Universal Orlando has announced that it is welcoming Annual and Seasonal Passholders, active 2025 Military Freedom Pass Ticket Holders, Universal Rewards Signature VISA Card members, and on-property hotel guests to visit Universal Epic Universe starting April 17. The park is now soft open for previews ahead of its official opening on May 22, 2025. Reservations are also now available for arrivals beginning April 16 at the new (absolutely spectacular) Universal Helios Grand Hotel that is located inside the park.
It’s been a few days since I got to visit Universal Epic Universe as part of a media preview of the new park in Orlando, and I’m still grinning from ear to ear. In my last post, I shared some first impressions and general thoughts about two of the lands, Celestial Park and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic. Let’s step through the portals of the other three lands as I continue my gobsmacked initial take on the hugely anticipated park.
Shedding some light on Dark Universe
In the run-up to Epic Universe’s opening, I’ve been especially intrigued by Dark Universe. An ode to the classic monsters of the company’s venerable movie studios, I was delighted to see Universal so fully embrace its legacy and curious to find out how it would bring the land to life. Turns out, it’s killer.
Emerging from the portal tunnel, theatrical fog (a staple of Halloween Horror Nights, the Universal event that helps inspire the Epic Universe land) envelops guests as they make their way through an old cemetery. Rounding a corner, they enter Darkmoor, a bedraggled village filled with monsters, monster hunters, and wary folks trying to steer clear of the macabre monster machinations. At the far end of the village lies Frankenstein Manor, a gothic castle that immediately takes its place as one of parkdom’s great visual weenies. Every few minutes, electrical sparks, crackling with energy, light up the turret atop the foreboding building, signifying the strange experiments taking place within. Simultaneously, the lights flicker and threaten to extinguish throughout the village. It is one of many wonderful, grand-scale illusions at the new park. I didn’t get to see the land at night, but I’d imagine it takes on an even more ominous tone, particularly when the manor alights from the power surges.
The E-Ticket attraction, Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment, that lies inside the manor is a real howl. We meet Dr. Victoria Frankenstein, the great-great-granddaughter of the original monster re-animator who is waging a battle against Dracula and trying to prevent him from releasing the Phantom of the Opera, The Mummy, and other monsters she is holding captive. The attraction deploys a Kuka robotic arm ride vehicle that is similar to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, but instead of relying mostly on screens, Monsters Unchained deftly combines visual media (no 3D glasses required) with practical sets, effects, and animatronics.
And oh, the animatronics. A towering, lumbering Frankenstein’s Monster is nonetheless surprisingly nimble. The movements are so fluid and lifelike on many of the figures, I would swear they are costumed actors. Universal says there are 14 robotic characters sprinkled throughout the attraction, but it seemed like more. As with Battle at the Ministry, the interplay between the screened content and the animatronics is so seamless, it’s often hard to distinguish one from the other, which is an incredible testament to the creative team that designed the attraction as well as the evolution of the technology available to them. While the movement of the ride vehicles is a bit aggressive, and there are a few mildly startling moments, the overall tone of Monsters Unchained isn’t as terrifying as the company had indicated it would be. There are even a few, um, stabs at lighthearted comedy. Some Halloween Horror Night houses are much more intense. Regardless, the attraction is wildly sophisticated, intensely engaging, and one of Universal Creative’s crowning achievements.
As for Dark Universe’s other attraction, Curse of the Werewolf, the rotations on the spinning coaster’s cars–at least the car I rode in–are surprisingly potent. I emerged from the ride a bit dizzy. Also, the random spinning had me facing the wrong way each time I passed through the indoor barn, so I missed seeing the Werewolf in its rafters. The ride is fine (although some family members may find this “family coaster” a tad too aggressive), but I much prefer the similar Time Traveler at Silver Dollar City.
Tracking Super Nintendo World
Folks who have visited Super Nintendo World at Universal’s Studios Hollywood will recognize the highly stylized, pixillated facsimile of a video game realm come to life at Epic Universe. I had experienced Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge, the first major ride-through attraction to incorporate augmented reality, at the California park, and the version here is virtually identical. While it is not quite at the level of Epic’s other dark rides, Monsters Unchained and Battle at the Ministry, it is nonetheless mighty impressive. Like the rest of the land, which is filled with punchable question blocks and other targets Nintendo fans will recognize, Mario Kart is highly interactive (which is what you’d expect from an attraction based on a video game).
Unlike in Hollywood, the larger land also includes an additional outpost, Donkey Kong Country. This is where Mine-Cart Madness, a cantilevered coaster that I’ve been highly anticipating, is located. It features a boom arm attached to a hidden track that allows the single-car trains to seemingly jump gaps and perform other physics-defying stunts lifted from the Donkey Kong games on the ride’s apparent track.
The ride is a bit rough; oddly, however, it is smooth when the car is going up the supposedly uneven, rickety wooden slats on the lift hills and jostles passengers when they soar down uninterrupted track sections. I was disappointed that the boom arm and the real track are not entirely hidden from view. But (and it’s a big but), I’ll be darned if I didn’t involuntarily panic when it appeared the car was going to leap off the track to certain doom even though I logically knew that was not the case. I think the notion of the cantilevered coaster holds great promise–even if Mine Cart Madness doesn’t quite deliver on the concept.
There are dragons aplenty in Isle of Berk
Universal’s spectacular world building extends to How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk. The mythical animals abound in the richly detailed land. I happened upon an ice-breathing dragon that periodically emits cold blasts. There are dragons that walk in the land and an impossibly cute and expressive animatronic Toothless that guests can encounter in a meet-and-greet experience. And yes, there are dragons flying overhead in the “The Untrainable Dragon,” a stellar musical presentation imported from Universal Beijing that includes glorious singing and Broadway-level production. The tricked-out theater includes screens that envelop its sides, which reminded me of the DreamWorks Theatre Featuring Kung Fu Panda at Universal Studios Hollywood. There are no outdoor dragon flyovers at Isle of Berk–at least not yet. I suspect the promised airborne creatures, which will likely be powered by drones, will debut closer to the park’s official opening.
Hiccup’s Wing Gliders, is a delightful family coaster from Intamin, the same manufacturer that created Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Coaster. With its launches and mid-course show scene, it reminds me of the Potter-themed attraction, although Hiccup’s is a bit slower and foregoes elements such as a vertical rollback and a drop track; as such, it is a perfect gateway ride for aspiring coaster warriors (or for folks wary of more extreme thrills). It is not a marquee attraction on the level of Stardust Racers, but Hiccup’s may be something of a sleeper hit for Epic Universe.
Younger kids will surely adore Isle of Berk, but I do wonder whether families will find that the park offers enough for them to do. Many will likely steer clear of Dark Universe altogether, and the height requirements (granted, a number of which are as low as 40 inches) and/or intensity of most of the other lands’ rides might preclude them from hopping aboard. For that matter, with only seven major attractions (some of which are prototypes that may experience downtime as Universal works through operational and technical issues) and four smaller ones, I wonder about their capacity and the wait times that guests might encounter.
Anticipation for Epic Universe, partly generated by Universal itself and partly by the media (guilty as charged), has been extraordinary. Improbably, the park exceeds those lofty expectations. Given the buzz, I’m guessing that demand for tickets to Epic Universe and attendance will be, well, epic.
Again ATPers, feel free to shoot me some questions about Epic Universe. And share your thoughts about Dark Universe, Isle of Berk, and Super Nintendo World–or the park in general.
Arthur, do you think the Monsters Unchained ride has less, the same, or more physical movement than Forbidden Journey?