Ready for a preview of a preview?
Universal Orlando this afternoon previewed its Epic Universe Preview Center for invited reporters. Located on CityWalk, the EUPC (yeah, I'm calling it that) offers merchandise themed to the new park and its four lands, but the real attraction here is the massive scale model that dominates the room.
Fans can download a EUPC app that enables an augmented reality view of the model. Mostly, it's a way to label the announced attractions, shops and restaurants without stick little paper signs all over the model. (The officially unannounced Potter and Dark Universe attractions are labeled "Coming soon.") Beyond that, there are a few animated features, such as color trails tracing the Stardust Racers track, and owls flying over the Ministry of Magic. But if you have been following our coverage and know what's coming in the park, you can skip the download and enjoy the model with your own eyes, rather than looking at it via the screen on your phone.
Or, for now, preview the preview with us through these photos. Let's start at the entrance.
The park's signature roller coaster will be Stardust Racers, in Celestial Park. Follow the links for more detail on each of the lands. For the lands that Universal has not announced officially yet, see our Epic Universe page.
Starting from the lower left and moving clockwise, we have Super Nintendo World.
Then Dark Universe.
Across the park and past the Grand Helios Hotel, there is The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Ministry of Magic.
And finally, How to Train Your Dragon - Isle of Berk.
The Epic Universe Preview Center will open for Universal Orlando visitors later this month. Universal Epic Universe will open on Universal's new south campus, near the Orange County Convention Center, in the first half of 2025.
Update: Per Russell's request in the comments, here are looks at the merchandise sections for the park's five lands, starting with Celestial Park:
Super Nintendo World,
Dark Universe,
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Ministry of Magic,
and How to Train Your Dragon - Isle of Berk.
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Can't wait to see it!!
This preview of a preview reminds me of how movie studios will now throw out short snippets of a movie trailer to “tease” an actual upcoming teaser trailer for a movie lol
This model is pretty amazing, and clever to hide a lot of the critical information (like attraction names and descriptions) behind AR. It allows them to still open this preview center while slowly releasing specifics about the park.
What I want to know is, what does the merch look like?
Just added some merch photos. It all looked pretty basic to me - shirts, hats, backpacks, drink bottles, keychains and such. Some plush, but just what we've seen in other parks. I doubt much new attraction-driven stuff will debut until all the reveals are done and we've gotten closer to the opening.
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Computer graphics are fine but nothing beats good old models to give a real feeling of how something will look. Gorgeous stuff here, I hope they keep that model.