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Credit: UniversalUniversal Orlando Resort has just released the first official glimpse at Epic Universe, coming to Universal Orlando in 2025. In a seven-minute-long video posted to YouTube, various Universal creative team members talked viewers through what they can expect when the gates open on the incredible park in just over a year.
The video confirmed some long-speculated rumors, including Dark Universe, an area inspired by the Universal classic monsters, How To Train Your Dragon: Isle of Berk, based on the popular How To Train Your Dragon franchise, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, an expansion in the new park inspired by the Fantastic Beasts films, and SUPER NINTENDO WORLD, Orlando’s own version of the popular video game areas Found at Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Japan. However, they also confirmed a fifth area of the park, Celestial Park, a completely original area, not based on any existing Universal IP (intellectual property).
Epic Universe Digs at Disney
When introducing Celestial Park, Mark Woodbury, Chairperson & CEO of Universal Destinations & Experiences, stated that “it’s where we put the ‘park’ back into ‘theme park.'” The announcement is gaining a lot of earned attention on social media, due in part to its absolutely stunning concept art depicting lush grass and trees, gorgeous water, features, and fountains, as well as out-of-this-world attraction and restaurant designs.
The area will still have two actual attractions, Constellation Carousel and Starfall Racers, but it will also have Astronomica, an interactive water area, and a brand-new hotel, Universal Helios Grand Hotel. However, it’s the area’s gorgeous landscaping and focus on being a “park” that has people praising it across social media. Comparing Epic Universe to the recent efforts of the Disney parks, Woodbury’s comment about re-introducing the ‘park’ back into theme parks almost feels like a dig at the House of Mouse.
While both theme park companies have heavily infused various IPs and existing popular franchises throughout their parks around the world, the Disney parks have made a concerted effort in the last few years to replace original attractions and concepts with more recognizable characters and stories. On the back of announcing a $60 billion investment throughout the six parks, CEO Bob Iger and Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro stated that Disney would be focusing on infusing even more IPs into the parks over the coming years, drawing ire and criticism from those wanting Disney to bring originality back to the parks.
Disney’s Lack of Competition
Disney has been getting some backlash for the last year or two about its lack of competition with the upcoming Epic Universe. It’s been pointed out that Disney hasn’t really announced anything concrete in the last few years despite continuing to host its annual D23 (or Destination D23) events, which is typically where announcements and teases are made for what fans can expect from the parks over the following years.
At the most recent Destination D23 in September last year, fans were quick to notice that much of what was announced were phrased as “possibilities” rather than concrete plans. Fans have questioned the fate of Animal Kingdom’s DinoLand U.S.A. area for the last two years as most of the area’s attractions have closed. Rather than revealing actual plans, fans were offered possible rethemes for the area which included a Colombian jungle inspired by Encanto (2021) or an area inspired by Indiana Jones, along with rumors of areas based on Zootopia (2016) or Moana (2016). In combination with some recent disappointing efforts from Disney, fans have started to wonder if the once-great theme park giant has what it takes to compete with Epic Universe.
Disney’s Disappointments
The Disney parks have been lacking any real updates or additions in the last few years, and what they have unveiled was often years in the making, which has drawn its own criticism from fans. Walt Disney World finally unveiled its version of TRON Lightcycle / Run last year, but it was met with questions about why it took the Florida park almost seven years to build an attraction that already existed at another Disney park. Considering the Magic Kingdom version was based on the original Shanghai Disney attraction, fans claimed it shouldn’t have taken so long to build and the ride faced disappointed opinions after its opening.
In addition, back in December, EPCOT finally removed the construction walls that have taken up most of the park since 2019 and the reveal was not at all what Disney fans had been expecting. While the initial concept art promised an entire overhaul of the park, including two brand new attractions (Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, which can be found in the France pavilion, and a cancelled spinning teacups attraction based on Mary Poppins), an immersive and lush remodel of Future World into three new pavilions (World Celebration, World Nature, and World Discovery), and futuristic makeovers of existing areas.
When the walls finally came down, guests were disappointed to be met with the modernist metal landscaping of the World Celebration Gardens and an all-new lighting feature in front of Spaceship Earth that broke within the first few weeks of its unveiling. Over at Disneyland, a similar experience happened with the reopening of ToonTown and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. With concept art that promised trees, rest areas, grassy picnic areas, and more, guests were disappointed at the reality. Mickey and Minnie’s also failed to compare to its concept images, and still faces broken props and consistent downtime almost a year after its opening.
In comparison, from photos released by @bioreconstruct on X (formerly Twitter), fans are able to see a pretty detailed real-time process of Epic Universe that seems to be matching pretty closely with its promised concept art so far. In addition, the newly released park map art still follows the original map released a few years ago, proving that Universal hasn’t altered too much over the last couple of years.
Beyond Big Thunder Mountain
Perhaps the most disappointing announcement from Disney has been the idea of “Beyond Big Thunder Mountain,” an expansion of the Magic Kingdom first teased in 2022 at the D23 Expo by Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro. The project would consist of developing the land behind Big Thunder Mountain at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom Frontierland area. Possible expansion ideas included Encanto, Coco (2017), or even a Disney Villains area. With the announcements for Animal Kingdom possibly including Encanto and Moana, it’s likely that Beyond Big Thunder won’t include either of those, making everything unconfirmed and up in the air.
As of yet, this project is still in the conceptual phase, with no further information revealed. While Disney hasn’t seemed to have made any progress on the project, it also shows just how much focus the company is putting on injecting IPs into the parks. While Epic Universe has created an entire area themed after an original concept with Celestial Park, Disney is leaning fully into their IPs. This isn’t a new concept either, in fact it’s something the parks have been doing for years with the addition of Toy Story Land and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
Rather than creating areas like Fantasyland or Adventureland and building attractions that fit the general theming of the area, Disney is pivoting to building entire areas dedicated to a single IP, often to much backlash from fans who want more variety in the parks again. While Universal has always had a major focus on its beloved franchises and IPs, Disney was just as well known for its original attractions as it was for those based on existing films and characters.
With Universal now including a seemingly gorgeous area based on an original concept alongside those based on existing franchises, it feels like a dig at Disney, who hasn’t built or confirmed an expansion since Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and who’s pulled a 180 to build areas around one single film or IP rather than including several. With Woodbury’s promise to “put the park back in theme parks” amid Disney’s recent disappointing reveals and lack of substantial confirmed plans, it’s clear that Universal and Epic Universe deserve all the confidence they’re bringing to the table.
What are you most excited for when Epic Universe opens? Are you looking forward to seeing Celestial Park, or one of the IP-based areas? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!