Review: Epic Universe, Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, and Halloween Horror Nights

On somewhat of a last-minute whim this past weekend, I decided I would use the first week of September to visit Universal Studios for the first time in six years. I’ve been to Universal Studios on three prior occasions: in 1999 as a child, 2017 with friends, and 2019 with family. This time, I’d be enjoying the park solo, which itself was an exciting proposition. I could do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted and however I wanted. Buuuut, I didn’t “just do” Universal Studios, I added in Epic Universe, which opened in May of this year, the option to float over to Islands of Adventure, and Halloween Horror Nights, which I’ve never done before. I figured it would be fun to do a review of my overall experience, particularly of Epic Universe since it’s new.

A few points I want to make upfront. First, I’m far from an expert theme park goer, whether one is looking for thrills with rollercoasters, entertainment, experiences, food, or all of the above. I’m not going to give any sort of expert advice on the best way to navigate the logistics of your planned trip to any of the parks or events. I can only offer insight on what I did. Second, below when I discuss wait times, that’s not as a complaint, only the factual observations I was making in real time to give people an idea of what to potentially expect. When you go to an amusement park, any amusement park, you should expect to do a lot of waiting, walking, and to be hot. Those are all a given! Third, if it’s of any use to know, my predilection has always been for Universal versus Disney, as the most obvious comparison. I love Universal!

With all of that out of the way, the one final item to note is that for Epic Universe, Universal Studios, and Islands of Adventure, I did not pay for the Express Pass. So, any note of wait times is based on that; however, it is worth caveating, that come to find out, being a single rider, as I was, has its advantages. Similar to Express Pass, being a single rider often affords you a quicker wait to access the ride without having to pay for the Express Pass. I thought that was neat.

One reason I was curious about wait times was as a general gauge of whether Universal’s theme parks are breezier, as it were, in September compared to the peak months of summer or during spring break when kids are out of school. In my experience, crowd levels seemed busy, owing to many foreign travelers. I loved hearing all the different languages on the shuttle from my hotel to the parks and at the parks. I would pontificate more on how remarkable such a fact is — that people travel all over the world to visit the United States’ theme parks and what a gift that is to us abstractly and tangibly; and indeed, I find hope in how resonant our culture is with the world that no matter what may be going on in the U.S. otherwise, people still flock to our cultural touchstones — and how we take it for granted in the most arbitrary, violent ways, but I won’t do that for now. It’s also difficult to ascertain crowd levels, especially between Epic Universe, Universal Studios, and Islands of Adventure, when Epic Universe is the newest addition, i.e., was Epic busy because it’s new? It certainly seemed to me because of Epic’s popularity, Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure weren’t as crowded. But is that typical in September? If I had to rank them by foot traffic and wait times, Epic was by far the busiest, with Islands of Adventure next, followed incredibly by Halloween Horror Nights in its 34th iteration, and then by Universal Studios.

Epic Universe

My first full day in Orlando was reserved for Epic Universe. I took the shuttle from the airport to the park at 9:05 a.m. because the park doesn’t open until 10 a.m. I didn’t see any reason to get there sooner and hang around. Epic has five “worlds” within it: Celestial Park, which you could get into before 10 a.m.; Super Nintendo World; How to Train Your Dragon; Dark Universe; and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Naturally, I made a beeline for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I wanted to knock out the one ride offered in the universe, Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, first and go from there.

Harry Potter and the Battle
Park goers were already lined up by the time I entered the world and joined the line. It was 9:45 a.m., with Universal’s map showing a 2-hour wait. That made sense to me given they were likely accounting for the 15 minutes until the ride officially opened, at which point the wait went down to 105 minutes. When I looked at the map, Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge was a 2-hour wait already. Throughout the day, both rides would remain as the two most popular going by wait time. I will say, what was rather dispiriting about the line for Harry Potter is I kept thinking I was finally getting close to the ride only for another swirl of “line” awaiting me. Additionally, I’m certain someone pulled a rather brazen attempt at line jumping: a woman passed us in line with a hoodie on seemingly talking on the phone trying to find her “lost autistic child,” who apparently so happened to be at the front of the line. I digress. What’s great about Universal and a “theme” for me throughout my two-day stay was how much detail and work they put into the worlds. So, while you are waiting in a long line, you experience these intricate, detailed props and set-ups. It was gorgeous to look at, especially when we went through Metrofloo, where you walk into a fireplace and emerged within the Ministry of Magic with a green poof. A huge screen showed Dolores Umbridge in prison garb, as the ostensible story that unfurls is Dolores is on trial. Again, I marvel at how detailed they get, even to the point of having Ministry of Magic-labeled paper bags for a “clean-up” scene. Unfortunately, right as we got to the Metrofloo, the ride was delayed. By the time I made it on to the ride, I waited around 2 hours and 35 minutes. After I was finished, it was already a little after 12:30 p.m. One ride done! The ride took about six minutes. Which I feel like is rather short compared to the world-building the immersive rides at Universal Studios has, but probably fairly comparable to Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts. That ride was my benchmark, not only because it’s also a Harry Potter ride, but because it’s my favorite current ride at Universal Studios from my prior two experiences in 2017 and 2019.
Overall: Excluding Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure that I still haven’t ridden, Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry is firmly in third among the adult Harry Potter rides Universal offers. It doesn’t quite reach the magic and awe of Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

Before my next adventure, I recharged with a frozen butterbeer and let me tell you, it hit the spot.

Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment
Next, I entered the Dark Universe, the second “world” I was most interested in seeing. I love horror and all the classic Universal monsters: Frankenstein’s monster, Dracula, The Invisible Man, Wolf Man, Phantom of the Opera, etc. This was also the first ride where I experienced the neatness of being a single rider. It literally took me mere minutes to get onto the ride.
Overall: This felt more immersive than Harry Potter did, and had a better story: How can you not love seeing Frankenstein’s monster and Dracula battle it out?! Spoiler alert: This was my favorite ride at Epic Universe.

Curse of the Werewolf
I stayed in the Dark World with the Curse of the Werewolf ride. In this case, the wait was a stated 45 minutes and took less time, 33 minutes, to get on. Single rider status moved the needle a little then.
Overall: A rollercoaster that involves a little spin action so you’re facing other people while you’re being propelled down the tracks was a nice jolt of adrenaline, and for those like me who can’t quite handle rides that have too much spinning anymore, it wasn’t too much spinning.

By this point in the day, it was time for lunch. I stretched it out as long as I could, but I needed to refuel. I was trying to find the pizza place in Celestial Park, but I must’ve overlooked it. Instead then, I hit up The Atlantic, which as the name indicates, is a seafood restaurant with a gorgeous view over the water and park. I had the Speechless Astronomer beer, which reminded me of a Yuengling. For an appetizer, I had the Ahi Tuna Tartare, which is something I’ve never had. It was as refreshing as the waitress promised, albeit I wish it came with a few more chips to slurp up the watermelon and avocado concoction. As a main dish, the waitress recommended the scallop meal, which I normally would jump at because I love scallops, but their main companion was mushroom and I do not do mushrooms. I went with her second recommendation, the Grouper sandwich, specifically blackened. Very delicious.

Stardust Racers
Part of Celestial Park, Stardust Racers reminded me of a Kings Island ride for those who have been, more simply named, The Racer, a wooden rollercoaster still in use after debuting in 1972. The concept is the same: two simultaneously racing rollercoasters. The stated wait time was 35 minutes, and I think I was in and out in 30 minutes.
Overall: One of the most fun rides at Epic because of the speed and thrust. I mentioned a shot of adrenaline earlier from the Curse of the Werewolf, but this, especially after lunch, really did the trick.

Since it was close by, I headed next to the How to Train Your Dragon — Isle of Berk universe.

Hiccup’s Wing Gliders
The stated time was 50 minutes, but it was more like 32. Again, the single rider perk was quite nice!
Overall: A lesser, more kid-friendly version of the Stardust Racers. Far shorter in duration, too.

Fyre Drill
Another competing attraction, where people sit on the Viking ship in competing teams to see who can use the water canons to shoot the most targets. The stated wait was 35 minutes, but it ended up being slightly more, with no help this time as a single rider.
Overall: I’m always down for a water ride when you’re in the 85-something degree Fahrenheit Orlando heat (although luckily most rides take you under shade or inside!). Here’s my opening for a slight rant: I don’t quite get the poncho thing?! What’s the point of doing a water ride with the poncho on? The whole point is to get wet! Nonetheless, I did get wet, although not soaked. The downside was that maybe half-way through the 8-ish-minute ride, the water pressure on the water canons went out, so, it was impossible to shoot the targets. I don’t know if that’s a feature of the ride or it was a momentary bug.

And that’s literally all I had time for, as at that point, it was about 5:30 p.m. or so. Mind you, the park stayed open until 10 p.m., but my phone battery was getting low and I didn’t want to be at the park with a dead battery (again, as if history started in 2007 with the iPhone and nobody survived at an amusement park before cell phones). I was planning on at least stepping into the Super Nintendo World, even if there wasn’t time to do the rides. But the entire “universe” was closed off because all the rides were delayed (which I assume to mean “down”). I think maybe an hour after I was back at my hotel, the universe and its rides reopened. Boo. When I realized Super Nintendo World was down, I figured I’d take in the La Cirque Arcanus show at, I believe, 5:35 p.m. Even though I got there about 15 minutes before showtime, it was already sold out. The next showing was at 6:20 p.m., but the next available shuttle back to my hotel was at 6:40 p.m. I opted to take the shuttle then.

Miscellaneous items:

• Overall, I was able to get through six rides over the course of eight hours, with about an hour or so reserved for lunch. Not all of that time is just waiting in lines, either. Some of it was drinking the Butterbeer or taking pictures or walking between universes.
• As someone who is always scoping out the restroom situation, both for the actual purpose and to reapply sunscreen, I loved the set-up where each universe had a layout where the restrooms were very obviously located and themed, too!
• In hindsight, I should have pulled the trigger on the FuelRod, which would have given new life to my phone.
• Also in hindsight, a fanny pack would have been quite convenient. I had my phone in my right front pocket and my wallet, ChapStick, spray sunscreen and lotion sunscreen in my left front pocket, and my hotel key in my back pocket.
• Ostensibly, characters were at Epic Universe because I saw them on the map and “wait times” of more than 2 hours, but I never saw a character. It would have been neat to see someone walking around as Frankenstein’s monster or a character from Harry Potter.

I didn’t do the same detailed analysis for Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, and Halloween Horror Nights, but by way of comparison:

Universal Studios

The hotel shuttle dropped us off at CityWalk, which is still such a beautiful sight, around 7:35 a.m. My original plan was to hit Islands of Adventure, but I forgot they didn’t open until 9 a.m. So, I headed over to Universal Studios, which opens at 8:00 a.m.

Before 9 a.m., I was able to ride:

• Despicable Me Minion Mayhem (such a blast, honestly!)
• Transformers The Ride 3-D (better than I remembered it from before)
• Fast & Furious — Supercharged (still as much of a letdown as in 2017)
• Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts (remains the best for me!)

Then, I knocked out Revenge of the Mummy (hard to beat the fun of a rollercoaster through the dark) and Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon (a rather underrated ride). After which, I headed over to Islands of Adventure.

Islands of Adventure

At Islands of Adventure, I did:

• The Incredible Hulk Coaster (such a fun one)
• Doctor Doom’s Fearfall (I was hoping they would shoot us up and not just drop us, and then they did! I’m always game for one of these “drop towers”)
• The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (Spider-Man brings the awe that Harry Potter does because he’s Spider-Man. Getting saved by his web is the best!)
• Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges (the ride I was most drenched after, including my shoes!)
• Jurassic Park River Adventure (figured I’d keep up getting wet, but man, the visuals on this one are incredible)
• Jurassic World VelociCoaster (longest wait of the day at 70 minutes, but it went by fast and speaking of fast, it’s gotta be the faster coaster they have)
• Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey (flying over Hogwarts is a goosebump visual)
• Flight of the Hippogriff (super quick, more kid-based)

I did want to do Skull Island: Reign of Kong, but that whole area was closed all day. I also was in line for Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls. Better yet, I made it into the boat. But we were taken back out and everyone was dismissed because of persistent technical difficulties. That’s why I ended up doing Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges and Jurassic Park River Adventures since I was so primed for a water ride.

Halloween Horror Nights

Finally, since Halloween Horror Nights takes place at Universal Studios, I hopped back over there and did Illumination’s Villain-Con Minion Blast (eh), The Simpsons Ride (better than I remembered it!), and Men in Black Alien Attack. Around 3 p.m., new for 2025, they let those already there for the park who were staying for Halloween Horror Nights get a wristband so they could hang around until the haunted houses officially opened.

So, two things I decided to pony up for that I eschewed the previous two days. First, a FuelRod to charge my phone. Over the course of an hour or so, I went from about a 30 percent charge to 80 percent. That’s not too shabby! I highly recommend doing this, if you’re like me and have an old iPhone with a quickly-depleting battery life. It was $35 for the battery, and if you needed to, you could swap out the battery after it’s done. 2.) Express Pass to be able to experience all the haunted houses. Phew, this was expensive and I’m trying not to think about it too much. Buuuut, it was glorious to get into the haunted houses so much quicker and obviously, thanks to the pass, I was able to hit all 10 haunted houses in about four-ish hour window. Funny enough, my doofus self somehow lost the ticket before my first ride. If only I had that fanny pack!

The 10 haunted houses this year I hit in order:

• WWE’s The Horrors of the Wyatt Sicks (as a huge WWE fan, I was tickled by this one)
• Five Nights at Freddy’s (perhaps the most popular one of the evening along with Terrifier going by the wait times; I liked it)
• The Terrifier Isn’t Clowning Around (for people who are scared of clowns, this has to be the scariest one! I enjoyed it a lot)
• Evil Doesn’t Stay Dead (a bit weak for me, mostly because the Jason cosplayers weren’t that great)
• Dolls: Let’s Play Dead (I find dolls creepier in a horror context than clowns, so, this worked for me)
• Fallout (I’ve never played the video game, so I don’t have that connection to it, but the vibe was cool)
• Gálkn: Monsters of the North (I’m not recalling much from this one, admittedly)
• Hatchet and Chains: Demon Bounty Hunters (I missed the “demon” part and was confused why I kept seeing demons, but it was great!)
• El Artista: A Spanish Haunting (one of the last, but perhaps the best; I thought the set design was beautiful)
• Grave of Flesh (same as Gálkn; I think by this point I was just ready to go)

Like I said before with Epic Universe’s five universes and world-building attention to detail, the haunted houses set pieces were all incredible and well-done. I think it can be hard to truly become immersed in the horror of it all when a.) there are so many people and in my case, I didn’t experience many of the jump scare opportunities because of the timing; and b.) obviously, Universal needs to do it, but throughout each haunted house are three to four Universal employees just standing there in the corner, which takes you out of the immersion, although funny enough, sometimes their presence spooked me. It would be interesting if, similar to the Frankenstein Experience and other immersion rides, Universal tried haunted houses that are more immersive in nature. Or even just characters who are more intimidating, i.e., at least follow you through the haunted house to add that extra layer of intensity.

Overall Experience with Universal

My overall verdict:

1. Epic Universe: Fun to experience a new park, but in hindsight, I’m not sure I’d be missing out if I just did Universal Studios + Islands of Adventure on the same day. Both the latter two are better parks depending on what you’re looking for, whether it’s thrills or the immersion. The best thing about Epic is the aesthetics and the layout; I found it all extraordinarily well-done.
2. Universal Studios: I think it may be time to cycle out some of the rides. When I went in 1999, my favorite rides were Terminator, Back to the Future, and Jaws. Terminator was replaced by the Bourne Stuntacular (which I somehow missed this time at Universal Studios); Back to the Future by The Simpsons: The Ride; and Jaws by Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts. Those previous movies perhaps don’t resonate with people of today, which is why they were phased out. In a similar vein, I’m not sure Men in Black, Race Through New York, Revenge of the Mummy, and even the Simpsons (as much as I like the latter three) are as resonant with people now. If I was Universal, I’d be looking to phase those out soon for more compelling offerings. And I’m still baffled by Fast & Furious: Supercharged. Instead of giving people a thrilling ride in a car one might see in the movies, we’re all on a “party bus” with not the greatest of immersion and movement. Weird choice, in my humble opinion. But still, there’s nothing quite like Universal Studios and especially the magic of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley. It hits hard every time you walk through the brick walls!
3. Islands of Adventure: This is more the thrill side of things, obviously, and it sure delivers. Don’t sleep on the fun of those water rides, either. I also think Toon Lagoon and Seuss Landing are fun to walk through visually. But Jurassic Park is the real star of Islands of Adventure. It’s astonishing to see in-person, much less go through the marquee rides.
4. Halloween Horror Nights: If you’re a horror person like I am, Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights is a must-do experience. However, I don’t think I’m going to be one of those people who does it year after year (I met a couple who was doing it for the fifth year in a row and they had just done it the prior week!) or even at regular intervals. It’s a lot of money for not as much return on the horror, despite how impressive the sets are and such.

For those who are curious about how much walking you do, if you’ve never been to Universal, here was my first day doing Epic Universe:

For my second day doing Universal Studios + Islands of Adventure, along with Halloween Horror Nights (plus a mile walk back to my hotel thereafter):

And this is probably obvious to many, but an absolute must is downloading the Universal app. The app helps with finding your way around the parks and checking out wait times and/or delays on the rides.

Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t end this post with one last thought: Mind the gaps, people! My mini-rant is I don’t understand people who are so terrible at being in a line. Whether they’re not minding the gaps because they’re on their phone or otherwise oblivious, it was a maddening two days of observing such failure. Minding the gaps helps keep the line flowing. At one point, two people in front of me both looked down at their phones and positioned their bodies away from the view of the line so that when it was time to move up, they were completely unaware. A person behind me finally prodded them forward. Mind. The. Gaps.

Below is my hodgepodge, not at all in order, gallery: