Beginner Universal Help!

[pixiedust33]

I’m looking for some advice on touring strategy with my 4 year old as someone who hasn’t been to universal in well over a decade. We’re a Disney family and my son has already been to WDW twice but we’re taking a Disney Cruise in March 2026 and I’m thinking about pairing it with a couple days at Universal rather than at Disney World. The reason is because my son is particularly into their IP - he LOVES super heroes, especially Captain America, Transformers and Despicable Me. He also has recently gotten into How to Train Your Dragon and loved the Mario movie. I’m personally a big Harry Potter fan and my last trip to Universal was in 2012 after the first Harry Potter stuff opened. But, this trip is not really about me. So these are my questions:

1) I know How to Train Your Dragon and Nintendo World is at Epic but most of the other stuff he’s into is in the original parks. It would obviously be much cheaper to just stick with the original parks, especially because we also would want the line skipping pass which I understand is a separate buy (right? No hotel stay gives it to you?) But is Epic a can’t miss? Or should I wait until he’s older and interested in more of the thrill rides?

2) Are there a lot of superhero meets available at the original parks, generally? Can you use the line skipping pass with them?

3) is staying at one of the top tier hotels for the line skipping pass, or buying it, worth it if not doing the big thrill rides? We’ll be there the first week of March, so not peak spring break. But we also don’t want to wait more than 20-30 minutes. How are the lines for things like the minions ride, the transformers ride and the spider man ride?

4) has anyone done the superhero character meal and have any feedback on it? Also weird question but do the superheroes talk, like are they “face” characters like Disney princesses? My son was not pleased with the mute Buzz at WDW (“that’s not the REAL Buzz because he didn’t even want to talk about how to defeat Zurg!”)

5) any other general feedback or thoughts on a plan for a superhero obsessed 4 year old welcome! Like any hotels have any of that theming?

 

[CAPSLOCK]

1) I can see both strategies working for you. It might depend on what tickets are available by March. There are likely to be park hopping options to Epic at that time. You do have a fair amount to do at Epic - the Yoshi ride, the Mario Kart ride (this will have a long line - is it worth EP mostly just for this?), the mini games in the Nintendo area if you buy the powerup band, various Nintendo character meets, the play area at HTTYD, Fyre Drill at HTTYD, the HTTYD show, I hear there's a water play area in Celestial Park, not sure his height if any other rides are appropriate.

2) There are a decent number of superhero meets, plus some other meets that don't match other IP in the park (such as the King Lemur from Madagascar, Puss 'n Boots). The Transformers switch out, that's the main one I've seen a decent line for - although I don't know how fast the line moves, but there might be 10+ families in line. I've seen Spiderman, Captain America, various X-Men out meeting. There is also normally a Minion or two, or one of the girls, meeting/dancing as you exit the Minions ride. The Transformers speak (or "song", in Bumblebee's case), and the Marvel characters talk. EP does not work for character meets, but they generally aren't too bad a wait.

3) If you want to roll up in the middle of the day to Transformers with a 20min wait or less, you'll need EP. If you can plan for mornings / evenings (maybe harder with a youngster - or maybe better if you nap?), and be strategic, you might get away with it... but expecting 20min waits through most of the day is optimistic at best.
Minions holds a longer line much of the time, and it's sinfully boring until you get inside at which point it's just a few preshows and no actual line. You can also generally skip the line/wait if you are willing to go to the stationary seating in the front, just ask one of the team members.

 

[liamthompson]

Hi there, I'm prepping to take my 4yo at the end of this year too. We are planning on doing the legacy parks only just to keep things simple.

That being said...if your son is over 40", then only the biggest rides are not available to him at epic (stardust racers, dragon racer rally, monsters unchained...we've not been yet but I've made a list and also deemed my son a suitable candidate haha)

On the flip side, if your son likes the very physical rides, I think the legacy parks will keep you busy for 2 days with hippogriff, troll coaster in the new DreamWorks land, Dr seuss stuff, pteranodon flyers, storm force accelatron, kang and kong, ET. Kong's height requirement is less than 40in but it would give my kid nightmares ha.

I would suggest you watch some of the ride through videos for minions, transformers, etc. I was thinking of taking my kid through fast and furious but it was a firm no after I saw the gun violence. Minions is cute...but in the lens of a 4yo who I have to remind daily to use "gentle hands", we're going to skip it. So we will do the queues/gift shop for those.

We visited last Feb (before Epic was open) and the wait times for the meet and greets on studios side was not nearly as bad as what we saw at Disney. Especially the random characters in the early morning...it was like one kid in the whole line having Dora the explorer all to herself. Of course this might have all changed.

The line for the minions ride seems to be long no matter what time of day. During our late feb timeframe, transformers would get down to 10min and spiderman would be less than 30min after lunchtime. I think express would still be worth it, especially if you could squeeze in some Harry Potter stuff while your partner stays with your kid and vice versa. You might look at the thrill data website to check on wait times.

None of the hotels have theming but I've read that you can arrange a wakeup call in your hotel room from some of the marvel superheroes.

 

[Kit Jackson]

Quick clarification (if it's needed). There are hotels that include ExpressPass, but they do not cover Epic Universe. They would cover Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.

 

[pixiedust33]

the play area at HTTYD, Fyre Drill at HTTYD, the HTTYD show, I hear there's a water play area in Celestial Park, not sure his height if any other rides are appropriate.

I do have all of these on my list if we go to Epic! Fyre Drill seems very similar to a ride he loved at Legoland NY this past fall and he would definitely love to meet Toothless. He’s very tall (over 44 inches and still not quite 4) but he doesn’t love thrill rides. If they do add it as a hopper option, and/or include the line skipping with a hotel stay, it would definitely be a yes.

The Transformers speak (or "song", in Bumblebee's case), and the Marvel characters talk.

Fantastic news! Thank you!!

If you want to roll up in the middle of the day to Transformers with a 20min wait or less, you'll need EP. If you can plan for mornings / evenings (maybe harder with a youngster - or maybe better if you nap?), and be strategic, you might get away with it... but expecting 20min waits through most of the day is optimistic at best.

This is very helpful! I just really didn’t have a sense of what is popular there and what is not so while I assumed it’s helpful for something like velocicoaster, I didn’t know if there was a universal equivalent of like it’s a small world at Disney and I’d be shelling out for the EP for a ride I could walk right onto with a decent touring plan. We will definitely rope drop/be there early but I also don’t want to have nothing to do midday except stand in super long lines. So it sounds like it’s not a bad idea to pay for it to give ourselves some flexibility and we aren’t fools for doing it.

 

[pixiedust33]

That being said...if your son is over 40", then only the biggest rides are not available to him at epic (stardust racers, dragon racer rally, monsters unchained...we've not been yet but I've made a list and also deemed my son a suitable candidate haha)

He is 44 inches tall but is very much not interested in intense thrill rides! At Disney a few months ago, he did fine on SDMT (but didn’t love it) but then deeply regretted Slinky Dog halfway through and has sworn he would never ride it again. He liked Tiana’s up until the drop and didn’t like Rise of the Resistance bc of the drop. His favorite ride was Toy Story Mania and Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, so I think he will be into the screen based rides, especially ones with a “blaster”. We watched a minions POV and the Men in Black one too and he was very into those.

The line for the minions ride seems to be long no matter what time of day. During our late feb timeframe, transformers would get down to 10min and spiderman would be less than 30min after lunchtime. I think express would still be worth it, especially if you could squeeze in some Harry Potter stuff while your partner stays with your kid and vice versa. You might look at the thrill data website to check on wait times

Super helpful, thank you! And you’re right that it would be fun for me to squeeze in some HP rides if we’re splurging for express! And I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me to like at thrill data because I was all over that for Disney! Off to go check that out!

 

[pixiedust33]

Quick clarification (if it's needed). There are hotels that include ExpressPass, but they do not cover Epic Universe. They would cover Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.

Yes, thank you! That is what I thought I had heard but was hoping to confirm. Has there been any chatter about whether that may change in the future? When I looked a few weeks ago, it looked like I couldn’t yet book tickets for March 2026 so I was hoping maybe that would change once the park is a little less new?

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Has there been any chatter about whether that may change in the future?

Very unlikely. Story I have heard is that it is contractual obligations for the original 2 parks, but nothing beyond that. No reason for Universal to give away a perk that people are paying out the ears for.
There is no hotel EP for Volcano Bay even, which would be much cheaper for them to add than Epic.

You might want to download the Universal App, which would let you take a peek at wait times throughout the day to get an idea. It'll also be useful for mobile ordering and show schedules.