Universal Epic Universe (South Expansion Complex) - Opens May 22 2025

[NotCalledBob]

Indeed. The New EPCOT Hub has become a park in the traditional sense of a park. It seems like Celestial Park will be of a similar vein.

Maybe this will be an impetus to bring back plans for an EPCOT Entrance Hotel!

Indeed.

Also, the interactive dancing fountains, the restaurant in an aquarium. Asian themed dining.

 

[RSoxNo1]

An issue this land will have is that they didn’t pick an iconic HP setting like the first two lands. You will randomly be in Paris which no one connects with the Wizarding World, exploring shops no one has always dreamed of visiting. So the land has none of what made the first two lands runaway successes. They seem to have realized this by having the MoM ride, since the Ministry is an iconic setting. My fear is that we will end up with a random land leading to the ride that should’ve been added to USF.

It will be unfortunate if we end up with three WWoHP lands where each is weaker than the previous one.

Grindelwald should really be the land’s antagonist. There’s no precedent for jumping forward 70 years with a Time Turner.

If the ride is good it won't matter. There are plenty of different schools of thoughts and opinions on Galaxy's Edge, but Rise of the Resistance is excellent (with a small vocal minority that disagrees).

 

[JIMINYCR]

Who else will be there day 1?

Not day 1 but very soon after. Already planning it w/ DS. I'm a classic monsters fan.

 

[ToTBellHop]

If the ride is good it won't matter. There are plenty of different schools of thoughts and opinions on Galaxy's Edge, but Rise of the Resistance is excellent (with a small vocal minority that disagrees).

Sure. I hope there’s enough worthwhile content. I struggle to make myself care about HTTYD all that much. So one great HP ride with a non-compelling land in addition to a great Frankenstein ride with a tiny coaster next door, Nintendo (which has not exactly received rave reviews), and a great racing coaster just isn’t exciting me all that much.

Better than anything from Disney in 2025 at least.

 

[Chef idea Mickey`=]

Who else will be there day 1?

Never say never

 

[lazyboy97o]

They are literally calling it WWoHP: Ministry of Magic. They admit no one wants to visit magical Paris.

They’re calling it Ministry of Magic because it was always about the ministries of magic. By the time they cut the second ride in the other ministère it was way too late to change the land.

 

[UNCgolf]

Am . . . am I the only one who's underwhelmed?

No. I do think the Celestial Park area looks beautiful and fun to explore (and I really like the Victorian aquarium restaurant), but the attractions there aren't interesting and I don't think the HTTYD area will offer much for me (which is one of the problems with making sole IP lands).

The Nintendo area is fine but I'm not blown away by it and the Mario Kart ride is awful.

I want to see more information/art for the monsters area; that seems like the most promising part of the park.

 

[ToTBellHop]

They’re calling it Ministry of Magic because it was always about the ministries of magic. By the time they cut the second ride in the other ministère it was way too late to change the land.

So we will enter the British Ministry via Paris. As one does. And potentially we will also randomly travel forward and backward 70 years. As one does.

I can only suspend disbelief so far for one ride. I’ll need some Firewhiskey.

 

[Chef idea Mickey`=]

This is where Walt Disney would have spend his day off if he were still alive

For one of the main purposes there's no statue of him in sight.

 

[celluloid]

I thought the purpose of an IP land was to allow guests to enter a land they’ve always dreamed of visiting. I am confident no one has dreamed of visiting the Paris magical community. Beauxbatons would be better if we insist on selling something Universal claims is croqué monsieur.

They are literally calling it WWoHP: Ministry of Magic. They admit no one wants to visit magical Paris.

That's the Disney buzzword in you.

This is a real thing in themed entertainment design where you create things that allow to mimic adventures without exact replicating them. It is literally in text books for the study. It often works better becuase the direct translation will always feel uncanny to how someone thought the film set etc...would look in three dimensions.

I never once regretted that JP at IOA was Isla Aventura and not Isla Nublar, or that the Institute of Future Technology was a part of an expo to take me time traveling and not Hill Valley. Many examples.

It just seems like you are crapping on it without even knowing what the land will be complemented with. It makes sense that they don't want to just keep mimicking what has already been done in the other two lands.

 

[Chef idea Mickey`=]

So we will enter the British Ministry via Paris. As one does. And potentially we will also randomly travel forward and backward 70 years. As one does.

I can only suspend disbelief so far for one ride. I’ll need some Firewhiskey.

Why can't the British ministry be in Paris as well.... they can do like Galaxy's Edge... also if the time period in the attraction doesn't correlate to the time 1920s in Paris then it makes it even weirder.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Looking at the fly-thru, it looks like Atlantic -- the surf and turf full service -- will be the premier food service. High-end dishes. And they situated the seating so that everyone has a full view of the center of Celestial Park all the way to Helios being able to watch the fountain shows and the fireworks. That's good planning. Let's hope the quality of the food is good.

 

[Chef idea Mickey`=]

So we will enter the British Ministry via Paris. As one does. And potentially we will also randomly travel forward and backward 70 years. As one does.

I can only suspend disbelief so far for one ride. I’ll need some Firewhiskey.

This leaves a missing portal for Epic Universe... jump countries and time travel...should of been a Back to the Future ride between it all

 

[UNCgolf]

They definitely should have just built Hogwarts/grounds as the HP area -- that would have been a massive, massive draw.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Not day 1 but very soon after. Already planning it w/ DS. I'm a classic monsters fan.

DH and me, too!

We'd been married for almost 10 years before we happened to have a conversation about books we enjoyed as kids. I told him there was this series of black-and-white monster movie books in my elementary school library, that I loved so much, and checked out so many times, that by the time I hit 6th grade, the check-out cards for each of them were filled almost exclusively with my name. He said that was weird, because there was a similar series in his school library that he used to check out and reread repeatedly, as well.

It turned out it was the very same series -- occupying the shelves of 2 elementary schools, 60+ miles away from one another, being obsessively adored by two little nerds who'd meet and fall in love 15 years later. The first time we went into Monsters Cafe at Universal Orlando, we were like kids in a candy store!

As you can imagine, we are irrationally excited for Dark Universe.

 

[ToTBellHop]

This leaves a missing portal for Epic Universe... jump countries and time travel...should of been a Back to the Future ride between it all

There have always been some inconsistencies that we look past (e.g. sometimes we are wizards; other times Muggles. The Gringotts ride takes place takes place at a time when some Diagon Alley shops wouldn’t be there. Etc.). But, this requires a Hungarian Horntail-sized mental leap.

 

[SplashJacket]

Sure. I hope there’s enough worthwhile content. I struggle to make myself care about HTTYD all that much. So one great HP ride with a non-compelling land in addition to a great Frankenstein ride with a tiny coaster next door, Nintendo (which has not exactly received rave reviews), and a great racing coaster just isn’t exciting me all that much.

Better than anything from Disney in 2025 at least.

I honestly expect HTTYD to be a bit of a sleeper hit, and a lot of the Nintendo issues stem from an expectation mismatch regarding MK. With time, once expectations adjust, I fully expect MK to be more Universally loved.

IMO, MK somewhat feels like a Runaway Railway but with better execution. MK >> MMRR. For me, it's an instant classic.

Every land should have really good kinetics and be very nice places to hang around / have more depth beyond the headlining attractions.

 

[Chef idea Mickey`=]

I see it as a strength. Paris allows for different food and atmosphere. We have two lands of UK based foods and atmosphere. Paris will provide its own charm. By now the parks have proven to fans they can make immersive lands that don't always exactly mimic the locations(hogsmeade opened with this concept that allowed for amalgamation)

That's the whole main purpose I Believe by now it has nothing to do with Fantastic Beasts but still in a way of decor.

 

[MisterPenguin]

The two settings in Ministry of Magic will be disjointed. And that's the way it is.

The original 'lands' in Disneyland were an amalgam of different times, settings, universes. And that's the way it is.

Is a unified adherence to the theme and setting of a 'land' something to aspire to? Sure. But sometimes, you need a junk drawer full of unrelated stuff for the sake of expediency.

We've been having this argument with MK's Frontierland, which was one of those junk drawers of time and geography. Some people seem intent on claiming a pure geographical and chronological thematic adherence that it had in its past (which it didn't) and how that pure thematic adherence must endure into the future (not unless you make everything else thematically pure, thank-you).

This is all a long way to say: I don't care if Ministry of Magic has two separate settings. It is what it is. I'm not going to boycott it for its lack of thematic purity.

But those who say that it's OK if it has two disjointed settings should also give a pass to other parks when they also have disjointed settings in one 'themed land.'

 

[BrerFoxesBayouAdventure]

Aside from that, kind of wished they would have built an area themed to Shrek's Far Far Away instead of an area based on a spin-off of a beloved movie franchise like Fantastic Beasts where the third movie flopped like crazy, yeah, I know Shrek isn't the biggest animated franchise anymore(especially with Shrek the Third(and to some, Shrek Forever After) being a cinematic afterthought to moviegoers) and the Dragons series was the more constant of the DreamWorks bunch, but that franchise suddenly had a resurgence lately thanks to Puss in Boots: The Last Wish being a hit with pretty much everyone, as for Fantastic Beasts, that is on pause indefinitely, but that won't stop Universal(and the license holdovers to the Wizarding World franchise) from giving us Ministry of Magic

PS: I've heard that it was rumored to sit alongside Diagon Alley at Studios, so I hope the space that used to be Fear Factor Live(where the Fantastic Beasts land was rumored to be) will eventually see more love or redevelop it to finally get a Floridian clone of the Pets ride from Hollywood after Epic Universe opens(probably not)

We're getting a Shrek-themed experience in the rethemed Kidzone, but AFAIK it's just a meet and greet.