Epic Universe, the new theme park for Universal Orlando, being built near the Orange County Convention Center, is set to open in 2025. In just the last few weeks we’ve seen the new statue installed in front of the hotel at the back of the park, several animatronics revealed in multiple lands, and new official details released for the Harry Potter ride.

Let’s dig into all of that, plus new permits, and construction for every area of Epic Universe, in today’s news update. See the video version of this story below for additional visuals.

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The image below is an official piece of concept art, with labels added for all of the main attractions for Universal Epic Universe.

Thanks to recent aerial photography from @bioreconstruct on social media, we’re able to compare the latest construction progress to permit details and official concept art for this new theme park.

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Celestial Park

We are starting our update in Celestial Park, the name for Epic Universe’s central hub area. This area includes the entrance buildings, several lagoons and water features, and a few attractions.

At the back of Celestial Park sits the Universal Helios Grand Hotel, a 500-room hotel offering views overlooking the theme park, a rooftop bar with fireworks viewing areas, and a dedicated theme park entrance just for guests staying there.

Since our last update we’ve seen the statue start to be installed on the theme park side of the Helios hotel.

Representing Helios, the Greek god of the sun, this statue is being installed onto an overlook area at the start of some cascading water features that lead towards the center of the park.

A bow and arrow has been added in the last couple weeks since the statue started to be installed earlier this month, and new scaffolding has gone up around the figure.

Representing the sun, this figure at the back of the park has a sort of partner statue located near the front of the park. This statue is of Luna, representing the moon.

Just like the Helios statue, the Luna statue is located at an overlook at the start of some cascading water features.

These cascading waterfalls are seeing their basins painted with a two-tone design to create the illusion of more water depth.

Around this area, located at the park’s entry, are several shops and guest services locations. These storefronts feature an awning over the walkways.

The framing for domes that are part of these covered walkways are taking shape now. And spires appear to have been installed atop the roofs of these buildings, but are currently wrapped.

The color for the entry courtyard area in front of Constellation Carousel looks complete.

This covered carousel is located atop the park’s central lagoon and features unique constellation-inspired animals to ride on, which spin in small groups while also rotating around the main platform.

Unfortunately, work on the ride system itself is currently blocked by temporary walls around the attraction.

Nearby, the kids’ splashpad, named Astronomica, continues to receive color. The design for this splashpad is described as the park’s compass rose.

Green material has been added to a section of the tiered viewing area around the park’s large fountain display.

Vines are starting to cover the entry tunnel framing for Stardust Racers, the park’s massive dual-track racing coaster.

This entry framing was only recently painted green.

Below is how this entrance tunnel appears in the scale model for Epic Universe, as seen in the preview center location in CityWalk.

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Super Nintendo World

Moving now to the colorful and vibrant Super Nintendo World, which is separated into two areas. Super Mario Land is located in the front, featuring interactive areas to explore, as well as the Mario Kart and Yoshi rides. Behind this area, guests can take a warp pipe tunnel to Donkey Kong Country, featuring the Mine Cart Madness roller coaster.

Some of the colorful pipe theming is being added above the portal into Super Nintendo World.

Inside of the land, the towers for Peach’s Castle are beginning to be installed.

One of these towers has already started to receive color.

Peach’s Castle will act as the entrance into Super Nintendo World after traveling through the portal from Celestial Park.

Brickwork and castle theming is being sculpted along the grand staircase in front of Peach’s Castle as well.

Across from this area, Bowser’s Fortress is making great progress, with its crown installed atop its tallest peak.

The framing for Bowser’s face continues to take shape, which will act as the entrance to Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge.

What may be the main element of the “Piranha Plant Nap Mishap” key challenge can be seen staged on the ground on the upper level.

This will be an interactive Power-Up Band game where multiple players must rush to turn off multiple alarm clocks to put the huge Piranha Plant back to sleep.

Below this area, on the lower level of the multi-level land, the framing for the base is being installed for a mushroom-shaped roof over the entrance to Toadstool Cafe, seen at the arrow in the next photo.

Lampposts are being installed along the bridge on the Yoshi’s Adventure family ride overlooking the courtyard.

For the finale of the Yoshi ride, new baby Yoshis have been installed near Captain Toad.

These figures appear to be fighting over a piece of fruit.

And speaking of Yoshi, a walking Yoshi animatronic figure was recently installed on a ledge of Mt. Beanpole, located above the ride.

The rotating base that will allow this Yoshi figure to walk around the tree can be seen below him.

The clouds at the very top of Mt. Beanpole were recently spotted testing.

In the video below by Adventuring with Annie we can see these clouds moving side to side.

Clouds testing in Super Nintendo World at Epic Universe ☁️ pic.twitter.com/5ZDom8J45D

— Adventuring with Annie (@AnniesUniUpdate) September 13, 2024

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Behind this area, over in the Donkey Kong Country section of Super Nintendo World, the jungle continues to grow as more and more tropical plants are added to this area.

Dense walls of trees and bamboo are being planted along the perimeter to help block the outside world from Donkey Kong Country.

Here, located at the start of the mine cart roller coaster attraction, we’re getting our first glimpse at the Dixie figure.

This Dixie Kong figure appears to be waving to guests as they take this first turn out of the station.

We first saw this figure in the scale model at the Epic Universe Preview Center in CityWalk.

Another figure we saw within the scale model was Professor Chops, seen in a barrel near the middle of the ride.

It looks as though this figure has been installed on the ride as well.

While it is covered at this time, we can see the barrel he is sitting in, just like he is in the model.

And speaking of barrels, the launch barrel at the top of the ride’s main lift hill has seen scaffolding come down around it, revealing the directional arrow that has been painted.

The coaster’s main entrance arch has started to go up in front of the awning that was installed last month.

The next image shows how the entrance to this attraction looks in official concept art. It features three signs for three queues, which according to permits will be for standby, Express, and single riders.

A shallow basin for a water feature on the ride is being painted light blue. This will be a part of the ride where it appears that our carts are skating along the surface of the water.

Framing for Donkey Kong’s treehouse continues to grow, now with plank-style floor shaped added.

Barrel-style theming continues to be added to the land’s drink stand, named Bubbly Barrel in official concept art.

Scaffolding has been erected around the airplane-shaped retail kiosk near the entrance to Donkey Kong Country, named Funky’s Fly ‘n’ Buy in official concept art.

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Dark Universe

Next up is Dark Universe, a world inspired by the Universal Monsters like Frankenstein, Dracula, and Wolfman. This area is set within a spooky village named Darkmoor and features a large indoor ride starring all of the Universal Monsters and a spinning roller coaster based on The Wolfman.

Landscaping is picking up steam along the entry path after entering the portal, with carts filled with plants seen here ready to plant.

All of the pavement within the village areas of the land has been revealed.

This completed street was previously covered in protective sheets of plywood during ongoing construction, but now that has been uncovered we can get our best look at the design of the stone-style street.

A trademark application was recently filed by Universal for the logo of one of the land’s shops. This logo for “Pretorius’ Scientific Oddities” is described in the application as featuring electrodes on each side of the word portion of the mark, with electricity connecting the electrodes to the term Pretorius.

A look at official renderings for the sign for this shop reveals what could be special lighting effects for the electrodes.

And it just so happens that this actual sign was just installed in front of the retail location in Epic Universe, so we’re getting our first look at the completed look, which definitely does include those electrodes on the sides.

Another hanging sign was in the process of being installed on the back edge of the retail building when these photos were taken.

Deeper into the land, the large manor facade for the main attraction is finally receiving its tallest point.

Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment is being called one of the scariest rides ever built by the company and will feature characters like Frankenstein’s Monster, Dracula, and much more.

The central part of this ride’s entry facade is covered in scaffolding as the tall tower in the center is installed and themed.

Here is a look at the peak for this tower as seen from the ground.

Ready to be installed as well, is this smaller turret for the manor, staged in front of the attraction.

Located near the land’s other attraction, a roller coaster named Curse of the Werewolf, we can see this scenic carriage filled with coffins, sitting on the side of the path.

The main entrance for Curse of the Werewolf is taking shape, with an awning added between the two wagons.

This awning includes three signs, which are likely for standby, Express, and single riders. Also recently installed is the safety warnings sign for the attraction, seen on the right of the photo below.

The werewolf statue seen on the side of the wagon on the left will act as the ride’s main marquee.

The next image shows how all of the entry area appears in official concept art.

Heading into the forest-like queue for this attraction, we can see an arch with a sign installed up ahead.

The sign reads “Carpathian Carriage Company,” and features a cutout design of a horse-drawn carriage atop.

New framing has been added over the coaster’s final brake run.

Looking closer at this photo, we can spot lanterns sitting on the deck along the brake run.

These lanterns match the ones seen in this piece of official concept art for the roller coaster.

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How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk

Heading over to How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk, a land where the Viking residents of Berk are living peacefully with dragons.

Here you can find multiple outdoor attractions, including a roller coaster weaving through the land, as well as an indoor stage show named The Untrainable Dragon.

Since we last checked in we can see that more of those colorful awnings have been installed at the land’s play area, named Viking Training Camp.

The awning seen on the right in the next photo has been placed in front of what permits show as a couple small family restrooms connected to the play area, seen at the arrow.

Framing for coverings over the queue areas of the nearby Dragon Racers Rally continue to be installed.

We can see that the arms for this rotating attraction will take the riders seemingly pretty close to these covered queue areas.

A banner has been added to one of the arms, with an image matching the dragon that powers this spinning ride arm.

The now painted stone-style statues flanking the entrance to the Mead Hall have been uncovered, revealing what may be their final look. This is the land’s main dining location.

A tremendous amount of new targets and scenic elements have been installed along the ride path for Fyre Drill, an interactive boat ride attraction in the center of the land.

Riders will use water cannons to spray various targets while moving along the ride path.

New signs can be seen installed near the start of the ride.

Boats are actually on the water now, after being staged on land for weeks behind the area.

The load area’s ride belt has been uncovered as work on the station roof continues.

Targets seem to be installed in order from start to end on the ride, with focus now being paid to the various dragon figures near the middle of the ride. The end of the ride has seen the least amount of elements installed as of yet.

Near the boat ride, the Spit Fyre Grill, a quick service dining location, is receiving work on its sign above the ordering stations, including a winged dragon figure at the very top.

Small statues can be seen added around the perimeter for the dining location’s outdoor seating area, as well as this new arched entry into the dining area, seen on the right of the next photo.

As for the roller coaster, named Hiccup’s Wing Gliders, we can now get our first look at the full-scale Toothless animatronic figure.

This figure is located in a small show scene right before the coaster’s first of two launches. In fact, it will be Toothless who launches our train in the story of the attraction, by stepping on the button below his foot.

Over at the ride’s second launch, multiple small dragons can be seen hiding below the rockwork, amongst the many dragon eggs visible in this scene.

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The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic

The final world for Epic Universe to discuss is The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic. The third Harry Potter themed land in Orlando after Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley, this one features streets themed to Wizarding Paris set within the 1920s and a massive indoor ride based around the British Ministry of Magic set within the time period of the Harry Potter stories.

Outside of the land itself, lots of trees are being packed into this small park-themed area located between the entry portal and the arch leading into the Wizarding streets of Paris.

In the official concept rendering for this land, seen below, a large phoenix statue can be seen on the opposite side of this arch.

We can now see this phoenix statue staged on the ground nearby the arch, ready to be installed.

Scaffolding has come down along the skinny corner building at the back of the land, revealing many fine details along these facades.

Hookups for external signage along this facade for the Quidditch World Cup have been added.

The next image shows how this area appears in official concept art, including the Quidditch signage, which has yet to be installed.

The land’s wand shop is located near here at the back of the land, and the words Cosme Acajor have been added along one of its walls.

To the right of this area, at a dead end on the right side of the land, a new mural featuring pyramids has been added.

The entrance for the land’s stage show attraction is through the circus tent, located near the center of the land.

The facade at the end of the street at the top of the next photo contains the exit for the show. New trees have been planted along the left side of this street.

This pink painted facade across from the circus tent is likely for the land’s sweet shop.

Adverts for different treats can be seen above the windows, including one for Chocolate Frogs, visible on the right of the next photo.

On the opposite side of the land’s main entry street, new signage has been added for the central gift shop named Les Galeries Mirifiques.

Next door, on the left of this store, new signs for the cafe can be seen installed as well.

Looking closely along some of the rooftops on the left side of the land, it appears that directional lighting is being installed.

These lights appear to be placed to help illuminate the many facades at night.

On the far left side of the land, new framing has been added over the entrance to the Métro-Floo, seen at the arrow in the next photo. This is the way we will enter the land’s main ride.

New official details and concept art for this ride, named Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, were released as part of Back to Hogwarts at the start of this month.

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In an official video from the official Harry Potter YouTube channel, above, we got to see new views of the queue for this massive indoor ride, including new areas of the Ministry never seen in the films. (Screenshots below taken from the video above.)

One of these areas is a locker room, which has evidence that Harry, Ron, Neville are in training to become aurors.

The Hall of Ministers features portraits of past ministers speaking with one another.

There’s also a map room featuring a magical moving map of the Ministry.

The reveal also mentioned a part of the queue where we walk through the aurors’ headquarters where they’re working on active cases, which Universal promises is filled with plenty of Easter eggs for fans.

And finally, a section of the queue themed to Dolores Umbridge’s office was showcased in the video.

This is where we will be introduced to Higgledy, Umbridge’s former house elf.

Higgledy is packing the office up in preparation for Umbridge’s trial, which we are here to witness.

As we had previously seen, the lift station acts as the ride’s load platform, where in-story we are to travel to the courtroom for the trial.

While the video did not explain how the ride system will work, they did describe it as having multiple layers of elements to make it feels as though the lifts are careening through different areas of the Ministry of Magic.

Some of the locations seen on the ride that are now confirmed include the lift shafts, Ministry Archives, and the Department of Magical Creatures.

They also confirmed characters that will be seen on the ride, like Yaxley, MacNair, the Carrows, and Kingsley Shacklebolt.

And it is now officially confirmed that Dame Imelda Staunton has reprised her role as Dolores Umbridge, with new behind the scenes footage from the ride shown as well.

Permits show how the largest part of the attraction’s massive building will be utilized just for the ride portion itself, with the front part utilized for the queue and tall atrium, which Universal says is the largest thing they’ve ever built for a queue.

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Epic Universe Roadways

Before we wrap up, there have been some new road sign permits that show what some of the signs coming to this area will look like.

Located along Epic Blvd, the road that leads to and from Epic Universe, these new directional signs will be the same style as the ones found at the current resort, which are round in shape with blue fronts and silver backs with reflective stars design.

Permit images filed with Orange County show these details and describe their construction.

What will be written on the three sets of signs can also be found in the permit documents. One set of signs, which will be visible when heading east, coming from the big traffic circle and heading towards the park, will contain signs that show directions to Epic Universe’s parking lot, as well as drop off and pick up areas.

Two more sets of signs will be installed heading west, when driving from Destination Pkwy or when leaving Epic Universe parking and heading back to the traffic circle.

These signs say to go straight to head back to the original theme parks of Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, and Volcano Bay—as well as all of the Universal Orlando Resort hotels. They also show directions to valet and buses, in addition to general parking.

The permits specify that enough space will be left to add a third disc, despite one not being needed to start. This is interesting, as it indicates they may be preparing for future additions within the Epic Universe later on, just in case.

The round traffic ramp at the end of Epic Blvd. will be the main way that most guests get to and from the new theme park. It connects the extended Kirkman Rd. to the new Epic Blvd. And the extended Kirkman Rd. leads all the way back to the existing Universal Orlando Resort, about two miles north of this area.

The extended Kirkman Rd. is being built with dedicated bus lanes for shuttling guests between this park and all of the hotels and CityWalk.

Universal is building a new bus depot just to the west of the traffic circle to help service their busses. Permits show that this bus depot will include electric charging stations.

That’s all for this update, but be sure to check out the video version of this story for additional visuals. A huge thank you to Bioreconstruct for the amazing aerial and on the ground photographs. You can follow him on X (formerly Twitter), Bluesky, or Mastodon for more incredible theme park photos.

Subscribe to the news feed or enter your email address below to never miss an update. Official Art: Universal Destinations & Experiences | Aerial and Select Model Photos: Bioreconstruct | Permit Documents: fasttrack.ocfl.net | Graphics and Overlays: Alicia Stella | Other Images as Captioned

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