It’s official, a new fireworks show has been announced for Epic Universe. Starting July 7th, “Universal Celestial Goodnight” will combine 600 synchronized light fixtures, over 350 fountains, and seven million LED lights along with a grand fireworks finale. The new show was just announced, but Universal has also given official comments on what could be next for Epic Universe now that it’s a year old.

Let’s dig into the official announcement as well as recent construction in today’s news update. See the video version of this story below for additional visuals.

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Celestial Goodnight Announced

The new show will be running nightly beginning July 7th. It will best be viewed from within Celestial Park, the central area of Epic Universe.

The name of the show, as well as its official logo match the trademark application we have discussed prior, posted all the way back in December 2025.

Universal says that the Celestial Goodnight show will pay tribute to the different worlds of the park, showcasing music from and lighting inspired Super Nintendo World, How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic, and Dark Universe.

The nightly show will coordinate nearly 600 synchronized light fixtures, over 350 dancing fountains, and seven million LED lights embedded throughout Celestial Park.

New lighting has been installed all around the park to prepare for the new show, with moving head lights installed in the fountains, dozens of powerful spots installed atop the roofs of several buildings, and large Hollywood-style spot lights behind the park.

The new lights will help create the same high energy feeling as the over-the-top fireworks display that was initially shown for media the day before Epic Universe officially opened a year ago, but now utilizing permanent lights instead of temporary ones.

Universal says the fireworks display for Celestial Goodnight will serve as the finale for the show, accompanied by a high-energy musical score.

Just last week we saw the first mortars arrive to the new permanent launch pad located behind the park. Thanks to aerial photography by Bioreconstruct we were able to get a look from the sky.

All fireworks shows at Epic Universe to this point, which were reserved for its grand opening and a couple holidays, were launched from temporary pads, until now.

The current nighttime show at the park, simply named The Cosmos Fountain, only featured the synchronized lights and fountains of Celestial Park. It too spotlighted the different portals of Epic Universe with segments featuring music from each of the worlds during the show. The recently installed skyward-facing spotlights and the fireworks will be new for Celestial Goodnight though.

Although nothing has been announced for it, it is also expected that we could see a fireworks demonstration on July 4th, similar to last year. This could be the first real world test of all the new elements that had been installed since last year’s Fourth of July presentation.

The new Celestial Goodnight nightly show does not officially begin until July 7th.

One-Year Anniversary Additions

The new fireworks show is not the only addition for Epic’s second year however, as Universal recently debuted the highly anticipated Captain Cacao character meet and greet.

The Captain is meeting daily between Pizza Moon and The Oak & Star Tavern. He is dressed just like his plush counterpart, and since he is a chocolate bear, he does actually smell like chocolate (or at least the area he’s meeting in does anyway).

Also to coincide with the park’s one-year anniversary, a new version of Captain Cacao’s plush is available, now with a shiny hat.

There are also new Lug bags and a coin purse themed to the fan-favorite character.

Other anniversary merchandise was also introduced, including the Chronos arch along with medallions that was sent to media ahead of the park’s opening.

The full set costs $600, but you can also just buy the coins for each of the lands at $30 each instead.

A one-year anniversary coin was also offered, just like the grand opening one last year.

Potter Expansion Hinted At

As for what is next for Epic Universe, Universal gave us a hint as they celebrated the park’s first anniversary.

On May 22nd, in an official statement, Project director for the park, Anisha Vyas, said in an interview with WESH News “There’s always more magic coming out of Epic Universe, especially in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, but I think that’s all I can say for now.”

This is the first official acknowledgement of what permits say will be a massive 150,000 square foot expansion to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter area of Epic Universe.

At this time, other than about a dozen construction trailers that have arrived to the site, no visible movement for this new massive indoor attraction has started.

The new expansion will be built at right side of the land, located directly behind the French Ministry of Magic facade.

Open Hub Official Comment

We have seen the first use of the park’s so-called “open hub” technology, as convention-goers were offered a chance to enter Celestial Park for free back on May 30th and June 1st. (See the video below from Attractions Magazine for a closer look at how this worked.)

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These guests were allowed access to the dining and shopping of the hub areas, but could not enter the portals into the world—or enter the queues for the hub’s two rides, Stardust Racers and Constellation Carousel. Facial recognition scanners at these entrances helped to keep guests with only hub access away from the rides.

When asked about the technology, and how it could be utilized in the future, Universal Orlando’s Vice President Jeff Polk told USA TODAY “Over the next year and a half, we’re going to experiment with a lot of things, to see what works, what doesn’t work.”

With the mention of a one and a half year timeline, it sounds like we may only see smaller uses of the technology, like the convention goers example, at least in the near future.

Dark Universe Expansion Confirmed

What the company has still been silent on, is the recently permitted “future attraction” project for Dark Universe.

New permit notes confirmed that Project 680 will in fact be for a new attraction coming to the Dark Universe section of the park.

The permit states that a new Building 1570 will be added, and all buildings that begin with 15 at Epic Universe are located within Dark Universe.

Another permit that may be related, which was first found by Theme Park Wizard, shows the addition could be 71,500 square feet in size.

If that’s the size of the expansion’s main structure, it would fit within the Dark Universe expansion plot located between Monsters Unchained and The Burning Blade Tavern

The project is listed as mass grading and early work for a “future attraction,” but rumors have said that this new addition may be fast tracked to add more indoor capacity to the park, and fast.

We’ll be keeping our eyes on movement within this section of the park, as well as the Wizarding World in the coming months, as Epic Universe starts it’s phase 2 for year 2.

Event Space Construction

For now, other than the work related to the new Celestial Goodnight show, which should be wrapping up soon ahead of its July 7th debut, construction has only been happening on the events building in Celestial Park.

Foundations for the catering kitchen at the back of the multi-purpose event space is completed, with connections added for structural supports for the second story above it and roof.

The upstairs portion of the building will house offices and Team Member meeting areas. The main ballroom area for this structure has not yet started, (at center of photo below,) but rebar for foundations of the restrooms near the front of the building are taking shape now, (on the right of the photo).

At the rest of Universal Orlando, the 170-foot tall spike for the Fast & Furious drifting coaster has been installed and all of Sindbad’s theater has been completely demolished at Lost Continent. See more on these projects in our latest vlog, below.

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That’s all for now, but a big thank you to Bioreconstruct for the amazing aerial views. You can follow him on social media and YouTube for more theme park photography.

Subscribe to the news feed or enter your email address below to never miss an update. Permit Images: Orange County Government Permitting Office | Aerial Photos: Bioreconstruct | Original Photos: Alicia Stella | Other Images as Captioned

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