Springtime is the Best Time- Flower & Garden, a taste of Dapper Days and Earth Day -April 2024- Side Trip to Epic Opening Day

[amazingact21]

Yay for another Disney trip! That sounded like too good an opportunity to pass up. Besides, you're getting to see your daughter. Who could say no to that?


Smart move skipping Ministry (I know it was down but even if it was running, still a good idea.). The theming inside that portal and queue is unbelievable. Everything is stunning!

 

[vamassey1]

Cautionary tale. Then again, I don’t know if I could fit on it. I’ve heard it’s pretty tight.

I've never ridden, so I have no idea.

 

[vamassey1]

WHOA! That theming in the Potter portal!!! I'm seriously considering getting an AP for Uni this winter and make a few long weekend trips down there. Disney's APs are out of my reach and I have a LOT of exploring I could do at the Uni parks. Cheaper rooms too. I absolutely LOVE the Beast movies of the franchise so am looking forward to seeing that new park.

The theming is amazing! I have thought about getting a Uni AP too. The last I read it still didn't include Epic but I can see it happening in the future. I've only spent one night at a Uni resort so I haven't really compared the pricing yet.

 

[vamassey1]

Yay for another Disney trip! That sounded like too good an opportunity to pass up. Besides, you're getting to see your daughter. Who could say no to that?

I know my people would have my back!

Smart move skipping Ministry (I know it was down but even if it was running, still a good idea.). The theming inside that portal and queue is unbelievable. Everything is stunning!

Did you ride it?

I'm so happy we got a chance to see the queue and explore the portal

 

[vamassey1]

Epic Opening Day-Final Portal Explored
When we left the Ministry portal we took a right and headed towards the final portal we needed to see, the Dark Universe.
We had to pass in front of Helios Grand Hotel and it truly is Grand. We didn't take time to explore and I regret that now.

We also passed in front of The Blue Dragon Pan-Asian Restaurant.

It was finally time to enter The Dark Universe.



Darkmoor has so many details and is very creepy. I also found it to be the smallest portal with the least amount of things to do. We walked around and went into the shops. We didn't ride any of the 2 rides there and we didn't make it back to The Burning Blade Tavern on this visit. It's all the way in the back. The Curse of the Werewolf was down I wasn't sure yet if I wanted to ride it. AW didn't want to ride Monsters Unchained so we passed for now. We knew we would be back to visit again after dark even though we were warned several time to not be out once it got dark. I'm glad I had the chance to see some of the details in the daylight.








Continued in next post.

 

[vamassey1]

There was no line for Monsters Unchained when we passed in front of it.

These were taken inside Pretorius' Scientific Oddities.



We didn't make it around the whole portal on this visit. We missed what was around where the track of Curse of the Werewolf was. There is a circle that goes around it.

We have now visited all 4 portals and it's around 3 in the afternoon, so what do we do next?

 

[pkondz]

We had to pass in front of Helios Grand Hotel and it truly is Grand. We didn't take time to explore and I regret that now.

I bet it's amazing. Would be cool to stay there. And cost a cool penny too, I'm sure!

We also passed in front of The Blue Dragon Pan-Asian Restaurant.

Like the entrance.

Darkmoor has so many details and is very creepy.

I like it already.

I also found it to be the smallest portal with the least amount of things to do.

Well, that's a let-down.

We knew we would be back to visit again after dark even though we were warned several time to not be out once it got dark.

Oh dear.

 

[missjackiemcg]

Jimmy has become a big fan of scary movies, especially the old black and white monster movies. Not a super adventurous rider, but I feel like he would absolutely love Darkmoor!! We tend to go to Universal every few years--WDW this Christmas, so maybe next year when it's less "new."

 

[buzzrelly]

Wow, Epic looks awesome! My DH would loke the dark portal as he is a huge fan of horror and scary movies!

Yay for another trip!

 

[Steppesister]

I haven't read ANYTHING at all about EPIC so I'm learning about it all here. I'd love to stroll around Darkmoor some!

 

[vamassey1]

I bet it's amazing. Would be cool to stay there. And cost a cool penny too, I'm sure!

I'm sure it is. Caroline is either there now or just stayed there so we should be reading about it from her.

Like the entrance.

Me too!

Jimmy has become a big fan of scary movies, especially the old black and white monster movies. Not a super adventurous rider, but I feel like he would absolutely love Darkmoor!! We tend to go to Universal every few years--WDW this Christmas, so maybe next year when it's less "new."

Jimmy will love exploring it. I think waiting a little is a good idea. I've seen reports where there is still lots of bugs that need to be worked out.

Wow, Epic looks awesome! My DH would loke the dark portal as he is a huge fan of horror and scary movies!

I think you DH would love it too.

Yay for another trip!

Always a good thing.

I haven't read ANYTHING at all about EPIC so I'm learning about it all here. I'd love to stroll around Darkmoor some!

It's so detailed. I know you would love to photograph it. Caroline should be giving us more info soon.

 

[Steppesister]

It's so detailed. I know you would love to photograph it. Caroline should be giving us more info soon.

I read that the APs will probably start including EPIC sometime after the New Year. I am still on the fence on this but do want to go.

 

[pkondz]

I'm sure it is. Caroline is either there now or just stayed there so we should be reading about it from her.

 

[amazingact21]

Evie's new all-time favorite attraction is Monsters Unchained, but she's a huge horror fan and the attraction really leaned into the scary factor. She almost felt guilty when she confessed to me, "Mom, I think I like Darkmoor more than Berk!"
On the flip side of that, Landon absolutely HATES scary stuff, and he didn't care for Dark Universe that much. I walked around with him and my BIL while Evie and Alex rode Monsters, and I agree completely with you. It's such a tiny portal with not much in it! You can see everything, including going into the Burning Blade Tavern, in half an hour. I hope they expand it.

 

[vamassey1]

I read that the APs will probably start including EPIC sometime after the New Year. I am still on the fence on this but do want to go.

I really hope they do this!

 

[vamassey1]

Evie's new all-time favorite attraction is Monsters Unchained, but she's a huge horror fan and the attraction really leaned into the scary factor. She almost felt guilty when she confessed to me, "Mom, I think I like Darkmoor more than Berk!"

Evie has found a replacement for the carousel. I love that she leans into the Dark. I wonder if she'll like the Villain's area when it's done.

On the flip side of that, Landon absolutely HATES scary stuff, and he didn't care for Dark Universe that much. I walked around with him and my BIL while Evie and Alex rode Monsters, and I agree completely with you. It's such a tiny portal with not much in it! You can see everything, including going into the Burning Blade Tavern, in half an hour. I hope they expand it.

Don't you love have 2 of your kids can be so different? I really hope they expand Darkmoor too.

 

[vamassey1]

Epic Opening Day- A Little Bit of Everything on Repeat

It was still early afternoon and we had visited all the different portals. We had not experienced everything, but we had a taste of each area. So where did we go first?

We went back to Berk.

We were still on the hunt for the Toothless shoulder pet and there were a few stores we had not been in yet and we had not ridden a ride there yet. We went back to Mead Hall to refill our drinks. We found a nice table on the wall next to an outlet. We sat for a bit, rehydrated, cooled off and used the restrooms. AH decided he was going to stay put for bit. His feet were hurting and he needed to charge his phone. I think he might even have done some work. Robin, AW and I headed out for more shopping and to finally ride a ride. We wanted to wait for AH to ride Hiccup's Wing Gliders so we headed to Fyre Drill. It was hot and we were ready to get a little wet. There was No line so we walked right into a ship.



I'm not sure what the goal is, but there was a blue side and a green side on the boat. You could sit or stand. Each side had water cannons to shoot targets as the boat went along. I think it was keeping score, so maybe the blue and green are competing. Robin and AW were together on the green side and I was on the blue side. I do want to add that the boat does have an area to store your stuff so it doesn't get wet. There was no one in the boat in front of us or behind us so we had free reign on the targets. There were several targets that made things happen if you hit them. We were getting better at hitting the targets as we went along so I wanted more. When we came to the end there wasn't really much of a line so I asked if we could go again, and we did.

This time around there was a mother and a son of about 8 or so in the boat in front of us and a father with a little girl of about 3 behind us. We now had competition for the targets. We were concentrating hard on the targets until the boat in front of us made the first turn and started firing their cannons at us! Boy was I surprised when the first wall of water hit me. No one told me the goal was to get the people in the other boats wet. I felt bad shooting at a kid, but he was having too much fun hitting us. We soon starting firing back. When we made the turn the Father and daughter started firing on us too. We were being fired upon from the the boat in front of us an behind us. The target were soon forgotten completely while we joined into firing at the other boats. We were all hooting and hollering and having a blast. We were all also very wet. We really had a blast cutting up with the Father and daughter behind us. When we got off the boats we were all laughing at how wet we were. The Father had a friend with him he called his photographer. His daughter wanted a picture with us so we stopped for a photo then his photographer took one of the 3 of us for us.



We spent some more time shopping and looking around. Ithink this was when we split up from AW. She wanted to do more shopping than we wanted to. There was so much to see in Berk. We found Gobber's work area. There was a dragon sleeping right next to it. The dragon snored and his body moved like he was breathing. I think he wakes up every once and a while, but he didn't while we were there.



Gobber's Shop was so detailed.



While we were walking around we ran into Gobber. Another great example of the characters interacting with the guests.



We left Berk and crossed back over to Darkmoor.






It wasn't dark yet but we still wanted to see more of Darkmoor. We walked around the back of the area and found some goolish delights.







Once we were done looking around I worked up the nerve to ride Monsters Unchained. Robin of course is always game to ride anything. I don't have any photos. We never stopped walking in the line and walked right onto it. That was a good thing so I didn't have time to overthink it and chicken out. My problem wasn't a fear factor but a fear of motion sickness. I think it uses some of the technology used for Forbidden Journey but the arm thingy is much better on this ride. It did not make me sick at all. There was so much going on and so much to see I never got sick and the ride was smooth. I would ride it again, just not back to back. I can see why it has won so many awards. The animatronics were awsome and there were so many. I did not work up the nerve to ride Curse of the Werewolf. Those cars spin and that's too much for me.

After seeing Dracula and Frankenstein we were ready for a snack. I also need to charge my phone and AW had my Fuel Rod. I didn't bring my other charger since I was traveling light. We texted AW to come meet us and headed to The Burning Blade Tavern.

Continured in next post.

 

[vamassey1]

The Burning Blade Tavern in the light of day.


It took us awhile to get a standing table. It's very dark in here. We did get visited by one of the Monster hunters. We ordered the Charred Loaded Potato to share at the walk up area. I wish we had ordered the Hunter's Garlic Stake too. I've seen so many good reviews of it. When our potato was ready we devoured it.

AW found us in the Tavern and she passed my Fuel Rod back. It did not have much charge so I needed to find a station to exchange it. We headed back out of Darkmoor and passed Igor and a big fan of his. Igor was giving her tips.

We also saw the Violin Lady and she told us again not be there after dark. She also played a little this time.


We needed to get to a Guest Service center for the Fuel Rod exchange. Danielle's friend Sara works at Epic at Guest Services part time and was about to come on shift. We headed to where she was going to be which was near Super Nintendo World. Robin got in line to get her refund for the unused Express Pass. AW couldn't get her refund since she didn't have the card she used to purchase it with her. I worked on getting a new Fuel Rod. I was not a happy camper when I found out it was going to cost me. I don't pay anything to exchange my Fuel Rod at Disney, to make matters worse it took my money and my fuel rod and didn't give me a new one. The Guest Service person said it had been giving them trouble all day. She had to get on the phone with them to get me a fuel rod. Since then I have checked my account and I do have a credit on my account. We visited the Super Nintendo store that is right there and outside of the portal while we waited for Sara.

The stained glass in here was beautiful. I have seen speculation that this is hinting to possibly adding a Zelda area in the future.



This fountain was so cute, and again outside the portal.

We visited with Sara for a bit and she asked me to see if there were some dragon earrings in Berk. She wanted a pair to wear in the park.


So are we headed back to Berk again? You'll have to wait to find out.