Epic Universe Expansion Speculation

[UniversalRBLX]

An aerial of the southern campus. (Let me know if to relocate this post elsewhere).

Dark green is land not owned by UOR. The lighter green is. The very light green with a green border is empty land not owned by UOR that could be purchased by UOR if they wanted to. The grey blob near the center is owned by Orange County, but tends to not get use most of the year. Long term, UOR can work with the county to add a parking garage and potentially acquire this land for their own use.

I've also added in the planned additional Kirkman Rd expansion between Universal Blvd and Destination Pkwy.

Yes, Universal owns the land around Shingle Creek... but they should keep it the way it currently exists. It's beautiful and creates a nice buffer between the tourism district and the "real Orlando" filled with warehouses to the east.



While I'd love a 4th park, logistically there's too much noise Universal needs to address first. I'd love for them to build a parking garage across Epic Blvd, and then use existing parking for a future resort area just like UOR today with rivers and lush gardens. 20 years from now, they can build another gate (if they desire to) at the Water Treatment plant

 

[Paulio]

I just want Jaws 2.0 for the creature ride tbh. That's literally all I want lol

Imagine how cool the ride would look at night as well. I want the ride not just to be campy but scary as well!

 

[Suchomimus]

While I'd love a 4th park, logistically there's too much noise Universal needs to address first. I'd love for them to build a parking garage across Epic Blvd, and then use existing parking for a future resort area just like UOR today with rivers and lush gardens.

I would like to see boats connecting the hotels with park, but at the same time I have trouble getting a good visual of that.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

I would like to see boats connecting the hotels with park, but at the same time I have trouble getting a good visual of that.

Yeah I'm not sure they'll be able to make it happen down there. I'd love to see a monorail or some type of other transportation though.

 

[Suchomimus]

I remember that Universal patented aerial tramways similar to Disney's Skyliner, but that was from back in '19 or so.

 

[DrStarlander]

Captain Cacao is pictured steering the titular Moonship as part of the sign. Together he and Maya sail around collecting sweets.

If Universal builds a dark ride in Celestial Park following this bear in his magical flying ship before Disney fixes Imagination I’m going to scream.

I think Celestial Park needs more retail. It’s all toward the front except for the Nintendo Super Star Store. The Potter shop they cut near the back is felt.

I think a new small dome-shaped shop near Constellation Carousel offering Celestial Park branded merch and unique jewelry and wares (like the shops in Lost Continent) could help round out the offerings, while also giving guests a break out of the sun in the center when passing through to their next destination.

There's a lot of interest in a Celestial Park family dark ride, featuring the original characters and the Moonship ride vehicle. Alicia points out more Celestial Park retail would be good, especially deeper in the park and away from the entry. This proposal is not next to Constellation Carousel as Alicia mentions but I wonder if this spot could be used for an old school Fantasyland-style dark ride plus domed gift shop.

The area is around 30,000 sq. ft. total and would seem to fit a dark ride similar to Little Mermaid, definitely bigger than Pete Pan's Flight, and a 5,000-ish sq. ft. gift shop. (The building used in this image is Little Mermaid at DCA, as a scale placeholder.)

Edit: Another reason I like this placement is that Stardust Racers is likely to break apart family groups. The family members who opt out either cool their heels in the sunshine or venture further, separating more significantly, by going to another land, through a portal. Having a family attraction right across the walkway gives them the alternative they need. Plus having the Celestial Park retail here means not only merch related to the original characters (as seen in the family dark ride) but also Stardust Racers merch right across the way to leverage coaster-rider enthusiasm immediately after disembarkation.

 

[Ryuniversal]

There's a lot of interest in a Celestial Park family dark ride, featuring the original characters and the Moonshine ride vehicle. Alicia points out more Celestial Park retail would be good, especially deeper in the park and away from the entry. This proposal is not next to Constellation Carousel as Alicia mentions but I wonder if this spot could be used for an old school Fantasyland-style dark ride plus domed gift shop.

The area is around 30,000 sq. ft. total and would seem to fit a dark ride similar to Little Mermaid, definitely bigger than Pete Pan's Flight, and a 5,000-ish sq. ft. gift shop. (The building used in this image is Little Mermaid at DCA, as a scale placeholder.)

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You could do a flying omiemover type ride for the hub that would rock the bear could Take u on a different adventure and see epic universe through his eyes and u could introduce new characters as his friends takes us through his story and journey

 

[alexscaff2020]

I was studying the map and the aerial view and I think it would be smart to make a celestial park dark ride in the expansion plot to the right of SNW, west of the Chronos. The area is about 6k m^2 - for reference, the mario kart ride is about 7k m^2. I think this could be possible based on reception to this zero-IP land.
I was also playing around and saw that the right-side expansion plot could easily fit two new world, but a path from celestial park would need to be built eastward to connect to these two new portals.

 

[HHN Maddux]

Got a completely unprecedented question (and if mods feel this is wayyyyyyyyyyyyy too early to ask, completely understandable and feel free to delete lol):

In the faraway future, what attraction do we think could potentially be first on the chopping block for a replacement? Again, if this is too nefarious/unprecedented, feel free to delete, I thought it'd just be a simultaneously funny and interesting thought.

 

[bdubsCEO]

Ideally, nothing will ever be replaced except flat rides, or in situations where it’s unavoidable like manufacturers shutting down or fires. Add, don’t replace.

Hopefully Werewolf gets a different finale at some point though.

 

[moth]

Got a completely unprecedented question (and if mods feel this is wayyyyyyyyyyyyy too early to ask, completely understandable and feel free to delete lol):

In the faraway future, what attraction do we think could potentially be first on the chopping block for a replacement? Again, if this is too nefarious/unprecedented, feel free to delete, I thought it'd just be a simultaneously funny and interesting thought.

While I feel its too early to speculate on this, I hope they don't immediately touch anything and hope they consider adding onto the park rather than cut things down.


Fyre Drill.

 

[rabbitsmoon]

Re: new Celestial Park rides— I’d love to be wrong, but I fear the non-IP rides opening with the park are all we’ll get. Too much of a marketing challenge, and unlikely to drive new/repeat business as discreet offerings.

A midsized dark ride like folks are describing would be amazing, but another flat ride or another coaster (something where the draw is more visually apparent to the average visitor), seem more likely to me, if anything.

 

[Wesker69]

My personal bugbear is that Burton should make a Universal Monsters movie.

Couldn't end up worse than their last few recent attempts at Universal Monsters (Invisible Man 2020, Wolfman 2025, Dracula Untold... & Mummy 2017, which had potential)

As for expansion... give us a spooky scary Dark Universe boat ride (+flat ride & show ....I'm greedy)

Luigi's Haunted Mansion dark ride (+flat ride?)

Celestial Park themed dark ride for Captain Cacao & his other Celestial friends. I want Poseidon's Fury style adventure, but as an original dark ride expanding on the mythos

Parking garages instead of ancient flat lots (+solar panels to help decrease the power cost of epic)

 

[DrStarlander]

Re: new Celestial Park rides— I’d love to be wrong, but I fear the non-IP rides opening with the park are all we’ll get. Too much of a marketing challenge, and unlikely to drive new/repeat business as discreet offerings.

A midsized dark ride like folks are describing would be amazing, but another flat ride or another coaster (something where the draw is more visually apparent to the average visitor), seem more likely to me, if anything.

I get the pragmatic point of view you're expressing, grounded in the decision patterns of the past. But, optimistically, it's worth pointing out that Celestial Park itself defies those norms. I don't think "fully developed original IP meta-theme for entire park and massive hub land" would have been on anyone's "likely" list when the new Universal park was announced.

I'm not sure theme park fans know what to expect from Universal right now (particularly when you also consider Kid's resort, Horror Unleashed...), and that is very good for their brand. Doing the unexpected is a core brand attribute.

Celestial Park themed dark ride for Captain Cacao & his other Celestial friends. I want Poseidon's Fury style adventure, but as an original dark ride expanding on the mythos

There's one thing that entertainment companies know: how hard it is to successfully launch something new and how important it his to seize an opportunity and leverage something successful they have (a character, a movie, TV show...). I think it's going to become clear over the next year or so that they "stuck gold" with Celestial Park, and they will be having many conversations about how to exploit it.

 

[DarkMetroid567]

But, optimistically, it's worth pointing out that Celestial Park itself defies those norms. I don't think "fully developed original IP meta-theme for entire park and massive hub land" would have been on anyone's "likely" list when the new Universal park was announced.

I just still don’t really see this. They already did this with IoA, and was anyone really expecting overt IP integration for the hub world? Have Universal and Disney brought our expectations so low that “Minions Park” or “Jurassic Plaza” was a serious consideration here?

 

[Frank Drackman]

Couldn't end up worse than their last few recent attempts at Universal Monsters (Invisible Man 2020, Wolfman 2025, Dracula Untold... & Mummy 2017, which had potential)

As for expansion... give us a spooky scary Dark Universe boat ride (+flat ride & show ....I'm greedy)

Luigi's Haunted Mansion dark ride (+flat ride?)

Celestial Park themed dark ride for Captain Cacao & his other Celestial friends. I want Poseidon's Fury style adventure, but as an original dark ride expanding on the mythos

Parking garages instead of ancient flat lots (+solar panels to help decrease the power cost of epic)

prime parking is covered parking w/ solar panels as the 'cover'.

 

[DrStarlander]

I just still don’t really see this. They already did this with IoA, and was anyone really expecting overt IP integration for the hub world? Have Universal and Disney brought our expectations so low that “Minions Park” or “Jurassic Plaza” was a serious consideration here?

To answer your question, while I would not have predicted an IP-specific land at entry, such as the Minions or Jurassic examples, I would not have entirely ruled it out either. Shanghai Disneyland pushed Disney characters to the entry land of the park, Mickey Ave., and I can imagine if Universal wanted to establish some IP/characters as key brand ambassadors and mascot-level to Universal Parks, such as the Minions, it wouldn't shock me if Universal had us enter via a Minions entry land (to use that example) and then, like Port of Entry, move onward to the rest of the park.

In this approach, perhaps there would have been a "conceit" as to how and why this land opens to the rest of the park such as a gizmo-device the Minions have built (a Minions version of the Chronos, basically) that you walk through to head off on your adventures. Or maybe they wouldn't have bothered.


As far as "They already did this with IoA," do you feel Celestial Park and Port of Entry are equivelent? I see Celestial Park as far more than Port of Entry in that all the worlds spoke off it (and only it) and through a CP-themed device -- the portals -- that establish Celestial Park as core to the entire park navigation and experience all day. Celestial Park has original named/merchandised characters already, and it has attractions, plus a hotel. This scope is very unexpected to me, I'm not sure I've seen this in any theme park, but would love to hear about any comps.

 

[Wesker69]

prime parking is covered parking w/ solar panels as the 'cover'.

That's great and all but... flat lots are still a terrible thing of the past & waste so much space

 

[DarkMetroid567]

To answer your question, while I would not have predicted an IP-specific land at entry, such as the Minions or Jurassic examples, I would not have entirely ruled it out either. Shanghai Disneyland pushed Disney characters to the entry land of the park, Mickey Ave., and I can imagine if Universal wanted to establish some IP/characters as key brand ambassadors and mascot-level to Universal Parks, such as the Minions, it wouldn't shock me if Universal had us enter via a Minions entry land (to use that example) and then, like Port of Entry, move onward to the rest of the park.

I think that’s fair — Mickey Avenue is the counter-example I was thinking, too. There’s also a difference between originality and non-IP, like the Studios emphasizing “Hollywood” as the central hub/Main Street. That being said, I think Mickey is the exception that proves the rule. I think he’s the only IP Disney can use in that sense without feeling really weird.

As far as "They already did this with IoA," do you feel Celestial Park and Port of Entry are equivelent? I see Celestial Park as far more than Port of Entry in that all the worlds spoke off it (and only it) and through a CP-themed device -- the portals -- that establish Celestial Park as core to the entire park navigation and experience all day. Celestial Park has original named/merchandised characters already, and it has attractions, plus a hotel. This scope is very unexpected to me, I'm not sure I've seen this in any theme park, but would love to hear about any comps.

I think the in-park story feels equally fleshed out and the through-line of IoA, with the literature theme, imo makes more sense. I guess that’s to say that Port of Entry, to me, really does feel like an entrance to different stories, all tied together with a lighthouse visible from each land. Whereas Celestial Park’s story seems to become inconsequential the second you enter a portal.

Also the hotel is a minus for me lol

EDIT: Oh no this is the Expansion thread. Sorry!!

 

[DrStarlander]

I think he’s the only IP Disney can use in that sense without feeling really weird.

I agree with this. However, you got me thinking and...I could maybe imagine a Toy Story entry land to a Disney park because the Toy Story franchise has a "meta" feel to it in that anything in a child's bedroom is fair game. In the movies, we see Hasbro toy brands (e.g., Mr. Potato), to Mattel (e.g., Barbie) to many others. So, a Toy Story land could have a hub (basically the floor rug of a child's room) with peripheral portals based on toys for each of the subsequent IPs (because, you know, they all have toys). So, for example, the box for a toy Kenner X-Wing could be the tunnel into a Star Wars land, a Marvel toy could lead to a Marvel land, Cars...etc.

It could be a particularly good entry to a park called Disney World of Play or something in which the park is based all around interactive game rides., and land-games (i.e., Power-Up Bands).

EDIT: Oh no this is the Expansion thread. Sorry!!

Okay, now I've really gone too far, my bad!