The One Glaring Issue You Need to Know About Epic Universe Before You Spend 10 Hours There.

Epic Universe is full of thrilling, exciting, and frankly, jaw-dropping rides, shows, attractions, dining experiences, and so much more.

However, you are still in a theme park in Orlando, and that’s known for having tons of sun and heat around eight months of the year, and there’s one MASSIVE issue with Epic Universe we can’t ignore. If you’re traveling this summer, it’s going to affect you big time — the lack of shade is criminal.

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If you look at Epic Universe from a bird’s eye view, like the photo below, take notice of where you could go to get away from the sun.

Epic Universe as seen from the Helios Grand

That’s right — NOWHERE. The trees you see offer very little shade right now, but a big reason for that is that they’re still relatively new. They were mostly planted at the beginning of 2025/end of 2024, which was in winter, and trees need some time to grow. While six months may seem like plenty of time, trees take a while to reach their full growth, so we do think this is part of the issue.

However, that’s only PART of the problem. Even when these trees grow in, there are still going to be huge parts of the park with little to no shade. One of the biggest culprits of that? Super Nintendo World.

The only shade you’ll find in this land is indoors or under the tiny little mushroom seating areas on the upper level close to some of the mini games, and for a land as big as this is, that’s just not sustainable.

But if trees were added to this land, it would totally ruin the image, which we understand. Then again, when we look at Dark Universe, this also isn’t an area where big bushy trees would make a ton of sense.

The same can be said for Isle of Berk, but we do think it’s easier for trees to fit into both this land and Ministry of Magic since we’re pretty sure that Berk and Paris have a decent amount of trees on their streets.

So with this in mind, what should you do to make sure you’re not burning up on your upcoming vacation? For one, take frequent breaks inside — gift shops, quick service dining locations (even during off-peak dining locations if you’re not planning on eating), shows, select ride queues) — to escape the heat and get out of the sun.

Thankfully, the majority of the queues are covered, so you won’t be directly in the sun, but the heat very well might still get to you, so we recommend grabbing the BAODINI Travel Mini Umbrella, which will help keep that sun OFF!

This isn’t just any umbrella — it’s built to withstand UV rays, and we’ve found that it’s genuinely sometimes 5-10 degrees cooler underneath it. On a HOT day, that feels like a WORLD of a difference!

Grab it here!

If you want something you don’t have to carry around but can wear instead, the Outdoor Wide Brim Sun Hat is a fantastic choice.

Not only does it protect you against UV rays as well as rain, but it has mini fans that blow directly on you. No need to recharge — they’re solar powered! It also covers your neck, so no need to worry about sunburn there.

Grab it here!