Yup, it’s gonna be Epic

Universal reveals (some) details about its wildly ambitious new theme park

There have been teasers. There have been rumors. There have been buildings and coaster track rising for months now on the huge property located a few miles away from Universal Orlando’s existing campus. Finally, the company, which has kept nearly everything under tight wraps, has released official information about its new theme park. And yup, it’s nothing short of epic.

Universal Epic Universe (sounds like the Department of Redundancy Department came up with the name), which is slated to debut sometime in 2025, will include five themed lands. Universal had already revealed that one of them would be Super Nintendo World. We now know that the lands will also include How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic, and Dark Universe (which will showcase Universal’s legendary movie monsters.) Celestial Park will serve as the main entrance and a stepping-off hub to the other four lands.

(Universal Studios)

In a promotional video announcing the park, Mark Woodbury, chairman and CEO, Universal Destinations & Experiences, promises that Epic will deliver more of the company’s “great storytelling and more of the immersive environments in the most visceral manner possible.” The new campus will nearly double Universal Orlando’s size and allow the resort to deliver a full week’s worth of vacation experiences, he adds. (Take that, Woodbury seems to be saying to a certain theme park resort just up I-4.)

Guests will enter the park through the Chronos, a soaring tower that will act as a demarcation point between the real world and the fantastical one that Universal is conjuring. Once inside Celestial Park, similar towers will provide access to the other four lands. It appears that the lands will largely be hidden from one another and will wholly immerse guests once they enter them. It also seems that the towers will be the only ways in and out of the lands so that the only points of connection will be through Celestial Park.

“Epic Universe is built on an amazing concept,” says none other than Steven Spielberg, who has served as a creative consultant for Universal’s parks for years, in the announcement video. “The idea that you can go into a world through some kind of portal, and you come out in a world you never could dream of,” he explains about the Chronos towers.

Guests will enter the park through a towering “Chronos” portal. (Universal Studios)

Other than the names of the lands and a few hints at what they might contain, Universal didn’t divulge a whole heckuva lot of specifics, save for Celestial Park. Apparently, the company is planning to dole out details, one land at a time, leading up to the opening.

Rather than a relatively compact debarkation point, Celestial Park will be an expansive area that will stretch from one end of Epic Universe to the other. At the far end of the land will be the 500-room Universal Helios Grand Hotel, which is stunning and looks to be a high-end property. Located inside Epic Universe, hotel guests will have their own dedicated entrance to the park. Filled with winding paths, gardens, and fountains, Celestial Park has vague hints of Victorian and steampunk influences.

“It’s where we put the ‘park’ back into theme park,” Woodbury says.

With its green spaces, the sprawling entrance area reminds me of the warm, lushly landscaped “neighborhood” Disney recently revealed at the reimagined front of Epcot. Celestial Park also recalls the lovely Gardens of Imagination at Shanghai Disneyland.

Celestial Park will include the Starfall Racers coaster and the Constellation Carousel along with gardens and fountains. (Universal Studios)

The featured attraction in the land will be Starfall Racers. The dual-launch racing coaster will span 5,000 feet of track and extend across a large swath of Celestial Park. It will climb 133 feet and hit a plenty-thrilling top speed of 62 mph. The two trains will wind in and around each other in ways that Twisted Colossus at Six Flags Magic Mountain promises, but rarely delivers. For one of the maneuvers, which Universal is calling the “Celestial Spin,” the trains will cross one another while inverted. It sounds, er, out of this world.

There’s no word which manufacturer is building Starfall Racers, but since Intamin has been the go-to company for Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Coaster, Jurassic World VelociCoaster, and the upcoming Fast and Furious thrill machine at Universal Studios Hollywood, it’s likely that the Liechtenstein ride mavens are on the job.

Guests will also be able to ride Constellation Carousel. Instead of a traditional merry-go-round, the menagerie of animals will not hang from above but be connected to poles in the ride’s platform. From Universal’s description, it sounds as if in addition to going up and down, the creatures will glide forward, backwards, and rotate in concert with the ride’s soundtrack.

Kids (and adults who don’t give a hoot about getting wet) will be able to frolic in the fountains of Astronomica. That may or may not refer to the fountains that will be in front of the Helios Grand Hotel. (There will be multiple bodies of water that will total seven acres in the land.)

Among the dining spots in Celestial Park will be the full-service Atlantic restaurant, which will be housed in a striking circular building enclosed with enormous floor-to-ceiling glass windows. The eatery is meant to invoke an aquarium. The Blue Dragon Pan-Asian Restaurant will offer Japanese, Chinese, and Thai dishes, while The Oak & Star Tavern will serve barbecue.

The portal to Dark Universe (Universal Studios)

While not much else has been revealed about Epic’s other lands (stay tuned; I’ll have plenty more reporting in the months ahead as Universal opens its info spigot), I have a pretty good sense of what’s probably on the way. The two groundbreaking attractions that seem destined to join Universal’s pantheon of jaw-dropping achievements such as The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey will likely be a dark ride ode to Frankenstein and a sojourn to the Ministry of Magic that will incorporate robotic Kuka arms. There will reportedly be three more coasters including one themed to the Werewolf (on which riders should yell “awooo!” instead of more traditional screams) and one in the Isle of Berk that will probably approximate riding on a dragon.

Universal confirmed that the new Super Nintendo World would include Donkey Kong in the mix, so it’s highly likely that in addition to (the incredible) Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge dark ride, the land will also feature the Mine Cart Madness coaster that will open this year at Universal Studios Japan. Using an intriguing cantilevered concept in which the vehicles will be attached to a hidden chassis that will roll along a second track underneath the apparent track, the mine carts will appear to leap across collapsed and missing track sections.

Are you going bonkers over all of this theme park goodness? I know I am. Given the pace of construction, I wouldn’t be surprised if at least some of Epic opens for previews before the end of this year, or perhaps in early 2025. Whenever it happens, I hope to be there, and I’ll certainly look forward to sharing my adventures with you.

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What has you most excited about Universal Epic Universe? Are you thinking about visiting the new park soon after it opens? What’s your first take on Starfall Racers?