Fitting everything at Universal Orlando’s newest theme park, Epic Universe, into one day can be challenging. For the non completists out there, figuring out what rides, shows and food should take priority over others will lead to the most pleasant day in the park. Do I prefer running around like crazy, trying to fit in everything the park has to offer in a single day? Of course. Do I recommend that for everyone? Absolutely not! With that in mind, this post breaks attractions and entertainment in Epic Universe down into 3 categories – must-do, should-do, and skippable.

Before we get any further, we should give Epic Universe some flowers. The park has improved since it opened in 2025, with attractions not breaking down as much and crowd levels not being as high. In the 6 months after it opened, doing everything in that park in one day was nearly impossible. But that has changed in the past 6 months, to Epic Universe’s credit. The tourism decline also played a role.

With that said, the park still needs to expand and there’s a wait time problem during busy seasons. We’re hopeful that expansion is announced very soon! Until that comes to fruition, Epic Universe can be frustrating to navigate. That’s where this post comes in. We’ve sorted every attraction and large-scale stage show into 3 categories. The category titles are self-explanatory but I’ll define them anyway:

• Must-Do’s – Not getting to these attractions would mean missing out on a major piece of Epic Universe.
• Should-Do’s – Time comes for us all, but these attractions are well worth doing.
• Skippable – You won’t be missing out all that much if you don’t ride these.

Before we get to the categories, we should say that this post is more on what to prioritize and not the order of what to do things. We’ve already ranked all of the attractions and offered some broad strategy on the park. If you just try to knock out the must-do’s in order of how we put them before moving on to the next category then it won’t be an efficient day. Instead, we recommend having a pregame strategy on when to do the must-do attractions as well as some of the should-do’s then sprinkle in a few of the ‘skippables’ as the day progresses as you judge wait times.

As usual, we do recommend some time for wandering in Epic Universe. All four of the portals are immersive, well themed, and beautiful. Celestial Park, Epic Universe’s hub, is green with a bunch of water features. These spots are all worth spending some extra time in, to soak up the sights.

One last note – I haven’t included Epic Universe’s nighttime spectacular, Celestial Goodnight, in any of the categories. For one, the show seems to run in B-mode most of the time, without fireworks. It’s still worth seeing in that case but does take some of the excitement out of it. It also should be easy to catch in the middle of the park and doesn’t take as much effort as some of the park’s other attractions. In other words, see Celestial Goodnight if it’s available but it’s different than anything else on this list so we didn’t include it.

We’ve included (all) 11 rides and the 2 big stage shows in the categories below. To make this a little harder on myself, I’ll try to make the numbers between categories pretty even – 5 must-do’s, 4 should-do’s and 4 skippables. I’ll note if one of the attractions is close to making another category but otherwise these aren’t ranked. Let’s get to it!

Must-Do

Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry – Another Harry Potter attraction, another win for Universal. This installment is jaw-dropping throughout the queue and certain parts of the ride. There are nits to pick in a few small areas but really this is one big “how did they do that?” type of attraction. You shouldn’t miss it!

Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment – Monsters Unchained is an exceptional ride, combining some of Universal’s most famous monsters into a gory, but not especially scary, attraction. This uses the same ride system as the iconic Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and does so effectively. Thankfully, this excellent attraction doesn’t have long lines throughout much of the day. We take advantage of that, riding it multiple times in a day.

Stardust Racers – The most thrilling roller coaster in Epic Universe takes center stage, sitting right in the middle of the park. Stardust Racers is an absolute blast, with two tracks weaving around each other, letting the vehicles on both race. It looks beautiful at night and is another hit in Universal’s long line of thrilling coasters.

Le Cirque Arcanus – The stage show inside of Epic Universe’s Wizarding World is elaborate and breathtaking. Guests attend a circus, where some wizardry and classic tricks are on full display. The plot differs from that, and I don’t want to spoil anything, but we’ve been blown away by Le Cirque Arcanus every time we’ve seen it.

The Untrainable Dragon – When I was planning out this post, I was expecting to put one of the stage shows in must-do and one in the should-do categories. They’re both excellent though, to the point where I’d take both over the attractions in the following category. The Untrainable Dragon is whimsical, setting original music to a story about, well, an untrainable dragon. There are several wow moments that carry the stage production and keep it from being overly cheesy. You shouldn’t miss this!

Should-Do

Mine-Cart Madness – The hardest omission from the must-do list is this Donkey Kong inspired coaster in Super Nintendo World. Replicating the classic level in the Donkey Kong video games, guests jump the tracks and try to make it out alive. It’s a very fun ride but doesn’t quite hit on all levels, it also draws massive waits that make the experience worse. If you do need to bump this to the must-do’s then we recommend you hit this during early hours offered while staying on-site.

Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge – The other major Nintendo ride also has some issues but has won us over in time. Don’t go in expecting a thrill ride but instead admire the technology mixed in with the practical sets. Then try to beat everyone else in your cart at the game!

Hiccup’s Wing Gliders – This family coaster might move up to a must-do if you’re with a wide range. It’s a ride careening over water and throughout the beautiful land. There’s even a second launch that fits in nicely with the story!

Constellation Carousel – It’s a little strange to include a carousel over the four attractions in the ‘Skippable’ category but this attraction is one of the most unique spots in all of Epic Universe. The lighting is beautiful and the whole experience centers Celestial Park. This bar might be low, but Constellation Carousel is one of the best carousels I’ve ever been on!

Skippable

Fyre Drill – Don’t get me wrong, I love a super soaker battle on a hot day! I love it less when I have to walk around with drenched shoes in a theme park afterwards. That’s essentially what Fyre Drill comes down to, although there’s some fun decor and you get to spray water guns while on a boat! It’s not a bad ride by any means but might be more fun to watch from a distance.

Dragon’s Racer Rally – Another attraction in the Isle of Berk, Dragon’s Racer Rally sees guests board what’s essentially a spinner. The catch is that these ‘dragons’ can barrel roll if you contort your body in the exact right way. Melissa has never been able to get there. I don’t even try, instead just enjoying the views. Those views are pretty but nothing you can’t live without.

Curse of the Werewolf – Curse of the Werewolf is still fun but it does feel like a generic coaster with minimal theme to it. The ride vehicle goes through the barn and any other semblances of story so fast that it’s hard to notice anything. While we enjoy riding this, it’s nothing unique to the Epic Universe experience.

Yoshi’s Adventure – This breaks my heart to put Yoshi in this group. In fact, I’ve tried to bury this at the bottom so people don’t notice. Yoshi’s Adventure is a small little family ride that really doesn’t do a whole lot outside of looking cute. It’s very good at looking cute though. For those with power-up bands, there’s a little more intrigue here.

What do you think of Epic Universe? Let us know, along with any questions you might have, in the comments below. Looking for discounted tickets to Universal Orlando? Check out this site! Here are all of our travel guides to Disneyland, Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disney Resort. If you enjoy what you are reading here on Wandering in Disney please share this post with your friends, as well as like our social media pages. You can also subscribe to the blog via WordPress or email. All of those links are on the right side of this page. Thank you for reading, we really appreciate it!