Thankfully we have park to park so we will try epic again today and tomorrow. Cross fingers things will go better. I guess yesterday’s winds were very unusual.
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DD13 wrote most of the below:
Day 2 (the 19th)
1: Velocicoaster (front row - SO AMAZING AND WEIRDLY RELAXED AND PEACEFUL - we did Velocicoaster twice both in front row)
2: Hagrid’s Motorbike
3: Velocicoaster (front row again)
4: Hogwarts Train
5: The Leaky Cauldron (lunch)
6: Horror Make-up show (hilarious would do a million times)
7: Mummy
Travel to Epic
8: Hiccup’s
9: Ministry
Mom did some wand stuff
Ate at the French cafe
10: Monster (we got delayed and free express pass!)
11: Frankenpretzel and Burning Blade
12: Werewolf
13: Hiccup’s (again)
14: Rally (mom almost barrel rolled)
15. DK
16. Yoshi
17. Mario
18. Carousel
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A few tidbits.
The wand shop in Paris checked our old wand which still worked well and then offered up an updated spell map. I assume you can ask for one too. I thought the battery was dead because it hadn’t work. Turns out the old gen wand do t have batteries and I was just bad at spell casting.
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Got the crossbow at Burning Blade tavern. Was expensive but you get to keep the glass which is color changing. It’s supposed to give you future discounts but I’m unsure on all. It was a very fruit almost grape punch drink. Good but you have to drink slow.
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Rally was very fun but challenging because it’s such a short trip that by the time you have a sense of the mechanism the ride is over. I’m hoping to try again today. The biggest sensory clue I had was slowing down and thinking about big movement rather than flapping quickly. Not sure if that’s right but it did cause me to tip a lot. I really doubt kids will be able to roll.
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DK is like a one and done for us. We enjoyed it but found it jerky (appropriately for the ride but not my body). I recommend trying to sit up front for better visuals.
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DD13 is right about VC. The front seat is actually very smooth. I actually tolerated three rides without issues and I have chronic neck and shoulder stuff. It usually has a little line but goes fast.
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Curse of werewolf is a fun ride but very quick. Try and save it for short lines.
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I rode Mario Bowsers challenge with both with and without glasses and had no problems.
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This made me laugh.
DH and DD declared that front row really matters for Velicoaster. I never bothered.
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Last day yesterday. Here’s DD13’s notes:
1: Werewolf (we spun out of control in the first row :D)
2: Monster (Igor was still down but no delay)
3: Mario Kart
4: Hiccup’s (last row, super fun)
5: The Untrainable Dragon (animatronics were super cool)
6: Lunch at Spit Fyre Grill
7: Transformers ride
8: Bourne show
9: Mummy (front row)
10: Hogwarts Express
11. Hippogriff
12. hulk
14. Spider-Man
15. VC
16. Dinner at hotel
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Wrap up thoughts. The parks were very busy this weekend including yesterday which I did not predict. I assumed everyone would be back to work. We noticed a ton of international visitors which seemed to account for the majority of visitors especially at Epic. I’ve read a few Reddit posts wondering about Epic having listed Jan prices lower because of how late they posted tickets in 2025. I know our tickets and EP were much cheaper than the rest of the year.
SMW in the midst of mid day was very very full and challenging to walk through. Long lines to all the mini games. Late night is just so much better and the Bowsers ride tends to be 30 min or so. BaTM was down a lot yesterday and we didn’t try and ride a 3rd time. We really enjoyed it though. If you’re a fan of Star Tours you’ll love it. I liked it much better than Monsters which honestly burst my head a bit with all the jarring movements
We never ended up doing EPA because of DD13 but wait times were always good then. But nighttime there is really lovely. Everything lights up and is very dramatic and much less crowded. It’s hard to make the recommendation to only visit a park the first 90 and last 90 minutes but those seem to be the best. Shows were great and should be done.
No SDR. We have our free return make good tickets so who knows what will happen now….
I read a thing about epic that really hit home. The comment said it’s a theme park, not a ride park. Go there to immerse yourself in the theming and maybe do some rides. DD13 is at the age where slowing down and enjoying the theming was hard and she really just wanted to RIDE. I’m back to considering what I would have done as a solo person without EP: EPA for Dark Universe and SDR followed by 10am rope drop Berk for Rally and Hiccups and maybe the meet and greet. Shows and food. Meandering. Break. Return evening for wands, dinner, slow walk through of all lands and rides as waits allow. I don’t know how to reconcile BaTM without EP. The lines are so long and slow moving that you really need to rope drop it.
With the new EPA plans starting next month maybe things will make more sense.
Anyways I hope you all got something out of this trip report! Have great travels.
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Thanks for sharing your trip with us!
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