Every attraction at Universal Epic Universe

Stardust Racers is a racing coaster: two tracks, two trains, launched in sequence and then run against each other over and around the hub. It is the fastest and tallest thing at Epic Universe, and unusually for a modern headliner it hides nothing — the whole layout sits out in the open above Celestial Park where you can watch it from the path before you commit.

The Constellation Carousel is the attraction most visitors write off from the walkway and most of them are wrong. It looks like a decorative hub carousel. It is a carousel whose vehicles rotate on their own axis and lift as the platform turns, so instead of going round in a circle you trace a much more complicated path through the air, with the hub, the fountains and the coaster rotating past you.

Astronomica is the interactive water feature at the heart of Celestial Park — a set of fountains and jets that respond to being touched, blocked and played with rather than simply running on a timer. It is not an attraction in the sense of having a queue or a vehicle, and it is one of the more useful things in the park.

Battle at the Ministry is the most complicated attraction Universal has built and the reason a lot of people buy a ticket to this park. You descend from 1920s Paris into the French Ministry of Magic, and what follows is a long ride that changes what it is doing several times — moving through built sets, then screens, then sets again, with vehicle motion doing a great deal of the work in between.

Le Cirque Arcanus is a theater show in the Ministry of Magic world, and it is the thing visitors leave off their plans and then regret. It is staged as a traveling wizarding circus, and the production is built on practical craft — puppetry, illusion, physical performance and lighting — rather than on projection. In a resort that has spent a decade putting screens in front of people, that is a deliberate and welcome choice.

As at the two older Wizarding Worlds, the streets here hide effects that respond to an interactive wand — windows that react, objects that move, small pieces of staging that only exist for people holding the right stick and standing on the right medallion. The Paris setting gives the designers more building frontage to play with than Hogsmeade had, and the density of spell locations is correspondingly higher.

Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge puts four riders in a kart, gives each of them a steering wheel and an AR visor, and sends them through a physically built race course inside Bowser's Castle. The sets are real, the karts move on a track, and the visor overlays the racers, the shells and the item boxes onto what you are actually looking at. You steer to aim and press a trigger to throw shells.

Mine-Cart Madness is the best-engineered ride in the park and the one that rewards knowing nothing about it. It is a family coaster through the Donkey Kong Country jungle, and its signature trick is that the track appears to end — the cart appears to leave the rails, jump a gap, and land on the far side. The illusion is done mechanically and it holds up even once you understand it, which is the mark of a good one.

Yoshi's Adventure is the small-child ride in a world otherwise built around a 40-inch and a 42-inch requirement, and its real value is exactly that. You ride a Yoshi at walking pace on an elevated track that loops around and above the Mushroom Kingdom, hunting for colored eggs hidden in the scenery along the way.

The Power-Up Band is a wristband you buy separately and tap against interactive points across SUPER NINTENDO WORLD. Question blocks give coins. Hidden stations across both the Mushroom Kingdom and Donkey Kong Country run short physical mini-games — timing puzzles, aiming challenges, cooperative tasks — and completing them wins keys, which in turn open a final challenge.

The Mushroom Kingdom runs character meets on a rotation through the day, typically with Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach and Toad appearing at set positions near Peach's Castle and around the central plaza. Costumes are full-body and the characters do not speak, which is the standard for these particular properties.

Hiccup's Wing Gliders is the family coaster Epic Universe needed. It launches out of the Viking village and runs a low, fast circuit over and around the Isle of Berk, with a flight-themed conceit that puts you on a glider rather than in a cart. Nothing about it is extreme — no inversions, no big drops, no darkness — and it is genuinely exciting rather than merely tolerable.

Dragon Racer's Rally is two rotating rides working side by side over the courtyard of the Viking village, swinging riders out and around on arms and rolling them through the top of the arc. It looks like a piece of village scenery from the path and it is comfortably the most physically intense flat ride at Epic Universe.

Fyre Drill is a water-battle ride in the Isle of Berk harbor. You board a boat with a mounted water cannon, the boats rotate slowly around a central point, and everybody attempts to soak everybody else while spectators on the dock join in with their own cannons. There is no story to speak of and no technology worth a press release, and it is one of the best things in the park.

The Untrainable Dragon is a theatrical production in a purpose-built theater on the Isle of Berk, staged with large-scale puppetry, physical performance and practical effects. The dragons are operated at a scale that reads properly from the back of the house, and the craft on display is the reason adults who came in to sit down end up paying attention.

Viking Training Camp is the play area in Isle of Berk — a themed structure of climbs, ropes, ladders and hiding places set into the village, with shaded seating for adults around the edge. It has no queue, no height stick and no schedule.

Isle of Berk runs character meets on a published rotation through the day, with the human characters from the films appearing in the village and a large-scale Toothless the main draw. The human performers speak and interact, which makes these meets considerably more engaging than the silent full-costume format used elsewhere in the park.

Monsters Unchained is the attraction that justifies Dark Universe existing. You are taken through Frankenstein Manor as an experiment goes wrong, on a trackless vehicle that moves independently through a series of built rooms, and the animatronic work in it is a clear step above anything else Universal operates in Orlando. Figures move at close range with weight and speed, and the ride is confident enough to hold on them rather than cutting away to a screen.

Curse of the Werewolf is a spinning coaster: the cars rotate freely as they run the track, so no two rides are the same and nobody controls which way they are facing at any given moment. The circuit runs through the woods around the Darkmoor village with dark passages, creature effects and a couple of short drops.

De Lacey's Cottage is a small piece of staged storytelling in Dark Universe — a short walk through a cottage interior with practical effects and lighting doing the work, tied to the Frankenstein corner of the Universal Monsters canon. There is no vehicle, no queue to speak of and no height requirement.

Dark Universe puts performers in full monster makeup out in the village on a rotation, and they work in character rather than posing. They approach guests, they respond, and they do not break — which makes this the strongest piece of street entertainment at Universal Orlando and one of the reasons the world holds up between rides.