Epic Universe: A Guide to Isle of Berk, Dark Universe and Super Nintendo World

Intro

This is my last entry on my Epic Universe trip. In the last blog post I explored the main hub of this park: Celestial Park, including great views from the attached hotel: Helios Grand Hotel, and my favorite world: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™ – Ministry of Magic.

But these 2 days exploring the park gave me enough material to spread out 2 different posts, and in this blog post I am going to show the 3 other worlds: How to Train your Dragon – Isle of Berk, Dark Universe, and SUPER NINTENDO WORLD.

To see a more detail description of this park, please check my original post from back in May: A Complete Guide to Universal’s Epic Universe.

And please check all of the previous entries on this trip to Orlando:

Disney Parks Challenge: Typhoon Lagoon, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios

Walt Disney World: 4 Parks in 1 Incredible Day

Top Experiences at Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure

Epic Universe: A Guide to Celestial Park and Ministry of Magic

How to Train your Dragon – Isle of Berk

It’s difficult to choose a second most favorite world in Epic Universe, after The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic, but I think that How to Train your Dragon – Isle of Berk comes in a close second. After seeing construction updates for years on Epic Universe, this was the land I was the least interested in, since I had never seen the movies. But after doing my homework, and seeing all the animated movies (and the live action one), I can say I am obsessed with this land.

How to Train your Dragon – Isle of Berk: The Rides

The Hiccup’s Wing Gliders is certainly my favorite roller coaster of this park, above Stardust Racers. Test Drive at the end while the launch is activated and the speed increases, it certainly bring me tears of joy. Getting a express pass ticket and deciding to using it on this ride is an indicator of how much I love this ride.

I gotta confess tho, that I have had zero interest in the other 2 rides: Dragon Racer’s Rally (because I am scared of getting sick on it), and Fyre Drill (because I do not want to get soaked). But I promise I will try to get on these rides the next time I visit the park in October.

How to Train your Dragon – Isle of Berk: Entertainment

Besides having the meet and greet with Toothless, Hiccup and company, and seeing many characters walking around and interacting with the guests, the main show (1 of 2 in this park), is a masterpiece: The Untrainable Dragon. This is a nice Broadway style show with great visual effects. Originated in Universal Beijing, and seeing it there for the first time, it is something not to be missed.

Although, there could be technical difficulties with this high level produced shows, and they could be cancelled even while they’re performing.

Also, around the world you can see multiple animatronics and dragons everywhere. It’s really fun just to wait for what they are about to do.

How to Train your Dragon – Isle of Berk: Dining

Dining is great in every place of Epic Universe. They definitely invested their entire mind into getting the best dishes and drinks in this park. But How to Train your Dragon – Isle of Berk has some of the most viral options you can find, for example the PB&J Mac and Cheese from Spit Fyre Grill. Believe me, it was amazing!

While going to Mead Hall, the main restaurant in this world, I saw Ruffnut Thorston and Tuffnut Thorston roaming around.

This quick service restaurant looks great, it is huge inside, and definitely looks like the one from the movies.

Following the recommendations from Keith the Menu, which I have been following for years now, I decided to try the Thawfest Platter. I was not expecting a HUGE platter full of Wild berry bbq glazed chicken drumsticks, grilled salmon, sausage links, roasted carrots, Cipollini onions, Nordic fries, side sauces.

I was so full lol. I actually had to save some of it for later. The next day at Epic Universe I had to go into How to Treat Your Dragon to explore all these treats.

I finally got a chocolate cookie and it was quite good, a little bit dry but other than that the design and flavor were good.

Dark Universe

Time to go to another world in Epic Universe, and the most original one is Dark Universe, focused on the Universal Monsters. The rides and food and ambience in this land are amazing, something you cannot miss.

Dark Universe: The Rides

The favorite ride of many people that have been to Epic Universe is definitely Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment. A very high technology attraction located in the Frankenstein’s Mansion.

The queue is amazing, the pre-show is jaw-dropping and the ride itself is full of scares and surprises, but like in a fun way, for all people in your family.

The other attraction is Curse of the Werewolf. This short, very short, roller coaster is very fun. The wait times tend to be long, and they’re outside, but the spinning would just make you laugh.

Dark Universe: Dining

The food options in this part of the park are also amazing. The Burning Blade Tavern which literally sets on fire every few minutes is an amazing bar/restaurant.

Inside is very cool for sure, and full of Easter eggs.

The next restaurant on my list is Das Stakehaus. This is a quick service but the food looks like a full service restaurant. When here I had to try the Darkmoor Black Wings which were huge and very filling.

The Labotocotta was in my to do list, and this Greek yogurt vanilla panna cotta brain with raspberry sauce desert was very yummy. Better than I expected.

To finalize my visit to this restaurant, I tried the Monocane Mocktail that comes with a souvenir cup, and it is basically Pineapple syrup, blue raspberry syrup, passion fruit syrup, emerald prism powder, Sprite^® served in a souvenir beaker.

SUPER NINTENDO WORLD

The last world, and probably the most stimulating one is SUPER NINTENDO WORLD. Like I said in my previous blog post, I had visited the ones in Hollywood and Japan,

Getting in through Peach’s’ castle is a great reveal, but again full of a lot of movement, sounds and crowds. From up here you can see Toadstool Cafe, Mario Kart™: Bowser’s Challenge, Yoshi’s Adventure and the Top Factory Store.

And from the other side of the world, you can see Peach’s Castle, and where the characters tend to do meet and greets.

SUPER NINTENDO WORLD: The Rides

One of the best additions to this world is Donkey Kong Country, with the very famous Mine-Cart Madness. It is a fun roller coaster, that recreates the adventures of Donkey Kong cart.

The most famous ride is Mario Kart™: Bowser’s Challenge. The technology here is incredible, although many people would say do not wait too long for this attraction.

SUPER NINTENDO WORLD: Entertainment

Without a doubt this is the world with more things to do around. Besides meeting many of the characters, you can collect coins in the many mini-games around. One of them is the Rambi the Rhino, that I was able to get out of his box lol.

SUPER NINTENDO WORLD: Dining

Toadstool Cafe is the most famous restaurant here but there are other options that are quite good, and I would say amazing. For example, the Mango Smoothie from Yoshi’s Snack is just out of this world. I loved this flavor back in Japan and I knew I had to try it here.

But the viral beverage from this world, more specifically from Donkey Kong Country, is the DK Crush Float Tropical Banana Flavor from The Bubbly Barrel. You can get with the souvenir cup or not, but somehow the combination works amazingly.

And this is how I finish the coverage of this entire week of entertainment in Orlando, and of course in Epic Universe. Can’t wait to be back in October and see how much the park changes with the seasons.