Last week Universal Studios made the world’s worst kept secret official – a new park is coming to Orlando. Finally we learned the name of the park, and got to see some concept art, but more details have been hard to come by. We don’t yet have an opening date (the best guess is sometime in 2024) or a list of what rides, shows, and attractions we’ll see, but internet detectives were quick to pour all over the artwork and come up with some guesses based on what we did see and what we already know.
Before you get too excited, remember this is all just rumor and guesswork for now. None of this is official, and it will be interesting to see how much we all got wrong and how close we were when this park opens.
Super Nintendo World
This is less a rumor and more or less has been all but confirmed that Nintendo will be a heavily featured IP at the new park, possibly with attractions based on Mario Kart, Yoshi, and Donkey Kong.
We would LOVE to see a Mario Kart ride that lets you race against others while firing turtle shells and laying banana peels on the track, possibly combing a “Test Track” type ride with augmented reality to make this dream a reality. Plans have already leaked for an omnimover ride called Yoshi’s Adventure, and a look at the concept art shows what appears to be a roller coaster, possibly to be themed to Donkey Kong.
Harry Potter / Fantastic Beasts
Harry Potter is the crown jewel in Universal’s current collection of intellectual properties, and it was their flawless execution of Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley that put Universal Orlando Resort up in the same weight class as Walt Disney World in the Orlando theme park wars. With a huge built-in base of dedicated fans, it’s safe to assume that Universal plans to include more of the Wizarding World into Epic Universe.
The only question is which direction will they go? A look at the concept art seems to show a land with Parisian inspired architecture, which would point towards an area and attraction based on the Fantastic Beasts franchise. However, fan reaction to this franchise has been mixed, with Crimes of Grindlewald considered a bit of a critical flop, even if it did make money. It will be interesting to see if Universal decides to gamble with an entire themed land based on the Fantastic Beasts franchise knowing there are more movies coming, or play it safe and create something based on a place from the original Harry Potter series like The Ministry of Magic or Azkaban Prison (please, please please!).
Universal’s World of Monsters
Another themed area that’s heavily rumored to be a part of Epic Universe is a land based on Universal’s own rogue’s gallery of classic monsters. Think the Mummy, the Wolfman, Dracula, the Bride of Frankenstein, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Earlier this year Orlando Parkstop leaked some Classic Monsters land concept art and documents that refer to this land as the ‘World of Universal’s Classic Monsters“. This area has the potential to be a lot of fun with a lot of different possibilities to explore. So far rumors and wild guesses have said we might see everything from a boat ride based on Creature from the Black Lagoon, a permanent walk-through haunted house, or a spooky dark ride through Dracula’s castle. The plans show an outdoor amphitheater in this part of the park as well. Maybe we’ll see an updated version of Beetlejuice’s Rockin’ Graveyard Revue?
Star Trek
On the right side of the concept art, there’s a building that’s set apart from the other themed areas that has a bit of sci-fi look to it, with more land behind it for future development. and sprawling dual coaster next to it. It’s still unclear if this coaster is part of this little sci-fi area, or in the land next to it (more on that in a second). We don’t know much about what this might be, but it’s easy to picture a corporate boardroom full of suits asking what the best property to counter what Disney just did with Star Wars and landing on Star Trek as the obvious answer. That might be just a bit of a stretch to say Star Trek has the same drawing power as Star Wars (sorry Trekkies), but there is at least a rabid fan base and decades worth of classic material to draw inspiration from.
On its face, this sounds like pure speculation, but rumors about Universal adding a Star Trek themed area to one of it’s Orlando Parks are not new. A Starship Enterprise themed roller coaster even opened in Germany in 2017.
How to Train Your Dragon
Back when this park was still in the rumor phase, we had a discussion on our podcast (Coming soon? Universal Orlando’s new theme park) about which movie franchises we’d like to see rides and themed lands based on. One franchise that came up was “How to Train Your Dragon”. We felt this was a slam-dunk, no-brainer for Universal. It’s already an IP owned by Universal. It’s a franchise with an interesting world full of lore. And having access to flying dragons means the possibility of some incredible thrill rides! Now that Dueling Dragons/Dragon Challenge went to the Big Theme Park in the Sky, could we see the spiritual successor in a roller coaster that lets you fly Toothless? We hope so.
The concept art shows what looks like a Viking village surrounded by water, leading speculation that this is indeed an area based on How to Train Your Dragon. A theme park land based on the franchise opened up in Dubai in 2017, so the precedent is there. If that roller coaster is part of this land, and not that sci-fi/Star Trek area above it, we just might see the next generation of Dragon Challenge take flight. Fingers are crossed!