Everything We Know about the Epic Universe Theme Park

By Garrett Martin | January 30, 2024 | 6:31pm

All art is concept renderings courtesy of Universal

Theme Parks Features Epic Universe

Everything We Know about the Epic Universe Theme Park

Universal spilled a ton of details on its next major theme park Epic Universe today, confirming a lot of longstanding rumors about the upcoming addition to its Florida resort. When Epic Universe opens in 2025, it’ll feature five distinct areas, which Universal is calling “worlds.” Four will offer immersive adventures in some of the most popular stories of the last century, while the fifth will rethink the traditional role of the “hub” at the center of a park. Let’s start with that one, since it’s at the heart of the whole park.

Celestial Park is the name of Epic Universe’s central world. It’s where guests will enter the park, and also where they’ll branch off into its other four worlds. Hubs are typically themed areas with shopping, dining, and a major central landmark that invites guests deeper into the park—imagine Disney’s Main Street U.S.A. and its castle, or the Tree of Life at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Celestial Park will have everything you expect from a hub—restaurants like the surf ‘n’ turf Atlantic, Pizza Moon, the Blue Dragon Pan-Asian Restaurant, and The Oak & Star Tavern BBQ spot, as well as shops including the Nintendo Super Star store—but also so much more, including two rides, a play area, and even an inside-the-park hotel. And it’s all inspired by an astronomy theme and the inspiring awe and beauty of space.

Epic Universe

Starfall Racers will probably get the most hype of those two rides in Celestial Park. It’s a roller coaster where two trains themed as comets seem to race each other through the cosmos. It promises to be the park’s most thrilling coaster, with two launches, a peak height of 133 feet, a top speed of 62 MPH, and 5000 feet of track, along with the appearance of “near misses” with the other comet. The other ride is Constellation Carousel, a classic carousel that makes you feel like you’re dancing through space. And Astronomica is a play area based around water (you’ve got to beat the heat during that Orlando summer, which seems to last from March to October); you can play in its fountains before or after enjoying one of the park’s other worlds.

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Finally, Celestial Park will also be home to the Universal Helios Grand Hotel. This 500-room luxury hotel will continue the world’s cosmic theming, and will also have its own private entrance into the park. There are other theme park hotels in America that have a dedicated entrance into a park, and Disney has hotels in Paris and Tokyo that are part of a theme park, but what Universal is doing with the Helios Grand Hotel is still fairly unique within this country, as it’s being built not just adjacent to the park but as a part of it.

In addition to a massive amount of information on Celestial Park, Universal also confirmed what Epic Universe’s four other inaugural worlds will be. There are no real surprises for anybody who’s followed this project over the last few years, but now that it’s all official fans of these various properties have a reason to get even more excited.

First up is the East Coast version of Super Nintendo World, the Super Mario-based living videogame that opened in California last year and Japan in 2021. Universal hasn’t fully confirmed what form Super Nintendo World will take in Epic Universe, but expect a version of Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge, the augmented reality dark ride that makes it feel like you’re in a real life game of Mario Kart. Also expect the first American version of Yoshi’s Adventure, an attraction from Japan’s Super Nintendo World where you ride a Yoshi on a slow trip through the Mushroom Kingdom. The world itself is an amazing experience, as it brings the Mushroom Kingdom to life through elaborate design work and copious animatronics, and even offers a real-life game where you can eventually engage in a “boss fight” with Bowser Jr. It’s also rumored that Epic Universe will be opening with the Donkey Kong Country expansion coming to Universal Japan, including the innovative (and, frankly, amazing sounding) Minecart Madness roller coaster. Universal hasn’t announced that yet, and until they do it’s just a rumor.

Epic Universe will also revive the infamous Dark Universe branding of the classic Universal monsters. This will clearly be the most popular world for old-timers and old souls alike, with its roots stretching back to the 1920s. Universal’s press release describes it as a “shadowy landscape where monsters roam in a world of myth and mystery,” and if their designers can make it look like one of those twisty, rustic little European towns that all the classic monster movies were based in, I’ll probably enjoy hanging out here more than any other part of Epic Universe. I’m sure there’ll be a fantastic roller coaster or dark ride inside Dr. Frankenstein’s castle. And that’s Dr. Victoria Frankenstein this time, thank you very much.

How to Train Your Dragon—Isle of Berk will bring the dragon-filled Viking world of the popular animated movies to life for all those who grew up loving these films (and the parents who watched alongside them). I’m a childless middle-aged man so this doesn’t scream out to me the way Nintendo and the Universal Monsters do, but there’s a reason both dragons and Vikings (well, when they’re not raiding and pillaging) have been popular for hundreds of years: they’re both really damn cool. So Vikings riding dragons must be exponentially cooler, right? Look, all I need out of this land is some great theming, some sick dragon animatronics, and a cool ride or two, and I have no reason to think Universal won’t deliver on all of that.

Finally, Epic Universe is also getting a new outpost of Universal’s most popular theme park land with The Wizarding World of Harry Potter—Ministry of Magic. Like the Fantastic Beasts movies, this will be set in the 1920s, primarily Paris, and will also be home to the Ministry of Magic building from the Potter books and movies. Recent controversies involving J.K. Rowling and her anti-trans opinions obviously haven’t slowed down the Potter money… uh, broom (do wizards have their own word for trains that I need to know about?), but fortunately theme parks are tolerant and respectful of pretty much everybody with money to spend, even if the people who made up the stories they’re based on aren’t. If this is built with the level of care as Universal’s other Potter areas, it’ll be a masterclass in immersion.

And that’s everything that was officially revealed about Epic Universe today. The park is scheduled to open in Orlando, not far from the rest of Universal Orlando Resort, at some point in 2025—a year that once appeared impossibly far away and yet is breathing down our necks. Expect Universal to dole out more news over the next year, with closer looks at every world, ride, restaurant, and store in the whole place to come. Meanwhile, here’s a video Universal released today about the new park, basically summing up everything I just told you. Check it out, if you want.

Senior editor Garrett Martin writes about videogames, comedy, travel, theme parks, wrestling, and anything else that gets in his way. He’s also on Twitter @grmartin.