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

[trr1]

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bioreconstruct
@bioreconstruct
Aerial photo of the Epic Universe logo placed above the portal into the park.

 

[Sorcerer Mickey]

https://x.com/bioreconstruct
bioreconstruct
@bioreconstruct
Aerial photo of the Epic Universe logo placed above the portal into the park.
View attachment 795288

Just think back to 2020 when we were looking at an empty lot wondering if this was still happening.

 

[trr1]

Just think back to 2020 when we were looking at an empty lot wondering if this was still happening.

bioreconstruct
@bioreconstruct

Start of a Thread with aerial overviews of Universal's Epic Universe construction. You are welcome to save these out for personal use as a Screensaver slide show, or as Desktop wallpaper. This is a look back at Jan 22, 2021

At right in this aerial photo is work so far for a toll plaza to enter day guest parking of Epic Universe. Steel frame and a concrete block building so far.At left, draining water patterns can be seen from a just-ended heavy rain.

Aerial photo of the construction of the Epic Universe day guest parking toll plaza. Traffic to flow left to right.

Aerial look at development of the toll plaza for day guest parking at Epic Universe. Arrow as the traffic flow.Vehicles at right are exiting from one of the parking sections now in use by construction team. This will also be day guest exit from that section.

Aerial look at a section of Epic Universe day guest parking being refreshed.Note the difference in lines. Top left portion is Herringbone style, like in a shopping plaza.New lines in traditional theme park style. The section at top of the photo redone like this weeks ago.

Aerial look at current roof development for Celestial Carousel in

 

[Sorcerer Mickey]

bioreconstruct
@bioreconstruct

Start of a Thread with aerial overviews of Universal's Epic Universe construction. You are welcome to save these out for personal use as a Screensaver slide show, or as Desktop wallpaper. This is a look back at Jan 22, 2021
View attachment 795359
At right in this aerial photo is work so far for a toll plaza to enter day guest parking of Epic Universe. Steel frame and a concrete block building so far.At left, draining water patterns can be seen from a just-ended heavy rain.
View attachment 795360
Aerial photo of the construction of the Epic Universe day guest parking toll plaza. Traffic to flow left to right.
View attachment 795361
Aerial look at development of the toll plaza for day guest parking at Epic Universe. Arrow as the traffic flow.Vehicles at right are exiting from one of the parking sections now in use by construction team. This will also be day guest exit from that section.
View attachment 795362
Aerial look at a section of Epic Universe day guest parking being refreshed.Note the difference in lines. Top left portion is Herringbone style, like in a shopping plaza.New lines in traditional theme park style. The section at top of the photo redone like this weeks ago.
View attachment 795363
Aerial look at current roof development for Celestial Carousel in
View attachment 795364

This is amazing. Thanks!

 

[brb1006]

bioreconstruct
@bioreconstruct

Start of a Thread with aerial overviews of Universal's Epic Universe construction. You are welcome to save these out for personal use as a Screensaver slide show, or as Desktop wallpaper. This is a look back at Jan 22, 2021
View attachment 795359
At right in this aerial photo is work so far for a toll plaza to enter day guest parking of Epic Universe. Steel frame and a concrete block building so far.At left, draining water patterns can be seen from a just-ended heavy rain.
View attachment 795360
Aerial photo of the construction of the Epic Universe day guest parking toll plaza. Traffic to flow left to right.
View attachment 795361
Aerial look at development of the toll plaza for day guest parking at Epic Universe. Arrow as the traffic flow.Vehicles at right are exiting from one of the parking sections now in use by construction team. This will also be day guest exit from that section.
View attachment 795362
Aerial look at a section of Epic Universe day guest parking being refreshed.Note the difference in lines. Top left portion is Herringbone style, like in a shopping plaza.New lines in traditional theme park style. The section at top of the photo redone like this weeks ago.
View attachment 795363
Aerial look at current roof development for Celestial Carousel in
View attachment 795364

Meanwhile, it took 5 years for Epcot's development to be complete.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

You know those movies where the big bully kid gets punched in the mouth?

 

[Sorcerer Mickey]

Meanwhile, it took 5 years for Epcot's development to be complete.

And four years between announcing the Splash Mountain redo and the newer versions' opening date. It will be six years between EU's announcement and opening date. Likely less, depending on when next year it opens. And that's not counting one year lost of productivity because of COVID. The original opening date was four years after its announcement (2023).

 

[lazyboy97o]

And four years between announcing the Splash Mountain redo and the newer versions' opening date. It will be six years between EU's announcement and opening date. Likely less, depending on when next year it opens. And that's not counting one year lost of productivity because of COVID. The original opening date was four years after its announcement (2023).

Announcements tell you absolutely nothing. Epic Universe had been in development for years when it was announced.

 

[Sorcerer Mickey]

Announcements tell you absolutely nothing. Epic Universe had been in development for years when it was announced.

Of course it was. Universal Creative doesn't dream up a new theme park on Monday night and announce it on Tuesday morning. Announcements tell you when the concept is more or less set in stone and ready to move into active development**. This doesn't change anything about my original statement.

**Except when Disney prefaces a D23 announcement with "so we've been thinking about building something behind Thunder Mountain..."

 

[lazyboy97o]

Of course it was. Universal Creative doesn't dream up a new theme park on Monday night and announce it on Tuesday morning. Announcements tell you when the concept is more or less set in stone and ready to move into active development**. This doesn't change anything about my original statement.

**Except when Disney prefaces a D23 announcement with "so we've been thinking about building something behind Thunder Mountain..."

Your view of what announcements signify is not at all true. An announcement is not a phase of design, it does not tell you any of that. When a project moves into active development is never actually tied to the concept being locked down.

 

[Sorcerer Mickey]

Your view of what announcements signify is not at all true. An announcement is not a phase of design, it does not tell you any of that. When a project moves into active development is never actually tied to the concept being locked down.

A creative team says "this is what we want to do" and the big brass gives them a stamp of approval. They share with the public and to shareholders. What happens next? Are you saying active development can start before a concept is locked down?

Obviously, a concept can change over time slightly because of elements out of ones' control (like COVID). So let's not factor for that.

 

[lazyboy97o]

A creative team says "this is what we want to do" and the big brass gives them a stamp of approval. They share with the public and to shareholders. What happens next? Are you saying active development can start before a concept is locked down?

Obviously, a concept can change over time slightly because of elements out of ones' control (like COVID). So let's not factor for that.

Do you remember when everyone expected Hagrid’s to be a Mack Inverted Powered Coaster? That didn’t come out of nowhere nor was it a false leak. The project started “active development” as an Inverted Powered Coaster and it changed to the motorbike coaster. Changing a ride system is a huge change. It’s a major component of the basic concept in which pretty much everything is designed.

Epic Universe received building permits for things not being built and you don’t get much more into active development than submitting drawings for approval.

So yes, concepts do change after “active development” starts.

 

[Sorcerer Mickey]

Do you remember when everyone expected Hagrid’s to be a Mack Inverted Powered Coaster? That didn’t come out of nowhere nor was it a false leak. The project started “active development” as an Inverted Powered Coaster and it changed to the motorbike coaster. Changing a ride system is a huge change. It’s a major component of the basic concept in which pretty much everything is designed.

Epic Universe received building permits for things not being built and you don’t get much more into active development than submitting drawings for approval.

So yes, concepts do change after “active development” starts.

I realize now my choice of words - in particular, the use of "active development" - was not the best. Let me rephrase my original statement -

Announcements tell you when the concept is more or less set in stone and ready for the construction/building phase of development, barring any unforeseen circumstances such as COVID.

Obviously a project can be considered in "active development" as soon as the pen hits the paper. But my point still stands that either Disney announces projects too early or takes too long to build them.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I realize now my choice of words - in particular, the use of "active development" - was not the best. Let me rephrase my original statement -

Announcements tell you when the concept is more or less set in stone and ready for the construction/building phase of development, barring any unforeseen circumstances such as COVID.

Obviously a project can be considered in "active development" as soon as the pen hits the paper. But my point still stands that either Disney announces projects too early or takes too long to build them.

No, announcements do not align with being near the start of construction, which is also not a static milestone. Construct often starts before design is complete, with Disney often doing it more deliberately than Universal.

Active development would not just be considered when pen hits the paper. There are five phases of design: Blue Sky, Concept, Schematic, Design Development, and Construction Documentation with plenty of design happening during construction. Moving from concept to schematic is major milestone that would best describe the start of active development as it is when dedicated project teams are really established. Disney tends to announce projects around this milestone when about 80% of the design work is still to be done.

Disney absolutely and unequivocally does announce projects earlier than Universal, but an announcement has none of the meaning regarding the design process you tried to attach. Disney’s overall project development process is longer and more expensive than Universal’s but not by much. There was a time when the delta was much greater but Universal has closed that gap. Looking at visible construction is meaningless because Disney makes greater use of fast-track project delivery processes that start construction before the design phases are completed.

 

[Sorcerer Mickey]

No, announcements do not align with being near the start of construction, which is also not a static milestone.

You're right on the first point. I remember Universal beginning construction on Kong, Dreamworks Land, Velocicoaster, and Minion Mayhem before announcing those projects.

Active development would not just be considered when pen hits the paper.

You took my original post too literally.

Looking at visible construction is meaningless because Disney makes greater use of fast-track project delivery processes that start construction before the design phases are completed.

Let's start with the facts. Universal announced Epic Universe on August 2019. Disney announced Splash Mountain on June 2020. Epic Universe is slated to open 2025. Splash Mountain opened June 2024. Six years for Epic, four for Splash.

We don't know how much time each project festered in development before they were made official. Neither began construction before they were announced. Do you think both projects were/will be completed in a reasonable timeframe? Remember, we're comparing a brand new theme park to a reskin of an existing attraction.

 

[sedati]

You know those movies where the big bully kid gets punched in the mouth?

The entryway is the one element that is an improvement over the original concept art.

That hotel... I'd honestly say this is worse than a castle cake, Mickey hat/wand, or DCA Hubcap. So big, dominating, bland, and worst of all permanent.

Half the lands (possibly 3/4 as I had heard a rumor about Isle of Berk but can't find more) have experiences that can only be had with additional purchase. The park's centerpiece is the resort's most expensive offering and looms over all else- this is not a background element or an entry element, this is literally the mountain on the horizon. It is thematically integrated in the most shallow sense. It is a big hotel that looks like a big hotel with a few embellishments making it "Celestial." It's lazy, uninspired, and I dearly hope is not something others will emulate.

A great new park, but also the most blatantly cash-grabbiest.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Just think back to 2020 when we were looking at an empty lot wondering if this was still happening.

That was just the pandemic pause. Land clearing started two years previously.

Meanwhile, it took 5 years for Epcot's development to be complete.

And 7 years for EU.


The land for EU started to be cleared in 2018.

Uni didn't announce what they were doing with it until 2019.

So from 'first shovel,' it will have taken 7 years to build EU.

That's including construction happening full time without having to work around a park open 10 hours a day.

 

[bwr827]

Half the lands (possibly 3/4 as I had heard a rumor about Isle of Berk but can't find more) have experiences that can only be had with additional purchase.

I don’t think I’ve heard about this. Do you mean Mario bands and Potter wands, or something different?

 

[lazyboy97o]

You're right on the first point. I remember Universal beginning construction on Kong, Dreamworks Land, Velocicoaster, and Minion Mayhem before announcing those projects.

You took my original post too literally.

Let's start with the facts. Universal announced Epic Universe on August 2019. Disney announced Splash Mountain on June 2020. Epic Universe is slated to open 2025. Splash Mountain opened June 2024. Six years for Epic, four for Splash.

We don't know how much time each project festered in development before they were made official. Neither began construction before they were announced. Do you think both projects were/will be completed in a reasonable timeframe? Remember, we're comparing a brand new theme park to a reskin of an existing attraction.

Just because something is a fact doesn’t mean it is a meaningful or useful piece of information.

If you don’t know how long a project has been in development then that seems like a pretty good reason to not comment on how long the project is taking. The design process though is not “festering in development” it is a necessity that all projects go through.

That you are comparing an attraction to a park is rather meaningless. The vast majority of the people working on Epic Universe are only focused on thing. Splash Mountain being rethemed was announced even earlier than Disney usually announces projects. I can dig up my posts from the time about how that was a problem because they were committing themselves to something before doing their due diligence to determine if it was even worth keeping the facility because renovations carry certain risks and those risks are significantly compounded when water is involved. Epic Universe was announced after construction had begun (but I’m sure you’ll again clarify that you meant a specific type of construction which is a big part of all of these comparisons people try to make). So these two things are a great example of projects being announced in very different phases of design, with one being announced very near the beginning and the other closer to the end.

Fun fact, Universal announced a third theme park for this site in 1999.

 

[bwr827]

Fun fact, Universal announced a third theme park for this site in 1999.

You mean just as Islands of Adventure was opening, they were announcing the next park and it was to be built where Epic is?