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

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Aerial photo of Helios Grand Hotel and Celestial Park in Epic Universe

Aerial overview of Celestial Park areas near Super Nintendo World in Epic Universe.

Aerial overview of Super Nintendo World in Epic Universe.

Aerial photo of the large dome at top of Helios Grand Hotel in Epic Universe. It is being covered in an underlayment for the themed roof.

Aerial overview of Helios Grand Hotel in Epic Universe. A small dome will soon be raised to the tower roof. Work is underway on roads.

Aerial photo of Luna Overlook and the portal of Epic Universe. First steel in place for the themed Chronos tower of the portal.

Aerial photo of two domes at top of Helios Grand Hotel in Epic Universe. The smaller dome was recently raised, then capped. The large dome is being covered in an underlayment.

An aerial photo of Helios Grand Hotel in Epic Universe. A small dome was recently raised. Another small dome is staged at ground level.

Aerial look at construction of Chronos, the overall portal of Epic Universe. Just beyond is Luna Overlook, at top of a cascading water feature.1 Supports for arched features of the park entrance.2 Recently added concrete forms.

Aerial look across Epic Universe. From Dark Universe to Starfall Racers.

 

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Aerial overview of pool construction at Helios Grand Hotel in Epic Universe.

Aerial photo of test dummies riding a Starfall Racers train in Epic Universe. The dummies have capes and hoods.

Aerial photo of work in progress for roads and the transportation plaza of Helios Grand Hotel in Epic Universe.

Aerial photo of the Untrainable Dragon theater and the entrance plazas of Epic Universe.

Aerial photo of a small dome staged at base of Helios Grand Hotel in Epic Universe. The dome cap is at bottom left.

Aerial photo of rock work near the portal of Epic Universe.

Aerial overview of the arrival side of Helios Grand Hotel in Epic Universe. Located between The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at left, and Dark Universe at right.Extended queue construction for Ministry of Magic can be seen at right of the show buildings.

Aerial look at construction of Chronos, the overall portal of Epic Universe. At top right is Luna Overlook and a cascading water feature.

Aerial overview of front areas of Epic Universe. Portal of the park is the half circle of concrete, with steel rising on top for the themed Chronos tower. Water will cascade through Celestial Park, starting at Luna Overlook at center.

Aerial overview of the entrance plazas of Epic Universe. At center is a recently cast colorful concrete pattern.

 

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Aerial overview of the entrance plazas of Epic Universe.

At center of this aerial is a Starfall Racers train descending a Top Hat. Just after launch out of the station, at Epic Universe.(Only one train spotted in the flight today.)

Aerial photo of the windmill tower above The Burning Blade Tavern in Dark Universe.

Aerial photo of The Burning Blade Tavern area in Dark Universe. Dirt is being formed into a hill at top left, near the extended queue of the featured attraction.

Aerial photo of switchback construction in the extended queue of the featured attraction in Dark Universe.

Aerial overview of the extended queue of the Dark Universe featured attraction. Dirt is being shaped into a hill, and will likely be landscaped like at left.

Aerial photos of a service building near Dark Universe.

Aerial look at the manor construction in Dark Universe.

Aerial photo of manor construction in Dark Universe.

 

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Aerial photo of the entrance gateway and ramp of the manor in Dark Universe. In the shadow of the trees is a metal fence.

Aerial photo of current work at the manor in Dark Universe. Arrow at a metal decoration. The decoration will eventually go around the entire roof line.

Aerial photo of areas of Dark Universe near the Curse of the Werewolf roller coaster. Permanent fence is along track at left. Temporary fence along track at right.

Arrow in this aerial at a gateway in the queue of the Curse of the Werewolf roller coaster.

Aerial photo of the tree-filled queue of The Curse of the Werewolf roller coaster.

Aerial photo of current work in the village at Dark Universe.

Aerial photo of the portal to Dark Universe.

Aerial overview of Dark Universe.

Aerial photo of current theming of a well in the Dark Universe village.

Aerial look at the village in Dark Universe. At right is current theming of a well.

 

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Aerial photo of the front of the manor in Dark Universe.

Aerial overview of Super Nintendo World in Epic Universe.

Aerial look at landscaping so far at the Super Nintendo World portal.

Aerial overview of Celestial Park areas near Super Nintendo World in Epic Universe.

Aerial look at the Super Nintendo World portal. An escalator will bring guests up to Peach's Castle.

Aerial overview of Super Mario Land in Super Nintendo World.

Aerial overview of the Bowser's Fortress area of Super Nintendo World.Cylinder at ground level will be Toadstool Cafe.

Aerial photo of a Piranha Plant and a Conkdor near Yoshi's Adventure in Super Nintendo World.

 

[luv house of the mouse]

Silly question what are they going to do to the big green wall that faces into the park? Will it be themed because that isn't fade away blue.

 

[JoeCamel]

Silly question what are they going to do to the big green wall that faces into the park? Will it be themed because that isn't fade away blue.

Probably the same as they did on Hagrid with background painting and landscape in front of it. Not perfect but.....

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Silly question what are they going to do to the big green wall that faces into the park? Will it be themed because that isn't fade away blue.

I imagine it will end up looking like this...

And I just found this...

 

[DCBaker]

 

[bwr827]

What kind of queue system are we expecting at Epic? All virtual like Volcano Bay? A mix of virtual and standby? Anyone think there will be express pass available in Epic’s first year?

I think I heard that when Hagrid’s opened, lines were up to 8 hours long? And Slinky Dog lines were 5 hours long when Toy Story Land opened?

My kids and I are excited about this park and hope to visit in its first year. But not if it means getting only two rides done per day while killing my feet standing in line.

 

[lazyboy97o]

What kind of queue system are we expecting at Epic? All virtual like Volcano Bay? A mix of virtual and standby? Anyone think there will be express pass available in Epic’s first year?

Just regular Standby and Express as exists in the north campus parks.

 

[Rich Brownn]

What kind of queue system are we expecting at Epic? All virtual like Volcano Bay? A mix of virtual and standby? Anyone think there will be express pass available in Epic’s first year?

I think I heard that when Hagrid’s opened, lines were up to 8 hours long? And Slinky Dog lines were 5 hours long when Toy Story Land opened?

My kids and I are excited about this park and hope to visit in its first year. But not if it means getting only two rides done per day while killing my feet standing in line.

Hagrids opened with only a few cars running (a problem cropped up at the last minute resulting in much reduced capacity). Hopefully that wont happen here -- i expect a fairly long Test & Adjust time (all the coasters are currently testing already) and probably a good preview period. The last thing they ever want is a repeat of USF's disastrous opening. (IOA also suffered but that was from a badly designed ad campaign). We can hope 3rd times a charm for opening a dry park for them here

 

[Andrew25]

Hagrids opened with only a few cars running (a problem cropped up at the last minute resulting in much reduced capacity). Hopefully that wont happen here -- i expect a fairly long Test & Adjust time (all the coasters are currently testing already) and probably a good preview period. The last thing they ever want is a repeat of USF's disastrous opening. (IOA also suffered but that was from a badly designed ad campaign). We can hope 3rd times a charm for opening a dry park for them here

VB also suffered issues at opening, so Universal still has that freshly ingrained into their minds lol

There's 3 new hotels, along with the current 8 hotels, that are depending on Epic's success to keep them full and occupied.

For the most part, outside of Donkey Kong, all of the other attractions will have decent capacity when operating correctly. Too early to start offering touring plans for EU... but I can guarantee that either Donkey Kong or the Sky Fly flat ride at HTTYD will need to be your first attraction based on the expected capacity of those two.

 

[bwr827]

VB also suffered issues at opening, so Universal still has that freshly ingrained into their minds lol

There's 3 new hotels, along with the current 8 hotels, that are depending on Epic's success to keep them full and occupied.

For the most part, outside of Donkey Kong, all of the other attractions will have decent capacity when operating correctly. Too early to start offering touring plans for EU... but I can guarantee that either Donkey Kong or the Sky Fly flat ride at HTTYD will need to be your first attraction based on the expected capacity of those two.

I’m not up to speed on Donkey Kong other than the promo video. Why do we expect it to have low capacity?

 

[Andrew25]

I’m not up to speed on Donkey Kong other than the promo video. Why do we expect it to have low capacity?

4-passenger vehicles.... possibly dispatching somewhere in the ~20-sec range... 720 guests an hour without any operational issues.

I'm hoping Universal can surprise us by dispatching trains closer to the 15-sec range (approx. 960 riders an hour)... but we haven't really seen a coaster w/ intervals like that in a grand scale.

 

[cheezbat]

Not really, Universal wants people to add Epic in order to sell more nights at the hotels. Replacing USF for Epic doesn't accomplish that.

BUT, that will probably happen as they've kind of left USF with dud after dud and no significant changes. The parade/nighttime show will be a short-term solution to keep USF afloat.

Yes they want people to add to their stays, but they do not mind the idea of an attendance dip at Studios. They expect it. There is a major plan for redos and expansions over the next handful of years at the park. They know they have a few duds and will need all the capacity and headlining attractions Uni Studios can take to really make guests stay for a week.

 

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[ToTBellHop]

How much longer can it possibly be before they release 2025 resort packages?!

 

[Jon81uk]

Not really, Universal wants people to add Epic in order to sell more nights at the hotels. Replacing USF for Epic doesn't accomplish that.

BUT, that will probably happen as they've kind of left USF with dud after dud and no significant changes. The parade/nighttime show will be a short-term solution to keep USF afloat.


Yes, Universal has "gotten away" with increasing pricing over the years because they've "justified" increased prices through expansions and changes to the resort.

It does bother me that Universal gets away with things like removing 3D from rides, reduced park hours when the Disney community will be up in flames.

We shall see what happens, but I wouldn't put it past Universal to pull another SWGE-Disneyland style stunt and restrict APs all summer long while pushing 1-day tickets only.

In a way they shouldn’t have the same issue as the Star Warst at Disneyland one, there people already had an AP giving access to the park. Whereas at Universal Orlando existing AP holders have only paid for access to two or three parks, they currently have no right to admission for Epic Universe. Therefore I expect it will be an additional ticket purchase anyway and Uni can adjust that AP ticket upgrade price depending on how busy regular sales are.

4-passenger vehicles.... possibly dispatching somewhere in the ~20-sec range... 720 guests an hour without any operational issues.

I'm hoping Universal can surprise us by dispatching trains closer to the 15-sec range (approx. 960 riders an hour)... but we haven't really seen a coaster w/ intervals like that in a grand scale.

I don’t get why they didn’t just install two tracks for DK, yes sightlines might have been harder to ensure riders on the second track don’t see the “real” track of the other coaster, but it would make it a lot more fun seeing other carts flying past you as well as increasing capacity.

 

[Andrew25]

In a way they shouldn’t have the same issue as the Star Warst at Disneyland one, there people already had an AP giving access to the park. Whereas at Universal Orlando existing AP holders have only paid for access to two or three parks, they currently have no right to admission for Epic Universe. Therefore I expect it will be an additional ticket purchase anyway and Uni can adjust that AP ticket upgrade price depending on how busy regular sales are.

I think Epic should open with AP-access, but certainly w/ additional blockouts and a temporary reservation system for APs. Would be silly (IMO) to complicate the ticketing structure next year with various types of APs.

As a current AP, I'm not expecting any sort of admission to AP preview with just the current APs offered... but I would like to upgrade instead of playing this game of whether or not I have to purchase individual tickets before an AP is offered w/ Epic.

I don’t get why they didn’t just install two tracks for DK, yes sightlines might have been harder to ensure riders on the second track don’t see the “real” track of the other coaster, but it would make it a lot more fun seeing other carts flying past you as well as increasing capacity.

It's one of those questionable decisions the parks make that don't take into account operations. (I'm hoping I'm wrong).