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Universal’s Epic Universe
Orlando, FL
NBC Universal / Comcast
Opening 2025
---- THE LATEST BUZZ ----
(4/13/2025) The Rise of Epic Universe - Part 2 - Welcome to Celestial Park
(4/10/2025) The Rise of Epic Universe - Part 1
(4/8/2025) Universal Epic Universe - Select Guests To Be Invited To Visit Starting April 17
(4/6/2025) Screamscape Visits Universal Epic Universe
(4/2/2025) Don't Become A Monster If You Want To Drink
(3/31/2025) Become Your Favorite Monster at Epic Universe
(3/29/2025) Universal Epic Universe Now Selling Express Passes with Important Limits
(3/20/2025) Epic Universe’s Free Ride Lockers Come With An All New Feature
(3/17/2025) Universal Orlando Reveals First Photos Taken Inside Epic Universe
 New Park -
(4/13/2025) The Rise of Epic Universe - Part 2 - Welcome to Celestial Park
Thanks for being patient, as I recall wanted to give myself time to think and process everything I was able to see and do during my visit to Universal Epic Universe last week, as there are still a lot of things I was not able to do that I’d still like to see during a future visit. Fortunately, taking the time to experience the majority of the park’s major attractions was not one of them as I was able to experience all but three attractions, so lets right to it, because I know that’s what everyone is wanting to hear about.
I’ll break it down, world by world, starting with:
Celestial Park -
This is the first world you will enter upon traveling through the Chronos Portal at the front of the park. Celestial Park serves as the central hub that you will travel through to reach the portals to the other four worlds. In addition to being host to a plethora of merchandise and restaurants, it is also a beautiful land all on it’s own, full of lush green trees and lawns, amazing bodies of water, often full of fountains spraying the clear water into the blue sky. There is also some powerful mythos to be seen here, that will come into play once the park opens and they are ready to show off just what happens after dark within Celestial Park.
One of the first things you will notice upon exiting the portal into Celestial Park is a large statue of a woman, standing within her own circular portal. This is Luna, the Roman Goddess of the Moon, and her top bears the symbol of the crescent moon as well. You may notice that Luna is also accompanied by a Rabbit, and while I don’t believe that a rabbit was part of her normal lore, it is worth mentioning that the rabbit is often used as a figure to represent the moon in many Asian cultures as well. More specifically a rabbit is often shown as a companion to Chang'e, the Chinese moon goddess.
If you look to the far side of the park, you’ll be staring at the massive Universal Helios Grand Hotel. It just so happens that Helios is the name of the Greek Titan who represented the movement of the sun across the sky, and each day it was believed that Helios would leave his golden palace to climb aboard a chariot pulled by four winged steeds and fly East to West across the sky wearing a bright glowing crown that was the source of the blinding sun light that bathed the land.
Now, while we have Helios’s palace on site, taking the form of Epic Universe’s premier hotel at the back of the park, in the water gardens below we have a second massive statue that will play an important role. This is the Greek god Apollo, standing near his own portal ring, and armed with a massive bow, and pulling back a very special arrow. While not a “sun god” like Helios, Apollo is related to the activities of the sun, often considered as representing the very light of the sun itself. Apollo also had another god-tier attribute, and was also considered to be the god of archers, having used his own bow to protect the Olympian gods from various threats. Apollo was also often seen with a Raven or Crow, which were thought to serve as messengers for the gods.
So what is Apollo doing with that loaded Arrow then? From what I’m told, he is taking careful aim at Luna on the opposite side of the park, and at sunset, Apollo will shoot the power of the light over to Luna to watch over and control for the night. Apparently there are hundreds of special light fixtures set up all across Celestial Park that will take part in this special exchange of power each night that the park is open after dark. I would also suspect that this may also play out as part of the park’s big nighttime spectacular, though Universal has been keeping the details of exactly what they have planned very close to the vest so far.
As for the rest of Celestial Park, the world is home to several large gift shops, with most being located near the Chronos. There are also nearly a dozen or so places to get something to eat or drink, ranging from quick service stands to full blown restaurants such as the Atlantic, the Blue Dragon or the Oak and Star Tavern. The one restaurant I had the time to experience was the aforementioned Oak and Star Tavern (which is also home to The Plastered Owl bar), which features about every kind of meat you might want to enjoy. Ribs, Chicken, Brisket, Pulled Pork, along with all your favorite sides, and a pretty good Mac & Cheese. I’m told that the food I enjoyed here during out tour was the same food that is served here daily to guests and to be frankly honest, this was some of the finest theme park food I have ever experiences. In fact, in private chats with others who have had the chance to preview the park, this is a common thread I’ve heard over and over… no matter where you eat in Epic Universe, the impression of the food being served is that this is sit-down table-service restaurant quality food that is being served across the park in typical theme park ‘fast casual’ style. I know theme park food is often something to just shrug your shoulders at, because you’ve got to eat something, but the food here is honestly fantastic from what I experienced, and those I surveyed said the same thing. This is a really special achievement that I think once the park opens, assuming the quality level is maintained, that I think we’ll hear a lot more about as more and more guests visit.
So what about the rides? Celestial Park is home to two rides right now… the unique looking Constellation Carousel and Stardust Racers. You can’t miss the Constellation Carousel, as it sits within a gigantic domed structure that was placed near the center of Celestial Park, and this is no ordinary Carousel. There are no wheels and gears spinning overhead… in fact the only thing above you is the giant dome itself that has been adorned with artwork to represent the stars of the cosmos itself. The individual themed animals that you ride are all mounted to a spinning platform below you, and will gently rise, fall and rotate as you spin around the giant disc. There are said to be about 9 different music tracks that will play here, and each one is programmed to feature an entirely different movement set as well, so you will likely have an entirely different experience each time you ride.
Stardust Racers… two amazing roller coasters that were designed to twist and soar around each other while racing across the sky. While there are two tracks and they are similar in concept, the exact layouts are different enough that you will really want to experience both sides. There is the Yellow track, which I was informed was named Photon, though I did not spy the name officially on anything, and then there is the Green track which I was told was named Pulsar. Each layout features only one inversion, but that is enough, because for the rest of the ride you are going to feel like you are being launched out of this world.
For my experience I was able to ride in the front row of the Yellow track (Photon) and for the roller coaster fans who crave air-time, this is your sweet spot… your nirvana… you will sit here and never want to leave, because you are hit with extremely negative Gs at the peak or EVERY SINGLE HILL from the start to the finish. On the Green track, I took a mid-seat ride to compare the experience, and while there was still great airtime on the green track at this position (row 7 to be exact), it wasn’t nearly as crazy as the front row was.
So how is the overall experience? INCREDIBLE! I think Stardust Racers will easily make most coaster fans Top 10 list immediately. If you are a fan of Universal’s VelociCoaster, then I think you will really love Stardust Racers, as the experience is just as intense, but while offering a very different and unique ride experience.
I will also say this… I’ve been on many a “racing” coaster in my life, but I think Stardust Racers is really the first to truly offer an experience that felt like a race between the tracks due to the extremely precise and calculated layout and interactions between the two tracks. Both trains are dispatched at the same time and take a slow turn out of the station and then turn back towards each other to drop into a dark tunnel below the station. You have just enough time to look over at the other train, maybe make a quick faces or gestures at your competition before you hit the launch… and boy is it a doozy! You turn your face forward to look ahead and realize that both trains, side-by-side, a hurtling towards what looks like a dead end… the tunnel just ends, while you can see that the track you are on simply turns upward into the unknown.
At this point, you feel the effects of the launch wear off… you are still flying forward into the unknown, but are no longer accelerating. You realize that you are only about 50 to 60% of the way through the tunnel at this point and just when you think that you have probably hit top speed for the hill to come… you are surprised by the addition of a second and far more intense BOOST launch.
You know when you watch a movie like the Fast & Furious and watch one of the drivers trigger a Nitrus boost in their car? They are slammed HARD into the headrest of their car by the explosive like acceleration of the booster system and damn if this second launch inside the tunnel didn’t feel exactly like that kind of epic movie moment. This final boost sends you flying through the final 25% of that tunnel and right up what feels like a beyond vertical wall! I know the track doesn’t go beyond vertical, but the visual you get here from certainly makes it feel that way, especially when you begin to try and level out near the top and the insane negative Gs kick in, feeling like Stardust Racers is trying to launch you to the moon! I’d say you feel like your rear end is floating out of the seat from about 75% of the way up the hill until you are damn near the bottom going back down again on the other side.
No time to breath, because you’ve got another hill just like it looming ahead of you, shooting you up into the sky once again, only to twist and turn at the top, diving back to the ground facing the opposite direction towards the station. Here the two tracks separate as you climb up and over the station and worth your way to the front of the ride for a fun head-to-head orbit spin before climbing up over the building once more, as you prepare to align side-by-side for yet another launch track boost!
This is another incredibly powerful boost here, that no matter which train may be in the lead when you enter, the launch system seems to calculate just how much power to boost each train in order to achieve a sort of perfect harmony for the second half of the ride. First you’ll soar up another damn-near vertical hill to enter into what has been called the Celestial Spin, where each train takes a unique pathway here in order to rotates and invert around the other train before you hit the bottom. After that you race out to the far extreme end of the park, twisting and turning over each other, again and again… and suddenly it no longer feels quite like a race, but more like you are a chosen pair, forever in cosmic orbit around each other, soaring through the sky in a carefully planned series of aerial stunts, not unlike what you might witness trained fighter pilot teams like the Blue Angels perform. You are no longer really watching the track ahead of you because your gaze is ever fixated on the other train as you carefully dance across the sky together, and by the time you hit the brakes, I realized I no longer cared who won, because we all did and I just wanted to get in line to do it all again!
Stardust Racers is just that good… and it is a beauty of a ride to behold. The trains are incredibly detailed, each loaded with a fantastic light show of colored lights that will really stand out after dark as if you were watching a pair of comets soaring across the heavens. A fun detail can be seen if you look at the very back of each train, because each one has been outfitted with a Flux Capacitor… and yes… I do mean the infamous Flux Capacitor that was created by Doc Brown from the Back To The Future film series. While I didn’t see them myself written out, I was told that each of the ride’s trains have been named after a world famous scientist, and alongside the likes of Einstein, apparently one of the trains is named after Doc Brown.
While fitting on today’s high thrill coasters can be an issue with many larger riders, I will say that the trains here are not only quite comfortable, but they are fairly accommodating to larger riders as well. As a bigger guy myself, I was able to get in fairly easy, with the ride ops just giving the restraint a small little push in the station to get the green light. It features a pull down restraint bar similar in concept to the one used on Universal’s VelociCoaster at Islands of Adventure. So if you fit on VelociCoaster, then you should fit on Stardust Racers as well, though there is a set of test seats near the entrance of the queue so you can give yourself a test fit before waiting in line.
(4/10/2025) The Rise of Epic Universe - Part 1
Screamscape was invited by Universal Orlando to partake in a special media preview tour on Saturday of their newest theme park, Universal Epic Universe. Of course I leapt at the chance to get in to see the park early, as the official grand opening won’t be taking place until May 22, 2025. During the visit I also had the chance to take a previous tour of the new Universal Helios Grand Hotel, and stayed at the new Universal Stella Nova Resort. So over the next few days (and several entries) I’m going to break down my impression of what is probably the most exciting new addition to the theme park industry to date, and answer as many questions that you might have as possible.
To start off, let’s get some basic information out of the way for anyone who perhaps is not familiar with the Universal Orlando resort property. With the opening of Epic Universe next month, the Universal Orlando resort will be home to four parks, eleven resort hotels, as well as the CityWalk complex, which holds a vast array of entertainment, dining, and retail shops. The first theme park, Universal Studios Florida opened just 35 years ago in the Summer of 1990 as a stand-alone park experience, accompanied by a Hard Rock Cafe restaurant that was constructed to allow access into the restaurant from the outside world, as well as from theme park guests who wanted to dine through an exclusive park-side entrance.
By 1999, those simple beginnings had already grown to an unheard of level to create the start of the main Universal Orlando complex as we know it today. The previously flat parking lot was transformed into a new complex that would feature two massive parking structures that would feed directly into the CityWalk retail complex, which guests would then traverse through to get to not just the one, but two full scale theme parks with the opening of the new Universal Islands of Adventure park that summer. A unique artificial water canal system was also created to allow water taxis to transport guests from the new 750-room Loews Portofino Bay Hotel that would open that fall, followed by the 650-room Hard Rock Hotel in 2001, and the 1000-room Loews Royal Pacific Resort in 2002.
About a decade later, a new vision for the growth of the Universal Orlando resort arose, which saw the addition of the unique Universal Volcano Bay themed water park in 2017, along with the addition of several more new on-site hotels with resort partner, Loews Hotels. This included Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort in 2014, Loews Sapphire Falls Resort in 2016, an expansion of the Cabana Bay Beach Resort in 2017, Universal’s Aventura Hotel in 2018, and the two Universal Endless Summer Resorts: Surfside in 2019, Dockside in 2020. The later two additions were also the first resorts to break away from the traditional Universal Orlando resort grounds, having been built across the I-4 freeway from the rest of the resort on the site of Orlando’s former Wet ‘n Wild waterpark which was no longer needed with the creation of Volcano Bay.
With the two Endless Summer resorts having broken the traditional boundaries of what was considered to be Universal Orlando, it wasn’t long before work was started to clear ground on a massive new site to the south. This fourth phase of growth to create a new southern campus by 2025 would be anchored by a new theme park (Universe Epic Universe) along with three brand new resort hotels: the Stella Nova and Terra Luna Resorts (each said to offer 750-rooms) and for the first time for an American Universal park, the 500-room Universal Helios Grand Hotel would be built right into the grounds of the Epic Universe theme park itself serving as a massive backdrop for the entire new property. Just a few weeks from now the entirety of this grand vision will then open to the public, with every park and resort property in the Universal Orlando resort linked via a short free bus or water-taxi ride away from the central CityWalk complex.
For anyone wondering about the travel-time between CityWalk and the southern resorts, I’ve got your covered. I hopped on the bus between the Universal Stella Nova Resort and Universal CityWalk one evening to test it out, with the approximate 3.5 mile journey on the bus taking just between 10-13 minutes each way. For those wondering how this compares with travel times down the road at Walt Disney World, know that the park-to-park highway distance between all of Disney’s parks and the bus stop at the Magic Kingdom are further away. The distance to the Magic Kingdom from Epcot is 4.5 miles, 6.4 miles from Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and 7.4 miles from Disney’s Animal Kingdom, so the travel times from one end of Universal Orlando to the other is perfectly acceptable.
All said and done, Universal Epic Universe appears to be the largest of the resort's three major theme parks, featuring five entirely different worlds. Not all of the land has been used of course, as they appear to have left at least four large plots of open space in the design to allow for either future worlds to be added, or to allow for an expansion to an existing world. The five worlds within Epic Universe include the central world of Celestial Park, and guests can then branch off through “portals” to visit the other four worlds:
Isle of Berk (from How to Train Your Dragon)
Dark Universe (featuring the world of the Universal Monsters)
Super Nintendo World (bringing the video game world of Mario and Donkey Kong to life)
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Ministry of Magic (where you’ll enter the Wizarding side of 1920’s Paris as well as take a trip forward in time to visit the modern era’s Ministry of Magic in London)
Now that everyone is all caught up, I’ll be back soon with our first deep dive into the five worlds that make up the landscape of Universal Epic Universe.
(4/8/2025) Universal Orlando has confirmed that they will officially begin ‘Guest Previews’ of the new Universal Epic Universe theme park on April 17th, a little over a month ahead of the official grand opening on May 22nd.
“Select Audiences, including Annual Passholders and Universal Orlando Hotel Guests, Can Now Purchase Tickets to Preview Epic Universe; Additional Audiences will Be Able to Purchase Preview Tickets in the Weeks Ahead” Oh… and Universal Helios Grand Hotel is now accepting reservations for arrivals as early as April 16th!
Visit the official website for more information.
(4/6/2025) So where have I been the past couple of days? If you missed my social media posts, Screamscape was invited to a special media advanced preview of Universal Epic Universe. There was too much seen and done to report it all at just yet, because I’ve got a lot of writing to do, but the groups I was in were also the first guests approved to take pictures, videos and report live content from the park and Grand Helios Hotel during our tours.
While we were not allowed to video while riding on the attractions, we did get to see and do almost everything, including being the first riders to experience Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry attraction! Trust me when I say that it is completely mind-blowing and should definitely exceed everyone’s expectations. In fact, that’s a fairly accurate description of virtually every attraction, show, restaurant and world you will visit in this park.
Dark Universe? You are going to love it, so much detail, so much lore built into every nook and dark crevasse… so dark and beautiful, live a living world of monsters. The thing that pains me the most is that we were not able to see Dark Universe come “alive!” after dark. As for Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment, I feel comfortable saying that I think that was the best themed ride I’ve ever experienced… at least it was until we entered the Battle at the Ministry… so now I’ve got a huge “tie” in my head, because I can’t make up my mind about which I liked better.
So in the meantime, to whet your appetite, please make the jump over to the official ScreamscapeNews Instagram channel (and follow/subscribe) to devour the many photos and video reels that I’ve been able to post so far, but there is so much more I haven't posted yet to come. I also made a more focused photo drop of the Isle of Berk on FB as well, which I’ll embed below.
And for everyone who has questions, please do send them in and I’ll do my best to answer all the questions that I can in a future Q&A update post!
(4/2/2025) An interesting little factoid has popped up regarding that Darkmore Monster Make-Up Experience attraction that might make a few adults pause before going for it. I don’t know if this exists at the other parks where guests can get some make-up applied, but apparently once an adult guest has the make-up applied, they will no longer be served alcoholic beverages of any kind at any of the four Universal Orlando parks, nor while in CityWalk.
In all honesty though, this is the right move here… as the last thing anyone wants is for a drunk guest make-up as a vampire or werewolf to start causing issues while in the park.
We’ve mentioned before how Universal Orlando is moving forward with facial recognition technology throughout the resort. There was also a warning that guests who get the Monster Make-Up treatment will be advised that they may have to “re-validate” their photo in the system to continue to use certain aspects of the experience that may require facial recognition.
(3/31/2025) You may recall when Universal Studios Florida was testing out a Monster Make-Up experience near the exit of the Bourne Stuntactular a while back, and it vanished as suddenly and without warning as it arrived. As predicted then, this was a test ahead of the launch of a similar Dark Universe themed version that will open with the rest of Epic Universe. It will be called the Darkmoor Monster Makeup Experience and the price can range from $45 to $169 for the experience, depending on how far you want to take it. Oh… and this isn’t just for kids, adults are also welcome to get made up like your favorite Universal movie monster.
(3/29/2025) For those interested, it seems Universal Orlando is now selling Express Passes to enhance your visit to the new Epic Universe theme park. The posted cost will vary per-person, depending on the day you visit, and shows a price range from $129.99 to $329.99, in addition to the price of your admission to the park of course.
There are unique limitations to using an Express Pass at Epic Universe however, which is entirely different from how you might use it at the other parks. The main difference is that the use is limited to just once per “participating ride and attraction” during your visit. Currently the list of attractions included is also limited to just: Constellation Carousel, Curse of the Werewolf, Fyre Drill, Hiccup’s Wing Gliders, La Cirque Arcanus, Mario Kart, Monsters Unchained, Stardust Racers, The Untrainable Dragon and Yoshi’s Adventure.
Getting more to the point, you can not currently use Universal Express to skip the line on the Donkey Kong Mine Cart Madess coaster, the Dragon Racer’s Rally dueling flat rides in the Isle of Berk, as well as Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry dark ride in the Wizarding World. While the list of attractions included is always subject to change, lets break down why these three rides are not included.
Mine Cart Madness in Super Nintendo World is going to be a very popular coaster and going to have a very long line no matter what. The fact that the individual mine carts only hold four passengers at a time is going to make this something of a pinch point, and there is little Universal can do to increase the ride’s capacity beyond what it was designed to do. They are always aware of the numbers from how the attraction operates at Universal Studios Japan and omitting it from the Universal Express program is a wise decision in order to keep the one queue moving as fast as possible for now. This will likely be changed eventually, as the Japanese version of the attraction features standard queue, a single rider queue and Universal Express queue, but as you may have noticed elsewhere, single rider queues for coasters that only seat 2-across don’t really get you anywhere fast, and you are often better off staying in the regular queue. And the addition of Universal Express in Japan has created something of a mess there in terms of wait-times so once again, it makes sense to not use it just yet at Epic Universe.
Dragon Racer’s Rally featuring a pair of dueling flat rides, though based on how this same ride system operates at other parks, the loading system can be a bit on the slow side and each pod only holds one rider in the restraint, which has to be checked and adjusted as needed by a team member before the ride can operate. I think this may be more of an unknown factor for Universal as they’ve never operated a ride like this at any of their parks, so they don’t really know just how popular this ride may prove to be. Once they get a better idea of how the queue will flow once the park opens, Universal Express access is likely to be re-evaluated.
Lastly… the “Battle at the Ministry” attraction is said to have not yet opened at all during team member previews. They are apparently allowing them to walk through part of the amazing queue for it, but not the ride itself. This will be a very high capacity attraction when it does open, but rumor has it that the main problem keeping it closed right now is that the crews are unable to test it with more than a handful of cars on it at a time… add one car too many and the ride system crashes. Again… this is not unusual at all, as Universal had the exact same problem with the Escape from Gringotts ride when it first opened at Diagon Alley, and even with Hagrid, and I believe even Spider-man suffered from similar problems back when it first opened in 1999. The process often has them making adjustments to sensors and the ride’s programing and trying to slowly add more vehicles to see what adjustments work for the better and what makes it worse until they eventually get the ride running at full capacity. So with this in mind, when Battle at the Ministry does open, it likely will only be running at something closer to half capacity as they work to break it in, so it makes perfect sense to keep it off the Universal Express list for now. Eventually, I’m fairly sure you’ll eventually see it added (rumor has it that there is an Express queue built) but it may be a year or two down the line. Look at Hagrid at Islands of Adventure as a perfect example, as Hagrid is still not on the Universal Express system yet, though rumors indicate we may finally see it added later this year.
(3/20/2025) A small update over at AllEars.net confirms an interesting new feature about the free ride lockers Universal has installed over at Epic Universe. It’s been no secret that Universal has been moving forward with facial recognition technology at the entry to their existing parks as a lead in to using it for Epic Universe… and Screamscape has previously reported a few times that Universal first laid it all out when they opened Universal Studios Beijing as their first park-wide use of facial recognition on guests for everything from park admission to accessing that park’s Universal Express system.
AllEars has confirmed that the lockers in use for the Stardust Racers roller coaster are also using facial recognition tech. While guests who may not want to use the cameras can still scan their ticket instead, it is thought that the new facial recognition version is a little faster. They also point out that loose objects rules for guests riding Stardust Racers is essentially the same as Incredible Hulk at Islands of Adventure, where all guests are required to pass through a metal detector to ensure that they have stowed away all loose articles before being allowed to advance into the queue.
(3/17/2025) Universal Orlando has released a collection of five promotional images shot within the new Epic Universe theme park that you won’t want to miss. While previously any images we’ve seen were just random construction photos that may have been leaked out, or for the most part, just images shot from the air by helicopters and drones. So these really are the first “boots on the ground” look at how things will look to the guests once inside.
The first is a look at the park’s entry portal, the Chronos Tower. There is so much detail on this iconic structure that we can now see up close, and keep in mind that this is just a static photo. Previous videos shot from afar have already revealed that there is a lot more going on in in terms of motion when the Chronos Tower becomes alive, and after dark, it becomes very magical.
There is a photo from deep within the Dark Universe, showing off the entry into Monsters Unchained and the Frankenstein manor. The detail of the mansion itself is just incredible to see up close at last, and the open gates to the queue appear to have suffered a little damage at some point, like some hulking beast has smashed into them more than once. You’ll also notice that in addition to a regular entrance, there is a queue for Universal Express and Single Riders. To the left, tucked away in the alcove are the test seats for the attraction. Keep in mind that the seats are expected to be very similar in nature to the ones used at Islands of Adventure on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, and will likely come with similar fit-issues for larger riders.
Up next is the Isle of Berk, the land themed around the How To Train Your Dragon. Larger than life statues, Viking ships, colorful decor, roller coaster track and more, all just begging you to come inside and explore this amazing land. And we haven’t even seen a dragon yet… so you better run inside and look around, because they’re going to be everywhere.
Super Nintendo World is next… and colorful doesn’t even begin to describe this video game universe brought to life. The shot chosen here is also interesting, as they chose to feature an area of the land that we really haven’t seen as much of from the version of the land already open in Japan. No sign of Bowser’s Castle, Mario Kart racers or the Donkey Kong Country area with jumping Mine Carts… instead we get a great look at the living breathing Super Nintendo World itself, along with the land’s third colorful attraction, Yoshi’s Adventure. Keep in mind that about every little character and piece of decor on that squared-off mountain structure is going to be alive and moving constantly throughout the day.
Lastly we look inside the latest portal into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, taking us to the Paris flavored edition of the magical universe. No sign of the Ministry of Magic attraction here, instead we get a great street view of the local shops, fantastic Parisian architecture, and the mysterious entry tent to the Le Cirque Arcanus show, which will be far bigger on the inside than it appears on the outside.
(3/14/2025) Universal has launched all new ticket options for advanced sale for the new Epic Universe park, including the long awaited release of 1-day Tickets to Epic Universe both for regular guests as well as special offers for current annual passholders. Right now the cost of an adult ticket starts at $139, but depending on the day you want to visit, those prices can skyrocket as high as $199 per person.
June, July and August are pretty busy, so expect high prices that seem to be in the $174 - $179 range on most days, and your best bet to get a $139 - $149 ticket range looks to be for weekdays in September.
Speaking of Epic Universe, a came across an amazing nighttime drone flyover around the perimeter of the park that shows off just how incredible it all looks after dark. Check it out below and enjoy!
(3/9/2025) Universal has posted a fantastic teaser peek inside the dark Frankenstein mansion at Epic Universe this week (see below) as part of a behind the scenes look at the Universal Creative staff going about their day. In this case, we tag along with Brooke during a day at work within Dark Universe, with a lot of peeks inside the Monsters Unchained attraction.
While we're talking about Dark Universe... would you believe it will be home to one of the park's exclusive new special treats?
If you’ve ever visited Dollywood or Silver Dollar City, then you are already aware of what the fuss about their Cinnamon Bread is all about. Experiencing the warm yummy-gooey taste of Cinnamon Bread at Dollywood during your visit is about as mandatory as getting a mug of Butterbeer to sip on at the Universal parks… it’s just that good.
According to Southern Living, Epic Universe will introduce their very own take on Cinnanmon Bread when the park opens. Deep inside Dark Universe look for De Lacey’s Cottage to find some to-die-for “Warm Hearted Cinnamon Bites”, but topped with a cream cheese icing and cinnamon streusel. I’m not sure what other fun snacks will be offered at the De Lacey’s Cottage, but they do mention a proprietary beer (a spiced brown ale) will be offered here and I’ve seen mention of Pretzel Bites as well.
While each of the portals in Epic Universe are sure to have their own unique treats and beverages to tickle your tastebuds, the article does mention that the Wizarding World here will also feature Butterbeer flavored Crepes!
(2/21/2025) Universal Orlando has launched the next phase of ticket purchase options and packages that will allow you to visit the new Epic Universe theme park.
Available now, Florida Residents can purchase a 3-Day Florida Resident Epic Universe-Inclusive Ticket that will include a one-day pass to visit Epic Universe, and the other two days can be used for either Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure or Volcano Bay, depending on which version you purchase.
Florida Residents are also able to now purchase a vacation package that will include a 4-night hotel stay, a 3-Park, 2-Day Park-to-Park pass and a 1-Day Pass to Epic Universe.
There is also a variation of the vacation package, once again only for Florida Residents, that puts a more Harry Potter spin on the offerings, with 4-nights in the hotel, 2-Park 2-Day Park-to-Park tickets, with the 1-Day Epic Universe ticket, that will also include early admission to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter an hour early, a flight of ice-cream in Florean Fortescue’s, Breakfast in the Leaky Cauldron, Breakfast at Cafe L’air De La Sirene in Universal Epic Universe, and one Shutterbutton’s Photography Studio session in Diagon Alley.
And lastly… for Active Duty and Retired US Military members with an active 2025 Military Freedom Pass can purchase a 1-Park, 1-Day Epic Universe Ticket “as an entitlement add-on to their Pass.”
As for the rest of us… it sounds like you’ll have to wait a little longer before 1-Day passes to Epic Universe are put up for sale.
(2/15/2025) We’ve see far off video footage of a flying dragon animatronic / drone circling over Universal’s new Epic Universe theme park, but now we’ve got a glimpse of another crazy dragon animatronic figure. A local news chopper caught a glimpse of a young Night Light hybrid dragon named Dart (her blue eyes sort of give that away). The Night Lights (offspring of a Night Fury and Light Fury) were introduced in How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.
And yes… this is probably one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen, as Dart appears to be a fully autonomous robot wearing a custom skin to look like Dart, complete with animated facial expressions and the ability to move her tail. Now, chances are that Dart is actually being controlled in part by a human somewhere with a remote control for some of the major body movements and to queue certain posture animations, while having some autonomous programing to control the finer aspects that make her appear to be alive, such as some mouth and eye movements, tail twitches and such.
The one extra thing that caught my eye was how the legs move when she turns around. I think I recognized that robotic gait as featuring the same basic walking movements as the Boston Dynamics Spot (Dog) robot. In fact, about 9 months ago Boston Dynamics posted a video showing off Spot meeting another robot dog (another Spot wearing a fuzzy Dog skin) named Sparkles. The video really showcases how the robotic creation can mimic the more entertainment movement styles of what a human might expect to see from a large animated dog character.
(2/11/2025) Attractions Magazine has posted an extensive aerial look at the current state of the Stardust Racers roller coasters at Universal Epic Universe this week.
(2/9/2025) ClickOrlando has posted a look at some of the brand new magic wands that will be available for purchase within Epic Universe’s portal to the Wizarding World. As previously mentioned, this since will be the Parisian version of the Wizarding World, there will be an entirely new wand vendor with all new offerings, instead of the tried and true wands you’ve come to recognize from the Ollivander’s shops in Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. As you might expect to find from a wand shop in Paris, these wands are quite different from the wands you’ve seen before, offering a lot of style, flair and are far more colorful.
 If you can believe it, we are only about 102 days away from the grand opening of Epic Universe, and if you would like more details about how you can book a trip to experience all that Universal Orlando has to offer this year, please feel free to reach out to Kerry Hart at Joyous Adventures who can assist you with all your needs!
(1/26/2025) It isn’t a very long clip, but you can catch a peek at the Chronos Tower at the entrance of Universal’s Epic Universe park at night below.
While we’re on the subject of Universal’s new Epic Universe, the first of the three new hotels down on the new campus, Universal Stella Nova Resort, is now open to guests. Keep in mind that even though Epic Universe is not open yet, Universal is running free shuttle busses to and from the main Universal Orlando resort complex.
(1/21/2025) Attractions Magazine has posted an awesome collection of aerial photos of the new Donkey Kong coaster at Epic Universe being tested. Check it out!
(12/22/2024) Who wants a sneak peek look INSIDE the the new Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry dark ride attraction, under construction at Universal’s new Epic Universe theme park? A mystery post on Instagram gives us our first peek inside the attraction itself as crews are busy on manlifts all over the place trying to finish the installation.
As previously mentioned on Screamscape, the ride system used here will be an evolved version of same style dark ride concept used for Spider-Man and Transformers, but the rider cabin is semi-enclosed and able to elevate up and down a good bit, allowing for it to be themed as a magical flying elevator traveling within the Ministry of Magic. You can spot some tracks below as the camera turns, along with a peek into a loading station. In the distance in the opposite direction, you can also see a scaled down model of another flying elevator in the corner of the room, where it is sitting on top of a dark black pedestal base, and will likely feature some kind of movement as you pass by.
(12/15/2024) While we eagerly await the opening of Universal’s new Epic Universe theme park, a fantastic video featuring the park’s iconic Stardust Racers racing across the park at night has been captured from the air and posted online. Dare I say that it does indeed look quite magical?
I do… I did… and if this looks fantastic now, just wait until the park opens!
(11/19/2024) Universal Orlando released a whole collection of photos taken inside the new Harry Potter and the Battle of the Ministry attraction queue to People magazine this week. Follow the link to see what’s in store for this amazing themed walk through the Ministry of Magic. They have our first look at the inside of one of the magical Elevator themed vehicles you’ll ride in… and while I know I have previously described the ride system itself as being a sort of evolution from the Adventures of Spider-Man ride system, you would never know it based on how the interior of the vehicle looks more like something akin to Disney’s Tower of Terror seating arrangement.
(11/17/2024) Some great overhead footage of Epic Universe shot a few days ago can now be found below, shot by the infamous Bioreconstruct during one of his flights over the park.
(11/12/2024) A couple of ads teasing the opening of the new Epic Unvierse theme park have been posted online. Check them out below along with an awesome third video of aerial park footage posted by Bioreconstruct showing off Hiccup’s Winged Gliders coaster in action!
(10/30/2024) In an interview with Deadline, Eddie Radmayne who plays Newt Scamander, confirms that as far as he knows, the studio is done with the Fantastic Beast films and his character. HOWEVER… he did let it leak that fans should get a “glimpse” of what Newt has been up to since the films as part of the newest Wizarding World attractions at Universal Epic Universe when it opens next year.
On an even more exciting bit of news, Universal just blew me away this week when they released a new detailed video about the incredible MONSTERS animatronic figures that will be part of the Monsters Unchained anchor attraction within the Dark Universe portal of Epic Universe. For many years now, Universal’s critics have often taken a jab at the theme park’s heavy handed use of attractions that relied almost entirely on screen projections.
Now Universal is pulling back the curtain to show off four of the amazing… no… mind blowing animatronic figures they have built for this crazy new attraction. According to the video, these are just four of the 14 figures they built, with the video showcasing Woflman, Frankenstein’s Monster, Dracula and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. For anyone who may have been worried about exactly what Universal might be planning in the way of “re-creating” these classic Universal Monsters for the current generation, I think you will be very happy, as these are indeed still your favorites, keeping all the features and attributes that made them so iconic for generation.
(10/27/2024) A great new clip of aerial footage flying over and around the new Epic Unvierse theme park has been posted by Attractions Magazine. Check it out below!
(10/26/2024) While there has been some frustration with the launch of purchasing Epic Universal tickets from what I’m being told, there is a silver lining, and that would be the Universal Helios Grand Hotel. While your cost for staying at the Helios Grand is going to fluctuate a lot based on what days you select for your visit, I’ve heard back from several readers now who managed to book stays at Universal’s newest hotel with a cost far below the prices Universal has listed for the other Signature Collection tier hotels, in particular Portofino Bay, Hard Rock and Royal Pacific, and more around the same line as what you would get for a stay at Sapphire Falls. One big reason is that, like Sapphire Falls, a stay at Helios Grand doesn’t come with the free Express Pass perk that makes staying at those other hotels such a premium experience.
Regardless, if you know you want to stay at the Universal Helios Grand Hotel, then don’t delay… the prices may not be as high as you think, but they’ll only go up as it begins to fill up! Of course, if it does, there is always the new Sella Nova and Terra Luna Resorts just down the street.
(10/20/2024) With Epic Universe tickets set to go on sale this week for the first time, but ONLY in a Mutli-Day Pass format, and even then only one of your days can be spent at Epic Universe, what is your plan going to be?
(10/18/2024) Universal Orlando confirmed yesterday that the new Epic Universe theme park would open to all guests starting on Thursday, May 22, 2025, just ahead of the Memorial Day Weekend.
The theme park resort has also confirmed that “Select Multi-Day Tickets and Vacation Packages Inclusive of Universal Epic Universe” will also go on sale on October 22, along with the opening of reservations for the Universal Helios Grand Hotel for stays starting with Check-In dates of May 22, 2025 and later.
Current Universal Orlando passholders were get an opportunity to purchase special “‘Single-Day Tickets’” for Epic Universe starting on October 24th. As for the rest… other ticket options, including Single-Day Tickets for the General Public will not go on sale until a bit later, with no specific date set in stone just yet.
What will be on sale starting Oct. 22 will be Multi-Day tickets and packages that will include 3-Day, 4-Day, and 5-Day tickets, but in each case only 1-day of your multi-day pass will be good for Epic Universe. All other days are only good for visits to Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure.
Enjoy the new teaser for the launch of Universal’s newest theme park below!
(10/15/2024) While they don’t have a source to quote, a new article in the Wall Street Journal about the plans to open Universal Epic Universe mentions that their sources are claiming it will be ready to open by Memorial Day Weekend. Universal Orlando, of course, says that they don’t have a date set just yet.
Memorial Day Weekend, which is typically a generally accepted ‘start of the summer season’ date for many parks, does make sense, but it may also just be a general placeholder or construction deadline Universal has been throwing around internally as they rush to finish the park. Early clues also hinted that they may have been trying to get it open as early as the week of Easter 2025, but Universal has also been known to soft opening their new parks when a limited set of attractions is ready to go to get them broken in while they rush to finish the rest of the park. Many believe they may do just that once again with Epic Universe, perhaps as a way to entice their passholders into buying preview visit tickets to be some of the first to experience the park, as they are also not expected to sell Annual Passes with access to the new park until at 2026.
The WSJ piece also mentions that Universal may be ready to make the big announcement about an opening date as well as put the first tickets up for sale within the next month or so. Until then, it’s a waiting game…
(10/6/2024) Universal Orlando has released some new details about the Epic Universe attractions opening in 2025 on the official park website. This includes the official height requirements for each of the park’s main attractions.
Celestial Park: Stardust Racers (48”), Constellation Carousel (none but under 48’ must be with ‘Supervising Companion, but no hand-held infants)
Wizarding World: Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry (40”)
Super Nintendo World: MarioKart (40”, but under 48” must have a supervising companion), Mine-Cart Madness (36”, but under 48” must have a supervising companion), Yoshi’s Adventure (34”, but under 48” must have a supervising companion).
Isle of Berk: Hiccup’s Wing Gliders (40” but under 48” must have a supervising companion), Dragon Racer’s Rally (48”), Fyre Drill (none but under 48” must have a supervising companion).
Dark Universe: Monsters Unchained (48”), Curse of the Werewolf (40’).
(9/29/2024) Will some new secrets be revealed soon about Universal Epic Universe? Quite possibly, as an entire panel about the new park is now planned to take place at the New York Comic Con on October 19th in one of the panel rooms. The panel is only open to those attending the Comic Con event at the Javits Center, but the timing is right for some major new announcements to be made, and quite possibly, an opening timeline.
(9/10/2024) A quick word of warning… I’m going to talk about something that is JUST A THEORY of mine right now about when we might see Epic Universe open. While this may end be being the most likely game plan, do not make travel plans based on this theory, because the park is still under construction and a lot needs to happen between now and when they are ready to open. A lot can still change, and even go wrong during testing that could affect it all, so again… do not make travel plans yet.
With all that in mind… I get asked a lot about when I think Epic Universe might be ready to open. My more “safe bet” for those looking to start making travel plans now has been to tell people that their best option would be to plan on a Summer 2025 trip. However, based on the latest information I’ve been seeing and hearing, I do think that the park itself will likely be able to open a little sooner than that.
How soon? Right now I’m starting to think that they may be shooting for a grand opening in time for the start of Spring Break 2025, so either Friday, April 11th or Saturday April 12th. AGAIN - - DO NOT MAKE TRAVEL PLANS YET BASED ON THIS THEORY!!
So how have I settled upon this possible date? There are a large number of factors in play, and things can obviously change, but for starters, based on the visible progress of things at the park, it looks phenomenal so far and if Orlando can stay mostly dry and hurricane free this fall, I don’t believe the park would have trouble making this timeline from a construction point of view. Most of the outdoor rides have been installed and seen testing, and those that haven’t will likely start in the next month or two. Given that the hidden indoor rides were the first structures to be installed, those attraction are also rumored to have begun testing as well. Keep in mind that they are hardly ready, as any final edits of ‘media’ (video, music, etc…) is not going to be finished yet, so by testing, I mean that the physical ride systems are moving along the tracks, and undergoing their basic programming and initial movement testing taken care of.
Universal Orlando has now essentially completed their initial series of video releases about the expansion property, which included an initial video about the park’s entry and Celestial Park central area, four dedicated videos created for each of the four themed lands / portals, and a video all about the Stella Nova / Terra Luna hotels, and a final video all about the Helios Grand Hotel. Since then we’ve only seen a construction teaser about the Stardust Racers coaster and some extra teaser content about the new Wizarding World dark ride included with the Back To Hogwarts global promotion from Warner Bros. Now Screamscape has been sent a rumor claiming that we can expect a final Epic Universe video to be released sometime in October that will finally announce the intended opening date for the new theme park. It would also make sense that just such a video would likely give everyone a roughly 6-month heads-up to make travel plans, which would again, lead us to an April 2025 timeline.
Then there is that current vacation package promotion that includes a free $1000 dining card to use to eat while on your vacation. The last date you can use that $1000 dining card is April 10th, 2025, which seems to imply that Epic Universe will not open until at least April 11th at the earliest.
Now assuming the timeline I’m talking about is true, opening a brand new theme park at the start of Spring Break 2025 is a bold move to say the least. On a PR side of things, you are virtually guaranteeing that your park will be packed to the gills and will visually look like a huge success on camera… while at the same time, if things go wrong and rides are breaking down left and right (as new rides often do) then you could end up with a park full of miserable guests on camera instead posting to social media, or even worse, any mainstream media on site to report on the grand opening. The only way to really properly prepare your park for this is to “soft open” the park somehow a couple of months early, allowing your new crew members to be fully trained at their new jobs, and in general, allow for time for everything and everyone to be operational enough to work out the kinks ahead of the grand opening.
Obviously Universal team members will likely be the first to experience Epic Universe this way, but Screamscape has also heard that Universal is also not intending to offer a new Annual Pass that will include admission into Epic Universe until either late 2025 or even 2026. Universal has always been fairly generous and fair to their passholders, so the general assumption right now is that the park may offer their passholders the chance to purchase admission to early “technical previews” for the park ahead of the grand opening, with some limited attractions being offered as part of the experience as they come online. So based on my predicted timeline, these potential passholder previews might take place sometime between mid February and early April. These will likely end just ahead of whatever massive multi-day media preview event Universal Orlando is planning as well to take place just ahead of the grand opening.
Opening a new park is a rough process that isn’t easy… so many parts and pieces that all have to be finished and ready to go all at the same time, and I think Universal is going to take the time to make sure Epic Universe is as polished as possible by the time they are ready to open. Looking back to the past, you may recall that Islands of Adventure underwent a similar progress when it first opened as well. While Islands of Adventure held a grand opening celebration on May 28, 1999, the park quietly soft-opened for preview visits with limited attractions running on March 27, 1999, a full two months ahead of the grand opening. This is why I’m expecting a similar rollout for Epic Universe as well.
Now we just have to wait and see if this prediction theory plays out as I’m imagining it.
(9/3/2024) As part of the Back to Hogwarts day presentation, Universal Orlando revealed some new details about the upcoming new land opening in 2025 at Epic Universe.
The video below includes a number of new pieces of concept art showing off various rooms in the queue experience that you’ll get to see on your way to the loading station, as well as a few bits of footage of the shooting of live action footage for the new attraction as well.
(8/24/2024) Universal has posted a new video showcasing the Helios Grand Hotel built into the new Epic Universe theme park opening in 2025, created with Universal’s fantastic resort partner, Loews Hotels. New details and images released about the Helios Grand Hotel showcases the hotel entry, peeks at the room elements, theming throughout the resort and more. The designers say it features a Mediterranean style theme throughout the hotel, and will include a rooftop bar that features an incredible view into Epic Universe.
There will also be 14 How to Train Your Dragon themed kid suites, a dedicated entrance into the theme park for hotel guests and resort shuttles to take you over to Citywalk and the other two Universal Orlando theme parks.
(8/18/2024) Universal Orlando’s ‘Ride Guys’ are back with a behind the scenes video where they check out the upcoming Stardust Racers racing/dueling roller coasters at the new Epic Universe theme park. This includes a visual preview of the “Celestial Spin” element where the trains invert and rotate around each other, to a preview of the on-board audio soundtrack.
They also discuss a little bit about the night-time look of the coaster, where instead of lighting up the track, they’ve opted to leave it dark and instead focus on lighting on the trains themselves, which are supposed to look like fiery comets soaring across the sky.
(8/14/2024) According to notes given during the Discover Universal Podcast it was confirmed by the creative team that the various water features and lighting in the Celestial Park section of Epic Universe will be programed one way during the daytime, but able to be reprogrammed to perform all new action sequences after dark as part of an ‘epic’ nighttime spectacular they have planned for the new theme park.
The plot behind the night show is said to revolve around the handover of the park from the god Apollo during the daytime to Luna who oversees it all at night. Lights, fountains, music will come to life all around the park’s buildings and landscaping as the park transforms each night for evening operations.
(8/3/2024) Sorry I’m a bit late on this, but we’ve got some fun Epic Unvierse news to share today. For starters, crazy footage was posted online when a ‘Dragon’ was spotted flying in the sky around Epic Universe. Keep in mind that this may just be practice for a limited promotional stunt next year when the park opens, much like how Disney flew a drone shapes like Dragon one time over the Magic Kingdom when New Fantastyland opened, an a X-Wing drone over Galaxy’s Edge when it opened.
But what if it isn’t? Wouldn’t it just be, well… EPIC to occasionally witness dragons flying in the skies over Epic Universe from time to time once the park opens? Talk about some fantastic bit of viral advertising if those dragons are spotted by guests at any of the other near-by theme parks in the area, right?
On to the other huge news this week, on July 31st, Harry Potter’s Birthday, Universal revealed the details behind their final portal. As we previously revealed, this one opens to another section of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, the Ministry of Magic. More than that, it specifically opens to the French section of the Wizarding World which will offer all different (and to scale!) architecture of Wizarding Paris, but also new foods, flavors and new attractions! Eat at Cafe L’air De La Sirene, try Biere Au Beurre (French Butterbeer), or drop into Cosme Acajor to buy a designer French magic wand.
Just as we told you long ago, the main attraction within this land will actually take you via the Floo network back to the British Ministry of Magic where you will arrive just in time to witness the trial of Delores Umbridge as part of the “Harry Potter and the Battle of the Ministry” dark ride. While you may have started in 1920’s wizarding Paris, once you enter the Ministry you’ll enter the first attraction designed to take place within the Wizarding World AFTER Lord Voldemort has been defeated. As I previously revealed in a past post, Umbridge escapes just as you arrive on the scene and chaos ensues in a big way. According to Universal, this attraction is the most ambitious ride they’ve ever created.
In a previous report, I also mentioned that the land once had a second ride (VR Broom riding) and a live show where you would come face to face with an assortment of creatures released from within Newt Scamander’s magical suitcase. At the time we had heard those additional attractions were both cut, but it seems that development of the live show continued after all! Following a similar concept, guests to Wizarding Paris will get to witness Le Cirque Arcanus and come face to face with a number of astounding creatures from the Wizarding World! There will be a bit of an illusion as you enter as well, as it will appear as if the entire show theater space is contained within a simple and small fabric tent set up in the streets of 1920’s wizarding Paris.
Check out the two details videos from Universal below, one going into the details about the land and attractions with the creators at Universal Creative, while the other features a highly detailed fly-though the new land.
(7/6/2024) For those who were planning to drop into Universal’s new EPIC UNIVERSE park as soon as it opens in 2025, your plans may have just become a little more.. complicated.
According to a scoop over at Attractions Magazine, Universal released some ticketing information about the new park to their third-party ticket selling partners which revealed a unique surprise.
When they are allowed to start selling packages to visit the park, Universal informed them that the only way their guests can visit Epic Universe would be to purchase at least a 3-Day Universal Orlando ticket package, and only ONE of those days may be used for entry into the new Epic Universe theme park. It is also worth mentioning that while Universal Orlando multi-day / multi-park passes typically include the option for park hopping (the only way to ride the Hogwarts Express) park hopping will not be allowed as a form of entry into Epic Universe.
So in other words… for at least the immediate time-period when the park first opens, there will be no way to purchase a single day ticket to visit Epic Universe. Keep in mind that right now this has only been released to these third-party sellers, and may not represent what you can purchase from Universal directly next year. I’ve also got a strange hunch that for those who reserve a stay at the brand new Universal Helios Grand Hotel that is actually built into the backside of Epic Universe, that there may be some special admissions options available to them. As for Universal’s Annual Passholders… I’ve got a feeling you may have to wait a little bit before you can purchase a new AP that will also include Epic Universe.
The move is a bold one for sure, but it will go a long way to helping restrict capacity at Epic Universe, virtually ensuring that those who visit should have no problem experiencing everything that the park has to offer in a single day. This also seems to be something of an experimental strategy on Universal’s part as something of an attack on the Walt Disney World’s stranglehold on families with smaller children in the region. Three of the four lands within Epic Universe will have a strong appeal to a large number of children with Super Nintendo World, the Isle of Berk (themed to How to Train Your Dragon) and of course, another Wizarding World of Harry Potter themed land.
It is no secret that a large number of families will visit Orlando and simply just get locked into a Walt Disney World vacation plan and not even bother to leave the compound to visit Universal, SeaWorld, Fun Spot, Legoland, let alone venture further to see Busch Gardens Tampa. When they do leave… they may break out to check out SeaWorld or Universal, but typically for just one day due to their Disney vacation package.
Requiring at least a three day visit to the Universal Orlando Resort parks in order to visit Epic Universe is a very interesting move designed to give those families who only stay at Disney another option. Add in the fact that Universal Orlando’s other theme parks (Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure and Volcano Bay) are already highly attractive options to families with tweens, teens and young adults due to their more thrilling attractions lineup, and this strategic gamble by Universal could be one that could quite literally pull those families out of visiting Walt Disney World at all in 2025.
(7/2/2024) In a very exciting bit of news, it has been confirmed by the man himself that film composer (and former Oingo Boingo frontman) Danny Elfman was tapped to compose music you will hear within the new Dark Universe portal at Universal’s new Epic Universe theme park.
The scope of this work has not been confirmed however, as this could mean he is just making music you’ll hear during a single attraction, like the land’s main Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment ride, or perhaps the Curse of the Werewolf roller coaster… or maybe music you’ll here in the queues, or perhaps even music you’ll hear as you stroll throughout the landscape.
(6/21/2024) As promised, Universal Orlando has announced all the juicy details for Dark Universe and without a doubt, I think this announcement has been the best one of them all. Sure, Celestial Park is beautiful, and we knew all about what to expect from Super Nintendo World from when the Japanese version opened a couple years ago. The Isle of Berk is also fantastic, but is aimed more at the younger guest demographic, but this… the Dark Universe… this is something I’ve been waiting my whole life to see as over a century of Universal Monsters mythos and lore is being brought to life. (If you remember, Screamscape revealed many of the details for this land last year which were right on the money...)
Check out the reveal video, followed by an animated walk-through video that I know you are just going to love. It simply gave me chills by the end!
(6/19/2024) I’ve mentioned it on Screamscape’s social media channels, but Universal Orlando has confirmed that the announcement about the portal to the Dark Universe world at Epic Universe will take place tomorrow, June 20th. As before, Universal Orlando had sent me a small package containing a small Medallion to be placed into the model of the Chronos that serves as the opening of the portal to the world of the classic Universal Monsters.
(6/16/2024) Universal Orlando has posted the date for the next big reveal for the Epic Universe theme park as June 20, 2024. We’ve already had reveals of Celestial Park, Isle of Berk and Super Nintendo World, so will this be for the Paris theme Wizarding World or Dark Universe?
(6/1/2024) Remember that lawsuit filed by the Starfall education software company against Universal over the use of the name “Starfall Racers” on the new racing/dueling roller coasters coming to Epic Universe? While I can’t help but feel that Universal would have likely won if if they took the case to court, it appears that the company has decided it would just be easier to rename the coaster now, before they open the park and have to change any signage or branding.
If you visit the official preview website for the new theme park now the former Starfall Racers entry has now changed the name of the attraction to Stardust Racers, which honestly isn’t that big of a deal.
(5/27/2024) Having a brand new theme park under construction is always a rare thing to witness during your lifetime. There is just something so fascinating in seeing how so many different themed attractions and lands are created out of nothing, only to become filled with their own legends and lore for the generations to come.
With each project, there are always concepts that fail to make the leap from the design sketchbooks into reality. Sometimes they are left behind due to budget limitations and sometimes they just need more time to be developed. Perhaps they fail to move forward because there is a licensing deal that fails to come together while others are just pushed back into “Phase 2” development hell where they are eventually forgotten.
Epic Universe is no different, and as you can imagine for a new park project that actually came together during the COVID pandemic, there are sure to have been many design changes made throughout the development of the park, especially as much of the original design team was let go at the start of the pandemic, only for a mostly new team to be brought together to finish the things about a year later.
Since site clearing was already well under way by 2020, the basic layout and lands for the park remained the same in this case. Epic Universe was always going to feature a central hub land surrounded by portals to lead guests into four different themed lands, with the Helios Grand Hotel standing tall in the background of it all. While guests will enter and explore Epic Universe much like how you think they would, would you believe there were some early ideas that would throw this very concept on its head?
One of the strangest early concepts was essentially inspired by the cruise ship industry, which was the inspiration for the whole “portal” concept that will serve as the entrance into each themed world. This early concept was to essentially treat the various lands as different ports of call that guests would visit while staying on-site at one of the Universal hotels. Rather than have access to the entire theme park, the idea was for guests to purchase packages that would grand them access only to certain lands on each day, creating the need for a multi-day stay just to visit and see everything Epic Universe would have to offer. So the idea was to essentially treat guests like they were being put on a cruise ship that really wasn’t going to physically go anywhere.
The concept should sound familiar to Star Wars fans, as Disney had been working on their Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser resort concept across town around this same time period. Given that the Galactic Starcruiser concept ended up failing in a short period of time, it is probably for the best that Universal dropped this concept. The idea of limiting access to the various lands remained active for a time however, as there was also talk about leaving the central Celestial Park area open to the public to serve as a sort of cosmic CityWalk, and guests would pay for access to the various lands they wanted to visit, and could also allow the public the option to pay for individual rides on the attractions in the central hub, such as the Constellation Carousel or Starfall Racers roller coaster. Don’t sneer at this idea too much, as the way things are being built over at Epic Universe, especially with Helios Grand Hotel built right the mix of things, there is always the chance that some of these ideas could be revisited, especially as a possible perk for on-site resort guests.
With regards to the lands themselves, well… things are always subject to change. While I don’t know everything, from what I’ve seen so far it looks like Super Nintendo World is being manifested exactly the way it was envisioned, which should be no surprise as the creation of the land over at Universal Studios Japan served as the template for it all.
From what I can tell, the Isle of Berk is essentially being built extremely close to the original vision as well. The only huge change here that I can think of is that the Hiccup’s Wing Gliders roller coaster is a little bit shorter than how it was first planned to be. While the ride starts off the high speed action with a short of a launch up the first hill, there is a second more powerful launch planned for the finale section of the ride. What I’m not entirely sure of is how will be done in the final version, as the original design had the train enter a mini cave/canyon area for this, but it would fail to make it over the hill, roll backwards into this themed space, pause for some kind of show element and then launch at full speed out into the finale track segment. How things will play out in the final ride as built remains to be seen.
The Wizarding World land has perhaps undergone some of the most drastic changes over time. The official reveal of the exact contents of this land is still to come, but it is fairly common knowledge at this point that the land will only feature one major attraction, themed as battle within the Ministry of Magic as Dolores Umbridge breaks free during her trial and wreaks havoc. In the original designs, the land was to also feature a very large live show production and a second attraction, loosely described as a VR based ride on a broom. As the time-table for the park itself was pushed back, apparently Universal had already done a bit of development on their VR broomstick ride concept. They also became threated in part by the opening of the Harry Potter store in New York City, which also opened with two VR based attractions of their own, one of which was also themed to going for a ride on a magic broomstick. Feeling a bit irritated and threatened by the smaller attraction trying to steal their thunder, Universal did for a period of time create plans to build the VR broom attraction as a stand-alone expansion to Diagon Alley that would have taken the place of the former Fear Factor show venue the year after Villain-Con. Those plans were canceled for a couple of reasons, as the VR attractions in the New York retail store were poorly received and eventually closed within the first year, which led to a more strong internal review of Universal’s own VR plans, which determined that their own concept may have ended up being much less magical that they had hoped, so the plug was pulled. As for that live action show I mentioned, it would have been themed more around the Fantastic Beasts film lore, essentially using Newt Scamander’s magic suitcase as a plot device where they would encounter a number of the magical beasts contained inside. Beyond this very vague concept, I never really heard much more, but I believe WB’s push to move away from this spinoff franchise sort of lowered the priority to create this attraction.
For now the portal into the Wizarding World land seems entirely focused on the Battle for the Ministry dark ride, but even the design for that ride has changed extensively from how it was originally envisioned. The ride system we are getting for this now is said to have been inspired by the ride system used for the Adventures of Spider-Man and Transformers, which was also repurposed in China for their Jurassic World dark ride as well. From what I’ve been led to understand, the ride system in use at Epic Universe is sort of a next-gen evolution of this concept, where the cars will apparently also offer a bit of vertical motion in addition to everything else they can do. The reason for this likely has more to do with the ride system envisioned in the original concept, which was to take guests on the same style adventure while seated inside a magical floating elevator. The vision for this concept can best be described as taking a pod of riders, but then take a motion base similar to what you would find under a Spider-Man car and mount it to the top of the pod instead, which would then be attached via a small scissor-lift to a ride track mounted to the roof of the building. If you ever rode the original Kongfrontation ride, then you’ve got a good idea of where this was going, as it essentially was a combination of the old Kongfrontation and Spider-Man to increase an inverted version of the ride system that could take guests on a flying journey through the attraction space. The concept even went so far as to even have a prototype mock-up built for management to sit inside and feel what it would be like. Unfortunately when it came time to put up the budget to build this mind-blowing new ride concept, management grew cold feet over both cost concerns. It wasn’t all cost cutting mind you, as they also really wanted to have an attraction that just worked, and were more comfortable building something based on technology they were familiar with that would be less likely to suffer technical issues and downtime.
And finally we come to the land of the Universal Monsters. Perhaps more than any other, this land has undergone a number of changes, all while keeping the basic premise of being themed as an old world village living in the shadow of Frankenstein’s castle. While I believe a few ride concepts were considered at one point, this main E-Ticket attraction has been essentially locked in to using a modernized version of the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride system. In a way this not only makes sense, but takes the development of this ride system full circle, as long before Universal had a deal with WB to create the first Wizarding World attractions, Universal had first envisioned this very same ride system to be put to use within another attraction at Islands of Adventure that would have also been themed like a giant castle. In this case, I’m talking about the nearly built Van Helsing themed dark ride that would have put guests in battle against the whole slew of classic monsters, themed to the 2004 action film starring Hugh Jackman as the famous monster hunter. The film was directed by Stephen Sommers as a follow-up to his blockbuster reboot of The Mummy in 1999 starring Brendan Fraser and everyone expected Van Helsing to be a guaranteed hit… until it wasn’t. When the film bombed at the box office, the plans for the Van Helsing ride were also quickly shelved. Fortunately those plans didn’t spend too long gathering cobwebs, as they were dusted off and redesigned for the first Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride that opened in 2010.
Now in 2025, we will finally get to see how guests would have come face to face with a number of different monsters inside this new attraction which may go by the name of “Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment”. Today’s version of the land has been expanded a bit with the creation of a “Curse of the Werewolf” spinning roller coaster, but that was not part of the original plan. While I don’t know all the details, Screamscape sources mentioned that the other big original attraction for this land that was cut was to include a large-scale stunt show of some kind that was expected to involve water and of course, monsters. We don’t know exactly what themed it might have taken, though there are some who claim it may have been inspired by the Creature from the Black Lagoon film. In my own head I can see that idea working, especially if you ever got to see the old Miami Vice Stunt Show that was put on at the Hollywood park long before the current Waterworld stunt show replaced it. Unfortunately, Universal Orlando has moved away from stunt shows over the years, retiring old attractions such as the Wild Wild Wild West Stunt Show at Universal Studios Florida and the Eighth Voyage of Sindbad stunt show at Islands of Adventure. Meanwhile they’ve built copies of the Hollywood park’s Waterworld stunt show at Universal Studios Japan, Beijing and Singapore that those park’s audiences love. Unfortunately the monster stunt show, in whatever form it might have taken, was cut from the land during the design-team swap caused by the COVID pandemic and never returned. As for the rest of the Monsters land, while were aren’t any rides coming in right now, at one point we did hear that monster themed “Scareactors” might be unleashed throughout the land after dark, turning the entire attraction into a giant Halloween Horror Nights style interactive ‘scare zone’. Very little has been said about this since, but as we are still waiting for Universal to reveal the final details of this land as well, I’m hopefully that this is something that might still be on the table.
(5/19/2024) Some awesome footage of Starfall Racers testing, and actually dueling, was posted over the weekend that you don’t want to miss. Check it out below!
(5/15/2024) A local news chopper has posted some great footage of Epic Universe under construction, with a good look at the park-facing side of the new Helios Grand Hotel, some close-up shots of various buildings and themed structures now in place, the Donkey Kong coaster and the entrance to Bowser’s castle.
(5/11/2024) In what has to be one of the oddest lawsuit claims I’ve read about, it seems that Universal Orlando has found itself as the target of a trademark lawsuit from the Starfall Education Foundation over the use of the name ‘Starfall’ in their new upcoming raceing/dueling Epic Universe roller coaster, Starfall Racers.
So, who exactly is the Starfall Education Foundation and why do they feel threatened? The group is a non-profit company that produces educational programs and feels that Universal’s attraction’s use of the word “Starfall” as part of the roller coaster’s name could cause confusion and damage to their educational brand and reputation.
Now for clarification, I’m no lawyer, but it has always been my understanding that the world of trademarks is a bit of a slippery slope anyway, as I was once told that the act of actively protecting your trademark was just as important as having it in the first place, so with that in mind, the objection to Universal’s use of the word does make some sense. However, as I understand it, “Trademark law prohibits businesses from using marks which are likely to confuse a reasonable consumer.”
I think the last two words there are very important… a “reasonable consumer”, who is someone interested in purchasing your particular product, which should mean that they are aware of the brand, so the goal is to prevent confusion of another company offering a similar product with a brand name that could easily confuse the consumer, or one who offers a product with a nearly identical looking logo meant to confuse the consumer. For example, “Redd’s Wicked Apple Cider” would certainly be able to object to another company selling a beverage with a name like “Red Apple Cider”. Or you may recall the spoof restaurant, McDowell’s in the comedy film, Coming To America, that not only looked like a McDonald’s, but even had their own logo that spoofed the company’s ‘golden arches” M-shaped logo.
So with that in mind, I highly doubt a “reasonable consumer” visiting the Epic Universe theme park would have any confusion at all about the educational software being offered by the Starfall Education Foundation because the products are not in the same “class of goods and services” at all. Then there is the issue of trademark protection, because if you google the name Starfall, there are several video games and apps out there (and a boardgame) that also currently use the Starfall name. With that in mind it doesn’t appear that they attempted to block the use of the name for other software products where it could possibly cause some confusion as well.
Again… I’m not a lawyer, not even pretending to be one, but it does seem odd for a non-profit to attempt to legally tackle a company as big as NBC-Universal, especially in the realm of Trademarks. Obviously a studio as big of NBC-Universal would have a whole company division devoted to filing and maintaining their various Trademarks. My only thought is that this is just the non-profit’s way to showing that they are actively defending their use of their own trademarks, even if they lose or just simply come to a settlement/agreement.
(5/2/2024) Universal Orlando has posted two new videos all about the Super Nintendo World themed portal opening with Universal Epic Universe in 2025. This includes an animated fly-through video showing off the entire land from the entry portal all the way back to Donkey Kong Country, and the second longer video features interviews with the Universal Creative team members working on the project. This includes a more detailed breakdown of the various attractions in the land, aided by video footage of the versions already open at Universal Hollywood and Japan.
(5/1/2024) Be on the lookout for Universal to announce all the details about Super Nintendo World coming to Universal Epic Universe tomorrow (Thursday). Just as before, when they announced all the details about the Isle of Berk, a small package arrived on my doorstep this evening containing a box with another portal token to be inserted in the Chronos.
Stay Tuned!
(3/29/2024) Another token arrived at my door late Wednesday night, with instructions to insert it into the Universal Epic Universe Chronos, unlocking a portal to the Isle of Berk, home to the hit animated series (and soon to be Live Action as well) How To Drain Your Dragon!
A new view video has been released, offering a tour through the portal into the Isle of Berk itself, showcasing the land’s many various new attractions. Honestly, out of all of the worlds to be offered at Universal Epic Universe, the Isle of Berk will have the most attractions to offer. Here guests will enter a world where Vikings live in a world full of Dragons, with attractions that offer a variety of exciting adventures, characters to meet, and an array of incredible foods and beverages to taste. According to Universal, the Isle of Berk will be a living, breathing attraction just to itself, featuring a bustling village with active dragon habitats, sheep attempting to disguise themselves as “Terrible Terror dragons”, rolling hills, vibrate dragon houses, and the occasional eruption of fire.
Guests will enter the Isle of Berk past the two 40-foot tall Viking statues set into the sea, into a land with four attractions, one live action show and where several character and dragon “meet-and-greet experiences” await. While character meets can be fun, especially for the kids, keep in mind that this is Universal Orlando and what a fantastic experience they were able to at Islands of Adventure with the Raptor Encounter. Now add Dragons to that mental image and you’ll see where I’m going with that, as I expect you’ll be able to come face-to-fang with both friendly dragons like Toothless and a few that might have a more grouchy disposition.
Roller coasters are always the most popular attractions and the Isle of Berk will feature Hiccup’s Wing Gliders, a family launched roller coaster experience that will shoot riders up into the sky for a dragon’s eye view of Berk. Guests will fly alongside Hiccup and Toothless and reach speeds of 45mph as you go on a wild adventure tour around the perimeter of Berk, including a drop down through the lagoon itself, showing everyone just what it is like to fly on the back of a dragon.
The Untrainable Dragon - “Inspired by Universal Beijing Resort’s wildly successful “Untrainable” show, this dragon-filled live spectacular takes guests on an unforgettable journey with beloved characters Hiccup, Toothless, Gobber, and Astrid as they work together to solve the mystery of The Untrainable Dragon. This heartwarming story comes to life with captivating musical numbers, breathtaking sets and life-sized dragons soaring overhead.”
Fyre Drill is a splash battle style flume ride. “Mischievous Viking twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut invite teams of Vikings to compete to outscore and out-soak each other on this wet-and-wild boat battle. Guests will board a colorful dragon-headed boat and blast water cannons at flame-like targets to practice putting out fires – a crucial skill to master when living with dragons.”
Dragon Racer’s Rally - “Berk’s new Vikings racers can practice aerobatic maneuvers and high-speed barrel rolls on two Viking-made dragon-riding trainers that reach heights of up to 67 feet in the air. Guests can control how “wild” or “mild” their experience will be as they perform high-flying, gravity-defying, swooping and soaring skills that are necessary to earn the accolades worthy of a true champion dragon racer.”
Viking Training Camp - “Junior Vikings will learn everything they need to know about dragons as they climb, slide and explore their way through this sprawling interactive adventure play camp – featuring a Viking agility course, a Toothless-themed teeter-totter, baby Gronckle dragon climbers and so much more.”
Meet Hiccup and Toothless - “Guests can visit the Haddock Paddock for an incredible meet-and-greet experience with heroic Dragon Rider, Hiccup, and pose for a photo with his friendly Night Fury, Toothless. Plus, throughout the day, guests may also encounter other familiar Vikings and dragons while exploring Berk.”
Speaking of exploring Berk, you’ll also encounter the Mead Hall where you can feast like a Viking, or grab a quick bite from the Spit Fyre Grill (where your meals are flame-seared by a helpful but unseen dragon fry cook), or try Hooligan’s Grog & Gruel for more quick bites. You can also visit shops like Viking Traders, How to Treat Your Dragon, Hiccup’s Work Shop and Toothless’ Treasures.
(3/23/2024) A first look at one of the boats in the flume (with water) for the How to Train Your Dragon land at Epic Universe has been found. Looks like the boats will be armed with some kind of cannons along each side… but no word on if these are water cannons (splash battle style) or some kind of infrared targeting cannon system to shoot at targets laser tag style.
(3/20/2024) Ready to see Starfall Racers in action? Check out the footage a local news chopper caught of Epic Universe’s signature roller coaster making some test runs yesterday.
(3/17/2024) Coaster Studios has posted their own video showing off the construction of Universal’s new Epic Universe theme park. The video gives a ground level look at the site, aided by a large camera lens form the look of things, and captures footage of some rides testing, including what may be the first peek at the How To Train Your Dragon themed family coaster making a test run, as well as a ton of footage of the Curse of the Werewolf making several test runs. Plus a look at the current status of the Stella Nova, Terra Luna and Hellos Grand resorts.
(3/16/2024) Some new aerial footage of Epic Universe now shows off the Yoshi themed ride in Super Nintendo World that are now unwrapped. Thankfully those cars are multi-colored after all, as the previous long distance photos made them appear as if they were all going to be green based on the material they were wrapped in.
(3/15/2024) The local news has posted a video showing off the “Curse of the Werewolf” spinning coaster in the Dark Universe portion of Epic Universe making a test run.
(3/10/2024) I came across a great aerial photo showing off the look of one of the new Starfall Racers roller coaster trains from Mack Rides. This is our first glimpse of the colorful interstellar theme we can expect to see from the differently themed trains on each track. It isn’t mentioned in the post, but based on the many little while polka-dots you can see spread out across the nose-cone and along the side of every single car, I believe those are for an ultra-intense LED light package, not unlike what we saw Universal install onto the Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit coaster that looks so impressive after dark.
While there are still many months to go until the park is ready to open, the picture is clear enough to get a good view of the restraints installed. As of this moment there is no sign of any extra seat-belts added like what we saw Carowinds do to Copperhead Strike, nor any sign of the oversized grip-bar add-on, such as on Manta at SeaWorld San Diego.
For those who have not ridden a Mack Rides launched coaster before however, know that the overhead lapbar design used is somewhat similar in nature to the one used on VelociCoaster, which means it can be a tight fit for some larger riders. Europa Park (owned by Mack Rides) has modified seats in the last car of each train however made to accommodate larger riders without the need for anything additional which is great, but it has also been noticed that when Carowinds and SeaWorld installed their coasters that use these same train styles, those parks opted not to include this option on Copperhead Strike and Manta. So for the sake of everyone, and faster load times, I’m hoping that Universal has chosen to opt in for the seat mods on Starfall Racers.
(2/24/2024) A fantastic bit of unofficial fan animation has been posting giving off a great preview of how the new Donkey Kong Country roller coaster ride is expected to look and feel to the riders. Check it out below!
(2/4/2024) Aerial footage found online shows off the Werewolf themed spinning coaster testing at Universal Epic Universe. The speculation that the train would essentially launch at first and then slow down to enter into a “swing launch” while traveling forward and backwards through a themed structure before launching at full speed forward up and over a hill to complete the course. The cars appear to be white with some black trim in the footage, but look a little different from any Mack Rides spinning coaster cars that I’ve seen before. Given the distance at which we are watching though, it is hard to make out details other than that the train is made up of 5 cars, each of which is expected to hold 4 riders.
(1/31/2024) At last, Universal Orlando has broken their long silence about their newest theme park, Universal Epic Universe. Yesterday a just over 7 minute long video all about the new park was posted, which had a heavy focus on what we can expect from Celestial Park, the central land within Epic Universe. The video briefly touches upon the official names and overall themes of the four other lands within the park, but fails to go into detail about what we can expect within. I suspect over the next 6-9 months Universal will release at least four additional updates about the park, each one will aim a spotlight at an individual land in detail.
The official names for each of the four other lands will be:
How to Train Your Dragon - Isle of Berk - “The World’s first Dragon / Viking Utopia”
Dark Universe - themed to Classic Universal Monsters
Super Nintendo World - Step inside the video game universe, brought to life!
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Ministry of Magic - Experience the 1920’s Paris from Fantastic Beasts and the British Ministry of Magic
Meanwhile, looking back at Celestial Park, in addition to breathtaking landscaping, the land will feature amazing restaurants, unique shopping experiences and three attractions. The video shows off a huge-scale upscaling dining experience structure that just has the name “Atlantic” across the front, while the back of the land will be anchored by the 500-room Universal Helios Grand Hotel, with the Blue Dragon Pan-Asian Restaurant nestled to the left of the hotel.
The list of attractions includes:
Constellation Carousel - A new take on the concept of a classic Carousel ride where the celestial beasts you ride are only attached to rotating platforms on the floor.
Astronomica - A large dancing water play area
Starfall Racers - A Racing / Dueling pair of launched roller coasters where you become a shooting star.
Check out the videos below to get your first look inside Universal Epic Universe and Celestial Park yourself, along with a peek at an incredible gift bestowed upon Screamscape to celebrate this historic milestone.
(1/18/2024) Some great new aerial images of the Donkey Kong coaster at Epic Unvierse have been posted by Bioreconstruct, along with a couple of pics of the Yoshi themed omni-mover ride. I’ll include a few below, but follow their regular postings online to see even more.
(1/16/2024) For those still trying to wrap their head around exactly what the “Boom Coaster” concept designed for the Donkey Kong coaster is, I came across a tweet with a short animation that shows it off perfectly.
(1/1/2024) It’s hard to say for certain, but there may have been one significant change made to an attraction coming to Super Nintendo World in Epic Universe that will make it stand apart from its Japanese counterpart. Based on the latest aerial construction photos of the land posted in an article by Attractions Magazine, we can see that the Yoshi shaped ride vehicles have now been added to the track of the attraction. While they are all still covered up in some kind of semi-transparent protective wrapping, all the Yoshi’s visible in the images appear to be green.
While Mario’s pal Yoshi in the games is also green, the reason this will stand out from the Japanese version of the attraction that opened first is that the Yoshis in Japan come in in many different colors: red, blue, yellow, orange, pink, purple and green. In fact, I think there are even a few cars painted like white eggs with green spots that I believe are wheelchair accessible in Japan as well. (I’ve included some video footage of the Japanese version below for reference)
I guess we’ll know the car colors for sure once they are ready to unwrap the vehicles later this year.
(12/25/2023) A great collection of aerial images of Universal’s new Epic Universe theme park under construction can be found collected together at ThemeparX. This includes a lot of closer-view images of the How to Train Your Dragon themed land, which will feature a few flat rides, a water ride and an impressive family coaster with lifts and launches.
(11/9/2023) According to Theme Park Insider, a website for the new Stella Nova and Terra Luna Resorts (from Loews Hotels) went live briefly by accident, before being taken down once again. But… not before some details and images were grabbed and spread across the internet. According to the post the website listed the opening of the Stella Nova first on January 21st, 2025 (which would be ahead of the likely opening date of the Epic Universe theme park) but it is also very likely that any dates right now would simply be placeholders until actual dates are determined. A number of promotional images showing off the look of the two new Universal Resorts, both inside and outside, were also posted.
Based on the images, the overall look of the lobby areas almost seems to be a hybrid concept of Universal’s Endless Summer and Aventura resorts. I haven’t stayed at the Endless Summer yet, but the artwork showing off a room layout also reminds me a bit of the Aventura rooms, just with more color to them, making it seem more inviting and less sterile than Aventura’s Apple Store inspired mostly-white everything look.
(11/6/2023) An incredible aerial photo has been posted to Twitter showing off the incredibly well themed entrance ‘portal’ to the future Universal Monsters land at the new Epic Universe theme park. Each of the four main ‘worlds’ at Epic Universe will feature a portal entrance for guests to travel though. We know the Super Nintendo World portal will be themed as a giant green video-game style “Warp Pipe”, but I don’t think we know for sure exactly how the portals into the Wizarding World and How To Train Your Dragon worlds will appear.
(10/15/2023) A fun new look at the construction taking place at Universal’s Epic Universe theme park has been posted by Midway Mayhem. This includes a view of the park construction from ground level as well as a look at images shot from the sky by drone-cam. This includes a look inside Super Nintendo World, the work taking place in the central “Celestial Gardens” area, as well as various views from all angles of the rides and attractions being set into place.
With the grand opening not set to take place until 2025, you can imagine that much of the park is still quite a mess in terms of construction, but boy is there activity all over the place, with rides, attractions and themed structures rising everywhere you look. One area of interest is that Universal appears to have completed the green landscaping all around the back half of the twin-tracked Starfall Racers coasters, making this the first section of the park that appears to be nearby complete. Now I wonder when we might begin to see this coaster start testing.
(10/13/2023) In an interesting move, it seems Orange County just approved a new ‘special taxing district” to be formed for the property containing Universal’s new Epic Universe theme park and resort area. They’re calling it the “Single Creek Transit and Utility Community Development District”.
The special tax district will be involved in the planning of the Sunshine Corridor railway from the Airport to the Convention Center as well as handling the maintenance duties for the new station. It will also be responsible for upgrading the county’s water reclamation facility and more.
If the concept of a special tax district in Florida sounds familiar, then you’ve probably been seeing the headlines over the past year or so where Florida’s Governor DeSantis has been engaged in a war with Walt Disney World that saw the state take away control of Disney’s own special tax district away from the Mouse.
(9/28/2023) A great collection of images showing off the state of Universal’s new Epic Universe theme park can be found collected together at ThemeparX this week. There is an aerial drone video, aerial photographs, and even more important, photos taken on the ground very close to the Starfall Racers roller coaster attraction, so check it out!
(9/24/2023) Universal has filed a number of new names for various shops, restaurants and areas coming to their new Epic Universe theme park in 2025.
Clearly intended for the How To Train Your Dragon themed land we now have trademarks for “How To Treat Your Dragon” as a food & snack stand, “Toothless Treasures” as a retail shop and “Hooligan’s Grog & Gruel” as a restaurant. For those not familiar with the series, Toothless is the main dragon character in the series and Hooligan refers to the viking tribe the main human characters are part of who live on the Isle of Berk.
Over in the Universal Monsters land, we are once again seen the name “Darkmoor” filed, backing up our previous rumored posting that the entire area will be themed as the Village of Darkmoor. We also have a confirmation trademark filing of our previous rumor from 2022 that the main E-Ticket dark ride in the land will indeed be called “Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment”. Other names trademarked within the past month include “Monstertreffen” seemingly for use for some kind of Music/DJ party show, Pretorious’ Scientific Oddities (a gift shop themed to the Septimus Pretorius character from Universal’s Bride of Frankenstein film, which would be a perfect name for the exit shop to the Monsters Unchained ride) along with “De Lacey’s” filed for an intended restaurant. Mentions of the the De Lacey family can be found in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as a family that the Monster silently observes and learns about what it means to be human as well as how to understand and read English.
Finally we have a few new names for locations in the park’s central “Celestial Gardens” themed hub land. New trademarks have been filled for the “Meteor Astropub” (restaurant), “Northstar Wintry Wonders” (retail shop), and the “Lens Flare” (retail shop and possibly where guest photos and prints can be purchased).
(9/16/2023) Screamscape reported WAY BACK before the COVID pandemic that Universal’s Epic Universe theme park would use a lot of facial recognition software and mobile-app technology to control guest access to the lands and various attractions. At the time this technology was being created for day-one implementation for the opening for Universal Studios Beijing, which would allow a safe way to work out any bugs or complications of the system away from prying eyes before the North American launch at Epic Universe in 2025.
According to local news reports, Universal confirmed at an investor conference this past week that Facial Recognition technology will be used at the new theme park for admission and access to special queue-cutting systems like Universal Express. This technology will eventually roll out to the rest of the Universal Orlando resort attractions as well. And speaking of rolling out across Universal Orlando, the conference also re-confirmed the use of an all electric bus transportation system with a dedicated lane to move guests between Epic Universe part of the resort (which will open with an additional 2000 guest roomrs) and the existing Universal Orlando resort. A ride on the free bus system between the two points is expected to take just 12 minutes.
(8/6/2023) A couple of fun new aerial images showing off Universal’s Epic Universe theme park under construction have been posted to Twitter this week. The images below show off the park’s How To Train Your Dragon land as well as the dueling coasters in the background, rumored to be named Starfall Racers. The next image shows that the themed ride structures for the pair of dueling Gerstlauer Sky Fly attractions are now in place as well.
The later images gives us a better look at the opposite side of the park in the background along with the Helios hotel, with the central hub in the foreground. Beyond that is a look at Super Nintendo World and the new Wizarding World land.
(7/21/2023) While browsing through the US Trademark database I came across a number of new filings from Universal that would appear to likely be for the new Epic Universe theme park. While I didn’t notice anything that popped up as a new ride name (the last was Curse of the Werewolf earlier this year) I did find a few related to shops and other retail areas in the Village of Darkmoor… aka: the Dark Universe / Universal Monsters land.
“The Manor Storehouse” (retail), “The Burning Blade Tavern” (food), “Darkmoor Tattoo” (facepaint, temporary tattoos, etc). Other names uncovered include: “Various Emporia”,
“Moonship Chocolates & Celestial Sweets”, “Celestiki”, “Toothless’ Treasures”, “How to Treat Your Dragon”, “Frosty Moon”, “Oddities & Monstrosities”, and “The Oak & Star Tavern”.
(5/29/2023) ThemeparX has a collection of recent aerial photos of Universal’s new Epic Universe park that are worth checking out this week. While there is construction everywhere you look, the Super Nintendo World area is usually the most eye-catching due to the size of the land, the massive walls that will surround it, and it does appear to be the furthest along. The other large buildings already in place would be for the Wizarding World and Universal Monsters dark rides. Of course you can also see coaster track scattered all over the park for the Starfall Racers dueling coaster, the How to Train Your Dragon coaster and for the spinning Curse of the Werewolf coaster in the Monsters area.
(4/23/2023) A number of great new aerial images of the Donkey Kong coaster under construction at Universal’s Epic Universe park can be found over at Attractions this week as early theming work is also starting to go into place.
(3/29/23) A number of new Trademarks have been filed in recent weeks that are likely related to Universal’s new Epic Universe theme park. Those that seem related to the How To Train Your Dragon land have been filed by DreamWorks animation, and include “Dragon Racer’s Rally”, “The Untrainable Dragon”, “How To Train Your Dragon - Isle of Berk” and “Hiccup’s WingGliders and Fyre Drill”.
Meanwhile Universal itself has filed new trademarks for “Dark Universe” once again, which may be the name of the Universal Monsters land, “Curse of the Werewolf”, which we said was the rumored name for the new Spinning Coaster, “Constellation Carousel” likely under the park’s central dome structure, “The Oak & Star Tavern” and “Starfall Racers” which is more than likely the new official name for the racing/dueling pair of coasters that start off in the center of the park.
(3/5/2023) Some new cool aerial progress photos of Universal’s Epic Universe have been posted to Twitter by Bioreconstruct this week. The first shows off a general view of the entire park, with Super Nintendo World at the bottom. The big white building would be the location for Mario Kart while the yellowish L-shaped structure to the left of it would be the Donkey Kong coaster.
Next up are several great images showing off the park’s epic racing/dueling coaster from Mack Rides that is now starting to go up very quickly. In some of the images you can also see the white and grey track sections for the How To Train Your Dragon coaster from Intamin being set up nearby.
Below that is a quick look at the large buildings going up for the new Wizarding World land, home to the Battle for the Ministry of Magic ride.
Then they’ve posted some pictures of the How To Train Your Dragon land and attraction spaces, more Donkey Kong, progress on the spinning coaster in the Universal Monsters land and more. They’ve made an interesting note about the spinning coaster, as the sharp hills on either side of the “barn” in the middle of the ride layout may be used for an unusual forwards/backwards “swing launch” element, not unlike how Ice Breaker at SeaWorld launches.
(3/1/2023) A new video of aerial footage showing off the latest construction progress on Universal’s Epic Universe theme park can be see below, posted by Attractions Magazine.
(2/18/2023) Screamscape has learned that Universal Orlando has been sending out an online survey that asks a lot of questions about how people feel about the heavily-disliked reservation system that has been in effect at Walt Disney World since 2020. The speculation based on gathering public opinion on the topic is to find out what people hate most about Disney’s reservation system just in case Universal Orlando is perhaps planning on putting their own form of a reservation system into effect at some point in the future.
Now, I don’t believe this will come into play anytime in the next year or so for the existing Universal Orlando theme parks (USF, IOA and Volcano Bay) but I think they may be thinking more ahead about how to handle the crowds at the new Epic Universe theme park when it opens in 2025. Opening a new park is always a challenge as you have high guest interest and intent to visit, mixed with a brand new park that may not be fully built out yet, and offer only a limited number of attractions at first. Certainly one way to improve the guest experience for those who enter, and make sure they get to see and do everything they want to do, would be to limit your attendance levels at first via a potential reservation system.
A reservation system would certainly be easier to enforce at Epic Universe as the new theme park will not be physically attached to the main Universal Orlando resort property where guests are encouraged to buy multi-day / multi-park tickets and travel directly between the main two parks on the Hogwarts Express train.
(1/27/2023) According to GottaGoOrlando, a Marriott branded “W Hotel” is now planned to be built right next door to Universal’s new Epic Universe theme park, at the crossroads of Destination Pkwy and Universal Blvd. They also claim that the 400-room hotel will also include an interesting feature for an Orlando hotel… a 2,000 seat live music/performance venue along with an accompanying 6-story parking structure.
(1/9/2023) A great aerial video showcasing a flight over Universal’s Epic Universe theme park can be found below. The footage is a little shaky but it does give you more of a sense of where everything is located in relation to each other.
(12/10/2022) A beautifully animated version of what we can expect to see from the racing/dueling Celestial Gardens coaster has been posted to YouTube by Amusement Insider. According to their post, they claim the final name for the coaster may be “Starfall Racers”, but so far Universal hasn’t verified that with any kind of official trademark filing just yet. Keep in mind that this is a fan creation and not an official preview from Universal Orlando, but that said, this does look pretty damn good based on my own private knowledge of the coaster.
As shown the pair of coasters will depart the station, enter a tight u-turn and drop down into a dark side-by-side launch tunnel under the loading station and pause briefly for what is likely to be a lighting and sound effects enhanced launch sequence theme.
Based on Screamscape’s own knowledge of the coaster layout, what you see here in this new animation does seem to be fairly close to what will be built. Without going into too much detail, based on previous artwork I’ve seen, I’d say you could expect the hills to be either a bit taller or have steeping climbs and drops, with some more snappy banking and / G-force filled moments here and there, but otherwise the layout appears fairly sound in principal. I’d just expect the actual version to be a little more forceful, as the animation appears a bit too “graceful” and gentle in the side-by-side flight pattern footage.
As for that layout, after the first launch, riders will shoot up a nice airtime hill, dive to the ground and run side-by-side into an element where they will rise again and bank away from each other to turn around for a bit of racing/dueling fun back towards the station, and then separate again to pass by the station on opposite sides to set up for that head-to-head turn element that will be right in front of the station in view of guests from the main pathway in front of the ride.
The tracks will realign to run side-by-side once again to roll into a booster launch track located just outside the station structure, for a long run out to the far back end of the coaster that will feature some great interwoven track elements, including a helix turn-around to set up the final run back towards the station and brake-run.
In close, it is worth noting that both tracks are unique so you’ll want to ride both sides during your visit to the park. Also, you may be surprised to find out that despite the long length of these coasters, there will only be a single inversion element on each side. So from a design stand-point, these coasters will be very different from the more inversion heavy designs we’ve seen Universal purchase previously for rides like Hulk, Dueling Dragons or VelociCoaster.
(11/5/22) Screamscape has heard some interesting scuttlebut about the Curse of the Werewolf spinning coaster project coming to the Monsters land. While this was said to be a launched spinning coaster from Mack Rides, the early assumption was that would be part of Mack’s “Xtreme Spinning Coaster” line, which has some impressive looking beefy trains that would be easy to apply some very cool theming to, as we’ve seen already done with Time Traveler at Silver Dollar City and Ride to Happiness at Plopsaland De Panne.
Instead, we are hearing there is a chance that Universal might have opted to use an entirely different style train concept from Mack. Mack has a couple of spinning coaster styles under their belt and the concern is that Universal could have opted to use a system similar to the trains used on Cobra’s Curse at Busch Gardens Tampa, which I believe use a restraint system similar to Mack’s wild mouse cars which is a bit cramped for most adult riders and anyone with long legs. Personally, if they opt not to use the new style trains, I would hope that they opt to use Mack’s more comfortable style spinning coaster trains, which Universal actually has experience with, having used them on Space Fantasy at Universal Studios Japan. More on this as we find out.
(11/1/22) While things are always subject to change up until the last second, Screamscape sources have revealed to us the current attraction names from Epic Universe’s Monsters area. For starters, the European themed village itself will be named “Village of Darkmoor”. As for the rides, look for the big E-ticket dark ride to be called “Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment” and the new spinning coaster is expected to be named “The Curse of the Werewolf”.
(10/8/22) Today Screamscape is back with another special reveal about one of the major attractions under construction at Universal’s Epic Universe. Today we’re going to dive DEEP into Universal Orlando’s 3rd “Wizarding World of Harry Potter” themed land, and the key anchor attraction, which is tentatively named, “The Battle for the Ministry of Magic”. I’d expect some small tweaking of the name to take place before things are officially announced, but this title is pretty clear to the story being told within her.
But before we get to that, I’m going to talk about the land itself briefly, which is sure to cause more than a little confusion when it comes to the story being told within the attraction. As previously rumored, the land itself is supposed to be themed as if you are in the French version of the Wizarding World. Guests will enter the land and the surrounding streets and shops, which I believe is called “Place Cachée”, which roughly translates as “Hidden Place”. Fans of the Wizarding World films will have seen Place Cachée for a brief time in the second Fantastic Beasts film, and is essentially a more fancy and French version of Diagon Alley.
While a secondary attraction was once intended for this land (remember that VR Broomstick ride?) it has long since been canceled. Apparently not for budget reasons, but mainly it sounds like when the option came to move it to a new location in the main Studios park and they started to push ahead with building it sooner than later, they realized that it just wasn’t really going to be as good of an attraction as they thought, so they scrapped it. The land where this attraction was going to be placed however will still remain available to add an additional attraction onto the land in the future when the time is right. Otherwise, I think the only other attraction in the land will be some kind of show theater.
So anyway, guests will visit the French Wizarding World for the first time, so you can see how this can open up a lot of ways to sell all new merchandise and food options not already sold in the first two Wizarding World lands over at the main resort parks. Interactive Wands will also be in play here, and apparently the entire interactive wand play as seen throughout all three parks is said to be planned for a major upgrade where all new wands capable of more interactive elements will then be sold. We’ll discuss that more at another time… but just expect to see the wands able to do a lot more here in this newest land.
The entrance to the main attraction will be an interesting feature for this land, as guests will enter into what is essentially a giant public Floo Network station. So you’ll enter into a giant room full of fireplaces that will transport you BACK to the British Ministry of Magic. Yes… you read that last part right… while the entire land is themed as if you are in Parisian Wizarding World, the main attraction for the entire land take place in in the UK, and requires them to come up with an in-storyline method of transportation to get all the guests back to the British Wizarding World, and back again by the end of the experience.
You may find yourself asking… Why did they bother themeing the land to Paris at all then? Or why not come up with a new story involving the French Wizarding World? Both are good questions… and neither have a good answer. Apparently Universal Creative is just hoping that no one will really ask those kind of questions and just go along with the experience. OK then… and oh… don’t even try to bring up the time jump, as the Fantastic Beasts era (early 20th century) theming of Place Cachée will then give way, via Floo teleport, to a future timeline in the regular Harry Potter film series that takes place in the world following the events of the Deathly Hallows book/films but before the events that take place in The Cursed Child play.
All this aside, everyone is trying to get to the London Ministry of Magic to catch the end of the trial of Dolores Umbridge who is about to the sentenced to serve a life sentence in Azkaban prison for her crimes. To do this, guests will enter this magical public transportation station to get to the Ministry, which will actually be done through a very cool room stuffed with special effects.
Guests will then exit the Floo into the giant hallway of Floos as seen in the Ministry of Magic in the film series. Through design and some effects, this area will be a huge reveal and “Wow” moments for the guests as they move from here into the queue for the ride. Guests will move towards the center of the Ministry rotunda, which will include the huge statue at the center. The buildout of this massive round room has already been spotted in some of the aerial construction photos of the park. From here guests will travel down the various hallways within the Ministry, past various office doors and different Ministry departments, which includes the office of the Aurors. Aurors are essentially the highly trained enforcement arm of the Wizarding World. As I said previously, this all takes place after the Battle of Hogwarts (as seen in Deathly Hollows Pt 2) and before the events of The Cursed Child. In a quick little spoiler here, both Harry and Ron eventually become Aurors, which will be important later.
Working through the Ministry guests will eventually get to the magical elevator bays where they will board the ride vehicle. As I mentioned in the previous article, the originally vision for the attraction was to use sort of Elevator platform attached to an overhead track, not unlike the original Kong attraction at Universal Studios Florida when it first opened in 1990. Instead this idea was revised to use a next-gen Spider-Man style ride car system that will add a significant bit of “heave” movement to the platform. In the vocabulary of motion-base platform rides, “heave” would be described as vertical up and down motion, so essentially this ride platform will move like Spiderman through the dark ride, while being able to also provide lift and dropping sensations during the ride experience, to give it a true elevator motion style feel.
As guests come up into the loading station for the actual ride they will see it is laid out as a dual-side station just like Gringott’s or Revenge of the Mummy, which would be a first for Universal when building a Spider-Man / Transformers style dark ride system. Guests will board and be transported to the courtroom to see the trial of Umbridge. From here, in true Universal ride fashion, things go horribly wrong rather quickly. (Warning: Spoilers Ahead!)
Death Eaters arrive on the scene to free Umbridge, and the storyline will see the arrival of your three favorite Potter characters (Harry, Ron and Hermione) to battle the evil and stop their evil plans. It seems breaking Umbridge out of the Ministry isn’t enough, she is trying to get into a storage area for powerful magical artifacts to get her hands of a time travel device. If I understand things correctly, Umbridge wants to open a portal back in time to when Voldemort was all powerful and bring that version of Voldemort to the present in order to take over the Wizarding World.
Guests will ride along and enter various rooms in the Ministry and pass through the chaotic magical battlefield as shown through both projection and real-world animatronic effects. When I say Animatronics… apparently Universal is putting some new animatronic figures to use here that go by the codename Megabot. From what I’m told these are the most advanced animatronics ever put to use by Universal Creative ever and not only feature fluid human-like motion, but fully projection mapped animated faces.
While I’m not 100% up on all my Potter universe and magical creatures, you’ll not only encounter some kind of fire breathing chicken creature, but also a frightening encounter with Newt’s Erumpent. While trying to get away Umbridge apparently frees the Erumpent, which is sort of a massive magical creature with a rhinoceros style horn coming from the top of its head. From what I’m told, Universal is going to borrow the effect they created for the Jurassic World dark ride in China here, as the guests will come face to face and then look like they are trying to run away from the charging Erumpent.
It all comes to a head when Delores thinks she has the Time Turner she was seeking out in hand, only to realize that Hermione has done something to it. I’m not sure if she created a fake one, or put a curse on a real one, but in the end Delores Umbridge will see her plan fall to pieces and litterally slip through her fingers, and find her obnoxious pink garb transformed back into prison black & white stripes as she is apprehended once again. From here everyone is taken back to the court room for the final sentencing by Shacklebolt and as the finale scene for the ride.
I’m told that the actress who plays Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) has signed off to film footage for the ride. I know what you are thinking… and yes Universal has reached out to the actors who play Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) to see if they can lure them back to reprise their characters once again for the new ride. This can be done via full performance work, voice work, or give permission for some alternative GCI version of their likeness to be used.
Storywise, this is likely going to be one of the best attractions in the park, and a great example of having a Wizarding World attraction officially expand the universe through a new storyline that has been approved by Warner Bros and everyone involved to be considered as official cannon for the Wizarding World universe. This will include the use of all official characters from the films, and the introduction of some new characters and creatures we may not have seen before. One new character that will be introduced here via an Animatronic is the first female house elf character to be introduced, who I believe will be an assistant to Umbridge. This character may possibly be first shown in the queue as guests pass by Umbridge’s old and very pink office, full of those crazy animated cat plates on the walls.
Once the ride is over, guests will exit through a gift shop area and through another pass through the Floo network to get everyone back to early 20th century Paris once again. I’ve drew up a quick layout drawing of the actual attraction space, where the ride system itself seems to be entirely contained to the upper level of the attraction building. The queue will be contained in the shorter single story building in front of the main attraction building, as well as throughout sections of the first level under the attraction itself, not unlike how the original Forbidden Journey attraction is done.
While I’ve already described the basic overall story to be told during the ride experience, there is nothing in the layout that will really give away which scene is which, but there are a couple of stage areas you can see along with what look like areas where rear projection screens will be placed throughout the ride experience and other areas that appear as if they could use more practical real-world effects. There is also an area where the ride vehicles can be swapped in and out of a maintenance area just after leaving the station, with the maintenance area being in the upper front left section of the building. You can see this shown in a great aerial picture of the site posted by Bioreconstruct on Twitter below.
(9/10/22) Every so often I’ll search through the government's trademark database for new listings related to the industry and this week I discovered that Universal filed for two new trademark names for future Resort projects on Sept. 1st. We know that in addition to the already discovered Grand Helios Resort at the back of the park, Universal’s plans had marked off the locations for two additional resort projects to be located across the street from each other just to the south of the park. While these could be two entirely “separate” resort concepts, my feeling is that we could be seeing a pair of related resorts rise here, in mind the same fashion that Universal’s Endless Summer Resort is made up of two separate resorts, the Surfside Resort and the Dockside Resort.
The new names just trademarked would definitely work either as stand-alone resorts, but with perhaps a related overall theme, as they will be called “Universal’s Terra Luna Resort” and “Universal’s Stella Nova Resort”. These roughty translate from Latin as Universal’s “Earth Moon Resort” and the “New Star Resort” which definitely fits in with the “cosmic” theme they seem to be going with for the Epic Universe expansion property. Another fine example would be the rumored “Celestial Gardens” area for the center of the park that will include a large restaurant, an enclosed carousel under a dome structure and the pair of racing/dueling launched coasters.
Then there is also the “Helios Grand Hotel” project, where Helios was the name of the Greek Titan who represented the movement of the Sun across the sky. Each day Helios was believed to leave his golden palace to climb aboard a chariot pulled by four winged steeds and fly East to West across the entire sky wearing a bright glowing crown that created the blinding light of the sun in an aura around his head.
(8/24/22) Today Screamscape is going to take you into the colorful jungles of Donkey Kong Country for an in-depth look at what you can expect from the Donkey Kong mine kart coaster. For starters, if you missed any of our earlier reports, this has probably been one of the worst kept secrets about Super Nintendo World as Universal Creative filed patents for something they called the “Boom Coaster” ride system for this way back when it was first envisioned for Universal Studios Japan. In fact, the ride is already well under construction in Japan with an intended 2024 opening there, about a year ahead of the clone under construction in Epic Universe for 2025.
The Boom Coaster concept is essentially a small single-car roller coaster system where the vehicle (in this case themed as a mine cart) will essentially hover just over fake mine cart tracks. The real roller coaster track that makes this all work is hidden to the side and below the fake tracks (or scenery) and actually looks pretty like a regular roller coaster track, but installed at a 90º angle. The purpose of this is to hide the real track from easy viewing and instead fill the rider’s view with enough scenery and fake track that it will allow for the mine cart vehicle to appear as if it can perform some pretty nifty looking stunts. Riders will think the vehicle will jump over gaps in the track, be able to tilt and ride on 2-wheels (and 1 fake rail), dive out of the way in unpredictable fashion away from the faux track to avoid collisions and much more. If you check out the images I’ve attached here, you’ll find a series of crude sketches… hand drawn by myself, as a way to try and show off just what this ride system is capable of, or trying to show off what a few of the visual gags that lie ahead could look like. Don’t laugh too much, like I said, crude drawings.
Pretty much the whole of Donkey Kong Country is being built all around this coaster system, with the exception of an airplane themed food stand guests will first notice to the side upon entering the jungle landscape, with a view of a massive temple ahead of them. The temple will be decorated with assorted art of monkey and gorilla symbols, a waterfall falling from near the top, along with the occasional bits and pieces of odd debris, including a giant wooden barrel near the peak. (That barrel will be important later). Guests will enter the queue ahead to the left that will wind through part of the outdoor jungle scenery and past a couple of the lower tier track gags before venturing inside the temple itself for the indoor queue section that will eventually lead to the load/unload station.
Since we are dealing with the issue of unloading and loading a large number of 4-passenger vehicles, I’m assuming that Universal may try to use a continuously moving loading station concept, not unlike what they built for Hagrid and the Forbidden Journey attractions. It really is the best way to keep guests and vehicles moving. Once you board your kart you’ll slowly move outside where the fun will begin.
From here, I’m going to describe some of the basic scenes, gags and effects we expect you to encounter while on the attraction. Keep in mind that much of this information came to us some time ago, and some design revisions may have changes a thing or two between now and then, but you’ll still get the basic gist of what the ride experience is about. You can also follow along with a layout map I’ve created of the ride experience, with each area numbered starting with:
1 - After making a quick u-turn your cart will move up the first lift hill and towards that giant barrel we mentioned that was sitting at the top of the temple. Upon entering the barrel your cart will lurch forward at great speed and perform the first of several “jumps” over a gap in a broken section of track.
2 - Sticking the landing, your cart will head forward and towards an entrance into the temple, but watch out… Donkey Kong and son are riding head-on at you on another mine cart, speeding into view from around the corner up ahead to the left. Without warning your cart vears off the track to the right, diving down into darkness.
3 - Suddenly back on the tracks but at high speed your cart will suddenly climb a hill just as you venture back out into the sun to leap another gap in the tracks.
4 - After a quick straight away you’ll head towards what is either another jump effect or a small dip into a small bunny hop and then quickly bank right into a tight turn towards a cave entrance.
5 - Darkness here, and what I understand in the dim lighting you may see a pair of tracks ahead, each with some kind of construction disruption or a mine-character blocking the tracks so your cart will perform a couple of rapid track swaps to avoid these obstacles and head back towards the light ahead…
6 - Lift Hill 2 - Back into the sun and rising towards the waterfall…
7 - Passing under the waterfall, your view is obscured by mist as you approach what I call the corkscrew gag. The track ahead will appear to literally climb the walls of the temple into a corkscrew inversion. What you don’t see is that the true coaster track below the fog will instead take a steep dive and quickly bank to the right and back outside once again.
8 - Much like Scene 3, your fast moving cart will quickly climb and I believe perform another jump over some rocky terrain.
9 - Sticking the landing, again into another hard banked right turn, but I think you’ll simulate riding on a single rail as you navigate the turn through some kind of rocky section of broken track.
10 - Splashdown… and yes, real water. The true coaster track will dip below grade through the hidden slot while the bottom of your mine cart will bounce and splash across a small body of water, before rising up and going back inside the temple once again.
11 - Finale… you encounter a big animated figure of Donkey Kong celebrating your run with a Hi-5 as you approach a treasure room with Diddy Kong and a massive golden banana before slowly rolling back into the station.
And there you have it… you just took on the Golden Temple of Donkey Kong Country. From what sound of things, this could be an amazing roller coaster system, able to visually look like it is performing a number of incredible stunts all while maintaining a relatively friendly speed and pace, all while appearing to keep the cart (for the most part) on tracks along various surfaces rather than flying high into the sky. The end effect should be a ride that is thrilling to both young and old alike. Be sure to check out the picture below posted to Twitter by Bioreconstruct showing off the current status of Super Nintendo World at Epic Universe. The large attraction under construction on the bottom right is Donkey Kong, with the enclosed structure to be the temple, the L-shaped off-shoot at the top to be the enclosed dark cave section of the ride, and the basin below that for the splashdown area. The circular structure to the left of it all will be for the Yoshi themed omni-mover ride, and the large structure going up above that will be for the MarioKart ride.
(8/22/22) Bioreconstruct has posted an assortment of new aerial images of the Epic Universe theme park under construction this week. I’ve hand picked a few to share, starting with one showing off the massive attraction building under construction for the Wizarding World area that should be themed as a French Ministry of Magic building. From what I’m told this will be the only ‘ride’ in the land when the park opens, along with a live show theater, as all other options were canceled (VR Brookstick ride anyone?) or budget cut out.
There are also a couple of aerial shots of the Universal Monsters land, where the big structure is the Frankenstein Manor attraction, the one with the very low walls right now will be for the launched spinning coaster (you’ll see a few footers) and other items representing the entrance to the land or other random buildings that will serve as scenery, shops or restaurants.
Remember how I said the land will come alive after dark? One such structure will be of great interest to fans of the Universal Mosnters, as they will essentially be bringing to life the finale scene of the 1931 Frankenstein film by creating a massive Windmill building that will seem innocent enough during the daytime. After the sun goes down, just as seen in the film, the villagers will light the windmill on fire in order to destroy Frankenstein’s Monster. Or at least that is how it happens in the film. As for the theme park version, I’m not entirely sure if the plan is for the windmill just to spin on fire all night, or explosively erupt into flames every 15 minutes or so, or if they will try to put on some kind of performance with villagers chasing a monster into the windmill and then lighting it on fire at specific times. Either way, it is a damn cool touch.
Other pictures I’ll add below include a look at the How To Train Your Dragon land, which will feature a number of rides and a fun coaster for the whole family that will feature both lift hills and launch segments, plus a look at the yellow, green and black track stacked up for the Celestial Coaster project, which also will have a significant footprint.
(8/13/22) Ok, I teased it yesterday, but we do know a little more about what is supposed to be going on at the Universal Monsters area of the park. As I mentioned before, a second attraction is being added to the land in addition to the KUKA-arm ride. This new ride is said to be a last second addition to the plans after the show-venue was scraped from the park plans during COVID. From the sound of things, it is a shame that the show concept was scrapped, as it had earned the nickname of “Werewolf Waterworld” from many of the designers. In reality, the show venue would have been a sort of a mix between the Waterworld stunt show concept from the Hollywood park mixed with the technology and video wall of Florida’s “The Borne Stuntacular” show.
As a replacement I’m told that Universal has bought a launched spinning coaster from Mack Rides, not unlike Time Traveler at Silver Dollar City (2018) or Ride to Happiness at Plopsaland De Panne (2021). That said, this will be a MUCH smaller ride than those other coasters however. Look for the coaster to be mostly outdoors with the exception of one indoor show scene that will probably lead up to the launch. Two themes were said to have been proposed for the ride, one involving being chased by wolves through the woods (which is probably the final concept) though there was another concept themed around the idea of Dr Jeckle & Mr. Hyde, where the spinning cars would have likely been themed half and half to each personality.
Now if you are ready, I’ve got all the details you want to know about the land itself, the story they are telling with it and how it relates to the main attraction. Apparently the development teams struggled with this land concept more than any other for the park, but with good reason. The concept of the Universal Monsters is not one that was intended to be used as part of a “shared universe”, but rather was a concept of characters grouped together over time. Universal Studios itself struggled greatly with the “Dark Universe” concept where they wanted to create a rebooted and shared universe for new modern versions of these Monsters before eventually shelving the concept. In terms of the theme park land, it makes sense that they struggled with the concept of creating an overall theme that could represent the various characters in one setting, but there are just so mary variables to choose from, including the era of the setting itself (modern world, european village, black & white era, etc…).
What was selected after all this time was to build what will look like a classic European Village concept, but isn’t just any village, this will be the original village from the Frankenstein legends! You aren’t going back in time however, this will be today’s world, where the inhabitants have, of course, turned the village into a tourist trap to capitalize on the legend of the events that took place inside the creepy Frankenstein manor on the edge of town.
Enter into the picture, the great-great-great ancestor of Dr. Victor Frankenstein… who I’m hearing just might be named “Victoria”. Victoria, who apparently will have a sort of sexy “Elvira” vibe, has returned to reclaim the manor and convert it into the most epic of tourist attractions and something worthy of her family name! This has the rest of the villagers a little on edge as the abandoned and dormant castle has been showing new signs of life and activity.
As tourists you are invited to try out this new attraction of course, and meet Victoria Frankenstein in the flesh. Yes, apparently she will be fully present at one point (probably the pre-show) as an awesome animatronic figure. Victoria has been looking to up the ante in building the ultimate tourist attraction, and may have borrowed a page from the Jurassic World playbook. Monsters are not enough… and much like the VelociCoaster, she created something more thrilling… more edgy… or in the verbiage of Jurassic World… she is going to give you something with “more teeth”.
How so? Well, it turns out that old Dr. Frankenstein had apparently collected more monsters from around the world in his day, and had them chained up in an underground dungeon below the manor all those years ago. Upon this discovery, Victoria has “spared no expense” to update the old family manor, bringing in a security force and install the best modern containment systems to keep all those captured monsters in check
So after all the pre-show and security warnings are dealt with, you’ll be led towards the loading station to board your vehicle for the tour. The station will actually be a large rotating platform, not unlike what guests use to board the Popeye & Bluto rapids ride at Islands of Adventure. For those who ever got the chance to see any plans for the once proposed Van Helsing attraction Universal dreamt up first for the KUKA-arm ride concept before converting it use for Harry Potter, this should sound very familiar. From here guests will board their vehicle (where the KUKA-arm is mounted below the seats this time) and start your tour going past this collection of imprisoned creatures. This will lead you to an encounter with the original Frankenstein’s Monster, where as usual… something goes horribly wrong.
The fun of the Universal Monsters land doesn’t end with just the two rides however. Of course there will be gift shops and I’m expected a themed restaurant experience as well, but once the sun goes down, you will be in for a special treat. In the evenings, I’m told that the monsters will escape the manor and begin to hide and roam about the land, jumping out of the shadows to scare guests not paying attention. In essence, the entire land will become something more like a year-round Scare Zone at Halloween Horror Nights, with spooky music, fog and lighting effects and more. Now that’s a plan I can definitely get behind and makes this land sound so much more exciting!
(8/12/22) Back in July I mentioned that the main attraction in the Universal Monsters land at Epic Universe would be an upgraded version of the KUKA Arm ride technology used for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey at Islands of Adventure. Many have asked for more information about exactly what will be different, and to be honest, the difference isn’t going to sound like much on the surface.
When you look at what the Forbidden Journey ride vehicles look like, the rider’s seats are mounted to the massive KUKA robot arm, attached essentially just behind the spines of the riders. According to Screamscape source the main difference this time around is that the KUKA Arm will connect to the riders from below the seats, rather than in back of them. While the difference is subtle, the point of connection will allow for the ride vehicles to be able to SPIN the riders around far more quickly along the Z-Axis, allow for rapid turns and spins, possibly to better simulate combat moves and impacts. In the original ride vehicle, it appears that all Z-Axis movement was handled by a joint at the extreme furthest end of the arm, which required the entire arm and all the attached hardware to spin as well. Obviously moving that much extra mass takes a lot more time and energy, and moves a lot slower. In essence, think of how fast you can move your hand by rotating at the wrist, compared to how much more effort it takes to move your hand by only using your shoulder joint.
On a related note, we’ve been hearing a little more information about a second ride being added to the Universal Monsters land. This new ride will be taking the place of a previous concept for the land that was going to have a large show theater instead, but the theater has been canceled and this unknown new ride will appear instead. I have a few ideas about exactly what this new ride may be, but I’m not quite ready to reveal it just yet.
2026-2028 - Phase 2 Attractions / Expansion - Rumor - (11/11/2023) Not long ago I mentioned that Universal had a couple of irons in the fire early to develop some Phase 2 additions to Epic Universe. At the time we had heard about the Luigi Mansion concept for Super Nintendo World and only that the park’s Wizarding World section was the site of the second project. Now we know a little more about the plan for the Wizarding World addition, and from what I’m told, this may actually be the return of a concept once pitched for the park and then cut.
I’m still a little fuzzy on all the details, but the addition they are looking to bring back to Epic Universe would be to create a “Great Hall” themed dining experience in the park. For those not in the know, The Great Hall was the dining room area within Hogwarts that was shown in many different scenes throughout the film-series that featured four very long tables (one for each Hogwarts “house” I assume) and had all those floating candles in the air.
Beyond this, I’m not sure of much else, but it does seem incredibly strange that while the entire outdoor section of the Wizarding World in Epic Universe will be themed to Paris, the attractions will all need some kind of story element to transport you back to the UK’s corner of the Wizarding World. Be it a trip to Hogwarts to dine in the Great Hall or to the Ministry Of Magic for the trial of Dolores Umbridge, it does make me wonder why they are bothering with the French theming at all.
(10/28/2023) While we still have about 18 months left until Epic Universe is ready to open, would you believe that Universal is already working on the first couple of expansion projects for this mega-park? If you’ve seen the site, you know certain areas are being left undeveloped for future expansion for either new future lands, or to add new attractions to the existing lands.
In this case I’m being told that the first two projects likely to be added to the park will be the later… additional attractions to add better capacity to existing lands where they think the crowds are going to be a little overwhelming. It shouldn’t take you too long to guess which lands will be plussed first.
 Expanding the Wizarding World area will be a priority of course, as the land will really open with just the main main attraction and will be in dire need of additional things for guests to do to keep them in there. This also goes hand-in-hand with the fact that in the original concepts for the land, there was always meant to be a second major attraction of some kind, and in those very early days (pre-COVID) the idea was to create an attraction where guests could ride a flying broomstick through the use of VR-Headgear. This same attraction concept was then going to be fast-tracked and switched over to be built at Universal Studios Florida for a time, taking over the spot of the now closed Fear Factor show venue, next to Diagon Alley as a follow up to 2023’s Villain-Con attraction. This never happened however, and it sounds like this was good news after all, because the early word was that during development management became less and less impressed by what they were seeing was possible. In other words… while the vision seemed like a good idea, the actual realization of what was possible was just falling far short of the vision, so the project was scrapped. I also think that the introduction of a near identical VR broomstick ride experience that was rushed into operation at the Harry Potter New York retail store that opened in 2021 also soured them on the concept. Universal didn’t want to be seen as copying what the retail store had done, and based on the fact that after only running the two VR attractions in New York (Wizards Take Flight and Chaos at Hogwarts) for a short 18-month time span, both VR attractions were then retired for good in New York. What exactly they might add to the Wizarding World in Epic Universe remains to be seen. I’ve heard a few rumblings about various concepts, but with the land itself being themed to the Wizarding World of Paris instead of the UK or USA, we might get something a little more unusual.
Based on the monster crowds Universal has seen swamping the Super Nintendo World lands in Japan and Hollywood, obviously they are now very well aware that they need to be working to add more to the version coming to Florida. While the deal with Nintendo will allow Universal to build attractions based on some of Nintendo’s other IPs like Zelda, Metroid or Pokemon, in this case the idea is to stick to the core Mario Bros. universe world, and I think you might be very happy with the direction Universal Creative is headed. With Mario being the main hero of the Mario-Kart ride, Donkey Kong has a coaster, and there is the cute Yoshi themed family ride, it is only fair that Luigi finally gets to have his own attraction, right? So how would you feel about a ride based on the Luigi’s Mansion game series that sends Mario’s brother on his own epic journey into a dark Haunted House with a flashlight?
 The early description sent to Screamscape sort of sounds like Universal’s Villain-Con and The Secret Life of Pets attraction in Hollywood had a very twisted offspring. Guests would ride in an omni-mover style vehicle system through dark Luigi’s Mansion, but be given a special hand-held flashlight that uses modified Villain-Con blaster tech to bring some ghosts to life when you point at them. I’m not quite sure if your car will feature its own Poltergust ghost-vacuum or if you are just lighting up the ghosts for Luigi to come along with suck them up. To be honest, it’s about time that another park in Orlando had their own haunted “mansion” experience to offer, and I can’t wait to see how this one turns out.
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