I will say, though…Stardust Racers is currently the best coaster(s) in Universal! They are amazing.
The shows are great, and Monsters Unchained is really good. The rest of the ride experiences just aren’t worth the wait (to our family at least). The ride for HP is ho hum…but the queue is actually worth standing in line for. We waited I think 120 minutes, give or take…but you just stand there in awe of what they created for that queue.
I’m sorry we talked you out of it. That wasn’t my intent! But I have to say going to Epic is a huge $$$$ adventure. Everything is expensive, from the tickets to the express passes to the food. The food is fantastic, but it comes with a high price as well. I love it, but probably won’t take my family again. They only liked it, and actually prefer IOA for rides. It was much more reasonable going with friends and only paying my share. But that share was still a lot: $424.39 for a 3 day ticket (with 2 added free days I did not use) and Express was $396.06 for 3 days (3 parks, 1 ride per day) plus food which I refuse to add up as it’s money now spent so doesn’t matter. 
Maybe you need a solo trip???
Yes, it’s very expensive. This Winter we are doing the 1 day park-to-park/1 day Epic plus getting Express for the Epic day and I gulped when I saw the total cost for 2 days. Epic is a great park, but like @Wahoohokie , I would not go there without Express so we are going to pay the cost. The standby lines are epic in length.
I’m the same way. If I go again in the next year or two, it will be because Gregg wants to go. He didn’t get to go when we were at WDW in March. I liked it fine, and their attention to detail was great, but there just wasn’t enough to keep me invested.
I LOVED Epic! Let me tell you something:
You can do Epic without EP if you have EE. Staying at Helios (which you can do for under $300 if you keep checking for deals) would help but at least Stella Nova for EE is essential.
You can hit every ride when it has a wait <1 hour. There are only like 10 rides so in a 10-hour day you will hit them all. It’s not that bad. Some of us are accustomed to never waiting so they will tell you EP is essential, but it is a luxury, I assure you!
I can give you more details it helpful.
Here are the priorities in order:
I also skipped the Viking cruise thing cause I hate getting soaked! But you could squeeze that in as well.
This would all work IF the rides consistently opened for EE, stayed open all day, and didn’t go down 5 times a day. In an ideal world, it would work exactly like this. But I have now been there most of 8 days in the last 9 months and the only day it seemed possible to not have Express was 2/1/26 when the high was like 45 degrees and so the park cleared out before dark. I don’t disagree that express is a luxury, but I would have been so unhappy to have missed out on so much since they cannot get their act together and keep rides running. Express is the only way I know how to guarantee to ride most/all rides each day you are there, as you can pivot every time something is down.
You have good ideas here if anyone wants to try Epic without express. I just couldn’t.
Fair point! When we went we were very lucky to have predictable afternoon thunderstorms and relatively good reliability the rest of the time. Rainstorms were a good time for MarioKart and Battle at the Ministry.
I agree it is much better to have multiple days (and EP if you can afford it) as insurance against closures.
These 2 were some of our longest waits this past trips, even with express. Way too long.
Yeah we waited for about an hour for Ministry during a rainstorm with EP, but OTOH there was nothing else to do and the queue is amazing! 
Yep. I might even say it is better than the actual ride!!
I might agree with that as well. Not to say I don’t like the ride.
Now that I have ridden it quite a few times I actually like it better than when I first rode. It’s grown on me. But the queue, especially the main room is just amazing.
I second Jeff’s enthusiasm for Epic and I also think you don’t always need Express Pass, but you do need some luck.
We did two days at Epic in late November 2025, without Express Pass, and it was great. Here’s what we got done with just standby and Early Entry.
Just a few quick things, the buses are super quick and efficient at Universal. When I arrive at Universal, I park the car and don’t see it again until I leave. Transportation is easy and nothing like WDW in my opinion so don’t let the bus thing scare you away.
I’ve only done one day at Epic so far and it was without express and we had an amazing day. Did we ride every ride? No, but we rode some and really enjoyed the shows and atmosphere. Not to mention the amazing food.
If you do decide to go, you could stay at a premier for the included express at the OG parks. They also have the best pools. And no buses to the OG from premiers. Just a short walk or boat. A split stay would also be an option with moving to Stella for Epic. One night at a premier = 2 days of express.
I love Universal and I think you’d find it a great getaway. The weekend will be busy with HHN, but the weekdays should be quiet.
I just got done work.
I need to look at a park map and process Jeff’s suggestions. We would not do monsters or Werewolf. Too scary for us.
I need to see what kind of rides the others are. It’s really HTTYD we want to see. I hate for my kids to get too much older for that.
But it’s a steep price tag with EP. But maybe if we only want a small number of items it would work out.
But I may also look at some cruises tnt too. 
This one isn’t scary at all. It’s a medium intensity coaster and the “monster parts” are not scary.
This one is “scarier” than Werewolf, but also not particularly scary. It’s not scary like a haunted house.
DS8 was not scared by Wolfman at all and was only a little bit scared during Monsters. DD11 was not scared at all during either.
This is an outside coaster with almost no theming. It’s fun! @Enchantedbythemouse loved it so much, when I think of that ride I think about her laughing with joy so much.