Universal Epic Universe - New Florida Theme Park

[Bowser]

Damn the DK coaster looks incredible!

I saw a clip of the one in Japan and it said there are gaps designed into the track so it looks like the mine carts jump (like in the game).

 

[Skyscraper]

I saw a clip of the one in Japan and it said there are gaps designed into the track so it looks like the mine carts jump (like in the game).

Yes the actual coaster track is hidden below the fake railway track, giving the impression that the cars are "jumping" the track. Very cool indeed!

 

[Bowser]

Yes the actual coaster track is hidden below the fake railway track, giving the impression that the cars are "jumping" the track. Very cool indeed!

So cool. Love it when something revolutionary happens with rollercoasters. Just when you think you've seen it all!

 

[jon81uk]

We appear to have some names for attractions and outlets trademarked in the Harry Potter area, including the name of the new ride:

Interesting that the copyright owner is Warner Bros not Universal. Its probably because all of these are going in the Harry Potter land, but still just interesting how much control WB has over a theme park that isn't theirs!

 

[AT86]

I mean, if you squint.

 

[Tim]

Every time I've seen this facade I've done a double take. It differs in the details but those windows are really similar.

 

[Dave]

Oriel Windows are a classic gothic architecture design trope and Alton Towers was basically pugins “throw all the classic gothic design tropes at one building” project so it’s not surprising gothic theme park designs look vaguely similar.

 

[John_P]

From: https://twitter.com/insideuniversal/status/1744352633635078579?t=LgDasuliOcCCTF_8f2io-w&s=19


The current belief is it'll reopen as an Epic Universe preview centre.

Should be a big year 2024 with new details, an updated set of images, and of course an opening date.

 

[John_P]

From: https://twitter.com/UniversalORL/status/1752317155301842980?t=_6BzAWBfcmhamLxE56b1Tw&s=19


And here's the official announcement from Universal about the park

 

[Rob]

The full announcement video is on YouTube:



The model looks amazing, hopefully there will be some clear photos of it shown in time. What the showed of the Celestial Park area gives off some real Tivoli Gardens VIBES, definitiely some inspiration taken from there.

I also really like how you enter the park through one large portal, and then there will be a portal in to each themed world. Everything seems well thought through, taking the best bits from Universal and non-Universal parks around the world. Very excited to visit one day!

 

[Alastair]

Love that they've gone the route of adding an actual park, within the park. The existing two Universal parks severely lack decent natural landscaping, so this is an excellent idea. The concept of the portals also looks excellent (as @Rob mentions above). Really can't see much that they could improve on from this announcement video, but I'm willing to be proven wrong!

 

[Danny]

As far as 'official introduction' videos go, that was extremely powerful and well put together, as much as I'm sure the park/resort itself will be.

It's clear this is a culmination of decades' worth of learning from competitors and themselves, and they're trying to harness the best of the best for this park.

 

[Davezilla]

Looks ridiculously good, and if we one day get something anything close to that in the UK it will be something special.

 

[John_P]

From: https://youtu.be/qF2w9gMCLhM?si=xF69K_Dl0j2EZx6P


They've also released a CGI fly through of the Celestial Park area as well.

Looking forward to months of being drip fed details of the different worlds and the attractions now.

 

[Dobba]

4/10, needs more flat rides.

 

[Quantum]

Universal coming to destroy Disney's dominance. Love to see it, I always preferred Universal parks

 

[Benjsh]

We are booking for the last two weeks of the kids summer holidays in 2025. All the American kids will be back in school but I still anticipate it to be very busy in Orlando next year.

We will be keeping a spare day back for Epic Universe for sure as I doubt we will get it all done in one day.

 

[Llama]

Universal coming to destroy Disney's dominance. Love to see it, I always preferred Universal parks

As a Disney fan, it's incredibly sad to see. Universal is building a cutting edge park from scratch (and potentially more than one, if the UK park ends up happening) and the most concrete thing Disney has on the horizon outside of Japan is a retheme of an existing log flume.

 

[Tim]

Anyone else starting to see this as Universal's answer to Epcot?
Celestial Park in Particularly feels like what the redesigned Future World should have been. And the other lands feel like the different locations of World Showcase.
If Disney had fully committed to modernising Epcot it could have been this, now they have to compete with it.

 

[Danny]

Testing footage of the spinning swing launch Mack. [Insert obligatory looks slow comment here]