Universal Epic Universe (South Expansion Complex) - Opens 2025

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J4546

Well-Known Member
what takes me out of the immersion for all parks nowadays is how packed they are with people. not sure how that could ever be mitigated cause you need poeple for a busniess to work lol but when its just a sea of people looking at their phones, with graphic tee shirts on its just not immersive no matter what the setting imo.
 
sedati

sedati

Well-Known Member
danlb_2000 said:
It's no always practical to box in a land. Diagon alley is a perfect environment for this since the city streets lend themselves to blocking out the rest of the park. On the other hand, if you look at Cars Land in California Adventure, it's incredibly well themed but they only way they could have blocked out the rest of the park would have been to surround it with mountains.
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Boxed in lands are highly effective but it is a sort of lazy approach. I'm having trouble articulating it, but the word I would use is expansive. By that I don't just mean that the land itself is big, but that when you're inside of it you can feel like the land continues on beyond where you can even traverse.

There are open world video games and then there are games that give the illusion an open world, but creatively constrain you. I think the best lands are doing that.
 
sedati

sedati

Well-Known Member
J4546 said:
what takes me out of the immersion for all parks nowadays is how packed they are with people. not sure how that could ever be mitigated cause you need poeple for a busniess to work lol but when its just a sea of people looking at their phones, with graphic tee shirts on its just not immersive no matter what the setting imo.
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I've spoiled myself by getting in line for a ride at closing and then leaving at a leisurely pace with the lands mostly empty.

But even so, there's still a difference between 'Gosh there's a lot of Muggles in Hogsmeade today" vs "Damn, Universal is crowded."
 
rd805

rd805

Well-Known Member
SpectreJordan said:
How soon do you think they'd replace F&F though? Everyone hates it but it's still fairly new & I'm sure it cost a pretty penny.

Replace it with a better coaster. USF desperately needs something like Velocicoaster.
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I don't think it's too crazy to think that they destroy Rip, Ride, Rocket as well as F&F and use the new coaster they are building in Cali for F&F as a reference and bring it to Orlando. I'm sure it's a major PITA to have to build around what's existing, but they could upgrade their coaster needs and possibly still have space to do something where F&F Orlando currently stands to bring an entirely different experience & IP .
 
ToTBellHop

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
With the two space hotels opening in January 2025, I have to imagine this project is opening during the first half of 2025. I doubt they’d open 2 hotels next to EU much before the park itself opens.
 
UNCgolf

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
sedati said:
To be clear, these are my observations only, but I felt more aware of the park beyond than I remembered previously. This can be due to noise intrusion (Velocicoaster) as much as sight lines. While Hagrid's is a great ride, it is sadly far less immersive than I'd hoped and I'm experiencing it years after opening where the foliage has had time to grow. This land while bar-raising in many respects has some glaring issues that hold it back and I think that's what's most frustrating- to come so close and yet have visible show buildings and blaring soundtrack music. You are reminded that you are in a themed land, and not somehow magically transported to another place. Again, this was just something I was feeling on a recent trip during several visits to this land.
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I wasn't overly impressed by Hogsmeade -- Diagon Alley, on the other hand, is absolutely fantastic.
 
999th Happy Haunt

999th Happy Haunt

Well-Known Member
sedati said:
Boxed in lands are highly effective but it is a sort of lazy approach. I'm having trouble articulating it, but the word I would use is expansive. By that I don't just mean that the land itself is big, but that when you're inside of it you can feel like the land continues on beyond where you can even traverse.

There are open world video games and then there are games that give the illusion an open world, but creatively constrain you. I think the best lands are doing that.
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Jurassic Park in IoA does this for me, and used to do it even better before Kong and Potter. In certain spots it really feels like the jungle just keeps going.

Edit: How could I forget, Adventureland also does this EXTRAORDINARILY well. Especially looking into the Jungle Cruise jungle from just about anywhere in the land and from the top of the treehouse. There’s even some vantage points where you can see the top of the cambodian temple fairly far from the JC entrance. Makes the scale feel absolutely massive without the need of any large facades making the land feel boxed in. They don’t make them like they used to that’s for sure.
 
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SpectreJordan

SpectreJordan

Well-Known Member
rdoncsecz said:
I don't think it's too crazy to think that they destroy Rip, Ride, Rocket as well as F&F and use the new coaster they are building in Cali for F&F as a reference and bring it to Orlando. I'm sure it's a major PITA to have to build around what's existing, but they could upgrade their coaster needs and possibly still have space to do something where F&F Orlando currently stands to bring an entirely different experience & IP .
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This would be ideal. It's insane that they even thought of making anything but a coaster for F&F, let alone going through with it.
999th Happy Haunt said:
Jurassic Park in IoA does this for me, and used to do it even better before Kong and Potter. In certain spots it really feels like the jungle just keeps going.

Edit: How could I forget, Adventureland also does this EXTRAORDINARILY well. Especially looking into the Jungle Cruise jungle from just about anywhere in the land and from the top of the treehouse. There’s even some vantage points where you can see the top of the cambodian temple fairly far from the JC entrance. Makes the scale feel absolutely massive without the need of any large facades making the land feel boxed in. They don’t make them like they used to that’s for sure.
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Jurassic Park is such an underrated land. I feel it's really immersive & well themed. The only part I don't like about it is the carnival games near the burger restaurant; but I could also see that being something they'd do in-universe too lol
 
Andrew25

Andrew25

Well-Known Member
SpectreJordan said:
Jurassic Park is such an underrated land. I feel it's really immersive & well themed. The only part I don't like about it is the carnival games near the burger restaurant; but I could also see that being something they'd do in-universe too lol
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They bother me, but not too much since they're in-theme and the prizes are all Jurassic/Dinosaur themed.

I just hope Epic Universe lacks carnival games, but I believe How To Train Your Dragon might have them
 
SpectreJordan

SpectreJordan

Well-Known Member
Andrew25 said:
They bother me, but not too much since they're in-theme and the prizes are all Jurassic/Dinosaur themed.

I just hope Epic Universe lacks carnival games, but I believe How To Train Your Dragon might have them
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Hopefully they'd be higher quality & better themed than the carnival prizes in Islands/Studios. It'd be immersion breaking to have some crappy Dollar Tree looking Toothless plushies sitting in what's looking to be a very nice land.
 
trr1

trr1

Well-Known Member
bioreconstruct
@bioreconstruct
Aerial overview of 2 resorts South of Epic Universe. Terra Luna at the left, and Stella Nova at the right.
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Aerial photo of the current state of the pool and recreation area of Stella Nova resort.Window frames and some glass installed on the lobby wall.South of Epic Universe.
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Aerial look at construction progress of the guest entrance side of Stella Nova resort. South of Epic Universe.
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Aerial look at Stella Nova and Terra Luna resorts relative to the Orange County Convention Center in top left.Way back 1990's Universal owned the land seen here between the Beachline and International Drive. Sold it all off. Later bought back the site for Epic Universe.
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Aerial look at concrete forms underway for the pool at Terra Luna resort. Also seen is prefab construction at left.South of Epic Universe.
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Aerial photo of work so far on the guest entrance side of Stella Nova resort. South of Epic Universe.Guest access road at left.Intersection of Universal Blvd and Kirkman Rd top right.
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In this aerial photo of the Epic Universe area1 Terra Luna resort2 Stella Nova resort3 In-park resort tower rising4 To be a raised traffic circle. Day guest parking access at right.
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Aerial photo of the manor in Dark Universe. Scaffolding removed recently from some of the tower.
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In this aerial photo of the Epic Universe area1 Terra Luna resort2 Stella Nova resort3 In-park resort tower rising4 To be a raised traffic circle. Day guest parking access at right.
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Compare post at start of this Thread to artwork from the Loews website.URL here is for an article by
@OrlandoParkStop
discussing the Stella Nova resort features.https://orlandoparkstop.com/news/theme-park-news/universal-stella-nova-resort-revealed-for-epic-universe-possibly-opening-january-2025/
1699650591451.png
 
donsullivan

donsullivan

Premium Member

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