Like many of you, I took some time off the last few days to spend time with family during the July 4 holiday. There hasn’t been a ton of news, and July 4 as a holiday is usually not too momentous at Walt Disney World (my primary area of coverage), where sweltering summer heat and the flexibility of American school summer breaks manage to keep crowds under control. Not to mention it’s been a slow summer by any measure.

While there are some fun Disney World changes around the corner, one other place has shown some intrigue during the holiday week—Epic Universe.

I was happy to go to Epic Universe in early June, but I knew based on my experiences in the park and the realities of theme park touring that things would continue to change from my visit. I put together a guide to planning a day at Epic Universe, but for some time it will have to be taken with a grain of salt.

For example, there was a two-week period where Hiccup’s Wing Gliders—one of my favorite rides at the park—saw its waits absolutely erupt. I don’t know why, and it didn’t last—the period from June 12 to June 24 was…anomalous.

It’s hard to say whether any given change will come or go. But with it being a relatively slow news week, I wanted to take a minute to reflect on some of the things we’ve seen in the first five days of July at Epic Universe. This has been a busy period for the park, and it’s been interesting to see the dynamics change from the earliest days. Let’s start with the biggie…

Battle at the Ministry isn’t the most popular ride in the park. In the first five days of July, Battle at the Ministry has been the most popular ride at the park (measured by wait time, which is not a perfect proxy for popularity, I admit) exactly once. Here are the average wait times for the top few rides each day of July so far (via ThrillData, in minutes):

July 1 - Mario Kart (137), Battle at the Ministry (126)
July 2 - Battle at the Ministry (107), Mario Kart (104)
July 3 - Mario Kart (110), Mine-Cart Madness (93), Battle at the Ministry (87)
July 4 - Mario Kart (106), Mine-Cart Madness (80), Battle at the Ministry (61)
July 5 - Mario Kart (126), Mine-Cart Madness (106), Hiccup’s Wing Gliders (88), Battle at the Ministry (85)

You can see that Battle at the Ministry is definitely not the undisputed top dog at the park anymore. At least during this period, Mario Kart is seeing much more demand than Battle at the Ministry, and Battle at the Ministry was even the fourth most popular ride on July 5.

You might point to the fact that Mario Kart is included in Express Pass, which should lead to higher standby waits, while Battle at the Ministry is not. But Mine-Cart Madness is also excluded from Express Pass and has beaten Battle at the Ministry three times in this period. Speaking of…

Mine-Cart Madness continues to be reliable during Early Admission? With the exception of July 5 (the reason for that question mark), Mine-Cart Madness has continued to operate during at least some of Early Admission, the extra hour for Universal resort guests. I continue to think starting with Super Nintendo World makes the most sense to begin the day. And I continue to be torn—I simply can’t wrap my head around Mario Kart waits because I don’t find the ride to be that good. In any case, I prefer the Mario Kart queue, so I’d probably always start my day with Mine-Cart Madness.

Battle at the Ministry has also usually operated during this time, but my understanding is that it is usually open to all guests (the idea being that while the other rides are part of Early Admission, Battle is not a part of Early Admission and is instead just opening early). I think starting with Battle at the Ministry is a fine strategy, too, but I generally prefer to start somewhere where I have backup options (the Super Nintendo World rides are near each other).

Bonus evening hours have continued. Starting sometime in mid-June, Epic Universe began operating rides after the park close time. Or, more importantly, they started allowing guests to queue for rides after the park technically closed. Despite a scheduled close of 9PM, the park has effectively stayed open until 10PM most nights the last few weeks.

I’m perhaps too cautious, but I would never rely on these “bonus” hours. My goal would always be to get the rides done during regular park hours. But park touring is always about tradeoffs. You very well might decide it’s worth rolling the dice that something will remain open late. Personally, for example, I’d be saving Mario Kart for these late hours most days, because it’s a ride I’m willing to miss and the 2-hour midday wait doesn’t seem like a good use of time to me.

Battle at the Ministry Isn’t Perfect. No ride is perfect, but I wanted to call this one out mostly out of timeliness. I recently updated my post on fitting Wizarding World into a single day. As you’d expect, the big challenge is fitting Epic Universe into things. When Battle at the Ministry is operating reliably at 9AM, you’d be fine just starting your day there. But then there are days like today, when it didn’t start operating until noon. It maybe doesn’t need to be said, but all readers should remember that rides be like that sometimes. If you go up two sections, this is why I prefer starting in Super Nintendo World, for example.

No doubt there are more nuggets in the data—people sometimes still wait more than 2 hours for Fyre Drill for some reason—but those are the ones that caught my eye most. I’ll continue to keep an eye on the data over at Epic Universe, and if you’re heading there anytime soon, you should too!

All Your Other Universal Orlando Planning Questions Answered

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Just starting out? Start with our Universal Orlando Resort planning guide! If you’re considering a Universal hotel, read our Guide to the Hotels of Universal Orlando Resort!

You’ll want to know what rides the parks offer, so we’ve got a Universal Studios Florida Rides Guide, a Universal Islands of Adventure Rides Guide, and a Universal Epic Universe Rides Guide.

If you’d like an idea of how to plan a day at these parks, we can help there, too. Our One Day Universal Studios Florida Itinerary covers a full day at the original park, our Universal Islands of Adventure One Day Plan covers Hagrid's, Velocicoaster, and more, and we even have a One Day Guide to Epic Universe covering Universal's newest park.

Want to know how to get on rides without the long waits? Read all about Express Pass at Universal Orlando Resort. Plus, early risers always have the best theme parks days (well, we think so). Read about Early Park Admission at Universal Orlando to learn how to get an extra hour in the parks.