Mo Goes | The Blog

Theme park enthusiasts everywhere are brimming with excitement and rightly so. If you haven’t heard by now then you definitely live under a rock. Universal Destinations & Experiences made an official announcement early in the morning on Monday January 30th about their newest and highly anticipated theme park, Epic Universe.

Not even the strongest cup of coffee could have given me the jolt that this announcement did. It came in the form of a seven minute and two seconds long video full of pure awe and inspiration. Mark Woodbury, Chairman and CEO of Universal Destinations & Experiences opened the video with a few warm, heartfelt words leading into a detailed description of five incredibly themed worlds that make up the whole of Epic Universe: Celestial Park, How To Train Your Dragon: Isle of Berk, Super Nintendo World, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic and Dark Universe.

Celestial Park is the heart of Epic Universe and is the largest of the five worlds. It will serve as the gateway portal to the four other worlds. Its concept is a Universal original and is based on mythological and astronomical elements. It will include shops, restaurants, multiple attractions and more.

Per the renderings released by Universal, Celestial Park will be a wonderland of lush green landscapes, water features and eye-catching artistic points of interest. Celestial Park is also the location of the Helios Grand Hotel. This 500-room hotel sits at the back of the park boasting the most stunning celestial architectural elements as well as killer views into the park. This hotel is unlike any other in that it has its own exclusive access to Epic Universe.

You can watch a short video rendering of Celestial Park here. (Video source: Universal Destinations & Experiences)

One of the most striking structures inside Celestial Park is Constellation Carousel. As beautiful as the renderings appear it’s proving to be a merry-go-round like no other.

From ceiling to floor Constellation Carousel is filled with artistic details inspired by mythical creatures and the cosmos. The guest carriages will lift six feet into the air, rotate 360° and include unicorns, dragons, rams and more. The ceiling is designed as a star tracker containing star patterns that move and rotate. A ribbon cone effect is created by a center Mesmerizer, which will add a cool visual effect while riding.

Two more attractions are located inside Celestial Park. The second is Astronomica, an interactive wet play area. The third is Starfall Racers, a high speed dual launch coaster that will send riders soaring through the cosmos at more than 60 mph.

Each immersive world has its own unique portal entry accessible from inside Celestial Park. It seems that Dark Universe may be the most highly anticipated world based on social media chatter since Tuesday’s announcement.

You can watch the official introduction video of Universal Epic Universe here.

No exact opening date has been announced for Epic Universe but it’s confirmed to be open in 2025. That’s literally 11 months from now, so technically any date in 2025 starting from January 1st is fair game. Keeping that in mind, I would expect another big announcement on an exact opening date before the end of 2024.

Universal Orlando has flourished into a theme park juggernaut. Industry executives who don’t acknowledge this fact are simply delusional. Many will agree that Universal Destinations & Experiences is changing the theme park industry and leaving and undeniable mark. I hope for the sake of all the other major and smaller parks they take heed and at the least, match Universal’s effort to listen to the fans and give them what they want.

I’d say now is the time to start planning the perfect 2025 Universal Orlando family vacation. Universal Orlando Resort is a top notch property more than worthy of spending an entire week or more there. Between the eight Universal Orlando Resort hotels, Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure, Volcano Bay, CityWalk and soon Epic Universe, there’s no reason to split your vacation time between different parks in Orlando. Universal is producing immersive, top-quality attractions and experiences that require a full-time commitment during your vacation in order to truly benefit from everything the resort has to offer.

So how excited are you about Universal Epic Universe now? Words can’t express how excited I am. I’ll be bringing you all the latest happenings and updates on everything Epic Universe and Universal Orlando in general so be sure to follow along. This year is turning out to be an awesome one – the adventure begins!