Universal Epic Universe will have it’s grand opening next month. For now, we have new ticket add-ons for sale, like Universal Express, VIP Tours, and more. Plus, minor construction and repairs are going on in between Team Member previews in all areas of the park, including new paint, more signs, and even one last animatronic dragon for good measure.
Let’s check in on progress and last minute improvements for all areas of Epic Universe, in today’s news update. See the video version of this story below for additional visuals.
Express Passes Now Available
Universal Express passes for Epic Universe are on sale now. When they went live a week ago they were available for all days, including opening day, but since then opening day has sold out.
Currently only single-use Express is available, where you can use your Express for each attraction only once per day. Unlimited Express for Epic Universe is not yet available.
Most attractions will accept Express, except for three: Dragon Racer’s Rally, Mine-Cart Madness, and Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry.
Express passes start at $129.99 per person per day, but were priced at $260 for the initial opening days. Passes are cheaper per day when purchasing the multi-day multi-park Express packages, which can be used for some or all days at Epic Universe.
A look at Express options through official website
At this time no hotels offer free Express for Epic Universe. It can only be purchased. VIP Tours are also now available for purchase. See more details on Express Passes, VIP Tours, and other add-ons like photo packages, in our previous story.
Darkmoor Monster Makeup Experience
One add-on that we’ve received more information on in recent days, which is also available for purchase, is the Darkmoor Monster Makeup Experience.
These monster makeovers include face paint from a professional makeup artist to transform you into characters like Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Bride of Frankenstein, and more.
Recent video from Universal Orlando on social media shows how the process works, which takes place in a space connected to Pretorious’ Scientific Oddities shop. Here, among recreations of tool kits of famous makeup artists in Universal’s past, you will be made up to look like a monster.
There are two options available to purchase, which can be reserved now for your upcoming visit to the park. The basic is called the “Experiment,” which is the face paint only, and starts at $45 per person. The full transformation starts at $169, but includes costume elements and accessories in addition to the makeup.
Reservations can be made for up to two people at once per time slot, so you can do it with another person at the same time. The full experience only takes about 20 minutes.
Universal Terra Luna Resort Opens
The Universal Terra Luna Resort had its official grand opening last week, welcoming its first guests to this new 750-room hotel across the street from Epic Universe.
Like its sister hotel, the Universal Stella Nova Resort, which opened earlier this year, the Terra Luna Resort also features a uniquely decorated long hallway on the third floor.
Hallway from third floor of Terra Luna, Photo: @bioreconstruct
Offering nearly identical amenities as the Stella Nova, Terra Luna’s Prime Value rooms start as low as $147 a night.
Official photo of Terra Luna guest room
The final new hotel to open will be the Universal Helios Grand Hotel, located at the back of the Epic Universe theme park. That hotel is scheduled to open on May 22nd, the same day Epic Universe will officially open.
Universal Helios Grand Hotel at back of Epic Universe, Aerial Photos by @bioreconstruct
Team Member Previews are going on now, and have been extended through mid-April. During a brief break in preview dates, (as evident by the empty guest parking lot seen below,) workers were able to get back to some last-minute construction projects during the day.
Epic Universe guest parking lot, Aerial Photos by @bioreconstruct
Thanks to aerial photography by Bioreconstruct we’re able to take a look around all areas of the park and see how things have progressed since our last update.
Celestial Park
Beginning within Celestial Park, which has the most left to do before grand opening, they’re taking advantage of a park without guests by pressure washing the entire area.
Even since our last update a few weeks ago a tremendous amount of new greenery has been added throughout the central areas of the park.
New trees, bushes, and now beds of flowers have been appearing in multiple locations around Celestial Park.
Work walls can now be seen blocking an expansion pad from view of the main pathway within the park.
This expansion is one of two on either side of Super Nintendo World, seen on left of the photo below.
Two of the expansion pads at Epic Universe
An expansion pad even larger than the both of these areas combined can be found on the opposite side of the park, between Stardust Racers and the Wizarding World.
Looking closely, a section at the front of this expansion pad appears to be getting a prepared either to either be a staging lot or perhaps foundation for more portable offices.
The next photo shows the offices that were added in the expansion pad on opposite side of the park.
Elements on the roof of the Atlantic full service restaurant have been painted gold. The air ducts and pipes up here now appear to match the domed roofs of the Helios Grand Hotel, which is where guests would even be able to see what’s on this roof.
Glass canopy over the entry doors for Atlantic has been installed.
It appears that LED lighting is being added to pathway in front of the phase 2 dining building. When looking at recent nighttime lighting tests, this is one of the only areas without embedded lighting along the walkways.
In the video below we can see dancing lights testing in nighttime footage for the courtyard in front of Constellation Carousel.
Aerial look at colorful pavement outside of Constellation Carousel. And aerial video from March 21 with animated lighting. pic.twitter.com/kQoMDLeCMf
— bioreconstruct (@bioreconstruct) March 29, 2025
The Pizza Moon sign seems to feature an animated lighting design at night, as seen in this video by Bioreconstruct.
The Meteor Astropub sign at night features animation as well, as seen in the footage below by Ethan Hershaft.
Meteor Astropub lighting tests at night! pic.twitter.com/B4mMN4LhcB
— Ethan Hershaft (@EthanHershaft) March 29, 2025
The sign has been installed for the Astronomica splash pad in the center of the park.
More covered seating areas have been added around the various food kiosks in this area.
Round framing can be seen going up in front of Hemisphere Stage, over top of the viewing area for this outdoor performance stage.
The Blue Dragon statue looks to be nearly complete.
The dragon statue appears to only be missing its bases now.
We can see all of the fountains running in these photographs.
Below is the Cosmos Fountain, which appears to run continuously during the day.
Dancing fountains that snake through the lagoon in the center and pools near the front of Celestial Park are running as well.
When these images were taken work was going on at all of the portals of Epic Universe, like at the entrance to Super Nintendo World.
Work was also going on the main entrance into Celestial Park, where the Chronos tower can be seen above.
During this work, covers that go over lighting accents around the portal ring can be seen staged on ground, to the right of the portal.
Super Nintendo World
Quickly checking in on the worlds around Epic Universe, the hillside design along the exterior walls of Super Nintendo World continues to receive paint.
A new retail cart can be spotted within the Super Mario Land section of the world, located underneath Yoshi’s Adventure’s ride track.
A seating area with grass roofs has been added near The Bubbly Barrel kiosk within the Donkey Kong Country section of the world.
Dark Universe
Over at Dark Universe, scaffolding has come down around the recently painted wall of the ride building for Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment.
Only the walls facing guest areas inside the theme park have received this masonry-style brickwork paint design, to help the massive building blend into the background of the manor.
Work is happening in front of the entrance to the manor.
This work is happening at a “hole” as the piece of wood says.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic
Inside of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic a collection of equipment can be seen directly in the center of the world. This includes booms, a scissor lift, and a set of portable lighting.
Some upper levels of flat facades that represent the upper stories of some of the buildings when inside the world are seeing their backsides painted.
This will help them appear as themed buildings when viewed from within Celestial Park and other areas. Previously these backsides were left unthemed.
How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk
The courtyard is being painted in front of the portal into How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk.
A new animatronic is being installed atop the Viking Traders retail location.
This animatronic dragon head is still missing the top part of his face.
The interactive Fyre Drill boat ride lagoon was drained for maintenance when these photos were taken.
The ice wall was removed for work happening on the Snow Wraith animatronic figure.
On top of this structure, the windmill was removed for maintenance on it.
WESH 2 News recently caught a glimpse of one of the dragon drones parked outside backstage. Themed to look like Hookfang, the video below allows an opportunity to see how detailed these flying robotic drones really are.
Epic Universe Roads and More
Looking outside of the theme park, part of the Kirkman Rd. extension has opened for regular traffic as work continues to ready the entire roadway ahead of Epic Universe’s grand opening in May.
The raised traffic circle ramp is now being utilized by Universal Orlando Resort shuttle busses.
Below the ramp, the dedicated bus lanes are receiving red paint where they start and stop. This may help prevent regular traffic from accidentally driving onto them within the intersection.
Electric busses featuring designs based on the different worlds of Epic Universe are now in regular use, including one featuring Dark Universe, and another featuring How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk.
Before we wrap up, Universal has announced the National Epic Universe Portal Tour, where a 30-foot replica of the Chronos portal will make it’s way to multiple cities over the course of several weeks.
Traveling to Atlanta, New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago, this portal will show visuals from within the worlds of Epic Universe as it makes its way to the different locations within each city, (listed above).
In addition to offering photo ops with the portal, attendees will have a chance to enter a sweepstakes to win a trip to visit Epic Universe for themselves. Learn more at the official blog.
That’s all for this update, but be sure to check out the video version of this story for additional visuals. As we get closer to the park’s official grand opening on May 22nd, be sure you’re subscribed to Theme Park Stop on YouTube to never miss an update.
Subscribe to the news feed or enter your email address below to never miss an update. Official Art: Universal Destinations & Experiences | Aerial and On the Ground Photos: Bioreconstruct | Permit Documents: fasttrack.ocfl.net | Graphics and Overlays: Alicia Stella | Other Images as Captioned
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