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:

 

[Keladry84]

Full from lunch, I take some time to explore the wizarding world. I notice the stacked pots outside one of the fake storefronts.



I think this is a wand spot as there were quite a few people directly in front of it doing magic, hence the side picture. I had my wand with me, but I didn’t really want to battle the wand lines/crowds atm so I saved it for another time.

Next I noticed some signs on the walls.


I can’t understand French, so I have no idea what this says, but I think the detail of the sign in the area is pretty neat.

I notice a little side street near here so I turn down it.



I like how there are nooks and crannies built into this world. I think somewhere in here I saw a label for Nicolas Flamel’s house, but I don’t think I took a picture of it. The other wizarding world restaurant is down this alley as well. I would like to try the food there sometime, but I am full and I sadly don’t make it there on any of my three days in Epic, so that will be on my list on another trip.



Some more detail as I continue through the Wizarding World.



I like the forced perspective here, but I do wish we could walk up the steps, even if just as a place to sit.



I don’t enter many of the shops at this time, but I do find the sweets.



These look amazing, but I’m not really able to make decisions at this point, and so decide to hopefully come back later.

 

[Keladry84]

After walking slowly through the whole land once, I find myself in the back corner and it’s time to ride Ministry of Magic!



I’m led to my own floo portal and travel by floo for the first time. As I am solo, there is sadly no one to take a video as I disappear.



On the other side, I enter the Ministry of Magic atrium for the first time:



WOW! The size and magnitude of this area is impossible to capture on camera. I recently went to the Harry Potter Studios in Tokyo, and they also have a room with the set for Ministry of Magic, and it doesn’t even come close to the scale and magnitude of what Universal built here.



Proceeding through the line, I enter Delores Umbridge’s office.



Her house elf speaks to us for several minutes. Everywhere there are little easter eggs and more detail to see. I could stand in this room for a very long time. Eventually I notice her plates of cats!



They move just like all portraits in the wizarding world.

Soon after I am on the ride. It’s really well done, with a decent length and good effects. I like this ride a lot. I wouldn’t say it is my favorite ride ever, but it’s definitely one worth waiting for and worth re-riding on future days/trips. When you exit the ride, you also get to walk back through the atrium, and it is much easier to get pictures when exiting.

After I get off of ministry, it’s around 1 pm, and I need to leave for my afternoon break. There’s still one portal I haven’t visited, and the next ride I wish to go on is there – Mario Kart.

I purposefully delayed entering this portal until just before my break as I had a very bad experience there when I was in Universal Hollywood. I was extremely excited for this land, but didn’t realize until too late the land would be too much for me, and I had to leave after barely 10 minutes. The result was so bad that I had to leave the whole park as well and couldn’t return.

Back to the present in Florida, I’m very cautious as I enter, putting on a hat, earplugs, and noise cancelling headphones. I look straight down at the ground as I try to navigate as quickly as possible to the Mario Kart entrance to get a return time. Success! I exit as quickly as possible without looking around.

Now I start to head out of the park, but need to make one more stop on the way: Moonship Chocolates and Celestial Sweets!



I’m not one for merchandise and souvenirs, but there is one item that I really want: A Captain Cacao stuffed bear.

Just who is Captain Cacao?



That’s him over the door of the store entrance. He’s a unique side character created by Universal for the lore of this store, and he kind of went almost viral during passholder previews, with the stuffed bear selling out of stock very quickly.

If you look through the door into the store, that looks like it’s him, right? Well, kind of. It’s him, but it’s a backpack and not just a straight stuffed bear. I ask at the counter, and I’m told they are completely sold out and won’t be back in stock until September!!! Yikes. The one and only time I want a specific merch. :/

I consider buying the backpack, but I don’t think I’d get much use out of it, and the straps make it impractical to function as a stuffed animal. Sadness :/

As I look around at the other merchandise, another clerk tells me that the sugar cookies are currently buy 1, get on for .01 cent. This is too good to pass up and I buy one of Captain Cacao and one of the Moonship Chocolates balloon. I think the clerk also noticed my disappointment regarding Captain Cacao and gifts me a small sticker of him!





My errand accomplished, or at least to the extent I am able, I head back to Surfside for a much needed break.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

We will be there in December. If you still haven't found a Captain Cacao plush by then and still want one, let me know and I can pick one up for you.

 

[Keladry84]

We will be there in December. If you still haven't found a Captain Cacao plush by then and still want one, let me know and I can pick one up for you.

Thank you! That is a very kind offer!

 

[Keladry84]

Back at Surfside is the difficult decision of how long to break for, and I try to use the weather for guidance. In the early morning, the weather app showed rain all day, but as I tracked it, the start of the rain kept getting pushed back further and further. By the time I reach my hotel, it disappears completely! I am excited for this as I really wish to see the park at night, and since there is now no rain, it looks to be possible.

I set an alarm for 4:30 and by 5:00 pm am returning to the park. I head first to Super Nintendo World to redeem my return time for Mario Kart and am very excited to finally get to ride – as I was unable to in California due to the sensory overload.

Entering Bowser’s Castle, I am greeted by Bowser himself.



As I progress through the castle, I am amazed at the detail in the queue and am excited to explore each area.

Here are some trophies for the race!



And here is the library!


I enjoy looking at the different book titles.



Will this manual help with navigating rainbow road in the race? Goodness knows I need the help as I was never able to complete rainbow road in Mariokart game without falling off at least once!

I also really enjoy seeing the bullets - I spent hours trying to beat the pirate ship in Super Mario Brothers 3 on the NES as a kid - unfortunately, I never quite made it all the way through :/



Pretty quickly, I am at the merge point, and am issued the Mario Kart hat/visor.

Not realizing that there is still quite a bit of line and pre-show left, I remove my headphones to put on the visor. This ends up being a mistake because I do actually still need my headphones, especially when we exit the preview rooms into the stairwell. I get sent to a line that is backed up all the way to the top of the staircase and am almost not able to manage the remaining queue :/

Finally, I make it to the bottom of the stairs. I am assigned a car and board! I am on the ride! But I miss something important. About a minute into the ride, I realize that I can’t see any of the digital overlay. I look around at the other people and notice they are wearing a type of ‘goggle’ in addition to the hat and I am perplexed as to where it came from. It takes me another minute to realize that it is in front of me in the car and to figure out how to put it on.

Finally, about 3/4 of the way through the ride I solve it and can see everything. I am just figuring out how to shoot/aim when the ride ends :/ I am disappointed that I did not get the full experience, but what I did finally get to see was fun and I’m determined to re-ride sometime during my trip.

Next, I decide to see if I can do Donkey Kong Country. The California park does not have this addition, and from pictures it seems to be a little more spread out/less busy than the main SNW area. With my head down, hat on, earplugs in and noise cancelling headphones ready, I look at the ground and maneuver through SNW towards the entrance to Donkey Kong Country.


I am correct that it is easier to navigate than the main SNW area, and am actually able to look around a bit!!



The theming is good, the land is nice, but it is also quite small and not really much to do except for Mine Cart Madness.

I decide to get a return time for the ride, at 60 minutes. Looking at the weather app, there is now rain in the forecast again, arriving in about 60 minutes…..which will come first, the rain or my return time?

I haven’t eaten dinner, so debate stopping in a restaurant for some food. Both Toadstool Café and Pizza Moon are places I really want to try and are nearby. I go first to Toadstool Café. It is packed with a monstrous line. No go for me. I exit SNW from the ground level and head to Pizza Moon. Same thing. No go for me.

There is not really any other nearby food that will be easy/quick for me to get so I skip dinner altogether. Heading back to Donkey Kong Country, I find a quiet seat near the Bubbly Barrel watching the carts jump the track towards the end of Minecart Madness.



As my return time creeps closer, so does the rain. Will I manage to ride before the inevitable weather delay??

Nope. 5 minutes before my return time, the app shows the ride is on weather delay. I know it will not come back up today because of what I see in the forecast. I immediately leave and head to Mariokart, hoping to get a new return time for that before the line builds up too much.

At the ride entrance, when I ask for a new time, I tell the team member to cancel/cross off the Minecart ride. He asks me if I don’t want to ride. I tell him I do, but I can’t because of the weather delay. He then does something extremely nice and pixie dusts me: He notices that both rides have the same wait time and that I’ve already waited the full 60 minutes for Minecart. Instead of making me get a new 60 minute return time for Mariokart, he crosses off the previous and lets me immediately into the Mariokart. I wasn’t expecting that at all.

The line this time goes smoother for me, I figure out the visor right away, and have a lot of fun on the ride.

Exiting the ride, I find a mass of people waiting around in the store. You know that rain that disappeared completely from the forecast during the afternoon and then popped back up about 30 minutes ago? Ya, it’s a complete deluge. I consider going out into it, but there is also lightning and I don’t want to get struck. Usually Florida storms pass over quickly, at least the heavy rain part, so I figure I’ll wait it out.

40 minutes later, I’m still in the store and it’s not let up at all. By now it’s around 8:30 and looking at the weather app, it’s probably going to be another hour or so before it finally lets up. So, it’s time to get wet and hope I don’t get struck by lightning.

I put on my poncho (like that’s going to help…) and dash out. SNW world is deserted. Going through Celestial Park, there’s only a couple of people outside, most also dashing to leave.

I quickly find out that the front of the park is poorly designed for rain. Near the entrance, I have no choice but to slog through water several inches deep :/ You would think that a new park in Florida would have better design than that!

I make it to the bus stop. A bus comes quickly and myself and about 15 others board the bus and arrive back at Surfside. In the hotel room, I dump the rest of the water out of my shoes and stuff a handtowel into both shoes. Then comes a quick shower, change of clothes, and warm bed. Falling sleep, I am looking forward to waking up in the morning for the next day’s adventure.