Epic Universe portals from concept to reality: Inscriptions, weather vanes, lore, construction
Welcome to our guide to the portals of Epic Universe, complete with construction photos and analysis for the new theme park’s entryways into Celestial Park, Super Nintendo World, Dark Universe, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic, and How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk.
Epic Universe portals primer
Universal Epic Universe will open May 22, 2025 at Universal Orlando Resort, and guests will access each of the new theme park’s lands — themed to Nintendo, Universal Classic Monsters, “Harry Potter,” and “How to Train Your Dragon” — by stepping through a portal. These portals emanate from the Celestial Park, the central hub of Epic Universe.
Each portal at Epic Universe contains a unique weather vane, spherical orb, and its own inscription symbolic of its world’s narrative and tone.
Super Nintendo World
Weather vanes: Super Nintendo World is the only portal at Epic Universe to contain multiple columns radiating toward the sky, each with various items that players often collect in the Mario video games. The portal has a green warp pipe with stars on top, a red warp pipe with a flower on top, a blue warp pipe with a mushroom on top, and a yellow warp pipe with a gold coin on top.
Orb icon: a double-sided coin depicting a vintage 8-bit Mario design on one side, and a modern Mario design on the other.
Portal inscription: “Here we go!” A Nintendo video game player of any frequency likely reads those words in Mario’s voice. The hero happily utters the phrase upon embarking on his adventures.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic
Weather vane: sculpture of a hand pointing the Elder Wand toward the sky. In the “Harry Potter” stories, the Elder Wand is invincible, and one of the three Deathly Hallows (along with the Invisibility Cloak and the Resurrection Stone). This area of Epic Universe largely takes place during the events of 2018’s “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” during which the dark wizard Grindelwald is in possession of the Elder Wand.
Orb icon: an hourglass / Time Turner, signifying not only the multiple points in the “Harry Potter” timeline represented within this Epic Universe world, but also more literally being a key prop in the storyline of the area’s main attraction, Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry. In the ride, which takes place after the final “Harry Potter” movie, Dolores Umbridge attempts to steal a Time Turner in order to bring back Voldemort.
Portal inscription: “For in dreams we enter a world that is entirely our own.” This is an Albus Dumbledore quote from “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.”
Dark Universe
Weather vane: an electricity tower. Within the lore of Dark Universe’s Darkmoor village, electricity pulsates throughout the area and is synced with Frankenstein Manor, where Dr. Victoria Frankenstein is busy conducting a dangerous experiment.
Orb icon: purple energy
Portal inscription: “It’s alive! It’s alive!” This references the words spoken by Dr. Henry Frankenstein in the 1931 Universal horror film “Frankenstein.”
How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk
Weather vane: dragon emblem
Orb icon: silhouette of a dragon flying
Portal inscription: “We, my friends, have dragons!”
Epic Universe park entrance portal
From the main entrance of Epic Universe, guests will step through a structure called the Emerald Gate. From there, they’ll encounter the Chronos device, the storytelling conduit and a portal itself that connects the realms of Epic Universe together.
“In our story, Chronos is this giant machine used to harness the energy of the universe that powers all of Celestial Park, allowing us to open the portals to other worlds,” said Adam Rivest, executive producer for Celestial Park, when Universal revealed Epic Universe in January 2024.
Upon the Chronos main entrance tower, an inscription reads:
With sun and moon, the stars and time,
the Chronos spins and worlds align.
For if you seek with curious heart,
your compass true and stars to chart,
beyond the gate find gardens green
and epic worlds to fill your dreams.
Photos by Matt Roseboom
The Chronos tower portal also features each of the four orb icons from the individual worlds of Epic Universe.
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