What is Epic Universe? Newcomers’ guide to Universal Orlando’s new theme park
What is Epic Universe? Learn the basics of the new theme park, opening in 2025 at Universal Orlando with Harry Potter, Nintendo, and more.
Updated Feb. 9, 2025; original version published July 30, 2024.
What is Epic Universe?
Universal Epic Universe is a new theme park under construction at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida. We’re not talking a new ride or a new area within an existing park. This is an entirely new theme park — Orlando’s first in a quarter-century.
Epic Universe joins Universal Orlando’s other theme parks (Universal Studios Florida and Universal Islands of Adventure), water park (Universal Volcano Bay), dining district (Universal CityWalk), and nine (soon to be 11) onsite hotels. Together, these entities comprise the whole of Universal Orlando Resort.
What are the lands in Epic Universe?
Five lands, or “worlds,” will comprise Epic Universe.
- Celestial Park, the galaxy-themed central hub and our point of access to the other worlds
- Super Nintendo World, featuring Super Mario Land and Donkey Kong Country
- Dark Universe, based on Universal Classic Monsters
- The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic, the third Potter realm in Universal Orlando
- How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk, based on the trilogy from DreamWorks Animation
Within the lore of Epic Universe, the guest travels the stars as they warp between different portals, each leading to a self-contained world with its own story. The narrative thread of the park’s astronomy-adjacent themes will mainly play out in the main entrance area and Celestial Park.
Let’s dive deeper into each world’s rides and attractions, featuring concept art from Universal and aerial photography by bioreconstruct.
Celestial Park
Upon entering Epic Universe, guests will step into Celestial Park and chart the course for their quest. Celestial Park serves as the central hub of Epic Universe, with individual portals leading into each of the other four worlds. With each world being a dead end, the only way to travel between them will be to traverse Celestial Park.
Not merely a utility plaza, though, Celestial Park has a few attractions of its own:
- Stardust Racers, a high-thrill, launched roller coaster with two tracks side-by-side so its trains can race
- Constellation Carousel, with animals themed to mythical creatures
Celestial Park will also boast the park’s only table-service restaurants: Atlantica and The Blue Dragon Pan-Asian Restaurant.
Super Nintendo World
A two-for-one special, Super Nintendo World will bring video games to life in two distinct lands:
- Super Mario Land, themed to Mushroom Kingdom
- Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge, an indoor dark ride with augmented reality effects
- Yoshi’s Adventure, a slow-moving, indoor/outdoor ride upon your own Yoshi
- Donkey Kong Country, themed to DK’s jungle
- Mine-Cart Madness, an indoor/outdoor roller coaster which will appear to “jump the track,” just like DK does in his video games
Guests in Super Nintendo World can grab a bite to eat at the quick-service Toadstool Café (operated by the Toads, of course). Leaning into the interactivity of video games, guests can purchase a Power-Up Band bracelet and play games within Super Nintendo World’s architecture and alleyways.
Versions of Super Nintendo World are already open at Universal Studios Japan and Universal Studios Hollywood.
Hear from artists at Universal Creative about developing Super Nintendo World for Epic Universe:
Dark Universe
The creatures from the vintage Universal Classic Monsters films come “aliiiiive” in Dark Universe. In a twist, the story of Dark Universe takes place in present day, in the village of Darkmoor, with Dr. Victoria Frankenstein — a new character and the descendant of Dr. Henry Frankenstein — as the main character.
The attractions of Dark Universe are:
- Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment, a high-tech, indoor dark ride starring all your favorite monsters
- Curse of the Werewolf, an outdoor spinning roller coaster
- Darkmoor Monster Makeup Experience, a salon where you can transform into one of the monsters yourself
Dark Universe will contain two quick-service restaurants: Das Stakehaus (serving steaks on stakes) and The Burning Blade Tavern (located inside the burning windmill from “Frankenstein”).
Watch Universal Creative’s reveal of Dark Universe:
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic
First came Hogsmeade, then Diagon Alley, and now The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic joins the roster as Universal Orlando’s third “Harry Potter” area. Yes, all three Universal Orlando theme parks will now have their own Wizarding World.
The new “Harry Potter” world at Epic Universe will depict multiple points in the franchise’s timeline: 1920s Paris (specifically, the neighborhood of Place Cachée) from “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” and 1990s Britain (specifically, the Ministry of Magic) from Harry’s era.
The centerpiece of this third Wizarding World will be Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, a high-tech ride involving Harry, Ron, and Hermione on a chase after Dolores Umbridge as the villain stands trial for her crimes — and as she tries to resurrect Voldemort’s reign. Imelda Staunton reprises her role as Umbridge in new footage filmed just for the ride.
Elsewhere, guests can watch “Le Cirque Arcanus,” an indoor show themed to the touring carnival show seen in “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.” The show will feature Newt Scamander in some capacity; Universal has not mentioned if Eddie Redmayne will return in a prerecorded performance, or if a live actor will portray Newt.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic will also feature a Quidditch bar, a hostel for evil wizards, a Parisian café, and a number of shops.
You may have heard that Universal’s two existing Wizarding World areas — Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley — are each located in a separate theme park, and are connected by a full-size Hogwarts Express train ride. This is true. Given the distance of Epic Universe from Universal’s other theme parks, the Hogwarts Express will not connect to the new Ministry of Magic area.
How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk
How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk will bring to life the colorful Berk, as seen in DreamWorks Animation’s “How to Train Your Dragon” trilogy.
Isle of Berk will feature arguably the most wide-ranging collection of attractions out of any Epic Universe world:
- Hiccup’s Wing Gliders, an outdoor family roller coaster
- Dragon Racer’s Rally, a spinning flat ride (or, ride whose mechanism stays flat in one place, rather than move along a track)
- Fyre Drill, a boat ride in which riders will blast water at targets
- “The Untrainable Dragon,” an indoor stage show
- Viking Training Camp, a children’s play area
- Haddock Paddock, a character-greeting location for Toothless the dragon
Berk will also include two quick-service dining locations: Mead Hall indoors and Spit Fyre Grill outside.
Hear from the artists themselves about building Berk:
When will Epic Universe open?
Epic Universe will open May 22, 2025!
Are Epic Universe tickets available yet?
Sales for Epic Universe ticket packages launched Oct. 22, 2024. For now (as of Feb. 9, 2025), Epic Universe admission is only sold as part of a multi-day package with Universal Orlando’s other parks.
Universal Orlando annual passholders are currently the only guests who can can purchase single-day Epic Universe tickets. Admission to the new park will not be included with any type of annual pass for the time being.
Other ticket options will roll out at a later point.
Is Epic Universe part of Disney World?
No, Epic Universe isn’t part of Disney World, but the two aren’t very far away. Epic Universe is part of Universal Orlando, located about 10 miles from Walt Disney World.
Universal’s parks include Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure, and Epic Universe. Walt Disney World’s four theme parks are Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom.
Where is Universal’s new theme park?
Epic Universe is located on a property separate from the existing Universal Orlando Resort that ultimately expands the destination’s footprint a few miles away, near the Orange County Convention Center and Icon Park. Guests staying at a Universal hotel can use complimentary bus service to make the short ride to Epic Universe.
It’s worth noting that in the map above, the space in between Epic Universe and the existing Universal Orlando parks is not owned by Universal, and is populated by hotels, restaurants, and attractions operated by other businesses.
What’s the closest hotel to Epic Universe?
Universal Helios Grand Hotel will open with Epic Universe, physically connected to the park with its own dedicated entrance and overlooking Celestial Park. That’s as close as it gets! Helios Grand belongs to the Signature Collection of Universal hotels, the resort’s most luxurious and expensive category. Helios Grand will open on May 22, 2025, the same day as Epic Universe.
Across the street, Universal Stella Nova Resort opened Jan. 21, 2025 and Universal Terra Luna Resort will follow on March 25, 2025. Both Stella Nova and Terra Luna are part of Universal’s “Prime Value” hotel category, the second-least-expensive of the four categories. Remember, although opening dates for these hotels have been announced, and the hotels will be close by to Epic Universe, the new park itself will not open to the public until May 22, 2025.
There is a dedicated walking path from Stella Nova to Epic Universe. Guests can also opt to ride a complimentary shuttle to the park.
Because of Epic Universe’s geographic separation from the existing Universal Orlando, quite a few non-Universal hotels will be closer to Epic Universe than Universal’s own lodging options near the original parks. Non-Universal hotels particularly close to Epic Universe are Hilton Orlando, Hilton Grand Vacations Club Las Palmeras Orlando, Vista Cay Resort, Sonder at Vista Cay, Rosen Shingle Creek, Hampton Inn & Suites Orlando – John Young Pkwy, and Holiday Inn Express Orlando – South Park.
Where can I buy merchandise?
Epic Universe merchandise is available online through Universal’s official store, and in person at the Epic Universe Preview Center inside CityWalk. There you’ll find pins, apparel, hats, and more from Nintendo, Dark Universe, Ministry of Magic, and Berk.
I’m so excited! Where can I see more sneak peeks of the park?
We’re excited, too! Here at Attractions Magazine, we’ve been covering Epic Universe news for the past six years — plenty of time to accumulate all the videos, construction updates, and deep dives to fuel your reading marathon. Enjoy!
If you’re visiting Universal Orlando anytime soon, stop by the Epic Universe Preview Center at Universal CityWalk (the shopping and dining district located outside of the main theme parks). Inside the Preview Center, you can look at a massive scale model of the entire park, look at concept art, and purchase specialty merchandise. Here’s a tour inside:
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