On Monday after EDC, Harris, Aly, Reiley, and I decided to check out the brand new Epic Universe park from Universal. It was only a couple miles from my hotel so I decided to take a scooter, although it broke down half-way there and I had to walk the rest of the way.

The new park is very impressive. Each of the "lands" are like spokes of a wheel with the center of the park as the neutral zone without much theming. Unfortunately, it seemed like nearly every single ride broke down at some point while we were waiting in line for it which just added to the already long wait times.

The How to Train Your Dragon land was one of my favorites -- Dragon Racer's Rally was a unique ride where you got to steer your own dragon. You got control of two wings which you could move up or down, and then you could also lean. The goal was to do a barrel roll which I almost did but instead wound up just soaring through the air upside down, which was also lots of fun. I came back and rode Hiccup's Wing Gliders roller coaster later which was also a great coaster -- smooth ride, fast acceleration, and great turns.

I skipped most of Harry Potter land since I was never into the books or movies, but the rest of the crew decided to wait 165+ minutes for the Battle of the Ministry ride. I'm glad I skipped it.

The park also had some issues to work out with their food service. I ordered a plain cheeseburger through their app from the Meteor cafe, expecting it to be quick. But once the app sent a push notification that the order was ready, there were no employees to be found at the window. They would open it periodically to call someone's name and then quickly slam it shut before the angry mob standing outside could ask where their food was. One lady said she had been waiting 45 minutes after it said it was ready. I was luckier to at least get some food even though it was cold and my order was wrong. That would be understandable for the first week, but the park had been open for several months at that point.

In Celestial Park, the Stardust Racers was also one of my favorite coasters (although still doesn't compare to Velocicoaster at Islands of Adventure). Similar style to Hiccup's Wing Gliders, it had a very smooth ride and acceleration.

The Dark Universe was also fantastic with the monster theming. The Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment was similar to the other Harry Potter ride where you sat 4 across and the vehicle moved all around like a cherry-picker. The motion of the Harry Potter one didn't agree with me, but this one was much better and the monster theming made it much more enjoyable. Wound up riding that one twice. The Curse of the Werewolf was another awesome coaster -- similar in style to Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom but with the smooth ride of the other modern coasters. I won't spoil it, but it was a must-ride.

We finished out the evening at Super Nintendo World. We waited over an hour for the Donkey Kong Mine-Cart Madness, including it being broke down for over a half-hour. When we finally got on it, it was definitely very cool and unique (again, I won't spoil it), so it was worth the wait. Next up was the Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge which was much different than I was expecting. There were 4 people to a car and you wore these heads-up displays that showed the other competitors that you were supposed to shoot turtle shells at. There was also a real-life background that didn't really fit what was on the screen. Each room you went into started a race over in the middle so it didn't feel very fluid or story-like. It has a lot of potential, so maybe they'll fix that up in future versions.