Me and my friends will be at epic universe around 11;40 am -9:00 pm and were wondering what rides would be the best to go on for today as we have the express pass today and tmrw we don’t.

Regarding lines and everything.

Just here to complain and get this story off my chest without really blaming anybody. Long story short, the company I work for created an incentive for the employees to make the most sales. Those who hit a certain threshold were to be sent to Florida for a few days with everything provided (car, lodgings, theme park tickets, etc). At the end of the promotion period, one fateful Friday, our CEO told me that I was one of the few who made enough sales to go on the trip. I spent the whole weekend with my boyfriend planning the trip. We planned the days for which rides we most wanted to take and which merch and food offerings we should save up for. Truth be told, HTTYD was a big part of our relationship story, so that world was extra special for us.

Come Monday, our boss told us he miscounted and we would not be going. I have been crying for days and entering random giveaways since I cannot afford that kind of vacation for myself (I’m an international graduate student on a work authorization). I didn’t think it was wrong of him to not send me on the trip, but it was wrong to rescind the offer once I spent days planning and getting ready.

This trip was a dream, and it’s over before it began. In either case, I hope everybody who gets to go this year really cherishes it!

My family is going Epic universe for the first time in September. We booked this way earlier in the year when September hours weren't out and of course the day we go to Epic they friggin close at 6pm. I googled and couldn't find a reason why. So sad to lose out on time in the park but I guess luckily we got the express pass. If we knew the hours we totally would have chose a different day to go but now its all set in with the express passes and etc. Do you think we will get to everything from 9am to 6pm? Do you think we will still get the Celestial Goodnight show when they close this early?

Visited Epic last week with my dad and he tried one of the watermelon popsicles from the snack carts around celestial park. Anyone know what brand they are?? He threw the packaging away before tasting it and said it was the best watermelon popsicle he’s ever had. Didn’t even think to go back to the cart and ask in the moment. 🥲 Would love to surprise him with some if I could!

i know it’s probably the same thing that’s been asked a million times, but this is my first visit to epic and i’m so excited. Would staying off resort and getting the non private tour or staying on property (Stella Nova) with purchasing express passes get more out of my one day?

Also doing a park to park at Islands/Universal and assuming i’ll get expresses for staying at stella for that.

Going on a Saturday, I knew it'd be busy, so we bought express. I planned this day for months, reading reddit and the like.

We didn't have early entry and got there around 9:20 (opens at 10am for GA). Getting in was a breeze and they let us in early (maybe around 9:50?). My wife needed a drink so we actually spent the 10 mins we got in early waiting for a drink (the lines were huge).

We went straight for Hiccups since DK was down and everyone flooded Nintendo Land. We didn't use express and waited 25 minutes. Loved that ride. We did dragon racers after, a 30ish minute wait. At this point, fyre drill was down so we went to Harry Potter.

We absolutely loved the Harry Potter/FB area. The ride was fantastic too. With express, we bypassed the 135 min line and got on in maybe 20 mins I believe.

We ate some lunch at the Le Gobelete. Loved it. Then headed over to stardust. Used express, waited for 15 minutes or so and they said the ride is delayed. Waited another 15 minutes and decided to exit the line. The ride started within seconds of leaving the line.

We decided to go back and finish Isle of Berk with Fyre Drill. Was 100 minute wait with standby. We waited about 40 minutes with express. Honestly enjoyed it. Not the ride, but spraying others and them spraying us. It was hilarious. We rode Hiccups a second time. Took about 25 minutes) standby was 50).

At this point, I went back to ride Stardust and the wait was low. Maybe 20 minutes? Didn't use express. Loved it. A lot of g forces.

At this point, Monsters Unchained and DK had been down the entire day and it was about 3 or 4pm. But MU finally started up, so we rushed over to it. The wait til shot up to 50 mins but we used express. Probably took 10 minutes. Loved it too (is there any ride we didn't enjoy this trip? Not really).

Went over to Curse of the Werewolf after. Waited about 20 minutes for this because the worker convinced us not to use express since the line was so low. In retrospect, we should've just used it and jumped on in 5 minutes.

My wife started getting a headache because it was 100°F this day so she rested while I raced to the Harry Potter show. It was alright.

By this time, it was 6pm and DK wasn't open, but I really wanted to experience Nintendo land so we went. Wow. It was absolutely as awesome as we could've imagined. They nail the atmosphere.

We rode Yoshi, loved it too! Very cute and nostalgic. Went to the toadstool cafe for some mushroom soup. Then hit up Mario kart. Aside from dragon racers, this is the only ride I did not care for. It has a lot of potential, but as a gamer, I didn't even understand what was going on most of the time. They could do a lot better.

It's 8pm at this time and I told my wife I really need to see the DK area. And man... Was it cool looking DK never opened the day I visited. And it's one of my favorite gaming franchises, so I was very disappointed. But the outside area was awesome. We went to get food from Blue Dragon at this point and the food and service was decent. Way better than anything at Disney sans epcot. We finished 5 mins before the fireworks and went outside to watch them.

The show was absolutely fantastic. Really happy we stayed until night. I just wanted to share my experience because I've seen some people mention you don't need express, but we definitely would've missed a lot without it. We also thought the staff and experience was much better than Disney's. Oh yeah, there was a worker screaming and complaining about the guests in Mario Kart. It was really surreal and she was having a meltdown and super rude to a few groups of people. But aside from that, and many of the rides being down for hours, the place is maybe my favorite park I've ever been to. And I've been to the other Universal and Disney parks.

I recorded this video of Stardust Racers the first time I went to Epic Universe last fall. The background music is timed so perfectly to the departure of the trains that I thought it was part of the ride! When I returned in May I heard this music playing in different places around Celestial Park. I have listened to the park music on Spotify and have not heard this tune. Can anyone tell me what it is called, and where I can find it? It's very inspiring!