When I received an invitation for a friend’s wedding in Florida, I immediately knew it was my opportunity to finally experience the immersive world of Epic Universe. I didn’t even discuss it with my husband, I just decided we’d be staying in Orlando for an extra night. Fortunately, Mike loves theme parks just as much as I do…well, almost as much!

Since it’s announcement, I’ve been anxiously waiting my chance to visit Epic Universe. As a former Florida resident and Universal Annual Passholder, I’ve spent a lot of time at both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, and each visit has been jam-packed with fun. But Universal’s newest park, Epic Universe, has some lands that I knew my kids and I would love. My 8 year old son is Mario obsessed! (He very excitedly beat Donkey Kong Country Returns on our Nintendo Switch recently). And my 7 year old daughter frequently “flies” around the house in a homemade dragon costume and will only answer to the name Toothless.

I can’t wait to bring the kiddos and see their faces light up when they are immersed in the world of Nintendo and The Isle of Berk, but I was glad to have the chance to first check everything out without the added chaos of little ones in tow!

Normally I would recommend staying at a Premier resort (gotta get that included Express Unlimited Pass!), but since we were only going to Epic Universe, we decided to stay at Stella Nova. There are three hotels near Epic Universe: Helios (which is connected to the park), Terra Luna, and Stella Nova. Terra Luna and Stella Nova are basically identical with one major difference…Stella Nova has a walking path that will take you right to Epic Universe! You can of course use the included Universal buses to get there (and to the other parks), but we loved having this added convenience so we didn’t have to wait in a long bus line.

Since we were staying at a Universal resort, our park tickets included one hour early entry (which is also a perk you get when you purchase your tickets through me, whether you’re staying on property or not)! We had a surprising filling breakfast at our hotel and got to Epic just as the gates opened.

Here’s how our day went:

Morning: Super Nintendo World and Dark Universe

After seeing the amazing videos of Super Nintendo World, we knew we wanted to start there. But no picture or video can truly convey how fully immersed in the world of Mario we became! From the moment we entered this world’s portal – a green pipe playing that iconic Mario music – I was awestruck! The rides were fun (and I was fascinated with Donkey Kong Mine Cart Madness, whose mechanics make the coaster appear to jump the track), but just walking around was the best part of this land. Mike and I both agreed it was our favorite! While we didn’t purchase Power Up bands for ourselves, I will 100% be buying them for the kiddos when we bring them back! I can’t wait to watch them run around collecting coins, punching blocks, and finding hidden letters that spell KONG. I probably could have spent another 3 hours in this land just taking it all in. But…

We had a lot more to see and do! Throughout our visit there was light rain on and off, so we took the time to duck under the cover of the Constellation Carousel for a quick relaxing ride on some zodiac themed animals (where are all my Aries?). This and the Stardust Racers roller coasters are the only rides in the Celestial Park area, and since hubby isn’t a big coaster guy, we decided to skip that one.

By 10:30 we were walking through the portal for the land I was least looking forward to: Dark Universe. As someone who’s just not into scary things, I have avoided ever attending Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights. But I was assured by my amazing Universal representative (shout-out to Amanda!) that Dark Universe was simply an homage to the classic horror movies that Universal got their start creating. While it might look spooky and have monsters wandering around, no one would ever jump out at me. And the only time I would scream would be out of excitement on the rides. So I reluctantly went in, and this land did not disappoint! The Curse of the Werewolf roller coaster had some surprising twists and turns (literally!), and Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment was very similar to one of my favorite rides at Universal Studios – Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. I even got excited when I saw Frankenstein and the Invisible Man walking around.

Scariness verdict: not too bad (phew!)

Afternoon: Lunch and Harry Potter

Since we were halfway through the lands, we decided to take a break for lunch. I had heard that Café L’air de la Sirène in the newest Harry Potter land served delicious breakfast pastries, so we figured the lunch would be good as well. (Spoiler alert: it was!) I’m a sucker for Boeuf Bourguignon, and Mike got the Baguette de Dinde – a turkey sandwich with apples and brie.

After our tasty lunch we wandered into the streets of 1920s Paris. Admittedly, I haven’t read or watched any of the Harry Potter prequels (only the original cannon…Slytherin represent!), so to me, this area didn’t feel very Potter-esque. But we did see students from Hogwarts and Beauxbatons wandering around, and the details of all the shops are just as intricate and enchanting as they are in the Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley areas of the other parks. We just missed the start of the show Le Cirque Arcanus, and didn’t want to wait around for the next one, so we moved on to the centerpiece of this land: The Ministry of Magic.

Admittedly, it was a bit disjointed to go from 1920s Paris to 1990s Great Brittain, but it’s a magical land and I’m sure Universal needed to find a way to showcase Harry, Ron, and Hermione, so we went with it. The ride was just okay. Mike and I decided first thing when we got to the park that we were willing to use the Single Rider lines; this would cause us to be split up on the rides, but save us time waiting in line. Harry Potter and The Battle at the Ministry was the only ride all day where I do not think splitting up was worth it. Because the ride car holds 14 people, they don’t need a single rider to fill in space as often as they do on rides that hold 2-4 people. And because of that, we waited just as long in the Single Rider line as those in the standard line.

The true magic of this area for me was walking out of the ministry, when the flue began to glow green and a whoosh of smoke filled the air around me, transporting me out of the Ministry and back onto the streets of Paris! I wanted to go back inside just to experience this part again (and to get a better video than the one I got when I was caught off guard by the experience!) Don’t be like me; have your camera ready!

Evening: The Isle of Berk and Dinner in Celestial Park

With just one more land to explore and five more hours until the park closed, we knew we made the right decision using the Single Rider line. We saved hundreds of dollars by not purchasing the Express Pass, and we were able to ride every ride we wanted to (and we had plenty of time for the three we skipped had we wanted to try them). But when it came to the Isle of Berk and Hiccup’s Wing Gliders, we were both glad we did not skip out on this ride, which turned out to be our favorite of the day! This family-friendly coaster goes just fast enough to be thrilling without being too scary for little ones. We were screaming with adrenaline-filled excitement! And to be totally honest, I was a bit disappointed that hubby didn’t want to get back in line to ride it a second time!

I can’t wait for my kids to explore this world. Not only can you meet Hiccup, Toothless, and all their friends, but you can also become a Viking yourself at Viking Training Camp – an awesome looking play area with lots of space for kiddos to climb, run around, and just get out some energy! I also really loved seeing all the animatronic dragons through the Isle of Berk…especially the dragon tails swaying back and forth hanging out of dragon houses, and the giant ice breathing dragon.

Some more rain made it an easy decision to go to our dinner reservation early. There are two table service restaurants, both located in Celestial Park: The Blue Dragon Pan-Asian Restaurant and Atlantic. Since food is one of my favorite parts of any trip I go on, I took a look at the menus well in advance of our visit and made a dinner reservation at Atlantic (they had Bucatini, which is my favorite pasta shape). They couldn’t get us in early for our reservation, but luckily the bar had plenty of seats, plus an amazing cocktail called The Northern Lights that includes sparkly gold luster dust and changes color as you drink it.

This was definitely not a budget-friendly meal choice. Our shared appetizer, two entrees, and drinks cost us well over $150! But it was the perfect elevated end to our fun filled day.

Date nights with my husband come few and far between, and day dates happen even less often (such is the life of a mom with two kids and too many events on her calendar!). So getting to spend an entire day together exploring somewhere brand new to us is a rare treat. While I’m already planning the details for when we come back with our kids, the day we spent exploring Epic Universe just as Allison and Mike, and not as Mom and Dad, was filled with excitement, whimsy, and a lot of adventure!