to return.
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