Universal’s Epic Universe pledges to put the “park” back in theme park, especially in its most glowing jewel, the world of Celestial Park. This original concept land in Epic Universe features sprawling fields of flowers, graceful fountains, elegant statuary, and gorgeous art nouveau-inspired creations, including bridges, buildings, stained glass windows, and more, right out of our most fanciful daydreams. It’s so aesthetic that it (literally) brought me to tears. But living in Celestial Park is (one of) the most incredible feats of engineering that has ever soared to life in any theme park, and that is the iconic Stardust Racers coaster.
Stardust Racers is definitely the biggest thrill you can find in Universal Epic Universe, but it also might just be one of the greatest rides to ever exist. And that’s because even though the idea of a roller coaster, which brings to mind metal tracks, daring feats of machinery, and blood-curdling screams, seems in direct odds with the idea of a park, which evokes gentle breezes, languid afternoons, and naps in the sun, Stardust Racers somehow manages to elicit both at once. It’s this feat, this combination of exhilaration and elegance, that makes Universal Epic Universe’s Stardust Racers the best roller coaster ever.
A beautiful roller coaster. How often is that phrase said? Not very. But prepare for it to enter your vocabulary after you ride on Stardust Racers. Don’t get me wrong; Stardust Racers will make you scream in terror, but it will look amazing doing it. Your wonder at this roller coaster’s beauty might just steal your breath away more thoroughly than its mental mind games as it swerves you very close to another track of screaming people, its jaw-droppingly high hills, which will see gravity disappearing as you lift from your seat, or its intense accelerations, there’s one and then ANOTHER (bold and caps, well deserved).
Coaster Crusader
Because at its heart, Stardust Racers still belongs to Celestial Park and no other land, and that means “park” is just as important as “theme park.” Obviously, Stardust Racers doesn’t immediately inspire the overt vision of a park, it doesn’t harken to halcyon summer picnics or slow splashes of water. But a park can evoke more than just that. When we think about a park, ideas of loveliness also emerge, of twining organic shapes, and the welcome respite of stepping into nature’s vast world. And those visions, the coaster brings to life in spades.
Coaster Crusader
Even from a distance, you can see the beautiful shape of Stardust Racers curving into the heavens when you’re in Universal Epic Universe. In the daytime, the coaster’s 5,000 feet of track, split into two parallel routes, twine together like a bramble of vines, painted in the most delicate pastel shades of green and yellow. And in the night, the tracks melt into the darkness of the sky, playing host to a dazzling comet trail of light and color that is the dual cars of Stardust Racers. Around these delicate curves and loops sits a water feature that raises fine mist into the air, an idyllic sight at any hour.
Coaster Crusader
When we consider, for instance, the track of Stardust Coasters juxtaposed against the menacing black behemoth that is the VelociCoaster, which lives in Universal Orlando’s Islands of Adventure, the two couldn’t feel more different. While the VelociCoaster’s very presence promises you will shriek your guts out, Stardust Racers invites you gently in to be part of something amazing. Both are iconic, but the uniqueness of the latter really touches my heart. One simply doesn’t expect a terrifying roller coaster to have so much nuance, but this one does.
Coaster Crusader
As you near Stardust Racers itself, its entrance is a set of curving Art Nouveau arches. Its own mini-portal transports you into the ride, with the words, “Just lose yourself among the stars and dance upon the edge of night. You’ll catch a comet in its flight.” YES. Stardust Racers did just read you a romantic poem, be still my beating heart.
Nerdist
That’s not to even begin to talk about the ride vehicle that awaits you as you finally get up to the front of the line. (I suggest you sit in the front seat if you’re able, front, yellow, that’s my pick.) Stardust Racers’ coaster car is truly a work of art. It’s a steampunk fantasy formed to look like an old-fashioned car, of sorts, drenched in the colors of nebulas, jewel purple into cerulean into a gleaming garnet, all decorated with accents of rich gold and dotted with a million stars that actually light up at night. On the back of each car, “powering” it is a replica of Back to the Future‘s flux capacitor. So it’s a clever and nerdy ride as well. Every time I saw these gorgeous creations pull up to the riders, my breath caught in my throat. (I do not, I swear, exaggerate.)
Coaster Crusader
Then, of course, there’s the ride itself. Yes, it is scary. You will scream. Your heart will drop to your stomach. You’ll go 62 mph on inversions, crisscrosses, hills, and upside-downs. But, in the middle of all of that, you’ll blink and find that you’ve been transported to someplace magical. Celestial Park has a deep vein of Greek mythology running through it, with statues of gods and goddesses across the land, and being on Stardust Racers is like a communion with these arcane figures. As the ride takes you 133 feet up into the air, you’re truly brought into the heavens. The warm sun blazes on your skin, the wind rushes through your hair, and gorgeous, ethereal music plays in the speakers around your ears. In a word, I might describe it as soaring. I might muse that it manifests freedom.
Coaster Crusader
If you ride in the midday hour, you can see the whole park from your vantage point, stretching around you in all its perfectly designed glory. At dusk, there’s no better view of the sunset, painting the skies in colors that match the ride around you. And, at night… Oh, at night, Stardust Racers turns into a literal comet. The ride has no external lighting, and so the track disappears from view. What you can see are the lights of your own ride vehicle, but most uniquely, the rainbow orbs resonating from the second car that runs the race with you. This means that you don’t just get to enjoy the superb light show that is Stardust Racers from the ground, but can actually live it while you ride the ride. It’s too beautiful for words, so you can experience a microcosm of it below.
How many roller coasters can claim they made your heart stop not only with fright, but also with sheer wonder? Made you cry, not just with shock but with overwhelming beauty? Not many. But when you leave Stardust Racers, your body feels light, like it’s floating, like you’ve become one with the universe, the very thread of nature itself, and is that not, truly, what the idea of a park should bring to life? Universal Epic Universe’s Stardust Racers, for my money, is the best roller coaster out there. And if it wasn’t already clear, I think you should ride it at least once in your lifetime.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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