Why to Skip Super Nintendo World’s Morning Madness During Epic Universe’s Early Entry

Early Park Admission at Epic Universe is a popular way to beat the rope drop rush, entering the park an extra hour earlier than regular guests and getting to a headstart on rides in three lands. This photo report covers my morning experience from Helios Grand Hotel and why, contrary to our previous advice, I no longer recommend starting in Super Nintendo World.

As basic background, Early Park Admission (EPA) is Universal Orlando’s twist on Early Entry or Extra Magic Hours at Walt Disney World. Going forward, EPA will be offered at Epic Universe every day through at least December 31, 2025. It’ll almost certainly continue in 2026 and beyond, that’s as far as the calendar goes. Early Park Admission is also offered at Islands of Adventure, but not Universal Studios Florida.

During Early Park Admission, all on-site Universal Orlando hotel guests and other select groups can access one of our amazing theme parks up to one hour before the park opens. It’s yet to be only 30 minutes at Epic Universe, and there’s no reason to expect that to change anytime soon. Unofficially, we’ve already experienced it starting slightly earlier than an hour in advance, and expect this to continue to be the trend going forward at Epic Universe.

I’ve only ever done Early Park Admission from Universal Helios Grand Hotel, which is the in-park resort overlooking Epic Universe with its own private entrance into the park. The process for this hotel is going to differ from the main entrance, but from what I observed and heard from friends staying at Stella Nova and Terra Luna, it’s fairly similar from the front.

One big difference is that Helios Grand Hotel only has one bag scanner and two turnstiles, which can slow the entry process. The other big difference is that Super Nintendo World, the main selling point of EPA, is much closer to the front entrance of Epic Universe than it is the Helios Grand Hotel side. This is noteworthy because ~90% of guests are heading towards Super Nintendo World during EPA.

Here are the available attractions during Early Park Admission at Universal Epic Universe:

• Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge
• Yoshi’s Adventure
• Donkey Kong Mine-Cart Madness
• Stardust Racers
• Constellation Carousel
• Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment
• Curse of the Werewolf

This means the lands open during EPA are Celestial Park, Super Nintendo World, and Dark Universe. With the exception of Mine-Cart Madness in Donkey Kong Country, as reflected in the strike-through above. That’s there because it used to be part of EPA, and in fact, the advice from our original strategy guide used to be: “do Donkey Kong Mine-Cart Madness first.”

That was such an emphatic recommendation that it was bolded, as it was the unequivocal #1 best time-saving approach to Early Park Admission at Epic Universe. Welp, not anymore! If you’re wondering why we no longer recommend Super Nintendo World for EPA, that’s half of the explanation. But there’s more to it than that, as will be discussed below.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic and How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk both open at regular rope drop. However, there are some exceptions to this, as we’ll discuss below.

Anyway, let’s turn to a run-through of my morning during Early Park Admission at Epic Universe…

My last time doing Early Park Admission at Epic Universe was during previews, at which point security and the turnstiles inside Helios Grand Hotel had extremely long lines. So long that we were backed up by the pool area over an hour before EPA even started. It was my understanding that Universal had since addressed this by opening the checkpoint even earlier, which is a good move to reduce this backlog, but it created the new problem of waiting a long time in the sun on the Helios walkway.

My goal was to thread the needle. Not arriving so early that I’d be stuck out there too long, but not being at the end of that line or part of the last minute rush to enter Epic Universe right around 9 am. With that in mind, I settled on arriving at bagcheck around 8:35 am. This was definitely a ‘sweet spot,’ as there was absolutely no line whatsoever at security or the turnstiles.

Outside, there were ~50 people in front of me, but the line was completely manageable. Not too much of a crowd gathered behind me, either, until around 8:50 am. So I’d say that the ‘sweet spot’ was around 8:30 to 8:45 am. You might need to adjust that earlier on peak season dates when there’s a greater incentive to arrive earlier. (Although perhaps not–occupancy is high at Helios all the time.)

I don’t see much point in being at the front of the pack. It’s diminishing returns for being a few dozen people forward, especially if it comes at the expense of staying until the bitter end of the evening.

For one thing, it’s a fairly long walk to the Super Nintendo portal and the pathways are wide. Being among the first in line for Early Park Admission is almost meaningless. Parties that show up ~30 minutes after those first guests could theoretically beat them to SNW. It all comes down to walking speed since it’s absolutely not a single file line once released from the Helios holding area.

On this particular morning, it went from blue skies and sunshine to rain in the span of 5 minutes while waiting for EPA. This being Florida, I always check the radar and came armed with an umbrella. But a surprising number of guests did not, and were suddenly scrambling to head back inside as it started rainy.

Shortly thereafter, we were released from the Helios holding area at 8:50 am.

From there, the race was on to Super Nintendo World. Nearly every guest on the Helios Grand Hotel side was heading in that direction.

The walk from there to the Super Nintendo World portal took approximately 3 minutes. And that’s at a pretty brisk pace. I’d hazard a guess that the walk from the front entrance can be done in under 60 seconds, but it’s much more ‘managed,’ as you’ll see from the photos below.

Previously, we shared that the “secret hack” to beating the crowd for Early Park Admission in Super Nintendo World is entering through the ground-level bypass doors to the left of the Nintendo Super Star Store in Celestial Park. That allowed you to bypass the escalators and stairs, shaving off about 60-90 seconds.

This no longer works.  

There’s now a Team Member stationed at this exit through Early Park Admission, directing guests towards the front of Super Nintendo World. This makes sense, as EPA eligibility is now verified at the entrances of the portals, as opposed to the park entrances.

Pictured above is Early Park Admission guests being slowly escorted from the front entrance to Super Nintendo World to, presumably, avoid a stampede. In case it’s not clear, this is a huge herd that I’m beating by about 5-10 seconds. I didn’t see the end of the pack here, but I’d estimate this was easily 5 times the number of people coming from the Helios side.

Here’s where brisk walking matter. Frankly, luck played a bigger role than anything, as it’s not as if this is coordinated to give the edge to Helios Grand Hotel guests. Had I been ~30 seconds slower (as a majority from my side probably were), I would’ve been behind all of the non-Helios hotel guests.

I strongly suspect outcomes here vary day to day. This is kind of how it works at EPCOT when trying to hit Cosmic Rewind or Test Track for Early Entry from International Gateway. The back entrance is given a slight head-start to offset the longer distance, but it comes down to luck and walking speed to determine which side “wins.”

Thanks to my good fortunes and speed, I could’ve been among the first dozen guests of the day to ride Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge.

What would’ve been the fun in that?! I would’ve been stuck in that line for the next few minutes waiting for it to open, then confirming it was a walk-on, and then finishing roughly halfway through Early Park Admission thanks to pre-shows and total attraction duration.

At that point I could’ve done Yoshi’s Adventure with a less than 10 minute wait. Following that, I could’ve been among the first ~100 guests in line for Donkey Kong Mine-Cart Madness when that opened (knock on wood) at 10 am. This would’ve been a fruitful morning, and it actually is my recommendation if you’re a speedy gambler.

But I wanted something more comprehensive for this report. I’m not sure when I’ll get another crack at EPA in Epic Universe, and need to learn as much about the new park as possible. So instead, I raced around for a bit. (Quite literally–closing my exercise ring and logging thousands of steps before 10 am.)

I started with a lap around Super Nintendo World to capture some empty park photos. As you can imagine, not a lot of people are rushing to be first in line at Yoshi’s Adventure. After a few minutes of this, I circled back to check out the line at Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge after the first wave of guests arrived.

This was the scene as of 8:58 am:

Quite the long line!

Not only was this getting long, but it was madness between Mario Kart and the entrance to Super Nintendo World. The whole process reminded me of the Early Entry at Avatar Flight of Passage. We’ve previously described that as ‘controlled chaos,’ which is also apt here. There’s only so much the crowd can be managed with almost everyone heading to the same attraction.

Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge opened to a 60 minute posted wait time. The actual wait time obviously would’ve varied depending upon where guests where in the EPA herd. Had I done this immediately upon entry, my total wait would’ve been under 15 minutes. Someone arriving 30 seconds after me from the Helios side might’ve waited 30-45 minutes. Again, luck and speed matter way too much to make this a reliable recommendation.

With the bulk of the crowds descending upon Super Nintendo World, I called a counterintuitive audible and headed over to Dark Universe.

It’s the same scenario here, with Team Members verifying EPA eligibility before allowing guests to enter the portal.

Some fans lament the daytime atmosphere in Dark Universe, contending that it’s only good at night.

I wholeheartedly disagree. Mornings are sufficiently spooky, with a layer of mist and quiet shrouding the area in a foreboding atmosphere. The morning light kissing the gothic features also exaggerates their textures.

Above is a video walk-through I captured during this Early Park Admission.

Early morning isn’t better than night–there’s no debate about that. But it’s a close second. I love this time of day in Dark Universe, and if I were visiting “for fun” I would’ve been inclined to linger and enjoy the moody atmosphere.

Monsters Unchained was having the dreaded delayed opening.

This wasn’t a big deal to me. Monsters Unchained is a (figurative) people eater. It’s also a lengthy attraction from start-to-finish thanks to exceptional pre-shows. I would strongly recommend not doing this during EPA.

Resist the temptation, even if this is (justifiably) one of your must-dos at Epic Universe.

That made Curse of the Werewolf the only operational attraction in Dark Universe.

As you can see, the posted wait time was 5 minutes.

Wanting to balance research with fun (and not know what, if anything, I’d be able to get done during the day), I opted to make Curse of the Werewolf my first attraction of the day.

My actual wait time was right around 5 minutes.

Curse of the Werewolf has an average month-to-date wait time of 52 minutes, which does not put it among the top rides at Epic Universe.

But that is good enough for #2 of the EPA attractions, behind Mario Kart at 86 minutes.

If you, for some reason, wanted to loop Curse of the Werewolf, you probably could do it 5 times during Early Park Admission. Maybe more. I’m pretty confident you could only do Mario Kart once. If you did Curse of the Werewolf even twice, you’re coming out ahead of doing Mario Kart once. That makes this an excellent and low-friction zig when they zag strategy for EPA at EU.

There’s definitely some wisdom in knocking out shorter duration attractions first, and then turning your attention to the longer ones. Ditto the outdoor ones, when rain is in the forecast, as downtime can balloon the average wait for Curse of the Werewolf.

I’d also add that I think Curse of the Werewolf is underrated. I have plenty of criticism about its themed design (both in the land as a whole and on the ride), but as a coaster, it’s punchy and fun. Not on par with Stardust Racers, but that’s apples to oranges.

It’s also possible that you’ll still have time to hit Mario Kart before Early Park Admission is over if you start at the quicker rides like this.

Frankenstein’s Manor was open and greeting guests once I was done with Curse of the Werewolf. Posted wait was 10 minutes, but I’d have to imagine it was a walk-on given how desolate Dark Universe was.

Also, the sky had turned back to blue in a matter of minutes.

Now it was time to make a lap of Epic Universe.

I turned to the trusty and lavishly produced navigational signage to chart my course.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic is occasionally open during Early Park Admission.

If it is, it’s just open to everyone. This portal isn’t part of EPA, so anyone can access it.

Along with that, Battle at the Ministry is one of those attractions that often seems to open whenever it’s ready.

On this particular day, that meant it was ready to roll by 9:20 am (at the latest).

The posted wait time at this point was 45 minutes.

This looks more chaotic than the area actually was. There are a lot of people here asking that Team Member questions. The most common one from what I overheard was, “it’s open?”

If I were an off-site guest not eligible for EPA, doing Battle at the Ministry now would’ve been a no-brainer.

Fast-forward my lap of the park (after stopping for several superfluous photos) to Super Nintendo World, where Yoshi’s Adventure still had a 10 minute posted wait time.

Just in watching the lack of people entering this line and the unfilled little Yoshi vehicles above, I’d hazard a guess it was a walk-on. The front of Mario Kart was also more chill at this point, with the line (and 60 minute posted wait) entirely inside the indoor queue.

Over in Donkey Kong Country, there was already a long line pre-queueing for Mine Cart-Madness at 9:34 am.

The month-to-date average wait time for Mine-Cart Madness is 140 minutes, which makes this the longest wait in Epic Universe by 31 minutes. Accordingly, pre-queueing for this towards the tail end of EPA might not seem like a bad idea!

Just keep in mind that Mine-Cart Madness doesn’t officially open until 10 am now. In stalking wait times from home, I’ve seen some days when it opens earlier. I’ve also seen some days where it suffers the dreaded delayed opening.

I’m going to go out of order here a bit to reveal that this was one of those dreaded delayed opening days.

I’m not exactly sure what time Mine-Cart Madness did start operating, but it definitely wasn’t before 11 am. This means some of these EPA guests squandered at least 90 minutes of valuable time waiting.

But on the other hand, shortly after Mine-Cart Madness did open for the day, it was posting a 240 minute wait time.

I strongly suspect this posted wait was more about discouraging guests from racing towards Mine-Cart Madness, to allow it to process the existing Express Pass and standby line backlogs, than it was an accurate estimate. But I wasn’t about to find out.

Circling back to our EPA timeline, this was the regular rope drop line outside Super Nintendo World as of 9:41 am.

It’s never a good idea to use precious morning time to be behind the Early Park Admission crowd. The guests at the front of the pack probably could’ve been on and off Battle at the Ministry by the time 10 am rolled around. That’s the #2 wait time in Epic Universe!

It was a similar story over by Isle of Berk.

Except this was a smaller crowd and no one here was behind on-site hotel guests since this portal was not yet open. It’s also worth noting that the Toothless meet & greet is the #3 wait time in Epic Universe.

I’m a little hesitant to recommend prioritizing that at regular rope drop because it’s so low capacity that it doesn’t take much of a crowd to balloon that time. If you’re a slower walker or just unlucky, you’ll be at a disadvantage.

With ~15 minutes left on the clock during Early Park Admission, I was already hot and drenched in sweat.

It was time to air dry and have some fun on Stardust Racers.

As we’ve discussed before, one alternative approach to Early Park Admission is simply looping Stardust Racers and seeing how many times you can ride that awesome roller coaster before the crowds arrive. Stardust Racers has pretty healthy throughput, so you should be in good shape to do this again and again with minimal waits. I don’t think this is a good approach if you’ve only got one day in Epic Universe, though.

I looped Stardust Racers 3 times, after which point I had hit my limit and it was slightly after 10 am.

Because Stardust Racers is a people-eater, this is not an objectively great strategy. I should’ve done it once and then headed for Isle of Berk. But I was hot and “needed” this.

All in all, I accomplished three attractions during Early Park Admission.

And keep in mind, that was without really trying. I was more focused on documenting and reporting on the experience than actually having the experience.

From my observations, I’d say an optimal zig when they zag approach to Early Park Admission is as follows:

1. Curse of the Werewolf
2. Yoshi’s Adventure (time allowing)
3. Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge
4. Pre-queue for Mine-Cart Madness

Unless you’re fast and lucky, I really think the play is zigging when they zag and skipping Super Nintendo World to start, so you’re not fighting the chaos and crowds of everyone who wants to be first for Mario Kart.

Instead, prioritize a smaller-scale attraction (Curse of the Werewolf being the optimal pick) and then hit Mario Kart after the first wave of the crowd starts to dissipate a bit. It’s counterintuitive, but should work most days.

The question of whether you should attempt multiple attractions before pre-queueing for Mine-Cart Madness is a good one. I come down on the side of recommending at least doing Mario Kart. There’s a strong temptation to be towards the front of the pack for Mine-Cart Madness due to its low capacity and high waits, but that comes with risk.

At this point, I come down on the side of knocking out more attractions. The bird in hand and all that. Epic Universe still has a lot of breakdowns and weather closures, so accomplishing anything you can when wait times are low is advantageous. Because you never know if that’s going to be the unlucky day.

Yoshi’s Adventure might be a walk-on during EPA, before breaking down for the next ~5 hours, and then being a 90 minute wait all afternoon. You also never know when Mine-Cart Madness won’t actually open at 10 am, but instead 11 am or 2 pm. I almost always favor the sure thing over the risk–especially when it comes to new or unreliable rides, and Epic Universe has many of those.

Honestly, I come down on the side of saving Super Nintendo World until much later. On this particular day, Mario Kart’s wait time peaked in the first few hours and gradually decreased in the afternoon. Evening was also more pleasant in Super Nintendo World, because the sun wasn’t reflecting off the pavement and surfaces and heat wasn’t radiating out of the ground. Anyone who did Super Nintendo World in the last 3 hours of the day would’ve assuredly had better outcomes than those in the first 3 hours of the morning.

Finally, it’s worth noting that Early Park Admission may not be all that useful at Epic Universe. During all of my days at the new park, the highest wait times of the day were all posted towards the end of EPA and right around regular rope drop. The problem is that the 11 on-site hotels have over 10,000 rooms and those aren’t even the only guests eligible for EPA. Then there’s the reality that utilization of EPA is high, as Epic Universe is brand-new and guests feel a greater sense of urgency to take full advantage and beat the crowds.

On top of that, only around one-third of the park is open, consolidating that demand into a low number of attractions. So it may not be worth arriving ~90 minutes in advance for Early Park Admission. Personally, I think it is for the sake of knocking out Curse of the Werewolf and/or Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge. It’s also awesome to be inside Super Nintendo World as the morning light illuminates the vibrant landscape of the Mushroom Kingdom and Donkey Kong Country; and as the morning mist shrouds Dark Universe in secrecy and intrigue.

With that said, I would not recommend Early Park Admission at the expense of evenings in Epic Universe. If your party realistically only has stamina for one or the other, you should sleep in. While there’s uncertainty in the above strategy, I’m 100% sure of that recommendation. Guests hit a wall at Epic Universe, and late nights are wonderful in the park. Barring disaster, you’ll get more done in that last hour than you will in the first!

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Your Thoughts

What’s your plan for Early Park Admission at Epic Universe? Agree with our zig when they zag strategy to skip Super Nintendo World and start somewhere else first? Or do you have an alternative plan of attack for beating the crowds? Which of these rides are your highest priority Epic Universe or Orlando attractions? Do you agree or disagree with any of our strategy? Any questions? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!