You know it's gonna be EPIC!

[Keladry84]

This trip report will cover 3 days solo at EPIC universe during opening week, May 27, 28, and 29. It’s my second report here on the DIS, and I’ve been meaning to start this sooner, but hey, you know, life! It catches up to you.

I was fortunate to be able to get 3 passholder single day tickets during opening week. I had no idea what to expect and was just along for the ride, but ended up with a great trip. Even though I missed the really low crowd days from opening - with May 28 the worst rated at 10/10 for crowds.

A little bit about myself: My name is Keladry, and I teach highschool German in the Midwest.



I turned 40 last year and celebrated with an annual pass to Universal, taking 5 trips over the course of the year. Both of my introduction pics are from the other two parks from my trips last year. I got to meet tons of characters, which was pretty nifty!



I briefly started a trip report for last year, but quickly realized it was too much content. When it came time to renew the pass, I really wanted to, but was able to resist in the end (barely). But all bets are off once Epic is part of the AP!!

I am also autistic, and I use an assistance pass in the parks. My autism shapes how I tour the parks and navigate new places.

My purpose in this report is to share my experience at Epic – to help others get an idea of what Epic is like and has to offer, to share how it was back in opening week as a snapshot in time, and to provide insight into touring Epic with autism/AAP.

I'm excited to share my trip with you, and hope to hear your feedback, experiences, and maybe questions! If there's anything specific that you want to know that I forget to cover, just ask!

 

[Keladry84]

Pre-trip:
I didn’t originally plan to go to Epic this year and meant to wait for crowds to die down and kinks to get worked out. But fate intervened. I randomly woke up around 4:00 am the morning the passholder tickets went on sale, logged online, and saw that tickets had just then been released. I only had about an 8 minute wait in line, and opening day tickets were still available! That’s fate!

But I couldn’t go opening day – I’m a school teacher and that was our last teacher contact day, so I bought the 27th-29th instead. Still during the first week It was all set, or so I thought.

In Mid-April, my trip almost got completely derailed. The Midwest had a doozy of a snowstorm back in January and we were out of school for a week. Then we had a couple of smaller storms soon after. More snow days.

Our district decided to add days to the schoolyear, and I now was supposed to work on May 27th. Um, nope. Not happening! There was no way I was going to miss my first day at Epic! Luckily I still had leave left and was allowed to take the 27th off! Whew! Such a close call!!!

Taking off:
Originally, I planned to fly to Orlando the day before, on Monday, but since I’ve recently had very bad luck with delayed flights - like 24 hour, sleeping on airport floor kind of bad luck - I decided I needed a buffer, and left on Sunday instead, spending 1 day at All-Star Music for the free waterpark day. That I was fine with missing, NOT my first day at Epic!

Luckily, the flights went smoothly, and I got my waterpark day, accompanied by a pretty rough sun-burn :/ Oh well.



After checking out, I explored Disney Springs, and then headed to Universal in the early afternoon.



I checked-in at Surfside, one of my favorite on-resort hotels due to its small size. I love how quiet it is, and have had good experiences there.

Check-in went smoothly, and I got a dark Universe Keycard! Yay!

Heading up to the room, I discovered it had a view of Volcano Bay.



Since there was still a whole evening free, I decided to head to Citiwalk for dinner. If this had been last year, I’d have popped into one of the parks, but I no longer had my AP. Sadness :/ Oh well.

While waiting for the bus, I was a little bit confused – a Mears bus pulled up to the Citiwalk bus stop and sat there for several minutes. My previous trips only Universal buses had stopped at the hotels. After asking the driver, I found out that the bus was in fact for Citiwalk and got on. It was more comfortable but weird not to be on a Universal bus.

Once at Citiwalk, I got a hot dog from the Hot Dog Hall of Fame for the first time. It was ok, but not something that I would go out of my way to get. It was so unimpressive I don’t even have a picture.

Afterwards, I headed back to the hotel to turn in early. Tomorrow would be the first day at EPIC!

 

[Keladry84]

Epic Day 1: Tuesday, May 27th:
It’s here! My first Epic day!

I’m not a rope drop person. I can’t do the crowds, or the uncertainty, and waiting in a crowd for the park to open is just as bad for me as doing the same wait in a line at the attraction. And then you aren’t even guaranteed the ride you want to rope drop will even actually be open, or have a short line when you get there.

So I set an alarm for myself in the morning, but I don’t rush. Surprisingly, I am out the door by 8:00 am, and I am lucky – an Epic bus just arrived when I got there, and there is room for me – barely. I have the last standing spot in the front of the bus, which is the best place as I can clearly see the park as we approach it!! My first views of the new park! After all this time I am actually here!

We arrive around 8:20 am. There’s a small line at security but it goes quickly and by 8:30 this is my view:



Celestial Park is stunning. Pictures don’t do it justice!


Despite not planning on rope dropping, I have arrived with 30 minutes of early entry left. But I don’t rush to the attractions. Early entry is still too unpredictable for me, with me having had some bad experiences in the OG parks.

Instead, I go to one of the concierges to pick up my AAP for the trip. This is different than the other two parks – there, you must pick it up at guest services in the front of the park, in Epic, if you already have a case number, you have to go further into the park to one of the concierges near each portal.

Even though there is only 1 family in front of me, I end up with a 15 minute wait. In the brutal sun. I wasn’t prepared for that yet!

When it is my turn, at first I am told that I will need to pick up a new AAP every day because I have three 1-day tickets. However, when I share that I still have the physical card from my expired annual pass, they are able to link the 3 tickets to the pass to issue the AAP for 3 days, but ONLY because the tickets are on consecutive days (complicated, right?)

AAP in hand, I head to the carousel. It is a 5 minute wait, and I board right away.


It’s ok. Fun for a carousel, but still pretty tame. I realize only after it starts that not all of the animals turn on the smaller circles and I have one on the outside. I plan to ride again later to try one on the smaller circle plates.

After the carousel, I head to my first portal: Isle of Berk!

Right away I notice the detail in the theming, even down to the benches!



I don't take a lot of pictures, because the wait times are still really low, and I want to make it to Hiccup’s Wing Gliders!

The ride is still pretty much walk-on and I go immediately through the merge point to the lockers.

The first time using the face-recognition lockers is confusing. It is unclear when/what you are supposed to press and where to stand for the picture, and it takes me multiple tries to get it to take my picture. Others around me have the same problem, but in the end it works and I have no difficulty getting my bag after the ride. (pro-tip: Pay attention to which section of locker you put your items in! Multiple people didn’t and went to the wrong locker section after the ride).

Hiccups is really fun, and the description others have used as it being ‘Hagrid’s lite’ are spot on. The line is still short, so I immediately go for a second run. When I got off, the line was now 40 minutes, so it’s time to move on.

I decide to go to Fyre Drill next.



It’s still a very short wait. I’m not really dressed for water rides, but hey, it’s here, I'm here, and it’s hot.

When climbing into the boat, the team member tells me to be careful getting in. I hear him, but instead of going immediately to my spot, I see a place in back to store items so go there first. Of course by then I forgot his warning (short term memory deficit) and completely miss the step down into the rest of the boat. My hand gets jammed into the water gun as I try to brace myself. Ouch! :/ He asks if I’m ok and I nod yes.

I find out quickly that I don’t like this ride. I don’t mind being wet, but I dislike the process of becoming wet and I need to do so slowly, OR know when/where it’s coming from.

About a minute into the ride a stream of very cold water hits me in the back unexpectedly. Nope. Don’t like this at all. It’s coming from someone on the boat behind me.

I try to hit back with my water gun, but can’t. The angle is wrong and the water pressure is bad. And try as I might, I can never hit or reach anyone on another boat to revenge, not even to a different boat/person. I am insanely frustrated, because this guy continues to soak me in the back the entire ride. I can’t do anything about it, and I just want off.

Finally the ride ends. The team member remembers that I got hurt getting on and asks again if I’m ok. I had forgotten about it so nod yes, but sadly realize the next day that my hand is bruised and swollen. I wish in hindsight that I had registered the injury at the time, but I am often unable to recognize that I am hurt until much later after the fact.

 

[KatieCharlotte]

I appreciate hearing about the assistance pass process because my autistic adult daughter will probably be going to Epic on a solo trip. Last trip, with me, she got a pass on the last day after a bad experience. She has not yet been to Epic.

I agree with your description of Winged Gliders. My younger daughter and I rated it high. We also struggled with the facial recognition lockers at that ride specifically. It refused to recognize her as having a face. At one point the system rebooted. But my face was fine when I finally tried.

We also found Fyre Drill disappointing. We got soaked but never had an opportunity to shoot anyone? Strange. I'm sorry about your hand. My older (autistic) daughter and I tend to not recognize physical pain, which obviously can be a problem.

 

[Keladry84]

I appreciate hearing about the assistance pass process because my autistic adult daughter will probably be going to Epic on a solo trip. Last trip, with me, she got a pass on the last day after a bad experience. She has not yet been to Epic.

I agree with your description of Winged Gliders. My younger daughter and I rated it high. We also struggled with the facial recognition lockers at that ride specifically. It refused to recognize her as having a face. At one point the system rebooted. But my face was fine when I finally tried.

We also found Fyre Drill disappointing. We got soaked but never had an opportunity to shoot anyone? Strange. I'm sorry about your hand. My older (autistic) daughter and I tend to not recognize physical pain, which obviously can be a problem.

Before I went, I didn't really see a lot about the AAP/Epic specific (and still haven't for that matter), and hearing about others' experiences has gone a long way in helping me when I go to a new park! If there's any questions you (or your daughter) have that don't show up in my report, please do ask!

Re Fyre Drill - It seems to be almost placement dependent on the boat. I happened to be in a spot that was wide open to target from other boats, but yet made it impossible to reach any other boat. Maybe we were in the same spot? Mine was at the far back on the left. It seems like a bit of a design flaw leading only to frustration to be stuck in a spot where you are constantly soaked by others but yet also can't hit others.....especially on a ride where 'battling' other boats is half the draw.

 

[Keladry84]

It’s now around 10:00 am and I’ve yet to eat breakfast. The mango bread at the Oak and Star Tavern seems intriguing, and they have it on the breakfast menu paired with scrambled eggs and bacon!

I head there and find the restaurant mostly empty. The theming is amazing – lots of green, lots of light!



There’s two-top table open in a corner with an excellent view of the room, so I grab it.

The food comes out fairly quickly.



Wow. I don’t have words to describe how absolutely amazing and delicious this was. The mango bread has whipped cream, pineapple and coconut. The combination is perfect, and the amount of food is just right.

As I am getting ready to leave, live musicians come onto the stage. The music is decent, but after one song, I leave as I still have many areas of the park to discover!

The next portal is dark universe! Even though I’m not necessarily a fan of the universal monsters, I attended HHN last year for the first time and am very curious about this portal.



Oddly, as I explored the land, I didn’t really take many pictures. Only two to be exact.



Of course one of those two was the sign in German for the toilets!

I then rode Werewolf. The coaster is pretty tame. Our car didn’t really rotate much, and I spent a lot of the ride sideways. Which is ok, as long as I am not stuck backwards I’m fine.

Afterwards I see the wait for Monster’s Unchained is at 25 minutes. This is one of my most anticipated rides, but also one that I am very nervous for because of the queue and pictures of it I’ve seen ahead of time. I am not sure if I am going to be able to manage it.

The queue is as problematic as I thought it would be. Luckily, I am immediately let through the merge and into the pre-show rooms, but even that is too much for me. By the time I am on the ride, I’m already maxed out and cannot manage the further input from the ride itself. I spend most of the ride with my eyes closed and head down, and it takes me about half an hour or more in a quiet spot afterwards to recover. Sadly, even with the AAP I cannot access this attraction. Maybe I might be able to manage the single rider line?? I would like to try but it will have to be on a different day.

Now it is time for an early lunch. I try to eat at slightly off times to manage crowds in restaurants. I’ve been eyeing the crepes at Café L’air de La Sirene for some time, as well as the drinks. I enter my third portal: Wizarding Paris!!!!



Arriving to the cafe, it's only moderately busy and am led to a seat in a side room, which is perfect for me. The deco is beautiful and feels like it really is in Paris. Because of the size, it is difficult to get a good picture that shows the whole venue.



I’ve been waffling back and forth between ordering the butterbeer crepe or the lemon crepe, and last second decide on the lemon.



Wow. This is amazing, and so well done. The lemon crème inside is thick and has the perfect texture. There’s just the right amount of sauce and berries. It’s almost too much food for 1 person, but as this is the only item I ordered I just barely am able to finish it.

To drink I order The Fraise, and it pairs together perfectly with the crepe.

As I am finishing, I notice that all tables are now full and there is quite a long line for people waiting to be seated. It looks like I had perfect timing for lunch! I take a few more pictures of the deco as I walk out: