by clivej
I'd say much the same as others. First, make sure you're playing correctly.If you win regular Pandemic more often than not with six Epidemics, it sounds like you'll do much better than average at Pandemic Legacy, but it still won't be a walk in the park.
If you're sure you want to up the difficulty then yes, you can play two characters each. And yes, you can play with an extra Epidemic. The trick there is to leave the sixth portion of the player deck set aside and shuffle the first Epidemic into it once it's happened.
You don't know what's coming in Season One, though. While playing two characters each is obviously fine, because it's equivalent to playing with four people round the table, it's harder for you to gauge how much difference another Epidemic would make. And it's hard to offer any kind of view without giving spoilers!