Epic Universe Classic Monsters windmill is alive and out of scaffolding

Today, let’s check in on the last of those, a celebration of the horror flicks from Universal Pictures’ early years. Thanks to bioreconstruct for sharing these photos with us and documenting this historic time in theme park history.

Entering the Universal Classic Monsters Portal

Looking at the photo below, imagine yourself inside Epic Universe in 2025, discovering the lay of the land. From the central plaza, you’ll pass through a portal (bottom center of photo) covered in fabricated rocks and tree roots to enter the Epic Universe Classic Monsters land. Once through the portal, you’ll step into a village alleyway.

At the end of this alley, you’ll get your bearings and embark upon your choice of adventures: an indoor ride on your right, an outdoor roller coaster on your left, or a restaurant straight ahead. Let’s take a closer look …

A Macabre Monster Village

The village’s gray tones and seemingly dilapidated infrastructure will set the dark tone for what awaits you as you venture further into the land. As with many theme park structures, the quaint-looking facades will mask a set of larger “show buildings” that are not visible to guests.

Here’s an alternate view of the village. From this perspective, the entry portal is just out of frame to the right.

An Indoor Attraction within a Manor

Reaching the open space at the end of the village alleyway, you may be drawn to the imposing manor to your right. This structure will reportedly be home to an indoor dark ride starring the Universal Classic Monsters.

Here’s that same view of the attraction’s entrance from the other side.

The photos below continue the purvey of the manor around the bend.

While the manor exterior is sizable in and of itself, the ride’s show building is much larger. As with many Orlando attractions, the building may be out of view from guests inside the park.

A Foreboding Roller Coaster

Upon emerging from the entryway village, where the indoor manor ride will be on your right, a roller coaster will stand on your left.

The launch coaster is mostly outdoors, though passes through a barn-like structure.

Construction crews recently added foliage to the queue area.

Teams also set into place these poles near the coaster’s load station as the foundation for further infrastructure or theming.

Here’s another vantage point of the coaster, with the manor façade visible to the right. Hey, what’s that at the top?

A Restaurant in Flames

Between the manor and the roller coaster is another building, on top of which sits a tall, wooden-looking tower. This will reportedly be a restaurant.

Just a few weeks ago, the themed tower was under scaffolding. Compare this January 2024 view to a photo from December 2023.

Let’s swing around for another view.

Here’s the restaurant and the tower in relation to the manor and the roller coaster.

As bioreconstruct pointed out, the architecture of the tower looks similar to the windmill in 1931’s “Frankenstein,” one of Universal’s early monster movies.

At the end of “Frankenstein,” a mob chasing after Frankenstein’s monster sets the windmill on fire. Alicia Stella of Theme Park Stop observed that Universal’s permits filed for this structure indicate gas lines within, suggesting the windmill will appear on fire within Epic Universe.

More Epic Universe Construction

Here’s an overview of the entire Epic Universe Classic Monsters area, from the opposite perspective as we started. From this vantage point, the entry portal is at the top center.

Elsewhere in Epic Universe, bioreconstruct captured another milestone: the park’s most visible signage yet. Appearing at the entrance of what is likely a “How to Train Your Dragon” restaurant, a sign reads “Grog & Gruel.”