Universal Orlando's newest theme park, Epic Universe, opens in just 84 days! As the opening draws near, we will be covering the news released each week as we continue to find out more and more about this brand new park.
Epic Universe is the first major theme park opening in the Orlando area since Islands of Adventure opened in 1999 which was preceded by Animal Kingdom in 1998. Suffice to say, this is a big deal for theme park goers to see a park of such scale join the market of Orlando theme parks!
Epic Universe officially opens to the public on May 22, 2025 and I will be there on opening day to cover this big moment and share my review with our readers. Let's get into all the details of the Epic Universe news for this week of February 27, 2025.
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Epic Universe Details We're Still Waiting For
These are some of the biggest details we are still waiting for as we get closer to the Epic Universe opening date.
Epic Universe 1-day and 2-day tickets– We still do not know the details of when Epic Universe 1-day or 2-day tickets will go on sale to the general public nor exactly how much they will be. 1-day tickets have already gone on sale for Annual Passholders with prices ranging from $122-173 depending on the date. According to Universal Orlando, these tickets for all other guests “will be launched at a later date before the park opens.”
Express Pass- There have been rumors swirling that Epic Universe won't offer Express Pass when it opens. This does not appear to be true as the official website states, “Express Passes for Universal Epic Universe will be launched at a later date before the park opens. More details will be announced closer to the launch of these products.” The language here has led many of us to wonder if Express Pass will work differently at Epic Universe but so far, we don't know anything yet.
Universal Hotel Express Pass- We do know that Epic Universe will have Early Park Admission for hotel guests but we do not know if the hotels that offer free Express Pass will be able to use it at Epic Universe. Again, how Express Pass will work is our biggest piece of missing information right now!
VIP Tours at Epic Universe- VIP Tour experiences will include Epic Universe but information on these will also, again, be “launched at a later date before the park opens.”
As of now, we do not know an official timeline for when we will get these details beyond that it will be before Epic Universe opens on May 22, 2025.
Epic Universe News This Week
Universal Orlando has confirmed on their blog that the How to Train Your Dragon- Isle of Berk will have flying dragons along with a number of different dragon character interactions. According to Universal, guests will be “constantly surrounded by the endless number of dragons that take flight in the skies” which also includes the “Monstrous Nightmare or Gronckle” soaring above.
Guests can also meet Hiccup and Toothless along with other favorite characters and their dragons like Astrid and Stormfly, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and more. Other confirmed dragon interactions include Cloud Jumper, Grump, and Snow Wraith.
In some of the most exciting news we received this week, Universal Team Member previews are starting March 1, 2025! Previews exclusive to team members will take place March 1-7, 2025 and previews that include family and friends will run likely in the week after. This means it's possible we will start to see glimpses of the land on social media, more likely so in the friends and family phase, during these previews. It's not uncommon for influencers and bloggers to try and attend these previews to get a first look at this land so I would expect to start seeing more news circulating around March.
On X, Amusement Insider shared a first look at fireworks testing taking place at Epic Universe:
Fireworks over towards Epic Universe right now.
from Fun Spot Sky Lounge 🥂 pic.twitter.com/y39LrTLHB9— Amusement Insider (@AmusementInside) February 21, 2025
While Universal hasn't officially announced a fireworks show for Epic Universe, fireworks have been a part of the concept art for quite some time. Celestial Park has been said to be a big part of the entertainment hub of Epic Universe including fountain shows over the water so it could be these fireworks will be a part of that experience.
More ticket types have gone on sale for Epic Universe which is a promising sign we will get 1-day general sale ticket announcements any day now. Military Freedom Pass members can now purchase 1-day add on tickets to Epic Universe. These annual passes are reserved exclusively for active duty and retired U.S. military members.
Florida residents can now purchase discounted 3-day tickets and Florida resident packages that include access to Epic Universe. However, no 1-day discounted tickets have been released for Florida residents as part of this promotion. It is hard to say if Universal Orlando will release 1-day tickets at a discounted rate for Florida residents.
Epic Universe Construction Updates
I pulled a few of the most exciting recent photos from the construction updates shared by bioreconstruct on X from this week.
First we have this look at the lighting effects for the Super Nintendo World portal tower at night.
We also have this recent aerial shot to see how the layout of the land looks. On the far left, you can see the Universal Helios Grand Hotel at the back of the theme park.
Here you can see a closeup of the statue of Apollo in the front of the Universal Helios Hotel. It looks like Universal did a nice job blending the aesthetic of the hotel into the theme park.
Here we have a look at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter- Ministry of Magic neighborhood area. The theme of this land is 1920s Paris during the Fantastic Beasts films.
Here we have a look at the Curse of the Werewolf attraction in the Dark Universe. This spinning rollercoaster has received a bit of backlash on social media due to the chainlink fencing and netting surrounding it. I think we should hold off criticisms on aesthetic for the time being though, many have also speculated this netting could be part of the projection mapping effects for the ride.
This is truly the double edged sword of sneaking a look at construction, we're seeing things before their in the final stages without truly knowing what the end goals might be. For now, I'm holding judgment on the appearance of this coaster until I see it in person.
First image via Universal Orlando.
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