Universal Orlando Resort’s newest park, Epic Universe, really impressed me. Each of the portals is very immersive and really gives you the feeling of being in those fictional worlds. I loved this park, even more than Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. My family and I had good luck with weather and ride availability when we visited, so we were fortunate. I have read about nightmare experiences with rides being down, especially on bad weather days, and I can understand if some people don’t love the park if they have had one of those unfortunate days! For me, there are several great rides, and a few not-as-great rides. My rankings are below, from my least favorite to my favorite. Here we go!

12. Fyre Drill

Fyre Drill gets the bottom spot, mostly because it is a water ride and I am not a fan of water rides. I have not actually ridden Fyre Drill, but I am confident it would be in the bottom spot in my rankings either way! Shooting the various targets with water looks pretty fun, although your reward for hitting targets seems to be that you get even wetter, so I would be trying to avoid the targets! From what I have seen, there is no “score” kept to let you know how well you have done hitting the targets. It is hard for me to find a reason to love Fyre Drill, other than the fact that it will allow you to cool off on a hot day, if you enjoy getting fairly wet.

11. Yoshi’s Adventure

A lot of people describe Yoshi’s Adventure as the “People Mover” of Nintendo World (for those who do not know, the People Mover is a slow, relaxing ride at Disney’s Magic Kingdom that gives you elevated views of the Tomorrowland area). That description is not far off, although I believe Yoshi’s Adventure is quite a bit slower than the People Mover. Yoshi is quite slow. Yoshi might actually be a little too slow. However, the ride does give you some great elevated views of Super Nintendo World, and small kids will probably love riding around on Yoshi’s back and seeing all of the sights. Yoshi’s Adventure is worth a ride if the wait is under 30 minutes and you want a chill ride, but any wait over 30 minutes is likely not worth it, unless you have small kids who are begging to ride. A lot of the queue is also indoors, so that is nice on a hot day.

10. Constellation Carousel

I am not a big fan of carousels, but my family really likes them. I have to admit that Constellation Carousel is a unique enough version of a carousel that I found it to be a fresh experience, and I enjoyed it. I personally would not want to wait any more than 30 minutes for this, because it’s still a carousel, but for families with young kids and/or carousel fans, I think it’s a good one.

9. Dragon Racer’s Rally

Dragon Racer’s Rally looks like a pretty simple ride you could find at a local county fair. That explains why we have not prioritized it and I haven’t ridden it yet. But I feel like it would fall right about here in my rankings. It is a very short ride, and I can not imagine it being worth waiting for more than 30-45 minutes. I will update this post when I get a chance to ride it, though!

8. Curse of the Werewolf

Curse of the Werewolf is another one I have yet to ride, but based on what I have seen and heard, I think it would fall right around here in my rankings. It looks like a fun ride if you can stand the spinning, but it is very short, and from what I have read, you zip by the character scenes so fast that you can’t really even see them, therefore the theming seems pretty non-existent. I’m still looking forward to riding this on my next visit, and I will share my thoughts here when I do.

7. Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge

As an avid Mario Kart player for most of my life, I had high hopes for Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge. I came away feeling so-so about it. I enjoyed the parts of the ride where it really felt like I was racing on the track in the game (the Rainbow Road section, for example, is cool, but a little too short). But most of the time, there just seemed to be too much going on with the gameplay and the visor to be able to focus on the ride aspect. I feel like I would rather have fewer power-ups and weapon effects and more basic racing effects. The visor that you wear during the ride was also not very comfortable, and for me, it seemed to take away from the experience more than it added to it. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed the ride and I will continue to ride it in the future. I just think the Mario Kart fans of the world deserve an exceptional ride, and this is not as great as I think it could be. I will say that the indoor, air-conditioned, queue for this ride is amazing – one of the best queues anywhere – and there is so much to see that it makes the wait feel like it passes by pretty fast.

6. Bowser Jr. Shadow Showdown

If anyone in your party has a Power-Up Band, and they play the interactive games around the Super Nintendo World area and earn three keys, your party can enter the Bowser Jr. Shadow Showdown. This is not a ride, but it is an interactive game/experience, almost like you yourself have entered a video game and you are performing tasks and fighting off enemies. If you are willing to buy the Power-Up band, it is definitely worth trying to earn three keys so you can take part in this experience. It is a lot of fun, and it was a highlight for all of us on our visit. A couple of the interactive games that you have to play to earn the keys are not the greatest – I’m looking at you, Piranha Plant Nap Mishap, where the result of the game seems more like a random roll of the dice instead of being based on your actual gameplay. However, most of them are fun, especially if you are a kid or grew up playing Mario games as a kid or play Mario games now as an adult!

5. Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment

Now we are getting to the good stuff. If you are looking for a great ride with a reasonable wait (which is hard to find at Epic Universe), head toward Dark Universe and take a ride on Monsters Unchained. The animatronics on this ride are top-notch, and everyone in our party that chose to ride it really enjoyed it (a few got right back in line immediately and rode it again). A couple of the younger kids in our party were afraid the monsters would be too scary, but I think they would have been fine – I don’t think the monsters are overly scary. Also, don’t let the pre-show demonstration of the ride system scare you off – the vehicle does not whip around violently like the demonstration suggests. It does use the same ride system as Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey (FJ), but Monsters Unchained doesn’t have the big screens and flying effects like FJ, so I would give it a shot, even if you have trouble with that aspect of FJ. The queue and pre-show for Monsters Unchained is also entertaining, and it’s all indoors, away from the Florida heat! Monsters Unchained is a must-ride in my opinion, and the wait time is almost always fairly short.

4. Mine-Cart Madness

The haters are wrong. The Donkey Kong-themed Mine-Cart Madness is a fantastic ride. Everyone in our family loved it, except maybe my 11-year-old daughter who found it a little more intense than she expected. Yes, it’s a little bumpy at times, but it’s designed to be that way, and if you go into it with the right expectations, it really isn’t bad at all. The way the mine carts “jump” the gaps and travel over other obstacles in the track is so unique and so well done, and the quick downhill turns were thrilling enough to make my daughter scream in fear (afterward, she claimed she still liked it; it was just a little scary for her). Fortunately, we were able to ride Mine-Cart first thing in the morning with almost no wait, but I know the wait times do often get really long. I don’t know if I would want to wait more than two hours for this, but I would also have a hard time skipping it altogether. It’s such a good ride. I will do everything I can to ride it on every visit going forward.

3. Hiccup’s Wing Gliders

Hiccup’s Wing Gliders is my 14-year-old son’s favorite ride at Epic Universe, and as you can see, it’s near the top of my list, too. This is probably one of the best family-friendly coasters I’ve ever ridden. For me, it tops all of the tame-ish coasters at Disney World, except maybe Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which holds a special place in my heart. The launches on Hiccup’s Wing Gliders are fun, the rollback among the dragon eggs is really cool, especially at night, and the near-miss elements are great. This is a must-ride family attraction in my opinion, and I’d actually suggest riding it twice – once during the day and once after dark.

2. Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry

I have to be honest – I have not yet had the honor of riding Battle at the Ministry. The wait was over three hours almost the entire day of our visit, and we just couldn’t justify spending that much of our day in line for one ride. I’m also not a huge Harry Potter fan, although I have really enjoyed the other HP rides at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. I’m ranking this where I believe it would fall if I had ridden it, based on what I’ve seen and read. I’m sure I would love it, but I will update this post in the future when I finally get to ride it. I just don’t see it topping my favorite Epic Universe ride, which is…

1. Stardust Racers

The top spot goes to Stardust Racers. This is my favorite ride in all of Universal Orlando, and it just might be my favorite ride I’ve ever ridden anywhere. That’s how much I love it. It’s fast, it’s relentless, there is airtime on nearly every hill, and the two separate tracks with both trains wizzing by each other adds an extra element of fun that you can rarely get anywhere. So far, I’ve only ridden the green side, but I’m looking forward to riding the yellow side on my next visit. I can’t imagine yellow could be any better than green, but I’ll report back when I know first-hand!

What do you think? Did I get anything wrong? I realize that a lot of Harry Potter fans would probably rank Battle at the Ministry at the top, and I can’t argue with that! Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!