Merchandise at Universal Orlando's new Epic Universe theme park will be more than a collection of souvenirs for you to buy and take home. In three of the park's themed lands, merchandise will provide part of the entertainment experience at Epic Universe.
Universal Orlando today shared new details about the line-up of stores and products that visitors will discover when they come to Epic Universe, which opens officially May 22.
My pick for the top new item? The new generation of interactive wands, available in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Ministry of Magic at the new Cosme Acajor Baguettes Magique.
To be fair, some of these wands are on sale already in Universal Orlando's two other Wizarding World lands, in Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida. But it is for Epic Universe's debut that Universal created these new wands, which feature haptic and light effects and can support competitive score-keeping when paired with the Universal Orlando app. The first reviews of the new wands suggest that they are more forgiving in spell casting movements than the first generation wands. At $80 each, these wands will unlock dozens of interactive spell-casting experiences within Universal's Harry Potter lands.
Universal visitors first saw the competitive score-keeping functionality promised for the new wands in Super Nintendo World's Power-Up Bands. These wearable devices premiered with that land at Universal Studios Japan, then made their U.S. debut at Universal Studios Hollywood. With the third installation of Super Nintendo World opening at Epic Universe, now it is Orlando visitors' time to play.
Bands are decorated your choice of character logo: Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Toad, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Donkey Kong, or Diddy Kong. The will be available at multiple stores in the land. You can pair the band with the steering wheel on Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge to record your score on that interactive dark ride, as well as use the band for tap points and Key challenges throughout the land. Leaderboards in the land and on the app display who has recorded the high scores for the hour and the day.
Why just visit monsters when you can become one? In Epic Universe's Dark Universe land, visitors can undergo their own monstrous transformation in the Darkmoor Monster Makeup Experience. (Dare I call it the "Bibbidi Bobbidi BOO-tique?") Universal did not release the full details about this new experience today, promising to share those at a later date. But the experience will include face paint, with the option to add cosplay attire from the adjacent Pretorius' Scientific Oddities shop.
In each of these lands, Universal's merchandise strategy amounts to an upsell attraction experience for guests willing to buy the appropriate items. You can cast spells like a wizard in Place Cachée, play real-life games in the Mushroom Kingdom, or wander the streets of Darkmoor as a companion to Universal's classic monsters. I suspect that many Epic Universe visitors will accept Universal's offer, making these popular choices when the park opens in May.
Elsewhere in Epic Universe, here is the line-up of shops in the park.
Celestial Park
Super Nintendo World
Dark Universe
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic
How to Train Your Dragon - Isle of Berk
For more on the attractions that guests can experience in the park, please see our Visitors Guide to Epic Universe
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I'm definitely going to do all of the upcharge stuff. If they are smart they are going to have some of these elements available in lines. It would be neat to see people trigger effects in the lines for other people to see. Imagine if a ceiling effect required 5 separate people to work a spell correctly standing in certain (set aside so it wouldnt interfere with anybody, like stand on a step stool) and they could try and trigger the effects. I think if they got the right people in the room when they were designing this then all of this stuff will land.
As i got older i used to like going to concerts i was too old for on halloween becsuse my self conciousness of being too old evaporated. Im one of those people that really enjoyed wearing covid masks as it felt like i was in eyes wide shut 24/7. So im in for the makeup bit on mulitiple visits just to talk to castmembers which may be one of the only conversation of substance since people cant be arsed since they are obsessed with their phones like it is 2009.
Of course you want the kronos because it is an exclusive item for now... therefore you want it (maybe seek some counseling to deal with that ). Full effect FOMO. i for one will be looking to pick up tshirts, pens, and notebooks. Yeah they are going to get alot of money out of me as ill likely just do Helios and a 3 day trip... after June 1st.
It wouldn't matter if they had millions of those Chronos models, I'd still want one - it has nothing to do with exclusivity. I think it's a clever conversation/display piece. As far as t-shirts, I'm extremely particular when it comes to t-shirts, and this first wave of merch just doesn't hit my desires. That doesn't mean there aren't t-shirts that I would scoop up or that they won't come up with designs that I will gravitate too, just that the ones shown here won't have me sprinting to the cash register. The same goes with the stuffies and some of the other accessories shown here.
However, you better believe we'll be getting a gen-2 wand along with a Power-up band (unless we can figure out how to trigger the SNW effects without one). The only question is whether we'll just buy one from a shop or go through a wand-selection experience to buy the new wand (we made our son go through the show multiple times to get his current wand to maintain the illusion of the wand selecting the wizard, not the other way around). We are curious to find out if the gen-1 wands will work on the interactions in Ministry of Magic and the new locations in Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley - I have yet to see any reports of guests trying to use OG wands on the new interactive locations in IOA/USF.
Looks like Universal not only hired the best Imagineers, but merchandise designers creators as well. Total Disney vibes on the Bitty Monsters Collection.
Any word on a signature drink at each portal? I know the Ministry will serve Butterbeer, but the other areas should have them as well. I just hope it's not milk.
So hot!!! Milk was a bad choice...
@NB - It has been announced that Dark Universe will have an exclusive beer created by Crooked Can Brewery (called Reaper's Reserve), and I would expect all 5 lands will have distinct cocktails/mocktails and the potential of other custom/exclusive beers/ciders as Disney has done at Galaxy's Edge and PtWoA.
Russell Meyer - Thanks for the info.
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In general, the merch that Universal revealed yesterday is fine, but I don't see that "must have" item. Perhaps it's that I don't have a strong affinity for any of Epic's IPs, but it could just be my particular taste in theme park merch that tends to skew away from the norm - I'd buy the Chronos model and coins that many media outlets have been receiving in an instant if I spotted it in a store.
I've noted this before, but I do think it's a bold move from Universal to double down on creating what are essentially upcharge attractions in Epic with the HP wands, Power up bands, and Dark Universe makeup experience. I think in small doses, these type of interactions provided at an extra charge help to create a deeper connection with the land and IP. Also, you can kind of participate in the interactions by watching others, though the new haptic effects on the wands will create a more personal interaction than someone just standing to the side watching the user trigger the effect. Guests not wanting to pay can also observe many of the Power-up band effects, and obviously can see the results of guests walking around in full makeup in Dark Universe, but there's obviously a powerful draw to want to participate in these activities, especially if lines to ride a few limited number of actual rides are really long, or if you've already invested in one of the upcharge interactions. I'd be curious to see how many people Universal thinks will do all three of these upcharges during a single visit, or at least would be willing to buy both a wand AND Power-up band on their first visit to the park. If you add up the admission, hotel (if you stay at the Helios Grand), wand, Power-up band, makeup experience (guessing a cost @$100), food, and other souvenirs, a single person's first visit could easily cost close to $1,000 for a 1-day visit.
FWIW, Universal began selling single day (and multi-day) Epic Universe tickets to the general public that allows you to get into Epic without having to purchase admissions for the legacy parks after June 1.