The roller coaster at Epic Universe’s How to Train Your Dragon land has been seen testing with multiple trains, and for the first time, we’re seeing water splash effects, as well as some of the ride’s animatronics in motion.

Universal Epic Universe is set to have its grand opening on May 22, 2025, but ride testing for many of the park’s main attractions has been going on for well over a year already. Thanks to new aerial photos and footage from @bioreconstruct on social media we’re getting a closer look at one of the park’s roller coaster testing.

You can see several video clips from testing of this roller coaster in the video below, which shows the ride from multiple angles as seen high up in a helicopter.

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In this video, as well as the photos below, we can catch a glimpse of the water splash effects going off as the coaster passes under a bridge and below the water level for the lagoon.

Set within How to Train Your Dragon — Isle of Berk, this family coaster is named “Hiccup’s Wing Gliders,” and has us traveling at speeds up to 45 mph around the perimeter of the land.

The story for this attraction Hiccup invites us to try out “his latest glider contraption – a winged flying machine that launches aspiring Dragon Riders into the sky for a dragon’s eye view of Berk.”

According to the story, before he has a chance to finish putting all of the wings onto our train, Toothless launches us into the air, causing us to skirt along the ground and atop the water’s surface rather than flying above the village.

During our travels around the island we encounter some sheep, including one that is dressed up disguised as a dragon.

This family roller coaster features two launches, both accompanied by show scenes. The first launch, which starts the ride, features animatronic Hiccup and Toothless figures, as we have discussed in prior updates.

The second launch, which takes place later on the ride, features a hidden area behind the village filled with Gronckle eggs. The footage above and photos below contain our first look at the dragon figures in motion while this ride is testing.

Below compares how these dragon figures appear in official concept art compared to one of them spotted in a recent aerial photo taken during testing.

Hiccup’s Wing Gliders has been confirmed to have been manufactured by Intamin Amusement Rides. That’s the same company that manufactured the Jurassic World VelociCoaster and Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure for Universal Orlando.

This attraction will have a height requirement of 40″ minimum to ride, and 48″ minimum to ride without a supervising companion.

Hiccup’s Wing Gliders is just one of several attractions that have been officially announced for this world at Epic Universe, which is based on the DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon film series.

This world will also feature a live stage show named “The Untrainable Dragon,” and interactive boat ride called “Fyre Drill,” the spinning ride “Dragon Racer’s Rally,” a play area named “Viking Training Camp,” and meet and greets featuring Toothless, Hiccup and their friends.

How to Train Your Dragon — Isle of Berk is one of five worlds for Universal Epic Universe, which will also feature Super Nintendo World, Dark Universe, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter — Ministry of Magic, and Celestial Park.

That’s all for this update, but be sure to see our last full update for the latest news and construction around all of the worlds of Epic Universe. A huge thank you to Bioreconstruct for the amazing aerial photographs and footage. 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 Photos & Video: Bioreconstruct | Other Images as Captioned

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