While I spent the day at SeaWorld Orlando on Thursday, November 20th, I knew the true highlight was still to come that evening. That being my first visit to Universal's Epic Universe. The 2025 IAAPA Celebrates was held at the brand new park. While the price was steep, $350 for just 4 hours, it did include free food and beverage, exclusive ride time, and being closed to the public. My first time at Epic Universe can be simplified with one word, Epic.
After being picked up from SeaWorld by Audrey, Peyton, and Alex, we drove to Epic with excitement. They were on the IAAPA showfloor the entire day. When we finally walked up to the main gate, we were in awe of the design of the portal. We got there a little early, and they hadn't opened yet. We talked to other industry professionals while in line, and discussed our plan for the evening. After debating for some time, we finally agreed that we would start with Stardust Racers, Mack Ride's dueling launch coaster.
We raced over to ride Stardust as fast as we could. The ride is truly beautiful at night, the whole park is. I was excited to ride, after seeing the ride get built for years on Twitter. After riding the first time, it made me cry, as the lighting and ride experience were amazing. We would ride 4 times, One ride in the front, and one ride in the back, on both sides.
After Stardust Racers, we went through the portal to the Isle of Berk, to experience the area. We would ride Hiccup's Wing Gliders and Dragon Racers Rally. Both rides were really fun, especially Hiccup's. The excitement made us hungry, so we stopped to get a snack. The Mac and Cheese cone was the right choice, and it is amazing. Alex and Audrey wanted to go to Nintendo Land next, and we quickly knocked out the 3 rides over there. Mariokart is the best in the whole area. Donkey Kong is good , but it rides like an old Arrow when it is brand new, and Yoshi's...is Yoshi's. The whole land was amazing to see for the first time.
Super Nintendo Land was fun, but we still needed to check out Dark Universe. This land is themed to the classic monsters like Frankenstien and Dracula. Walking into the area felt super spooky, because it is the darkest area visually out of the 5 lands at Epic. Monsters Unchained is the area's dark ride, using a similar system to The Forbidden Journey at Islands of Adventure. This would be my second favorite attraction at Epic, with its amazing effects and immersive queue and ride sets. After riding Monsters, Peyton suggested we ride Curse of the Warewolf. It's a Mack Extreme Spinner, but its not really extreme. I personally thought the ride was incomplete. After Dark Universe, we went to Harry Potter to ride Battle at the Ministry.
After BatM, it was closing time. We had ridden everything in the park in 4 hours, with rerides. We took photos everywhere in Celestial Park, and my favorite photo from the night is this one of Audrey and I. After leaving for the night I knew I needed to come back as soon as possible. Epic Universe is the most beautiful park I have been to, and that was from just 4 hours of exclusive night time rides. While there are things that need improvement (we need Stardust Racers merch!) The park is easily the best park I visited in 2025.
