Planning one day at Universal Epic Universe? With so much to see, it’s important to make every moment count. This itinerary for Epic Universe gives you a detailed guide to maximize your day at the park and set up expectations for visiting Universal Orlando’s newest theme park.
Epic Universe is divided into 5 distinct lands. As guests enter the park they step into Celestial Park. From Celestial Park there are 4 portals leading to Super Nintendo World, Dark Universe, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter-Ministry of Magic, and How to Train Your Dragon-Isle of Berk.
For this post I want to share the best way to plan your day at Epic Universe including my ideal itinerary and 2 days of sample itineraries to show you how to be flexible in planning your day at the park.
Things to Know Before You Arrive
- Epic Universe opened in 2025 with some of the most technologically advanced rides that currently exist. This can cause operational delays. Be prepared for the possibility of rides down and long wait times.
- There are 11 rides at Epic Universe. This park can be done in one day.
- If you have express pass you do not need to follow this itinerary and can tour Epic Universe at your leisure. Dragon’s Racer’s Rally is the only attraction that does not accept Express Pass.
- Always purchase tickets and any add-ons before you leave your house. You will save time and money.
- 4 Epic Universe attractions require guests to put items in a locker. The lockers are free during the duration of your ride. They are Hiccup’s Wing Gliders, Stardust Racers, Monsters Unchained, and Dragon Racer’s Rally.
- Even though there have been days where attractions are delayed, it is improving. You may visit on a low crowd day with minimal operational or weather delays, if this is the case you should be able to ride many attractions multiple times.
- Read my guide to Epic Universe for details on each land and to learn more about the park.
1-Day Epic Universe Itinerary
I am going to break this 1-Day Epic Universe Itinerary into a few categories: Early Park Admission, Official Park Opening, Afternoon, Evening.
Early Park Admission
Early Park Admission attractions and dates do change but as of today they are the following from August 25th – January 31, 2026:
- Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge
- Yoshi’s Adventure
- Stardust Racers
- Constellation Carousel
- Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment
- Curse of the Werewolf
The best plan for Early Park Admission is to ride Mario Kart, Curse of the Werewolf, and Monsters Unchained- in that order. I do not think it is worth spending time riding Yoshi’s Adventure during Early Park Admission. I would watch the app throughout the day and get in the queue when the wait is 20 minutes or less.
Official Park Opening
Early Park Admission is an hour before park opening and is for guests staying at a Universal hotel. At official park opening there is another “rope drop”. Try to get ahead of this and go to How to Train Your Dragon: Isle of Berk.
Ride Hiccup’s Wing Gliders, Fyre Drill, and Dragon Racers Rally. If you don’t want to get wet, skip Fyre Drill. You may also want to check the app wait times to see which one to do after Hiccup’s Wing Gliders.
You should check the app often when you are at Epic Universe. Ride delays will be listed and this can save you time and annoyance when decided your next plan.
After Isle of Berk we usually check the app to see where we should go next. Usually we will have an early lunch to avoid the lunch crowds, plan this between 11:00-11:30am.
Afternoon
Afternoon is a great time to see one of the two shows at Epic Universe, cast spells with your wand in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter-Ministry of Magic, play games and earn points in Super Nintendo World with Power-Up Bands, browse the shops in Celestial Park, or take a break at your resort for a few hours.
Keep an eye on the Universal Orlando app for attractions with low wait time, it doesn’t happen often during afternoon hours, but it can if a ride is opening after a delay.
Evening
Evening is another great time to explore the park. Most parks clear out in the evening but Epic Universe does not because it comes to life at night. The lights and ambiance make this a night park.
Wait times will still be long throughout the evening hours and the Carousel and Stardust Racers(currently closed) will have higher wait times because of the popularity of a night ride.
Be sure to spend some time watching the fountain show that runs continuously throughout the day and night. If you are planning dinner at the park check out my 5 Epic Universe Restaurants you need to try.
Realistic Epic Universe 1-Day Itinerary
The reality of visiting Epic Universe right now is that it is completely unpredictable. We’ve visited 3 times over the last few months and each visit was different. Epic Universe is a brand new park and it is going to take time, most likely a few years, before it starts to fall into a predictable pattern with its touring plan.
For this reason I suggest going into Epic Universe with a plan and then being very flexible and willing to backtrack throughout the park. We visited during Annual Passholder Preview days and that was a different experience than our two days in the summer.
Below I am sharing exactly what our itinerary looked like over those 2 days to give you an idea of how chaotic the day can be. I am not saying this to discourage you from visiting, more to set your expectations and patience for this park.
For this trip we stayed at Helios Grand Hotel and took advantage of Early Park Admission and the designated entrance to Epic Universe. We did not have Express Pass.
I am going to talk about rope drop and entering the queue throughout this itinerary. Rope drop is essentially being among the first people let in the park. This is usually when Team Members “drop the rope” to welcome guests. There is not always a rope barrier but rope drop is arriving early and ahead of crowds. Queue is the lines at the park.
Day 1
7:45am: Got in the queue for security and ticket into Epic Universe.
8:05am: Entered Epic Universe and got in queue for rope drop. Team Members hold park guests until early park entry starts an hour before official park opening. On this visit Early Entry started at 9:00am.
8:49am: Park opens to Helios guests and we start walking to Super Nintendo World. Walked into Mario Kart and through queue fairly quickly before being stopped by a ride delay. On the ride at 9:25am.
9:30am: Walk on for Monsters Unchained. Off by 9:52am.
10:00am: Second rope drop for How to Train Your Dragon: Isle of Berk. This area is closed during Early Admission and the lines get long. If you can, rope drop this at 10:00am.
10:05am: Queue up for Hiccup’s Wing Gliders (30 minute wait)
10:40am: Lined up for Fyre Drill. This ended up being a 40 minute wait. I don’t expect long queues during the cooler months but August was extremely hot 24 hours a day during this trip so Fyre Drill had very long wait times.
11:40am: Lunch at The Oak & Star Tavern in Celestial Park. Indoors with plenty of seating and A/C. We mobile ordered from our table and took our time with a slow lunch. Read Review of Oak & Star Tavern.
12:40pm: Walked to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter to watch the 1:15 show of Le Cirque Arcanus, don’t miss this. The two shows at Epic Universe are fantastic.
1:45pm: Rode Monsters Unchained, again. There was a 10 minute wait for Monsters Unchained all day and we took full advantage. This was one of our favorite rides in the park.
2:00pm-4:30pm: We had a family member not feeling well so at this point we took a break to the hotel. Spent time at the pool and relaxed a bit from the heat of the day. Staying at Helios does make this a lot easier but we almost always take a mid-day break during our theme park days.
4:50pm: Arrived at Harry Potter and the Ministry of Magic and used the Single Rider line. There ended up being a delay and we finally boarded the ride at 6:15pm. This ride always has a long wait time. As I am writing this at 9:30am there is a 120 minute wait time. They do offer Express Pass if that is something you are interested in.
6:40pm: Dinner at Das Stakehaus
7:20pm: After dinner things got a bit annoying. We got in the queue for Yoshi’s Adventure, it got delayed. We got in the queue for Mine-Kart Madness, that got delayed. We went back to Yoshi’s and got on at 8:45pm.
9:00pm: The park was open another hour but we decided to head back to our room for the night. It had been a long day and we had another day at the park tomorrow.
At the end of our first day we hadn’t ridden Mine-Cart Madness, Stardust Racers, Dragon Racer’s Rally, Curse of the Werewolf, and Constellation Carousel. We did have the opportunity to ride these on our previous visit in April but it was frustrating that in one day we could only accomplish 6 out of 11 rides.
I will mention even if the day is busy and ride wait times are long stick around after sundown to see the park at night. It is really a gorgeous park in the evening.
Day 2
7:45am-8:50am: Queue up for security and tickets, wait at rope drop to be let into the park.
8:50am: Walked to Mario Kart to learn that it was delayed. Pivoted to Dark Universe and rode Curse of the Werewolf, off by 9:10am. Monsters Unchained-delayed.
9:18am: Kids rode Stardust Racers.
9:50am: Got in Queue for Mine-Cart Madness Single Rider Line. Off by 10:20am. Single rider Mario Kart and off by 11:20am.
11:25am: Pizza Moon for lunch. Pizzas are big enough to share and has a pretty interior. Mobile order from your table.
After lunch I checked wait times. Ministry was 120 minutes, Mario Kart was 235 minutes. We decided to browse the shops in Celestial Park because the wait times were all fairly long.
12:40: Rode Monsters Unchained….again. This ride is fast loading and indoors making it a great option to take a break from being in the hot Florida sun.
1:20pm: Rode Constellation Carousel. It is cute but save for the evening if you can, wait times will be longer at night.
2:15pm-4:00pm: Midday break at the Hotel.
4:00pm: Watched The Untrainable Dragon show in How to Train Your Dragon: Isle of Berk.
5:00pm: Dinner at Meteor Astropub. We all enjoyed our meal here.
6:00pm: The weather shifted and it rained and lightning on and off for the remainder of the night. This was a disappointment because we wanted to experience Stardust Racers at night. Plus most of the attractions at Epic Universe are outdoor rides.
6:15pm: Explored Super Nintendo World and used Power-Up Bands to do Bowser Jrs. Challenge.
7:00pm: Went back to our favorite indoor attraction, Monsters Unchained, watched The Burning Blade Tavern catch fire, got a Garlic Stake for a snack, rode Monsters Unchained again.
It may seem absurd to re-ride Monsters Unchained, but we had to make the most of our day at the park despite the rain. Its not always easy to be flexible and miss attractions so my best tip is to lean into what you can do and have fun doing that.
The park is really beautiful at night so we spent time walking around and hoping the lightning would hold off. It did not and most attractions were closed.
9:00pm: Got in the queue for Mario Kart and finished near park close at 10:00pm. Watched a bit of the fountain show as we walked back to Helios.
Final Thoughts
Overall Epic Universe has its high points. The park itself is beautiful. The details and everything about the design is flawless. The rides themselves are innovative and we really liked the food options.
The low points are the lack of consistency in ride operations. When things are working the park operation moves much better, but advanced technology can cause issues. The other factor is the low number of indoor attractions. If it rains 8 out of 11 rides will close for weather delay.
My hope in sharing the 1-day Epic Universe itinerary is to give you a starting point to plan your day, not to discourage you. When visiting you should set your expectations and be prepared to be flexible with your day.
I do believe in a few years Epic Universe will find its groove. If you can’t wait, I don’t blame you, but be prepared to use the app and zigzag through the park.
If you are overwhelmed with planning or just want someone to make all the reservations for you consider using a travel agent. Our friend Nikki at Royal Treatment Travel is amazing and has helped us plan and book many of our trips. She finds the best deals and her service is complimentary for most theme park vacations! It is a win-win. Learn more here.
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Leah has been planning and writing about Universal trips since 2016. She loves finding the best places to eat and stay during her visits to the park. Leah enjoys the little details that make visiting the parks so immersive and special, and sharing that with her readers.
