- June 12, 2025
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Winter Garden’s Lyndsay Fogarty was determined.
As she walked through Super Nintendo World at Universal Orlando’s new Epic Universe Saturday, May 31, she punched every question mark block she could find.
Each punch meant she would earn more points in the interactive competition against family and friends. Before her visit, she was in third place, and she needed to earn more points to boost her ranking.
Rather than playing as her favorite Mario character, Princess Peach, Fogarty became a character herself as Epic Universe made her feel like she shrank down to the size of a video game character and was in the game herself.
Fogarty said on a different visit to the park, she left the people with whom she went to the parks to meet Princess Peach, and she also met Toad.
“As a kid, (these characters) weren’t in the theme parks so you didn’t really think you’d get a chance to meet Mario or Peach the way you could meet Mickey or Minnie,” she said. “It was a really cool experience, something I never would have thought of as tiny Lyndsay growing up. … Experiences like (meeting Toothless) and experiences like you’re going to have in Nintendo land let you go back to that time when you were a kid. It’s nostalgic, and just embrace it.”
Residents said Epic Universe immersed them into the intricate worlds Universal created as they walked into each of the five lands: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter — Ministry of Magic, Super Nintendo World, Dark Universe, How to Train Your Dragon — Isle of Berk and Celestial Park.
They were transported into lands unlike any other for unforgettable experiences.
From the moment park-goers walked in, they were taken aback by the beauty of this park.
“It was absolutely stunning,” Horizon West’s Leslie Hoover said. “The only thing that was completely consistently coming to mind was just, ‘This is the most beautiful park I’ve ever been in,’ and in 10 years, how it’s going to be even more gorgeous. … It’s not overwhelming in size, but it is overwhelming in aesthetics and beauty.”
Celestial Park, the nexus that interweaves the lands together, is the jumping-off point that launches people into the extraordinary worlds.
The portals that transport people to each land were built to immediately begin telling the thrilling stories of the characters and worlds that lie ahead. For example, Windermere’s Carol Ziegler said the portal to Dark Universe shows the electric lightning bolts coming through the village for Dr. Victoria Frankenstein to obtain the desperately needed energy to continue with her experiments.
Walking through the portals, park-goers are transported to each land. The portals are built strategically so you can’t see anything on one side or the other until you’ve arrived in the land, Ziegler said.
Hoover said Universal did an excellent job truly immersing people into the worlds Universal created as people aren’t able to see into other lands from anywhere they’re standing in the respective lands.
“Nothing else exists outside (of each world),” Fogarty said.
In preparation for visiting Epic Universe, Hoover watched “How to Train Your Dragon” to get an idea of what was in store at the park and familiarize herself with the characters. Walking into the Isle of Berk, she was in disbelief at her new reality. She said everything was made of real wood in the land with buildings towering high, windmills and dragons everywhere. The flags are flying high. The visitors of the Isle of Berk were given their own dragon wings to try and learn how to fly.
“It was all so right on as far as what would be real,” Hoover said.
Ziegler said the music played throughout each of the lands captivates you. From the soundtracks that immerse you into the park to the ambient sounds that make the details of the park come to life, every sound becomes a treat to hear.
She walked through Darkmoor Village, the gothic, Eastern European town created in Dark Universe, and stepped into the apothecary. When she walked around the shop, she could hear a conversation between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter — Ministry of Magic combines the iconic aspects of the British Ministry of Magic fans have come to know from the popular “Harry Potter” series with the 1920s Parisian setting from the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise.
“I keep collecting all of these Easter eggs so that I have more and more to look forward to the next time I go,” Ziegler said of the numerous calls to the different aspects of the movies and video games on which the lands are based.
No matter the age or fandom, Ziegler, Hoover and Fogarty all said Epic Universe has something throughout the park for everyone to enjoy.
“It was really cool to see the multigenerational families who grew up with Nintendo and Mario, playing the games, and the kids doing the same,” Fogarty said of Super Nintendo World.
She felt like a kid again as she met Princess Peach, a character she always loved as a child watching her battle bosses and serve as more than just a sidekick to Mario and Luigi.
But despite the park’s beauty, immense attention to detail and variety in entertainment for all ages, residents said Epic Universe missed the mark on one aspect: shade.
Throughout the lands, people struggled to find places to escape the heat as there isn’t much foliage to cover the parks and protect people from the hot Florida sun.
With a strategy on timing of rides and shows, park-goers said there is a chance to beat the heat, but they each suggested having a room at a nearby hotel would be beneficial to get away for a little while to take a break.
Universal is known for its thrilling roller coasters, and Epic Universe is not an exception.
A popular ride among park-goers is Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment, a thrill ride in Dark Universe telling the story of Dr. Victoria Frankenstein continuing the work of her ancestors below the family estate. But a demonstration of her experiments to control monsters goes awry when Dracula leads a revolt of enraged monsters, giving riders an opportunity to see the Mummy, Wolf Man, the Creature from the Black Lagoon and more.
“That is just amazing,” Ziegler said. “The realistic detail in that is phenomenal, and they just kept adding to it. The effects with the back of the chair vibrating and the water’s dripping effect and the characters, it’s all fabulous.”
Fogarty said she was in line for Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge for at least 90 minutes, but the amount of detail in the queue kept her engaged.
“There was an area of Bowser’s library, and they had a bunch of different books with different titles related to certain games or certain parts of the game,” she said. “We could have spent all day there looking at all the books. It is really detailed and super cool.”
A downside to any new park opening is not all the kinks have been worked out, Ziegler said, but Epic Universe has found some ways to make up for the days when rides are down and people continue to need to be entertained.
Ziegler and Fogarty said the interactions with characters is remarkable because not only do the characters take a moment to take a photo with you, but they also take time to talk to you and immerse you into the interaction.
Besides the characters, there also are interactive games and activities. In The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, there are moments you can feel like a real witch or wizard by whipping out your wand to see what magic you can create, just like in Diagon Alley at Universal Studios and Hogsmeade at Universal Islands of Adventure.
For Fogarty and the park-goers who accompanied her, the best interactive points were in Super Nintendo World. They each wore a wristband that is connected to an app that will track scores and allow you to compete against other people. Punching question mark blocks and winning mini games earns you points and coins. Linking your band while riding Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge earns you points as if you’re playing Mario Kart.
“It feels like you’re actually in the game, like you’ve shrunk down and you’re Mario or Princess Peach,” Fogarty said. “They have a bunch of mini games there too, and you can go play the big boss. Seeing my boyfriend and his son playing it together when we grew up with that and here they are in this world playing in real life was just so cool.”
Fogarty said the interactive games are what set Epic Universe apart from other theme parks. They’re easy games for all to participate in and enjoy, and they are simple ways for people to be entertained, especially people who aren’t a fan of roller coasters.
