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General Resort News - (3/7/2025) A new promotion video from Universal Orlando about “Epic Universe & Beyond” has a lot of great footage fans will enjoy. Not just of Epic Universe, but showing off iconic locations all around the Universal Orlando resort, highlighting how it’s grown over the past 35 years since it opened as just a single theme park in 1990.
    They also drop a major announcement about 2 minutes into the video, where they announce  that there are “already so many things in the works now. We have a slate of new attractions that were already in development for every one of our Parks. We’re already planning for the next thing at Epic!”

 
    (3/2/2025) Butterbeer Season has begun at Universal Orlando, and to celebrate the celebration of all things “Butterbeer” flavored in the Wizarding World sections of the park, they are adding two new limited time treats for the event. Now through to May 31st they have added Butterbeer Cream Puffs and Butterbeer Gummies sold in a souvenir Butterbeer cart.
 
    (2/27/2025) Starting on March 1st, the Wizarding World locations at Universal Orlando will begin to offer new second generation magic wands for sale. While guests who visit with the original wands will find that they still work as before, the new wands come with an assortment of new features. Key amongst them is that you can link your new wand to “Universal Play” within the official Universal App. This allows the use of your wand to be customized a bit by creating your own wizard profile, selecting certain attributes, such as your patronus, and with the app you’ll earn points for your house with every successful spell cast. As you progress, even more features and spell will be unlocked.
    As part of the new program 5 new interactive wand stations will be added to the existing Wizarding World locations in Hogsmeade & Diagon Alley, and once Epic Universe opens in May, even more stations will be added. The new locations will include a ‘Dueling Club Tent” in Hogsmeade, another in The Owl Post (also Hogsmeade) and three in Diagon Alley: Ariadne’s Sppinners, Knockturn Alley Sky and Knockturn Alley Staircase.
 
    (2/5/2025) Universal Orlando has announced that a new extra cost ticket night-event is coming to the Volcano Bay waterpark over 5 special nights: April 19, 26, May 3, 10, and 17th. While Universal wasn’t ready to release all the details just yet, they did say that these new special event nights will feature new live entertainment offerings and a bunch of special characters meet & greet opportunities. More details will be announced as the event gets closer.
 
    (2/4/2025) Universal Orlando confirmed the dates for this year’s Halloween Horror Nights event, which will kick off on Friday, August 29th and run on select nights through to November 2nd, 2025.
 
    (2/3/2025) New reports from WDWNT shows that the Red Coconut Club in Universal CityWalk has been transformed into the CURSED COCONUT CLUB once again, just in time for Mardi Gras season. You can take a peek inside in the video preview below.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by AMANDA WRATE (@amandainorlando)

 
    (1/7/2025) Universal Orlando has posted the dates for the 2025 Mardi Gras celebration along with the list of concerts. This year’s event will run from Feb. 1st through to March 30, with the free concerts to be performed on select nights. Here is the current schedule.
   Feb. 1 - T-Pain
   Feb. 8 - Joe Jonas
   Feb. 15 - Kool & The Gang
   Feb. 16 - Juanes
   Feb. 22 - Scotty McCreery
   Mar. 1 - Foster the People
   Mar. 8 - All Time Low
   Mar. 16 - Lawrence
   Mar. 21 - Coco Jones
   Mar. 22 - DJ Pauly D
   Mar. 29 - TLC

 
    (1/6/2025) Screamscape sources tell us that the popular Antojitos restaurant in Citywalk is now closed through to Jan. 29th for a refurbishment.
 
   (11/29/2024) After months of waiting, Wicked (Part 1) has finally hit the theaters and if the early results continue, Universal has a mega-hit on their hands, especially since Part 2 is already set to hit theaters next year on Nov. 21st, 2025. Of course, as a highly themed IP, theme park fans want to know when they can expect to see Universal Creative act on this and create something Wicked for the Universal theme parks.
     Know that Universal Creative has already been working on ideas ever since the films were green-lit. I hinted at one possible idea way back in January 2024, when I mentioned that everyone should keep an eye on the former Fear Factor show venue at the park for signs of possible demolition. The park has been looking for a project to fill the gap between Diagon Alley and Men In Black for quite some time now, and at the time, I was told that corporate was close to greenlighting a project that would have seen the Day 1 show venue razed to the ground in order to build a massive new indoor theater venue designed to showcase a stage version of Wicked, but purpose-built to include a large number of special effects systems.
    This wouldn’t be the first time a Universal park has performed a stage-version of Wicked, as Universal Studios Japan performed the show there in a theater for five years (2006 to 2011) along with a small Land of Oz themed area around it.
    So what’s happening in Florida now? Well, we know they built the Wicked Experience retail / attraction space near the front of the park as a lead-in to the opening of the film this week, but obviously they never demolished the old show venue earlier this year to begin work on a Wicked attraction there. It does make sense, as the resorts efforts are highly focused on opening Epic Universe in 2025, and I don’t think the original intent was to open any kind of permanent Wicked attraction until at least 2026, after both films had been released and had their time to shine at the Oscars where nominations were virtually guaranteed in a number of areas, including music and costumes.
    However as the film’s release inched closer and closer, I think the hype and response about Wicked may have been much higher than initially anticipated. So much so, that the film’s fans are wanting more than just a show in the parks, they want an entire themed land. So this puts Universal Orlando in an interesting position… as there are a few locations where they could make this happen, but likely outside of Universal Studios Floridia who is more likely going to move forward with yet another Fast & Furious project instead first.
    Islands of Adventure could become home to a Wicked zone, perhaps taking over section of Toon Lagoon between Ripsaw and Spiderman where there already is a mostly vacant theater space and nearby shops and restaurants that could be revamped. But even more inviting may be the remains of the Lost Continent section of the park across the lagoon, where they have a completely empty large show venue formerly used for the Eighth Voyage of Sindbad show, along with the very large space taken up by the closed Poseidon’s Fury attraction, along with plenty of space between the two current used for food and merchandise locations. IOA needs a big project that could warrant a budget worthy of creating an entirely new land here, and Wicked could fit the bill.
    And if none of that works, there is always some open plots left in place for expansion properties over at the new Epic Universe park, as I’m sure the future fans of Epic Universe wouldn’t mind adding a new Portal to Oz as the first expansion of that park as well. Either way, I’m sure there are already meeting on the schedule for Monday when the execs get back from their holiday vacation to discuss this very thing, so stay tuned!
 
    (9/10/2024) Universal will be adding all new experiences, retail and dining opportunities to Universal Studios Hollywood and the Universal Orlando Resort themed to the new two-part “Wicked” films hitting theaters in November 2024 and 2025.
    “The engaging Wicked experiences will differ at each of the destinations but are both designed to capture the imagination and spirit of the breathtaking world of Wicked, allowing guests to express their fandom through fashion and accessories, while stepping into the story for the first time ever.”
    Starting in late October, Universal Orlando Resort will welcome guests to Wicked: The Experience – housed in the former location of the UNIVRS store and adjacent retail locations steps away from the front gate – where they will have the unique opportunity to step into the fantastical Land of Oz. This exclusive, one-of-a-kind experience will whisk guests along the yellow brick road and into a variety of iconic Wicked locations from Shiz University to the Emerald City. Fanciful costumes and props created by the designers from the film will also be on display as guests become immersed in spectacular scenic and theming that will recreate some of the most memorable moments of the film.
    Fantabulous-themed dining will complement these exciting Wicked experiences at both theme park locations, as well as Voodoo Doughnuts and The Toothsome Chocolate Emporium & Savory Feast Kitchen at both Universal CityWalk locations will share the joy with the debut of a limited time treats inspired by the world of Wicked.
At the core of these experiences will be redefining new retail opportunities and exclusive products, inviting guests to rejoicify as they peek behind the Emerald City gates. An exciting variety of merchandise including elevated apparel, home goods, accessories, toys and more along with exclusive products will be available at Universal Orlando Resort, Universal Studios Hollywood and at both Universal Citywalk locations including:
The Shiz University collection is inspired by the iconic school where Glinda and Elphaba first cross paths featuring back-to-school must-haves featuring a Spirit Jersey, duffle bag, tumbler, hat, journal and more.
    More Wicked themed surprises are also coming to the Universal Studios Singapore and Japan theme parks between late 2024 and early 2025.

 
    (8/24/2024) Universal Orlando has confirmed that guests staying at any of their official on-site Universal Orlando Resorts will receive the benefit of early park admission into the new Epic Universe theme park once it opens. While the exact details are not available yet, it will likely be similar to the early park admissions benefit resort gets can take advantage of now, entering either Volcano Bay or Island of Adventure one hour before the general public, with access to select attractions during that time.
    With three new resort hotels opening in 2025 (Helios Grand Hotel, Universal Stella Nova and Universal Terra Luna) Universal is re-categorize their hotel experiences from the old four tier system into a new simpler three-tier system.
    The top tier will be known as “The Signature Collection” and feature the new Helios Grand Hotel as well as the Hard Rock Hotel, Loews Portofino Bay, Loews Royal Pacific and Loews Sapphire Falls Resorts. For many years now guests staying at the Portofino, Royal Pacific and Hard Rock would receive Universal Express Passes, allowing them to cut to the front of the line at select attractions. It is unknown if this perk may be expanded to guests of the Sapphire Falls and Helios Grand or not, who will now share the same tier.
    The next tier is the “Prime Value” hotels, which will include the current Universal Aventura Hotel as well as the new Universal Stella Nova and Terra Luna Resorts when they open in 2025.
    The last tier will be the “Value Inn and Suites” tier, which will include the popular Universal Cabana Bay Beach Resort as well as the two Universal Endless Summer Resorts - Surfside Inn and Suites and the Dockside Inn and Suites.

2025 - New CityWalk Developments - (9/14/2024) According to the latest updates, the Universal Studios Store in CityWalk Orlando will be getting an expansion sometime in 2025. This isn’t just a general expansion to the store however, this is an expansion to add some very specific things that will be around for quite some time.
    For starters, one section of the expansion will be to add a large themed area for Super Nintendo World merchandise. This makes sense as while any gift shop can certainly sell Nintendo merchandise, once Epic Universe opens with a line of brand new and semi-exclusive merchandise, normally the only way to purchase it would be to journey over to the Epic Universe theme park, which is not physically connected with the rest of the Universal Orlando Resort. So setting up what will essentially be the Nintendo merchandise HQ for the main Universal Orlando Resort inside CityWalk is a good idea.
    The second big expansion is something people have been craving for the longest time… a way to purchase Butterbeer to drink OUTSIDE of the theme parks. Once again, we know Epic Universal will be opening with its very own Wizarding World land, making it the third site in Orlando to purchase the popular beverage, but now a new dedicated Harry Potter / Wizarding World merchandise section will be added to the CityWalk shop that is supposed to bring regular Butterbeer, Frozen Butterbeer, Hot Butterbeer as well as the new Vegan Butterbeer for sale for the first time to a location that is technically OUTSIDE of one of the (soon to be) three Wizarding World lands. In addition to Butterbeer, the themed section is also supposed to be putting some of the exclusive merchandise from each land on sale as well.

???? - New Universal Pop-Culture Celebration Event - Rumored To Be In Development -
    (3/1/2025) Universal Orlando fans may be wondering just when the Universal Fan Fest Nights event might be coming to Orlando? As you may recall, Screamscape has been talking about this pending event for the past few years, as it was my understanding that the event was first picked as something for Universal Orlando, inspired by the Universal Cool Japan events that have been wildly popular overseas for years now.
    I’m not entirely surprised by the fact that the first Fan Fest Nights event will take place at the Hollywood park, mainly because Universal Orlando has been so incredibly busy preparing itself for the launch of Epic Universe in 2025, and I’m sure there are other projects waiting in the wings for the other parks in the years to follow. Launching a brand new theme park is no easy feat, let alone one in Orlando, so I’m thinking they simply opted to wait until at least 2026 or 2027 to launch an Orlando version of Fan Fest Nights. (Assuming the Hollywood version is a success)
    If you need any more convincing, check your email, as a survey invitation has been going around for the past week or so, asking guests to compare and rank their favorite live action, animated, and video game IPs. Included in the mix are IPs that you’ll recognize from Universal’s current vaults, items in use at the parks already, new things coming to Epic Universe, new IPs we know are already part of Fan Fest Nights in Hollywood, but it also is asking you to compare which of these you like compared to a large number of other IPs that we’ve never seen at Universal before. One thing that I found interesting was comparisons being asked for to gauge public opinions between more well known American animation properties, like Shrek and How To Train Your Dragon up against some popular Japanese anime properties that have been huge hits for the Japanese parks, like Attack on Titan or One Piece. There are also comparisons to see if potential guests might like more Nintendo properties to be used at a possible future event, or would you rather see more modern game IPs like Halo or Call of Duty?
    We’ve also heard some fun rumors that surveys done in Hollywood to judge how the west coast guests showing interest in the IPs being used at first Universal Fan Fest Nights are being ranked. According to some early rumors, upper management was surprised in some of these surveys, as there is said to be much higher interesting in the non Universal IPs being brought into that park for the event, such as Star Trek, Dungeons and Dragons and even One Piece than there is for some established park IPs like Super Nintendo World or even Back To The Future, which may be why we’ve seen a last second addition of Wicked character meet & greets added to the Hollywood event. Of course, even if you see it in a survey, it doesn’t mean it will come, as they cast a rather wide net of properties to use in this survey, including some that I wouldn’t think would go over well, and others that were surprising to hear about, such as Amazon Prime’s “The Boys” series.

   
    (8/24/2024) The Universal FanFest special event now confirmed to only be at the Hollywood park in 2025, but this does not mean that Orlando is to be left out entirely. With the origin of the event plans centered around being added to the Orlando resort, which is going to be busy enough in 2025 with the launch of Epic Universe, I believe we will see the special event added to the Orlando resort a year or two later if it is a success in Hollywood.
 
    (1/27/2024) With the return of the Ghostbusters IP to the silver screen, it appears that Universal has also taken a keen interest in bringing the franchise back into the theme parks. Long time guests of Universal Studios Florida will fondly remember that Ghostbusters was a Day-1 attraction for the theme park when it first opened in 1990 with the Ghostbusters Spooktacular live action special effects show. The former attraction space was later remodeled into the Twister attraction for many years and has now become the Race Through New York with Jimmy Fallon, many guests have been wanting to see the Ghostbusters brought back to the park in one form or another. In fact, back when Universal was development a theme park for Dubai, that unrealized park’s New York area would have featured a Ghostbusters themed interactive dark ride. (Fun fact: the land would have also featured a copy of the Incredible Hulk coaster, but with a Men In Black theme instead, with the launch tunnel propped up on a giant crashed UFO…)
    Back to the subject at hand, it according to an article posted by GhostbustersNews.com it seems Universal has purchased the pieces of a 1959 Cadillac from a classic vehicle collector with the goal of creating a new ECTO-1 star vehicle. The vehicle was previously cut in half for display, with the front half already having been shipped to Orlando and the back half to arrive soon. The vehicle pieces in question are not the exact “Miller-Meteor” model of car used for the original ECTO-1 in the movie, but should be similar enough to allow for Universal to custom create their own version of ECTO-1 for the theme park.
    The better question is… just what does Universal have planned that they would need a new ECTO-1? While the parks have always had a collection of movie-replica star-vehicles on display, they were typically limited to vehicles attached to the IPs of current attractions, with the exception of a few Back to the Future themed vehicles that remain on display. While it would be nice to see a new Ghostbusters themed attraction in the theme parks, there are no short-term plans to do so from what I’m told. Maybe long-term, but they’ve got to get Epic Universe up and running first.
    So what else could this be for? Lets just back several months to a story I posted about Universal planning a new Pop-Culture Celebration Fan-Fest event for the resort. The idea was to create another annual celebration event to fit into the calendar between Mardi Gras and the Summer season, taking inspiration from the “Universal Cool Japan” events. Instead of video game and manga themed attraction, Universal Orlando would revisit popular icons and IPs from their own past attractions slate such as Beetlejuice, Jaws, Back to the Future… and yes… Ghostbusters. One such element that was rumored for this very event would see Ghostbusters face-characters introduced to roam sections of the park with an ECTO-1 replica.
    It definitely sounds like something fun is in the works!
 
    (9/16/2023) Consider this a long term rumor about a concept that was in development by Universal to create another popular festival style event at Universal Studios Florida to take place sometime in the late spring following the Mardi Gras event until the start of the Summer season in June.
    Currently the Universal Orlando resort has a pretty stacked slate of projects to fill their calendars. Following the busy summer season they’ve got Halloween Horror nights taking over all of September and October, the annual Christmas holiday events in both parks running from mid November through to New Years, followed by Mardi Gras in early to mid spring. According to the long term rumors from Screamscape sources, the parks may be looking to fill that last gap between Spring Break and Summer, and the early inspiration for this may have come from Japan.
    Over the past several years Universal Studios Japan has put on a series of successful events featuring temporary attractions and displays throughout the park under the “Universal Cool Japan” event banner. The event celebrates an ever changing slate of Japanese Pop Culture icons including live action monsters like Godzilla, popular anime characters, Japanese video game series worlds and characters, and even the occasional musical performer. Universal Cool Japan blends a bit of digital fantasy and the wacky worlds of anime with a touch of Kaijui and horror influence to create a mega event all of their own that has developed a strong following.
    According to my sources, Universal Orlando is looking to create their own such event that could premier as early as Late Spring 2024, but will do so by creating one made up entirely of American themed pop-culture themes, including some rumored throwbacks to Universal’s own film and theme park history. The popularity of the annual Tribute Stores in the park over the past few years has served as a test of sorts to determine things that really are popular with Universal guests.
    While I don’t know everything that Universal has up their sleeve for this proposed event, the idea is to bring back some interesting iconic characters and themes, not only from Universal’s back catalog, but some themes that were once popular parts of the early Universal Orlando experience. Early concepts talked about bringing some characters back to the park for live performances, such as Bettlejuice’s Graveyard Revue on a stage, or to have the Ghostbusters roaming the park in Ecto 1. Anyone else remember the live street performance where the Ghostbusters would chase down Bettlejuice who in return would possess them and make them dance to songs like “Day-O”? How would you feel about the chance to experience a return of Back To The Future: The Ride? Just not inside the original attraction building (The Simpsons) but instead a temporary setup using the simulator bays of Race Through New York?  Want to experience the terror of Jaws in a new throw-back attraction? While Universal can’t bring back the old Amity Island area, I’ve heard it has been pitched to re-program the Fast & Furious immersive tunnel scene to create a virtual shark attack sequence.
    The end result is to create a special event that is a fun throwback to celebrate popular characters and film characters from the past that once had a tie to Universal Studios theme parks in one way or another. This could also result in the displaying of a lot of classic vehicles from Universal attractions making appearances for guest photos, which is something Universal has always done well with long-term displays of vehicles like the BTTF Delorean, Jurassic Park jeeps, the Blues Brothers squad car, Mystery Machine and more. I’ve already mentioned Ecto 1, but what about some fun 80’s Universal throwback vehicles like KITT or the A-Team van or a little Miami Vice vs Fast X? It’s all for fun… but with Universal Creative being heavily focused on finishing up the Epic Universe theme park by 2025, it sounds like Universal’s live entertainment creatives may be ready to try something new and fresh in the near future.

Early 2025 - Universal Stella Nova and Universal Terra Luna Resorts - (3/30/2025) Universal has posted a little preview video of their new Terra Luna Resort hotel, which you can check out below.

 
    (3/28/2025) Congratulations to the Universal Orlando and Loews Hotels teams for opening their latest hotel this week, the new Terra Luna Resort. Very similar in nature to the Stella Nova resort that opened last month, the Terra Luna is a new 750-room resort located essentially across the road from Universal’s new Epic Universe theme park opening on May 22.
 
    (10/27/2024) It looks like there may be a slight construction related delay to the planned opening of the two cosmic themed resorts near Universal Epic Universe. Previously the side-by-side Stella Nova and Terra Luna Resorts were set to open in January and February 2025, several months ahead of the now confirmed May 22 opening of the new theme park.
    While Stella Nova is still set to open the first guests on January 21, 2025 the previously planned opening of Terra Luna a month later in February 2025 has now been pushed back to March 25, 2025. Now, my first assumption may be that this could be construction delayed, but it may also be staffing related, or quite possibly a push to fill up the Stella Nova first before trying to open Terra Luna now that they’ve also opened booking at Helios Grand.
 
    (4/13/2024) Universal has shared some new details about the upcoming Stella Nova and Terra Luna Resorts opening next year. Stella Nova, themed display to the “‘infinite vastness of the universe” will open first on January 21st, 2025. This will be followed by the Terra Luna Resort on February 25, 2025, which will allow guests to “explore the unknown and step onto planets that have yet to be discovered”.
    Each of the two resort hotels will offer an array of cosmic themed food and beverage options, game rooms, a 10,000 sqft pool, fitness centers and more. Stella Nova will feature the Cosmos Cafe and Market (quick service + grab & go items), the Galaxy Bar and Galaxy Grill (walk-up pool service) and the Nova Bar in the lobby. The Terra Luna resort in turn will offer the Omega Cafe and Market (quick service + grab & go), Moonrise Bar & Grill by the pool and the Luna Bar in the Lobby. Each of the resorts will also offer their own specialty cocktail options.
    If you were wondering, the partnership between Loews Hotels and Universal Orlando will continue around the Epic Universe expansion site, with Loews having launched official pages for the Stella Nova and Terra Luna. According to Universal Orlando the two resort, with a combined 1,500 rooms, will feature an affordable starting price point of $147 per night on stays of 4-nights or more. Like staying at the other Universal Orlando resorts, guests will be able to take advantage of Early Park Admission to Volcano Bay and both Wizarding World of Harry Potter areas at the main parks, as well as complimentary shuttle bus transportation to all the theme parks and Universal CityWalk.

 
    (12/9/2023) According to the latest reports, Universal’s two new medium sized hotels under construction next to Epic Universe will open in early 2025. The “Universal Stella Nova Resort” is slated to open in January 2025 and the “Universal Terra Luna Resort” will open a month later in February 2025, with each resort adding an additional 750-rooms to Universal Orlando Resort.
    Before you start booking your trip now, know that Universal’s new “Epic Universe” park is now expected to be open just yet when these hotels open. The park is on track to open sometime in 2025, but if I had to guess it would be a Spring / Summer timetable for that.
    So why open the new hotels so early?
    Hotels can open in a variety of ways, but you might see this as almost a sort of “soft opening” giving Universal time to open the resorts before the park while finishing up any final checklist of items that still need to be done. It also gives them time to hire and train all the staff they need to get things up to 100% by the time Epic Universe is ready to open so they can hit the ground running.
    It is also good to remember that unlike the rest of the Universal Orlando Resort, these two new hotels are located very close to the Orange County Convention Center which hosts a ton of very large conventions year round. While many of you are aware of IAAPA that takes place there ever November, there are so many other major events that take place there that the Stella Nova and Terra Luna Resorts will likely prove to be quite popular with the convention crowd, especially the Megacon Orlando crowd, which would be expected to take place in early February 2025. Other major tradeshows that drop in regularly to the OCCC include InfoComm, the International Builders Show, Surf Expo, Global Business Travel Assoc. Expo, ICAST, Kitchen & Bath Show, and about 15-20 others. Essentially the OCCC is home to a non-stop revolving crowd of convention and expo attendees, so I’d expect these two new hotels to become very busy whenever there is a big show going on.
 
    (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.

Future Expansion Thoughts - (6/13/2024) While Universal’s new EPIC UNIVERSE theme park won’t be ready to open until sometime next year, it seems that the company is already making long-term plans to expand this new southern campus even further. The current site for Universal Orlando’s expanded theme park kingdom in Orlando was said to be around 700 acres, much of which is being taken up by the new theme park and three surrounding hotels.
    News reports released this week show that Universal has signed deals to purchase additional land all all around the area, which will nearly double the size of this southern resort campus to over 1300 acres! Based on some maps I’ve seen, the new land is added in bits and pieces all around the Epic Universe site, but the majority of the new property will connect to the west of the new park, taking over most of the property running along Universal Blvd from the new hotels all the way down to just across the street from the Orlando Eye (with the exception of a few sections where existing resorts or attractions (like Top Golf) have already been built. 
 
    (12/18/2022) With the first North American version of Super Nintendo World set to open in Hollywood in February, followed by an expansion of the original in Japan the following year and then a full sized clone as part of Universal’s Epic Universe park in 2025, you may be wonder what’s next in development for Universal and Nintendo?
    Previously a number of projects were rumored to have been discussed and some initial designs worked up that were to spread out and use other Nintendo related IPs, with the lead projects seemingly attached to Pokemon and The Legend of Zelda games. Some kind of Pokemon attraction was long rumored for Universal Studios Florida a long time ago, back when the first Super Nintendo World was just starting design and construction in Japan, but before things got too far along, all the spin-off North American projects were said to have been put on hold by the corporate office. They already knew they were dedicated to make new lands/attractions in Hollywood and Orlando at this point based on the Super Nintendo World coming to Japan, but wisely they wanted to see how actual guests would react to the first one before committing to other projects based on Nintendo’s other non-Mario based IPs.
    All has been fairly quiet on the Pokemon side of things ever since, though there has been a persistent rumor claiming that the amazing Spider-Man dark ride at Universal Studios Japan would close at the end of their current IP contract period and be transformed into some kind of Pokemon or possibly even Detective Pikachu themed dark ride. Considering that the first Detective Pikachu film was deemed enough of a hit that a sequel was announced as almost a sure thing by Legendary Pictures before the first one even opened in US theaters, converting the urban environment inside and out of the existing Spider-Man attraction building in Japan would be an easy fit. So perhaps the next question would be… could this same thing happen in the US parks?
    The closing of Spider-Man at Islands of Adventure, as things currently stand, isn’t likely to happen anytime soon, as the current Marvel IP deal Universal has locked in place for as long as they want to pay for it does come with some interesting caveats. The way it has been explained to me is that the deal actually requires Universal to maintain the entire Marvel themed land in its entirety… so in other words, Universal isn’t allowed to close down just Hulk or the Spider-Man ride and keep the rest of the land. The deal is essentially an all or nothing deal, and the removal of any one of the original attractions would be cause for the entire deal to collapse as a violation of the terms.
     This is why we’ve only seen Universal upgrade and/or rebuilt the existing attractions exactly as they they were created. Spider-Man was upgraded with all new and improved animation and improved projection technology, but the story of the ride was kept exactly the same. The Incredible Hulk coaster was re-built exactly as a clone of the original, with only minor thematic improvements made to the trains and queue experience that still kept the same basic concept of the original story for the ride. Even Doctor Doom’s Fearfall went through some mechanical updates and upgrades over the past few years (remember when the crowns were removed from the towers?) only to be put back together to offer the same ride experience as before. So essentially the entire Marvel Super Hero Island is locked up like a time-capsule and unable to make any additions or major changes without the approval of Marvel… and with Disney now owning Marvel, you know that isn't ever going to happen. So Disney is just biding their time and accepting payment from Universal each year for the use of what they have, knowing that eventually one day Universal will drop the land once they are done with it and Disney will get full theme park rights to Marvel back again.
    So coming back to Epic Universe once again, the question is, should Universal keep all of the various Nintendo IP’s in the Epic Universe theme park, or should they be be planning to following the Wizarding World exactly and drop different Nintendo based IPs as new attractions and lands of Universal Studios Florida or Islands of Adventure? Without a doubt spreading out the Wizarding World attractions between the two existing parks has proved to be a huge hit with guests and been a very profitable venture for Universal Orlando, so much that we’ll see a third Wizarding World as part of Epic Universe.
    With that in mind, I’d think it would be only a matter of time before Universal pulled out some of those old plans and looked into eventually dropping other Nintendo IPs into Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida. Since Universal isn’t likely to build another similar ride system in Universal Studios Florida, as they already have Transformers, it sounds like the fate of Pokemon may be locked up until Spider-Man’s days are over or they come up with an entirely new concept. This leaves Nintendo’s other major IPs open for development, such as Metroid and Zelda, but between them Zelda is the one most likely happen. We know Universal Creative has already roughly designed a couple of Zelda based concepts in the past, and is rumored to be sending out some guests surveys right now just to feel out their audience about the idea of building a land or attraction(s) based on the Legend of Zelda IP.
    So what was Universal looking to do previously? As I said, they had a couple of ideas in the fire at different points. One was simply a conversion of an existing Island of Adventure attraction… Poseidon’s Fury. The idea would have seen a new front entrance placed in front of the existing attraction, bringing guests into a castle building that would eventually lead them down into the the dark cavern passageways below the castle, which would really just be the existing entrance pathway into Poseidon’s Fury. From here the basic attraction concept would have been exactly the same of Poseidon’s Fury, leading guests from chamber to chamber for a live-action walk-through adventure story, including the unlocking of a magical doorway and passenger through the water vortex that would lead to a final epic battle sequence between Link and Ganon in the main show chamber. So yeah… same attraction, just some new theming and plot.
    Another concept Universal dreamed up is kind of neat and was going to take advantage of some new ride hardware patents they filed for a few years ago. The gist of the hardware was that guests would enter the attraction as your typical slow-moving boat ride themed to the world of Zelda. The ride experience ahead would be anything but that, as the boats would be designed so that they could perform some interesting manuverse we haven’t seen before on a boat ride. This includes the ability to encounter some kind of obstacle in mid-stream that could cause your boat to rotate and begin flowing down the river backwards or even sideways. This could also involve the possibility of loading onto some kind of unseen underwater trick-track that could cause the boat to slide down a small hill sideways, perhaps with a change of direction at the bottom. The biggest trick of them all however would have been the transformation of your “boat” ride into a flying vehicle.
    Imagine this as the set-up… your boat would encounter a villain, creature or obstacle that would knock you off-course, and instead of moving down the peaceful waterway, you find yourself rapidly approaching the edge of the biggest waterfall you’ve ever seen. This is no flume drop… this is a straight down plunge to your very doom, and there seems to be no way to avoid it, so hang onto your loved ones and prepare for the end. Unknowst to the riders, and hidden behind their view, your boat has now been placed directly under a new track system up in the dark rafters, and a device that may look something like a set of rotating fork-lift arms attached to the track will quietly drop from the ceiling and insert those forks into slots built into the base of your boat. Just as riders think they are going over the falls, instead the boat would magically lift up into the skies and enter an entirely new portion of the ride experience as you fly over the magical land of Zelda.
    Now that sure sounds like a fun ride concept to me… but again… where to put it? Should Universal add Zelda to Islands of Adventure or somewhere at the original Universal Studios Florida theme park?
 
    (8/3/19) Universal’s EPIC UNIVERSE was announced as the name of their next theme park coming to Orlando. All information and history about the rumors and development of this project have now been moved to an official EPIC UNIVERSE page for future reporting. Head on over and check out our complete breakdown about what was announced and what we think we know about this new park based on all concept artwork compared to the various rumors. (CLICK  HERE FOR ALL THE NEWS ON EPIC UNIVERSE)

 

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