Epic Universe: What excites you most so far?

So much to say here....I think the Celestial Park concept is really interesting, and whether Universal is able to make it more than just a pretty place to walk around. It needs to come alive at different times of the day with various forms of entertainment. With just 3 core attractions and 2 restaurants (at least what's been revealed so far), there doesn't seem to be a lot to "do" here, but it takes up a ton of space. Will there be a nighttime show or some type of daytime entertainment (performers, light show, fountain show, etc...)? The place is GORGEOUS, but it has to come ALIVE in order for people to spend time here with known IP anchoring other parts of the park. I'm a little skeptical on Starfall Racers. Universal threw out some stats, but it's unclear exactly what this coaster is going to be like. Will the individual tracks be different (like Dueling Dragons), or will they just be mirror images of each other? That's HUGE, because that will determine the re-rideability of the attraction - if you've done one side, you've essentially done both if they're mirror images. Given the issues Universal had with Dueling Dragons, I'm also concerned that the racing/dueling elements of this coaster won't be that great.

Personally, I'm really excited for the Ministry of Magic and how Universal is able to one-up themselves. I've been reading a lot about the new interactive wand technology, and I'm really curious to see how that works (and still allows guests with older wands to interact). I'm hopeful that there is more to the land than 1 big dark ride, even if that attraction is mind-blowing (on par with ROTR), because guests need to have a reason to stay in this land without needing to buy a wand. As great as Diagon Alley is, I think it's seriously flawed if you don't want to ride Gringott's and don't want to buy a wand. If not for the addition of the Hogwart's Express, I would have been incredibly disappointed in USF's WWoHP land. There need to be other attractions (beyond a show) for guests to experience in Ministry of Magic, and I hope Universal has some tricks up their sleeves.

The spinning roller coaster in Dark Universe looks AMAZING. While I have yet to ride it, Time Traveler at Silver Dollar City is one of the highest rated coasters built over the past 5 years. This new coaster is supposed to be a plussed version of that coaster, and might actually be the best attraction in the park, particularly if they're able to make it accessible to younger guests.

I'm not sure what to think about HtTYD yet, because I don't have a lot of connection to that IP, and the attractions rumored for this land seem to be heavily themed stock rides. Some of the aerial footage of this area makes it look incredible thematically, but I'm still struggling to get excited for this land. I think of all the IPs, this is the one that Universal is going to have difficulty selling to guests. It's also the one that will most likely attract families with smaller children. Will this end up being the Seuss Landing of the park, which has become sad in its aged, unimproved since Day 1 state? The attractions here have to really knock it out of the park if they're going to get people to spend any time in this land.

Finally, I'm most excited about the Helios Grand Hotel. I want to stay here, but expect it to be cost prohibitive unless the perks for staying here are beyond imagination.

@Russell: I agree 100% on the Ministry of Magic and Dark Universe attractions, I only abstained from mentioning them because UC hadn’t dropped any concrete details yet. But with the time allowed for development and (presumably) handsome budget afforded to the next Wizarding World, I expect this one to be a home run. I can only imagine walking into the Ministry of Magic and seeing the statues in the main crossroads section. As for the Dark Universe, I wonder if a large portion of the walkable areas will be set indoors so as to easier maintain an atmosphere of gloom more consistently with lighting and atmospheric effects? These things that are rife with possibilities and one wonders if the financial constraints that beset the promised in-story elements of Galaxy’s Edge for example might rear their heads here in terms of what’s shown and what’s delivered. Hopefully not of course. I’m rooting for this park, as I root for each of the Big Dogs to constantly one-up another.

Celestial park looks amazing but I do think there should have been at least 1 more ride there. I loved the video they put out but a splash pad fountain is not an attraction in my opinion.

Dark Universe is definitely the thing I'm most looking forward too and the Frankenstein manor looks incredible already. This land at night will be simply stunning. The new Harry Potter ride gets second place for me and will be amazing I'm sure. 3rd place for me is the Donkey Kong ride simply because it seems like such an interesting concept. I really do wonder how obvious it will be when your "skipping" the track.

How to Train your Dragon is the least thing I'm excited for but the roller coaster there looks kinda of interesting and the dragon show in Beijing looks amazing so I'm sure this one will be too. After seeing the show once though I'm not sure how much time we will spend in that land not having any kids so hopefully that coaster is really fun or else the other lands will be even more crowded!

I'm excited to experience the first complete domestic Super Nintendo World! The one in Hollywood is great but is missing a ride and a few key areas. I'm also eager to see the Donkey Kong area & how it integrates with the Power-Up Bands.

In my opinion Nintendo franchises could drive an entire theme park (Mario/Donkey Kong, Pokemon, Zelda, Animal Crossing, & Smash Bros.), but perhaps Universal is using the Harry Potter playbook and splitting these areas across multiple parks to encourage multi-park/multi-day tickets.

@MyHandsDontScan -- They definitely are and I'm almost certain lost continent at IOA will become a Nintendo IP and probably Springfield as well at studios.

Let's go area by area...

Celestial Park: This looks like it could be the nicest hub area in any park. I do feel that it seems a bit sparse, but my guess is it will be more used as an in between area for people to eat, shop, and relax while waiting for a virtual portal entry time rather than somewhere people are going to seek out instead of the IP lands. Starfall Racers looks great, though I'm not expecting a VelociCoaster 2.0 and instead a really fun racing coaster that focuses more on speed than on intensity.

Isle of Berk: Probably my most anticipated of the four portal lands, both because I really enjoyed this franchise and because it looks like it probably has the most to do. The coaster here is said to be in the same vein as Hagrid's (though a bit less fancy), so I'm expecting it to be quite fun, and the area will also have a Sky Fly, which is among my favorite flat rides. I've also heard very good things about Untrainable.

Dark Universe: I'm not as into the Universal monsters as some, but this seems like a neat take on the classics. I'm sure the headliner dark ride will be fantastic, as it's supposed to essentially be Forbidden Journey with 100% practical sets. The coaster appears to be a smaller family spinning coaster (not sure what you heard, Russell, but think more Sierra Sidewinder than Time Traveler), so it should still be fun but probably won't be a show stopper.

The Ministry of Magic: From what I've seen, this seems like the least interesting of the three Wizarding World lands, as they're blending two environments that don't really go together and appear to be repurposing a previously canceled concept as the headliner. I'm sure it will still be a solid ride and a neat area to see, but personally this is the land I'm least excited about at this point.

Super Nintendo World: This one is least exciting to me not because I think it's the worst of the areas but because I've seen the original in Japan so Donkey Kong is the only thing here I haven't done before. For those who haven't seen Super Nintendo World, or even those who have only been to Hollywood's version, I suspect this land is going to blow you away. Mario Kart, though, probably will be the weakest of the three dark rides at this park, which speaks not to the ride being poor but the high quality the others will likely possess.

Celestial Park looks amazing. If concept becomes reality it will be the best hub to any theme park ever built. That title is currently held by Tokyo DisneySea (for me).

I'm also incredibly excited about Dark Universe. It's like taking Knockturn Alley
and making it more intense and a full theme park land. I think that's an incredibly bold step and beats Disney at their own game. For years folks have cried for a Villains land or park. Universal seemingly is delivering that and I can't wait!

I've always taken the annual TEA/AECOM attendance estimates with a grain of salt. However, regarding the Walt Disney World parks, on two occasions, during a conversation with a Disney exec, I was told MKP welcomed 20 million guests a year. Likewise, in 2023, Robert Iger made a casual comment about WDW welcoming 50 million guests every year. So when TEA/AECOM claims that MKP welcomes 18 million visitors a year I give them a bit more credibility.

Not much -- but a bit.

Having said that, there's not much in UC's video that makes me believe the park will welcome 18 million people annually. I suspect the first, full year's estimate (2026) may be around 13 million -- which is charitable because that's 2 million more than IOA's best year (TEA/AECOM - 2022).

And if USF and IOA see drops in attendance due to cannibalization and a lack of new e-tickets in the old parks ... that would kind of dampen the UE ROI a bit.

Regardless, I don't see this being as the humongous threat to Disney that some Universal fans have predicted.

Just sayin'

I gotta go with the crazy looking elevated traffic circle over Kirkman Road.

@TH Creative - I'm a huge Universal fan boy and still enjoy the Disney parks on the rare time we do go. I however completely agree and kinda chuckle at the people saying Disney is scared. I'm not saying that Disney will never be de-crowned and Epic is a step in the right direction but Disney is so far ahead and still so popular that this won't really have too much an impact for them.

Even if the Magic Kingdom dropped by 35% attendance in 2025 they would still be the #1 visited park in the world so no Disney is not shaking in their boots!

By the way, from what we are seeing here, Universal still has no answer to DSTP.

Yeah, I went there.

It's going to be hilarious they failed to make the Dark Universe movie franchise work but the theme park land looks fantastic.

@MikeW:
I thought that it was interesting as well that they doubled down on the branding of the Classic Monsters portal as such. I’m excited as hell for that land though. But one does wonder what might have been had Universal Studios (the actual movie studio) not put the cart before the horse and delivered an actual hit monster movie before going full steam ahead with casting announcements for the rest of that shared universe. It’s a shame really, because they lined up some serious talent and I think that the Classic Monsters are waaaaayyy underserved as an IP.

I wouldn't count Dark Universe in the movies out yet. I wouldn't be surprised if they tried again!

What Universal needs to do is convince Guillermo Del Toro or Jason Blum to be an overarching leader of the Monsters Universe. There has been some decent material coming out of the Monsters franchise, but there's no overarching direction. They thought they were clever dropping different characters here and there amongst the various releases over the past 8-10 years, but each movie stands alone with directors/writers creating their own vision. Since all of these movies have been from directors with very different styles, visions, there's no cohesiveness or connectivity despite Universal clearly wanting these films to be part of a franchise.

There were some great scenes in the Tom Cruise Mummy film, particularly the inclusion of Jekyll (though I still think Brendan Frasier's version was AMAZING, and that includes the Scorpion King spin offs), Benicio Del Toro's Wolfman has its moments (though Anthony Hopkins was criminally misused), and The Invisible Man is yet another low budget Blumhouse masterpiece. I still LOVE the Hugh Jackman Van Helsing, and that character was slated for a reboot that is stuck in limbo, and there's been the long-rumored Creature from the Black Lagoon project (possibly from Rob Zombie) that has been stuck in production for years. The Monsters franchise doesn't need to be approached like Avengers or Justice League with a series of films building to a super-film collaboration, it just needs to be handled with more continuity and consistency.

I get the feeling that Universal wants to better leverage this IP, but they also don't want to get burned again like they did with the Tom Cruise Mummy film. There's so much potential, but I really think they need to put the right person in charge.

I think the Universal Monsters IP (from a film perspective) is still viable. There were many mistakes with the Tom Cruise Mummy (Even the director Alex Kurtzman publicly admitted as much), and during that time, every studio wanted its "Marvel" style universe and tried to copy that template too closely.

The characters are interesting, finding the right director & creative vision fro the brand is key. ( Even WB's Monsterverse is doing fine) The branding is solid, making quality films is the next step.
Even 2020's Invisible Man was a success.

In terms of the area in EU, i think its going to be great. The classic films were heavy on atmosphere, so even that can be replicated in this portal...they've got a winner. The IP may not be as strong as the others, but the land & dark ride has the potential to be a standout.

I can picture this arel being very popular at dusk and at night...

Haunted Mansion in the Disney parks are classics (as are even lightly themed horror / scary experiences). This seems like the perfect mix between

The land I'm most excited for is Dark Universe, and the ride I'm most excited for is the manor ride in Dark Universe. The atmosphere of the land looks like it will be amazing, Danny Elfman is writing an original score for the land which will be incredible, the burning windmill will be an awesome effect, and even some of the restaurants like the "Stake" House sound great.

The main ride in Dark Universe sounds amazing, as its the kuka arm ride system used in Forbidden Journey but with 100% practical sets, what I assume will be amazing animatronics of all the classic monsters, and 14 years later from the original ride system, I assume the movement programming will be even better.

@Russell, Guillermo del Torro IS directing a new Frankenstein movie, starring Oscar Isaac as Dr. Frankenstein, Jacob Elordi as the creature, and Christoph Waltz and Mia Goth in unspecified roles. But that is for Netflix, not Universal. Universal does have a new Wolf Man movie coming out this year with Christopher Abbot and a Nosferatu movie with Bill Skaarsgard as the Count.

It looks good but close examination seems to reveal that it's not much more than a beautiful holding area and hub. Once all the other Park areas have been added I'm hopeful that it will have enough attractions to satisfy the crowds. If they don't then It'll be interesting to see how popular it is when the novelty factor wears off.
I've said it before that if you're not a big fan of Harry Potter you may be disappointed with yet another incarnation of that theme. Now I hear that HP is being expanded in the other Parks too. IMHO it's all getting a bit "samey". There are still options at Universal but there could be more. I can't argue that, as a business model, the HP theme is currently profitable but there has to be a time when enough is enough surely ?

@Rob - I agree that the hub is pretty sparse on attractions that could become an issue if guests are forced to hang out in Celestial Park for extended periods of time, particularly if Starfall Racers is not as good as it looks. I think in a perfect world, if you're not riding the coaster or having a meal, you're only passing through the land with occasional pauses to appreciate its beauty. I think Universal will discover that this land will need some additional attractions if guests are being forced to wait here before entering the individual portals. My guess is that they will initially utilize entertainment (fountain shows and/or street entertainers) to fill the void, but I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually bring in some flat rides or other small attractions to the land.

As for Harry Potter, I think this new land is only problematic from an oversaturation standpoint if they're still planning to expand Diagon Alley into the Fear Factor theater area (where Ministry of Magic was originally rumored). If Ministry of Magic is as advertised, a combination of French and English urban architecture, it will be distinctly different from Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. Plus, since this new land will take more queues from the Fantastic Beasts series, it will help to provide a fresh view of the Wizarding World without undermining the original series and characters. I think they're being really smart here by leveraging Fantastic Beasts without grounding the land in that less-popular series (as noted, the main attraction is rumored to use Umbridge as the villain, so it will still exist in the timeline of the original HP series).

I think HP is about as futureproof as an IP can be these days, and while there's always a chance that they could reach a point of diminishing returns, the continuing success of Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley suggests that they have not come close to that point yet. It's possible that get get close to that point with Ministry of Magic, which might cause a rethink about expanding further in USF, but I highly doubt this new land will diminish the enthusiasm for the IP as a whole.

I'm glad Eeyore always has time to chime in.... always doom and gloom predictions for anything competing with his favorite company.

@ NB: I'm not sure you can say that a post that reads "Disney is so far ahead and still so popular that this won't really have too much an impact for them", constitutes "doom and gloom".

My comment was so ambiguous, I could have been to referring to anybody, or anything.