Welcome to our brand new series detailing the construction of Epic Universe, Universal Orlando’s third theme park opening by Summer 2025. This park will open with 4 distinct lands, a central hub, and an in-park hotel. Super Nintendo World is the only confirmed land, but the other three lands are rumored to be based off of How To Train Your Dragon, Classic Monsters, and Wizarding World Paris. Every single photo was taken by the incredible @bioreconstruct so please go follow him on Twitter!
Dark Universe — Classic Monsters Land
Today, we are going to start off our journey in the Classic Monsters area which based on trademarks is rumored to be called Dark Universe.
Here is an overview of the entire land. Starting at (1) we have the entry portal to the land. It is rumored that each land will only have one way to enter and one way to exit. Each entry portal will be heavily themed to the land it is connected to. It is rumored that this portal will be themed to the village surrounding Frankenstein’s Castle. Once you go through the portal, you will enter the main village area (2) which will be home to the land’s main gift shop and restaurant. In the back of the land are the two attractions and a smaller restaurant. The land’s main E-Ticket attraction (3) is rumored to be an upgraded version of the ride system that Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey uses. It is rumored this attraction has zero screens and multiple animatronics. The rumored storyline is that Victoria Frankenstein (granddaughter of Dr. Frankenstein) goes into the castle and lets all of the monsters out as we are taking a tour of the castle.
The second attraction, (4) which is based on a trademark application is rumored to be called Curse of the Werewolf, and it is rumored to be a MACK family spinning coaster and includes one show scene in that black barn-like structure. The coaster is also rumored to have a swing launch system during that show scene in the barn as well. Lastly, there is a smaller restaurant that is rumored to be inside a windmill (5) in the back of the land. The windmill is rumored to be “set” on fire every 15 minutes or so much like the dragon in Diagon Alley.
Resort Hotels
Three new hotels are being built on the Epic Universe property. The first is the in-park hotel which will have a rooftop restaurant with firework-viewing spots. There will also be a parking garage attached to the back of the property. Based on trademark applications, this hotel is rumored to be named Universal’s Grand Helios Hotel. The other two off-site hotels are being built using the pre-fabrication method. This means the rooms are built off-site then they are brought to the property and stacked on top of each other like Legos. These are twin hotels and are rumored to be named Universal’s Stella Nova and Universal’s Terra Luna.
How To Train Your Dragon — Isle of Berk
The How To Train Your Dragon land is rumored to be named Isle of Berk and at 14 acres is by far the largest area of the park.
Once through the entry portal, guests will cross a bridge over this lake just like in the films. This lake will have Viking ships and two giant statues one of which is already getting a beautiful paint job.
Here you can see the entry portal and the bridge you will cross to get into the main portion of the land. The family launch coaster will dive under the bridge and into a launch section.
The land’s main eatery will be themed to the massive Great Hall from the movies.
This land will have a 900-seat theater expected to host the show Untrainable, which is currently playing at Universal Beijing Resort. There will be many attractions in this land including that family launch coaster, a MACK Splash Battle boat ride, and many other flat rides as well as a play area.
The Hub
The Hub will be massive land of its own with tons of shops and restaurants and even a couple of attractions.
One of the Hub’s attractions is rumored to be a MACK water carousel-type ride. This attraction will be enclosed in a beautiful glass dome overlooking the lake. At the top of the hub, there will be a fountain that will likely host water shows and at night be a nice viewing area for the fireworks.
The other and main attraction of the Hub is a dueling roller coaster rumored to be named Starfall Racers. As you can see, this coaster is truly massive and pays homage to the former Dueling Dragons coaster that was at Islands of Adventure. This coaster will have numerous inversions, and multiple launches, and will likely go in excess of 70 mph. This will be the park’s fastest and most thrilling attraction at least at park opening.
Super Nintendo World
Super Nintendo World at Epic Universe will be a near-carbon copy of the version in Japan with maybe a little bit of extra walking space. This version will have Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge, Yoshi’s Adventure, and Donkey Kong: Mine Cart Madness when it opens in Summer of 2025.
This entry portal will be themed to a warp pipe (duh) and have an escalator so guests will enter on the second level of Peach’s Castle as they do in Japan.
Here are some gorgeous shots of Super Nintendo World showing the emerging details of the Mushroom Kingdom section of the land. Yoshi’s Adventure track is in yellow and Mario Kart’s show building is in the back of land. Guests will enter the attraction through Bowser’s Castle on the second level.
Here is the Donkey Kong Country area of Super Nintendo World. This area will be accessed through a warp pipe only from the Mushroom Kingdom and it will lead guests into a jungle-like setting. This area will have more mini-games and stamps to collect coins on the app. It will also have its own meet and greet and a few snack stands. The main attraction will be Donkey Kong: Mine Cart Madness which will be a very unique family roller coaster based on the games. This coaster certainly will not be the fastest of them all, but it will have show scenes especially an extended scene inside the temple. This coaster will also have two tracks, a real one that is hidden and a faux track with breaks in it. This will give the simulation that the riders are “jumping” the tracks to avoid obstacles such as water, spikes, and even other mine cars!
Wizarding World Paris
Last but not least is the Wizarding World Paris area. Guests will go through a Parisian-themed entry portal under the Arc De Triumph and enter into what is essentially their version of Diagon Alley. These buildings are being built to scale at approximately five stories tall! There will be a general Harry Potter store just outside the land just in case guests want something from the British Wizarding World.
Once upon a time, there were going to be three attractions in this land, but at the opening, there will only be two with room for future expansion. There will be an E-Ticket attraction and a theater show. The cancelled attraction was rumored to be a Virtual Reality Broomstick ride and honestly, Universal in my opinion could do way better than that so I am very glad they decided to go in a different direction.
Guests are rumored to enter the theater through a circus tent, so the show may be circus related. The land’s main attraction is rumored to be themed to the British Ministry of Magic. Guests will use the Floo network to get from Paris to London and emerge in the British Ministry through massive fireplaces. From there guests will enter a queue and eventually the ride vehicle which is rumored to be an upgraded version of the SCOOP vehicle that is currently in use on Spider-Man and Transformers. The storyline involves stopping Dolores Umbridge from trying to escape her trial after her time running Hogwarts. The rest of the land is rumored to have magical creatures in the windows, various shops and eateries as well as an upgraded version of the magical spells that guests can cast on the windows.
So that concludes our very first Epic Universe update. I would like to thank Alicia Stella for being the first to provide many of those rumored details. If you would like to see a video version with even more explanation please check out my latest video on the subject right here. What do you think of Epic Universe so far and what is your most anticipated ride or land? Let us know in the comments below and have an EPIC day!
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Ethan Becker is a columnist for the Boardwalk Times
