My three kids are 8, 6, and 6, and totally obsessed with Mario and his friends. We’ve watched both movies multiple times, played Super Mario Bros. on several gaming systems, and have plenty of stuffed toys of each character.
I had taken my oldest to the Super Nintendo World in California years ago, but now that my twins are older, I wanted to take them too.
On a recent trip to Florida, we decided to stop in Orlando for 24 hours to visit Epic Universe. Here are five things that made our trip a success.
We had early entrance
If you stay at Universal resorts, you can enter their four parks an hour before everyone else. We chose to stay at Surfside Inn not just because of the early entrance perk but also because you can take a shuttle to and from the parks, and forget about having to park your car (a big savings).
The early entrance turned out to be key. We took the shuttle a little before 8 a.m. and were in line exactly an hour before the park opened. We took that time to apply sunscreen, finish snacks, and get ready to have fun.
We were ready by the Super Nintendo World entrance at 8:45 a.m., where we needed to show our room keys to be allowed in. At exactly 9 a.m., we stepped into the pipe portal that took us to the world.
The early entrance was key to riding all the rides at Super Nintendo World without waiting in line. We were then able to walk over to the Isle of Berk (the world for “How to Train Your Dragon”) and do all the rides there too.
Express passes were key to riding everything we wanted
Park tickets start at $139 for adults and $134 for kids under 9. Those tickets allow you to use the regular line for all rides, but we decided to get Express passes to make the most of our day.
Express passes are $199.99 each for Epic Universe, which is definitely a splurge. But, for example, the Harry Potter ride had a wait time of over 300 minutes during our visit, and with the express pass, we did it in less than 20. Had we stayed in the regular line, between that wait and other rides, we would’ve only been able to do maybe two or three in total.
Character meet-ups do not have fast passes, so our longest waits were for those. To see Toothless, the line said 80 minutes, but we waited more like 45.
Some worlds are so hot, so we planned around that
Of course, Orlando in April is going to be hot, but the park can get really hot in some areas, so be prepared to keep kids hydrated.
Super Nintendo World was scorching during our visit. There is very little shade — which is similar to the experience of the world in the California park — but you are also enclosed by the castle’s walls, so there’s absolutely no breeze. We skipped waiting in line to meet the characters (something my kids wanted to do) because we would’ve had to stand in the midday sun for 30 minutes.
We mixed in water rides midway through the day to cool down, and we chose to sit down inside for lunch to take a break from the sun.
Keep an eye on rides to manage big emotions
I downloaded the Universal Orlando app while we were waiting in line for early entrance. It turned out to be key because we could check wait times for rides and activities throughout the day to plan where to go next. On top of that, we could also check if attractions were running.
My kids were so incredibly bummed that the Yoshi’s Adventure ride was closed the day of our visit, and they could not ride it at all. It was one that they were looking forward to ahead of our trip. Obviously, things like this are out of our control, but knowing before we made it all the way to the ride helped us talk to our kids and prepare them for it.
We also tried to ride the Donkey Kong Mine Cart Madness ride twice, but the second time, while we were in line, the ride broke down. We waited 10 minutes, and when we realized there wasn’t much improvement on the line, we left and did other things instead.
It’s an expensive experience, but we leaned into it
No surprises here. Between park tickets, express passes, and souvenirs, the whole day can be really expensive.
I was surprised to see hoodies retailing for $79, so I skipped them. But I couldn’t leave the park without buying each of my kids the smallest stuffed animal I could find, costing $22 each.
We still leaned into saying yes to many things. My kids wanted to meet Toothless, and despite the long line, we agreed because it’s one of their favorite characters. They also wanted to eat at Toadstool Café, and while I knew it would be overstimulating for everyone, we took it as a chance to take a break, sit down, and let everyone get some energy and calories in.
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