Universal Orlando resort celebrated the Grand Opening of its new Epic Universe theme park tonight.
In front of an audience of invited guests, reporters and content creators, Universal presented a special nighttime spectacular in Epic's Celestial Park. Taking place on the Universal Helios Grand Hotel and the Cosmos Fountains, the show also included drones and an ear-shattering amount of pyro.
Universal Destinations & Experiences CEO Mark Woodbury introduced the show, followed by a welcome from Universal's Steven Spielberg. Then the real display got underway.
The celebration concluded Universal's two-day press event for Epic's opening. That official debut comes tomorrow morning, when Epic Universe welcomes its first guests in normal operations - not previews or technical rehearsals.
I have been reviewing each of Epic's lands this week:
My final land review for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Ministry of Magic will follow tomorrow. As will additional coverage answering many of your questions about this new park.
To learn more about Universal Orlando's theme parks, please click over to our one-page visitors guides, which include our reader rankings as well as on-ride videos and links to reviews:
For tickets, including those for the new Epic Universe, please visit our ticket partner's Universal Orlando tickets page.
For assistance in planning a complete Universal Orlando vacation, including discounts on bundled Epic Universe tickets and on-site hotel stays, please contact our travel agent for a free, no-obligation vacation quote.
Remember that whenever you buy tickets or book vacations through our partners, a small portion of that goes to support Theme Park Insider. So you can support independent media while getting a great deal at the same time.
Finally, to keep up with more theme park news, please sign up for Theme Park Insider's weekly newsletter.
That display look Epic! Hopefully nighttime shows of that caliber become the norm at the new park and we get some parades as well.
Looking forward to all but How to Train Your Dragon area. The IP is just nothing I care about, but I bet I will like it anyway. Made my mistake of visiting new parks/areas in the past, so it will likely be a year or more that I get there. Certainly extremely (almost stupidly) premature, but I really wonder what could be areas for expansion. Certainly Dark Universe has potential, maybe a D or C ticket invisible man walk through house with him hassling you.
Most of their really great films are not necessarily conducive for theme parks, and they don’t have a great track record for non-IP attractions, cough, Lost Continent.
WOW!!!!
The Opening looked fantastic, even dare I say it - EPIC.....
Thanks you covering this Bobby....
Can't wait to go - Maybe October...
This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.
Which lands are you all most, and least, excited to visit? For me, I’m most looking forward to Dark Universe. Even though it’s the smallest land, it’s something completely different for Universal, and I’m hearing that Monsters Unchained is a bona fide next level ride.
Despite being a gamer, Super Nintendo Land is my least anticipated. The overall theming is great, but it looks like it’ll be an absolute nightmare to navigate when crowded. Mario Kart isn’t the ride I was hoping it would be, I don’t have any interest in the Yoshi ride and Minecart Madness also sounds like a disappointment. I’ve also read a few times that you really need to buy a wristband for the interactive games, if you want a decent experience. But I would imagine those will also have long lines, most of the time.
As for the rest, Battle at the Ministry sounds great, and I’m curious about the ‘Cirque’ type show, but I feel like three Wizarding World lands is overkill. I know I’m in the minority about that, though. I’m looking forward to seeing Berk and The Untrainable Dragon, but not that fussed about the rides. Can’t wait to ride Stardust Racers. Especially at night.
Of course, this is all based on online impressions. I won’t know for certain, until I’m there.