Let's just dive right in this.

*This review is from my May 1st visit with an update for May 7th.

5. Ministry of Magic: Another Harry Potter world and my least favorite portal. The 1920s Paris scenery is nice and immersive. You have the clean and somewhat colorful looks in the front and towards the back alley; you have the dark and mysterious, which is more interesting to me. Much like the area at Universal Studios. However, if you’re looking for rides, there is not much to do there. They have restaurants, a cirque show, and The Battle at the Ministry. I did not watch the show, and I did not get a virtual ticket for the Battle. I probably stayed there for about twenty minutes and didn’t return. This place just wasn’t for me. 2/5

Harry Potter Battle at the Ministry (May 7th update): First, the only reason I was able to get into this ride was because a gentleman came out of nowhere and invited me as his plus one. Thank you, Scott. The queue through the ride was amazing and large. It was as grand and the videos and pictures showed. I enjoyed the scenery. Boarding the ride was easy however, we were told to keep our backs against the chair and do not cross your legs because the ride can be sensitive with those things. That was already a red flag for me. Never knew a ride to be so sensitive to crossed legs. Well, as we went off, everything was fine. Unexpected jerks and moves but, otherwise fine. And then, 1/3 in the ride, it broke down. Yep. the only and only chance I got to ride this ride, it breaks down. We were there for about an hour before we got down because they were trying to fix it but they could not fix it for us so, we had to be evacuated. Well, at least I got to see what 96% of riders would not see and that is the bottom and all the ride scenery with the lights on. The ride is easily 40 feet from floor to ceiling. It took us a little over five minutes, walking, to reach the exit. It's not the experience that I wanted but I got to see a part of the ride that the employees see. Because of this, I can not rate this ride. Maybe in the future I'll have the opportunity to ride, and it won't take me six years like it did for Hadgrid's, but I can not fairly do it now. Also, this ride is known for going down quite a bit and I'm not sure this will be fully ready for May 22nd.

4. The Isle of Burk: A nice and colorful place. I rode Hiccups Wing Gliders and Fyre Drill. I did not ride Dragon Racers due to the style of the ride. It does have a lot to see and if you’re into the movie How to Train Your Dragon, you’ll love it. 3/5

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Fyre Drill: Fyre Drill is an interactive water

ride where you shoot at targets. It was ok. A short boat ride that goes around

a small island. You’re shooting at targets outside the boat which sometimes

triggers water events. There is a possibility you will get wet but, I barely

did. This is a family friendly ride and not much too it.

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Hiccups Wing Gliders: It was pretty fun. It

reminded me of a tamed Hagrid’s Magical Creatures. It wasn’t intense like some

of Universal’s other rollercoasters, but still fun. I understand this is more

of a family friendly portal, so things won’t be so intense over here.

3. Super Nintendo World: Speaking of a lot to see. Holy overstimulation. This place had A LOT of visuals (movement and colors) and sounds. If you get overstimulated easily, this might be a lot for you. I have a thing about loud noises, so it was a little much for me at some point. It’s less intimidating at night due to the darkness contrasting all the colors. It definitely looked like you were in Super Mario Brothers and Donkey Kong. A lot of nostalgia going on. 3.5/5

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Yoshi’s Adventure: Boring. It’s an extremely slow-moving

and short people mover-style ride. You’re basically just taking a break from your

day and collecting yourself to see 1/3 of the world for a minute or so.

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Mario Kart: Bowsers Challenge: I’ve already seen

videos of this from the California park, so I know what it was. Nevertheless,

actually being on it is different. Well, it really was lackluster for me. The line

was long, even in single rider, and the visor was painstaking. I wear glasses. It’s

a virtual ride, so if you don’t wear the visor, you don’t know what is really

going on. There weren’t clear instructions on how to play the game, only on how

to get in and out of the ride. Therefore, I felt like I didn’t really know what

I was doing, but I somehow managed to get over 100 points. Seeing rainbow road

made me smile because I thought about all the times my siblings and I played Mario

Kart. However, it really didn’t do much for me outside of that.

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Donkey Kong Mine-Cart Madness: Whew! What can I say

about this one? I was excited about this one because I am a big lover of

rollercoasters. Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed with the overall execution.

I waited five minutes in the single rider line, so that was good. Getting in

was easy. As soon as you started going up the first hill, things felt a little

bumpy. That feeling didn’t end there. The whole ride was rather bumpy and jerky.

The turns could give someone whiplash. And I understand the point because it is

fashioned after a mine-cart and those aren’t supposed to be smooth rides, but

wow, it really takes away from the enjoyment of the ride. I could see this one

easily giving someone pains. Overall, it was the best ride in the Nintendo section,

but it definitely needs improvements.

2. Celestial Park: You all know I am an astronomy/space nerd, so I was so hyped at the visuals and the immersion of this area, the main area of the park. This section of the park really comes alive at night. It was made for the nighttime. How can you have a celestial themed park and not have nighttime visuals? I wish it stayed open past 9pm to fully immerse myself because 30 minutes of darkness wasn’t enough to take in this section. Hell, the park in general. 4/5

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Constellation Carousel: Absolutely Stunning. For

some, they see a simple carousel. For me, it was an out-of-body experience. This

ride brought out my inner child and I couldn’t stop smiling. At night, OMG,

there is nothing else that compares to this. And I mean nothing. I love this

one.

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Stardust Racers: This is a dueling, high-speed

rollercoaster(s). If you’ve been going to Islands of Adventure since its

opening, then you should be familiar with the now defunct ride Dueling Dragons.

Which has been replaced by Hadgrid’s Magical Creatures. After a while, they

weren’t dueling and more like delayed on one side or one side not working at

all. Anyway, these coasters are much faster and more intense than the Dueling

Dragons. With two launch systems, at the beginning of the ride and toward the

middle. People are comparing it to Velocicoaster. But I would like to disagree

because I will not ever ride Velocicoaster again, but I will ride these. The

Velocicoaster is way more intense than this.

Yellow: I like to think this is the less intense

side however, there are a lot of deeper drops that lift you from your seat when

going back up.

Green: More twists and turns but smaller drops. This

one is said to be more intense, and I can see that due to the number of twists

vs. yellow.

1.Dark Universe/Dark Moor: Horror fan on deck. How can this not be my favorite section? The portal to enter was purple, and that already sucked me in. Everything was reminiscent of a dark old town. Blacks, dark grays, browns, and purples are the colors that make up this place. The first thing you see once you step foot over the portal is a chained off mausoleum. If you go up to it and listen, you’ll hear Ygor talking as well as some screams and moans. There’s a violinist playing and telling stories in the square. The invisible man and Ygor roasting people in their designated spots. A windmill in the back where the blades catch on fire right after you hear the bells go off in the square. Then there’s Frankenstein’s manor, which also gives us a light show every ten to fifteen minutes. Both look so much better at night. However, this is also a smaller section, which I hope will be expanded because we definitely need more horror rides/events that are outside of Halloween Horror Nights. 4.5/5

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Curse of the Werewolf: This is a spinning

coaster which sits four people per car with a total of four cars, sixteen

people per coaster. Two coasters are operated on the track at a time (one

riding and one at the station). This ride is fun, and you’ll get a different experience

every time you ride. Sometimes you’re spinning the whole time or sometimes you

spin half the time. I’m not sure what determines the reason for the spins, but I

suspect it has to do with weight distribution. Though this ride is fun, it’s

really short. That’s my only complaint about it. This definitely could’ve been

much longer because it was exciting. This was my first time experiencing a

spinning coaster.

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Monster’s Unchained: My favorite ride in the

park. It tells the story of Victoria Frankenstein alongside her companions, Ygor

and Frankenstein’s monster as they work to capture Dracula. Dracula manages to

escape, and that’s when all hell breaks loose. Hence the “Unchained”. So many

classic monsters are featured on this ride. The ride mechanism is similar to

The Forbidden Journey but better, in my opinion. One thing that shocked me

about this ride is how large the monsters are. My goodness. ~Spoiler~ The mummy

coming out of the ceiling is huge.

So, that is my review of Epic Universe. Overall, if you’re in it for the rides, you may be a little disappointed. If you’re in it for the architecture or immersion of the visuals, you might have a better time. If you like both, this may be a win for you. I give the park a 7/10.

*Update: I went again on May 7th and it was a mess. They added more people to come to the preview. Most of the rides were down due to mechanical reasons and I heard they were filming commercials. After seeing a difference from May 1st to May 7th, with the added capacity, I don't feel this park will be fully ready for the grand opening on May 22nd. Just my thoughts.