Trip Report 5/9 With Express Pass Wait Times
My first post on this Reddit! After seeing so many of your helpful trip reports on whether Express Pass is worth it at Epic, I wanted to post about my experience as well. We went on Friday, May 8th, which was a 6/10 crowd level day according to TouringPlans, but honestly not as crowded as I had imagined. Given, it was before kids got off for summer vacay!
ROPE DROP: We got there around 9:45am and the park opens at 10am, and the crowd to rope drop for non early-entry was pretty minimal. At 9:55am, we were allowed to walk to our destinations, and we headed straight to Stardust racers without express (15 min wait).
DARK UNIVERSE: We then headed to Monsters Unchained and didn’t do express for that either as we wanted to walk through the entire queue. Express looked to be a walk on, but we waited around 10 minutes.
We wanted to go to Isle of Berk afterwards, but Hiccup’s was down sadly, so we made a bad choice of going to Nintendo World next.
SUPER NINTENDO WORLD: Super Nintendo World was INSANELY crowded. I was honestly very overstimulated to the point that I had regretted buying the Power Up Band, because it meant I had to stay there longer. Granted, it was so cool to see the little Pikmin and the immersive touches everywhere, but if it’s hot out, the pure plastic and concrete does feel like an oven.
We rode yoshi’s and waited 15 min with Express (posted 45), then got lunch at Toadstool Cafe around 11am as Minecart was down and Bowser’s was posted at 120 at that point. Toadstool’s was already very crowded and every table was filled by then. After lunch, we did Mine Cart Madness which was up again and waited 15 (posted 90), then Bowser’s Challenge with 25 (posted 90). We did get to ride this twice, because my visor VR wasn’t working the first time around.
ISLE OF BERK: Then, we bopped over to Isle of Berk for Hiccup’s. We waited 12 minutes (posted 45), and this was SUCH a fun ride! Though a level above than average family friendly rollercoaster from Disney like Slinky’s. We then used Express for the Untrainable Dragon show, where you get held in the space right next to the entrance of the theater so you’re let in first. We got front row seats to the show, but be warned - it’s harder to see some of the surprises around the theatre if you’re too close to the stage.
WIZARDING WORLD: finally, we landed in wizarding world. We saw the Le Cirque Arcanus show which was so cool, and also got nearly front row seats since Express is let in first. The holding area for the theatre and first pre-show is incredibly packed, so don’t go if you’re not in for a tight squeeze. Then hopped on Battle of the Ministry with a 15 min wait (posted 75). We loved the ride so we did single rider for it again, and we basically walked on to the ride.
Since we had our Power Up Bands, we went back to Super Nintendo World to collect the rest of our keys. Goomba’s key was closed, but the other four were open and they were honestly super fun. I felt myself giggling like a kid when we were doing the clock one. At around 6pm, the portal was much emptier and the sun had cooled down, so I’d recommend visiting Nintendo World much later in the day for a less overstimulating experience.
All in all, here’s the breakdown of rides we used Express on:
Minecart - 90/15
Yoshi - 45/15
Bowser’s - 90/25
Hiccups - 45/12
Untrainable dragon - front row
Le cirque arcanus - front row
Battle of ministry - 75/15
Would I pay for express again after seeing that this was actually a pretty light crowd day for Epic? Honestly… no! I think single rider could’ve gotten us on a lot of rides pretty quickly, and tbh starting around 5pm, the park was emptying out, and wait times were dropping exponentially.
Also note that the rides kept going down (Hiccup’s, Monster’s, BOTM, Minecart, Bowser’s) throughout the day, so have a plan, but don’t be adamant about sticking to your plans. At some point, 3 major rides were down at the same time.
Another thing - besides Celestial Park, there’s barely any benches to sit on. We walked around forever in Isle of Berk and couldn’t find a single bench or shaded spot. Can be tough if you have mobility issues or just need to take a break!
All in all, I had a fun time, but I think Epic has got a lot of stuff to work out!! This is okay to me, given they’re still such a new park, and the technology is so amazing!! The crowds did not feel overwhelming, besides at SNW where it was packed like sardines.