Let’s plan a trip to Epic Universe!

profgrumpy · May 17, 2025, 9:34pm

So, I’ve booked my trip. Two full days (9am-9pm, including EPA) and one nearly full day (9am-6pm, because I have a flight at 9.30pm). No Express Pass.

On arrival day I’ll make it to the hotel (Stella Nova) at about 4.30pm. I have no park access that day.

How on earth would you plan such a trip? I’m not talking about a line-minimising touring plan. I’m talking about the overwhelming nature of everything and how do you take it all in and not be lost in a whirl.

Arrival day
My thought for this seems obvious: Helios Grand, and exploring Stella Nova (and maybe even Terra Luna?). So I’ve just booked Bar Helios (the one with the views) for 7pm. Initially there were no good times because I tried to book for 1 person, but when I changed it to 2 people I got a full selection. There is a $25 per person no show fee.

Days 1, 2 and 3
Obviously I’ll be using EPA. Of course we don’t know what rides will be available at that time. Nor what the system for BATM will be. I’ll be like a kid in a candy store. But what’s the smart move here?

More generally, do I try to do all five areas in one day? The kid in a candy store says “yes”, but the adult in me says “no”. Split them across the first two days, then use the third for mop-ups and repeats. But what split?

Or is Day 1 orientation, hitting a handful of priority attractions, then Days 2 and 3 are split. Mathematically I quite like this because Day 2 would split 4 hours in each of three areas and Day 3 would split 4 hours in the remaining two areas. And if ride closures hit Day 1, I have a second bite at the cherry when I revisit the area. And a second ride on the priority attractions.

So what split? There are two shows and I want to see both: one in Potter and one in Dragon. Best to split those over two days? Darkmoor is probably best seen during the early evening and at night. Which puts it on Day 2.

What are my priorities? Other than everything.

Stardust Racers
Hiccup’s Wing Gliders
Untrainable Dragon
Battle at the Ministry
Mine Cart Madness
Monsters Unchained

Could these all be done on Day 1? That’s six attractions in 12 hours.

I’m definitely liking:
Day 1 — Kid in a candy story / Priority 6
Day 2 — 3 areas
Day 3 — 2 areas

How would you plan things? If you’ve already been, how did you plan things?

Amyspapers · May 17, 2025, 9:39pm

I was lucky to go on May 2 and ended up starting with stardust racers, then wandered in and out of each portal …. I’d recommend something like that. Every turn was delightful! And the park wasn’t THAT big. So not impossible to then focus on one area at a time after getting an overview.

SirGreggLadyV · May 17, 2025, 9:41pm

For 3 days, I’d do the priority 6 and then do the split the next two days to try to get in the rest, as well as any of the 6 you didn’t get to do. Do HP and Berk on two different days.

JenniferB1975 · May 18, 2025, 12:17am

Can’t wait to hear your feedback after you visit. I think this trip sounds fantastic.

darkmite2 · May 19, 2025, 12:45pm

First, let me say, “Hi!!! I’m so excited for you.”

I do understand the reasons for this trip may not be pleasant, but hopefully this will ease the grief

If it were me going for my first time…

Day one…

Go to BatM first. You are going to plan 3 - 5 hours for a HP BatM queue wait. That’s what it’s doing in previews without an virtual queue. I would be excited to see it and want to get this queue wait “over with” so I can focus on the rest of the trip.

Then walk around the park to see it all doing 2 - 3 marquee attractions, a show and eat before park close.

I really think BatM is going to “rob” you of most of one day,

Day 2…

Focus on all the priorities you haven’t done and explore as much as possible

Day 3…

Any attractions not done and repeats. If the BatM queue is as bad as predicted I’d get in it as late as the allow.

profgrumpy · May 19, 2025, 1:05pm

Damn. I think you’re right. I will be very disappointed if I don’t get to ride (or at least see the queue) and it will probably hang over me until I do.

Slightly ridiculously perhaps, I have been “worrying” that three days is “too long” to spend in one theme park, so sacrificing a chunk of time for one attraction seems less crazy. (If I only had our one day trip in December, the calculation would be very different.)

I think if I make my peace with the fact that it may take a long time to get to the loading area, it will be fine. (Provided the ride is open and running, of course!)

Once I’ve entered via the floo network it will be all air-conditioned bliss and visual feasting. A slow line would in a sense be a mercy. The stormtrooper bay at ROTR is breathtaking and I could easily spend half an hour in there with jaw dropped. Yet they whisk you through. Same thing during the ride when you enter the AT-AT room, which is awesome but you don’t get any time to take it in.

Once I’m out I’ll find somewhere to eat and then do a full park orientation. That leaves days two and three for my four-hours-in-each-land plan.

kerrilux_625778 · May 19, 2025, 1:20pm

The park is incredibly easy to navigate. It was one of my favorite aspects. It takes no time at all to walk from any one land to another.

I don’t think 3 days is too long though. You will find plenty to keep yourself occupied! Plus, you’ll get to try more food!!

I am so sorry about Calvin. I have a 14yo dog that I anticipate will start a quick decline in the next year. It’s not a decision I look forward to making

heathernoel · May 19, 2025, 1:24pm

In normal circumstance I love your plan. I worry about continued down time and think I would personally put the wrap up day at the end. That way you can really focus on anything that was missed.

I realize this may be a biased approach, for some reason I frequently divide.parks like this and then end with a sweep up, Especially MK when my DD was little and steps were far apart. But I did the same thing with our first visit to HS after GE opened up, with a focus on making sure we rode ROTR.

cjandres · May 19, 2025, 1:32pm

Since the park is not open to regular capacity yet, hard to know what can be done in a day with actual crowds. That being said, I would try to do your high priorities all on that first day if they are all up and running. It may be a lot of waiting, but it’s an interesting experience to have a whole park dealing with “new ride breakdowns.” I wouldn’t want to skip a ride on day 1 to have it be down the next day.

I’d take the approach of ignoring the wait time (as much as is reasonable) and if it’s up and important to you, then ride it. Once your priority rides and shows are done, you can enjoy other things, re-rides, etc.

In general the park is not nearly as big as I expected (not a criticism, just a fact). It’s also very easy to navigate.

Eat the mac and cheese cone in the Isle of Berk

melcort10 · May 19, 2025, 1:40pm

Yay! So now you will be able to tell me all about Epic if I end up making a trip.

davej · May 19, 2025, 4:12pm

Post HS/AK WDW has conditioned us to this way of thinking. Back in the early 80s my family would spend 3-4 days in MK during a visit and a few days in EP after it opened. It was a more leisurely way of touring the parks. Not the rush, rush of today, trying to squeeze in the highlights over 1-2 days.

profgrumpy · May 20, 2025, 12:21pm

Next up: Preparing for each land. In consultation with ChatGPT, I came up with this. Comments are ChatGPT’s.

Movie Prep Checklist for Epic Universe

Dark Universe
Frankenstein (1931) – essential gothic horror tone.
Optional: Bride of Frankenstein (1935) – deeper emotion, likely visual influence.

Isle of Berk
Already seen: How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
Next Up: How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) – for expanded world, more dragons, emotional depth.

Super Nintendo World
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) – Tons of park tie-ins; vibrant and fun.
Optional: Play Mario Kart Tour or Super Mario Run on iPhone / iPad

Ministry of Magic
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) – best of the series, solid magical world-building

mkmuzzy · May 20, 2025, 12:35pm

The Invisible Man (1933) for Dark Universe, since there is a wandering character to interact with.

melcort10 · May 20, 2025, 12:59pm

What about this one? Only 24 days away… no one in my house is counting!

profgrumpy · May 20, 2025, 1:39pm

There is an irony here.

I would love to see that. But it’s at the cinema. And I never go to the cinema because I never leave Calvin on his own. Once I get back I could go see it. But then it would be too late.

melcort10 · May 20, 2025, 2:34pm

Well hopefully you can see it when you get home and think fondly on your adventures on the Isle of Berk!

jastre · May 21, 2025, 8:25am

I’d probably use early entry on day one to line up at the Ministry of Magic portal as early as possible. Minimize your wait time for Battle at the Ministry and then free up the rest of your trip for the other attractions.

I was there on May 9th. Stardust Racers and Curse of the Werewolf were closed all day. Wasn’t able to snag the BotM virtual queue. Still had time to do all the other attractions and watch both shows. I’d say, don’t plan ahead too much. Apart from BotM, you should be able to avoid terrible queues if you just pay attention to the posted wait times. We only had one problem. We got in line for Mario Kart when the posted wait time was 45 minutes. After we were in line for about ten minutes, they made an announcement: the actual wait time was 120 minutes. I would’ve bailed, but the rest of my party wanted to stick it out. It was painful. Hopefully they won’t let things like that happen again.

gMagicScott · May 21, 2025, 10:45pm

I asked about movies and got some decent responses on Threads

You could easily burn at least 2 hours doing wand magic & interacting with the roaming wizards in Paris.

If you want to play Nintendo, that could consume a whole day if you so desire.

profgrumpy · May 21, 2025, 10:52pm

This is a cross-posting from the main strategy thread

A mistake I repeated made at WDW was being totally ride-centric. But it is clear that there is so much to see and enjoy at Epic that isn’t a ride. There are so many details: the creativity is off the charts.

My EPA strategy at IOA was always to start with VC and then FJ before moving on to breakfast at 3B. I would wait to ride Hagrid during the afternoon lull, or just before park close.

I think Stardust Racers is the new VC in this regard, and BOM is the new Hagrid. If I’m going to devote considerable queuing time to BOM, why not do so during what appears to be the same afternoon lull — and isn’t the line mostly in lovely air-conditioning, at what would be the hottest part of the day?

So my Day 1 plan is Stardust (maybe once in each side) and then breakfast, before heading to WWOHP to explore and buy and play with a wand and maybe see the show, while waiting out the BOM line until it seems more reasonable. Then (hopefully) get in line for BOM and emerge, successfully, some time later and heading to lunch at Café L’Air. I plan to end the day at Darkmoor, which will look really cool later in the day.

My Day 2 plan is to start at Dragon (possibly after some Stardust action), partly based on zagging when others are zagging, and also because it’s large and low-shade and wanting to avoid the hottest part of the day. I’ll end the day at Nintendo, which is a heat pit and early-crowd trap, and will be much more tolerable at night, as well as visually (even) more appealing.