Epic Universe 2026 (Day Trip Edition) 🍄
One of my goals for 2026 was to fly somewhere just for the day. I thought about some options within two hours flight time of Nashville and thought Orlando would be a great option. I had the option of going to Disney or Universal. I’ve been to Disney a couple of times but have never been to Universal. I specifically picked Epic Universe because it seemed to have the most options including Mario Kart and Harry Potter (my two favs).
I did a lot of research beforehand heading to Orlando to ensure that I maximized my limited time there. I’m gonna go through everything I did and what I chose to prioritize!
I want to mention what I brought with me. I always start by checking the weather before going on a trip. It was going to be sunny and 80 degrees so I chose to wear athletic shorts and a cute shirt with tennis shoes. I would recommend comfy shoes because you will do a lot of walking and standing. For my bag, I brought a Baggu fanny pack. Inside was my kindle, phone, phone charger, x2 portable chargers, pony tail holder, hand sanitizer, lotion, lip gloss, protein bar, glasses, contacts and wallet. I felt like that was all I needed. If for some reason I would have gotten stranded there, I figured I could just buy a toothbrush and other supplies I needed. I opted to bring my glasses and contacts because those are specific to me and I couldn’t buy them anywhere. I thought about bringing a jacket and water bottle. I knew I didn’t want to carry around a jacket all day so I didn’t bring one. I got a little chilly on the plane but it was worth it to not lug a jacket around. I wish I would have bought a small platypus water bottle that could fit in my fanny pack. For water, I got a cup of water at Spitfire and kept refilling it through the day.
I booked a very cheap flight through Spirit. I chose the earliest time to travel to Orlando and the latest time to go back. My flight was at 6:15am. It ended up getting delayed an hour so I lost an hour of park time :(
When I arrived in Orlando, I immediately went outside and ordered an uber. The uber was about $30 and it took about 15ish minutes to get to Universal. I bought my Universal ticket a couple of weeks ahead of time. It was around $200 (talk about expensive!). As soon as you know you’re going, take my advice and buy your ticket. My friend was supposed to go with me and waited until the last second and they were all sold out. I honestly was shocked but understand they need to cap it. I went in March so it was spring break. On a side note, you do need to download the app if you are ordering food so I would do that ahead of time.
Super Nintendo World
Super Nintendo World is the first attraction to your left so I started there. I knew I wanted to get in some good pictures with my Yoshi headband before getting too sweaty lol. When I first got there, I walked around to see what was there. All the effects and music were spot on, I felt like I was in the game! It was awesome. I went to Yoshi Snack Island to get a mango smoothie. It was okay, I feel like it had a fake mango taste so I didn’t love it and I don’t think I would recommend it unless you are getting it for a picture. I have heard that people like the DK crush float from Bubbly Barrel. If I had people with me I would have gotten one but I didn’t want to attempt to eat it by myself.
For rides they have Minecraft Madness, Yoshi’s Adventure and Mario Kart. I have heard people like Minecraft Madness the best. I actually was right in front of Yoshi’s Adventure and it was 20 minutes to get on and I am kicking myself that I didn’t go because it went up to 40 minutes when I circled back to it. Every ride will have a time estimation for how long you could wait for. I feel like it’s pretty accurate. When I was researching, I learned that no ride there is worth waiting more than an hour. Since I had limited time in the park, I chose to follow that. I didn’t end up going back to this part of the park but I really liked it and wish I chose to go on Yoshi’s Adventure. I spent about an hour here.
*I loved the idea of trying to dress like a part of the park. I chose to do the Yoshi headband because it made it more fun to be there.
How to Train Your Dragon - Isle of Berk
I have actually never seen How to Train Your Dragon and wish I would have seen it because I liked this portal! I felt like I was in the sea and sky at the same time. I was pretty hungry at this point and went on the app to order food. I went to Spitfire Grill and ordered the pb and j cone. I thought it was really good. This might be the best quick service meal.
For rides, I was seeing Hiccups Wing Gliders and Dragon Racers Rally were the ones to go on. Unfortunately, they both were over 60+ minutes so I didn’t think it was worth it to wait. Once I finished walking around, I looked at the app and could see the wait times of each of the rides. I noticed that Monsters Unchained in the Dark Universe had a 20 minute wait so I booked it to that portal to get on the ride. I probably spent about 30-40 minutes here before moving on.
Dark Universe
I didn’t spend much time in Dark Universe besides going on the Monsters Unchained ride. I have heard that people like the garlic stake and cheddar bites from Burning Blade Tavern. I have also heard Curse of the Werewolf is a great ride but it was a 60+ minutes wait time so I didn’t go.
The Monsters Unchained ride was so fun. Low key, it was realistic like I was a little spooked haha. A plus about going on rides in Dark Universe is that kids usually don’t want to go because it’s scarier than the other rides so it has a shorter wait time. If I had more time I would’ve went on it twice! I waited like 15 minutes. I probably spent like 30ish minutes here.
Harry Potter - Ministry of Magic
I love Harry Potter so much so I was so excited for this part of Epic. It’s supposed to bring you to 1920s Paris. The Ministry of Magic ride is based off of the 1990s trial of Dolores Umbridge. This ride is ALWAYS 120+ minutes wait so honestly I kinda was thinking I would just not even try going. When I was looking at wait times it said it was only 60 minutes so I booked it to try to get on. I waited about 90 minutes and that was only because the ride went down for 30 minutes otherwise it would have been 60. I enjoyed the ride, however I do not advise waiting more than 60 minutes because Monsters Unchained was so much better. I have heard that you should try to ride it in the evening because the wait isn’t as long and if I had more time there that’s what I would’ve done.
After the ride, I got a butter beer (regular with cold foam) and walked around the park. The butter beer was my favorite part of the day like the foam was so good. I didn’t love this part of Harry Potter world. It felt small and I didn’t feel connected to it. I think I would’ve liked the Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade more because that would feel more like the books/movies.
Celestial Park
I got done at the Harry Potter portion of the park around 3:50pm and decided to walk around Celestial Park for the remainder of my time. People love Pizza Moon’s ube pizza as well as the Oak and Star Tavern’s mango bread. It has Stardust Racers which is supposed to be a great ride but unfortunately it was closed for the day otherwise I would have tried to get on it.
My morning uber driver advised me to leave Epic around 4:15pm to get to the airport and that is exactly what I did. It took about 15 minutes to get there. I waited in the security line for like 40 minutes due to the government shutdown. I would suggest keeping track of how long the wait times are so that you aren’t late to your flight. I don’t love the Orlando airport, there’s not great food options and it’s not very nice but I had to spend like 30ish minutes there before boarding.
My plane was on time arriving back to Nashville around 8pm.
Overall Thoughts
This was such a good day. I am very proud of myself for making it happen and doing it by myself. It was so fun to go just for the day and very doable. It would have been nice to get to have a couple of extra hours at Epic to ride a few more rides. But, I really got to do what I wanted so it was a day well spent.
I think it could be fun to spend a weekend in Orlando and go to a different theme park each day. I would do that if I had kids and saved enough money to pay for the parks. For me, it’s like a once every ten+ years because I feel like when you do it well, you won’t have to go all the time.
I hope that you can get some ideas and tips from my Epic itinerary. I would encourage you to do solo travel or be more creative with your trips.
I think day trips where you take an airplane are worth it if you are doing a nonstop flight in less than two hours. I would come up with a game plan of what you’re doing for the day so you don’t waste any of your time.
A couple of other day trip ideas I have from Nashville are: New York City, Boston, Washington DC, Atlanta, and Charleston.