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'Epic Universe': New Universal Orlando theme park on track to open in 2025
Universal Orlando's newest theme park, Epic Universe, is starting to take shape like we’ve never seen before and is generating plenty of buzz. Executives confirmed they are on track to open the new park in 2025.
ORLANDO, Fla - Universal's Epic Universe, the highly-anticipated theme park under construction in Orlando, Florida, is "right on track" and remains on schedule to open in summer 2025, Jeffrey S. Shell, CEO of NBCUniversal, said Monday during the UBS Global TMT Conference.
"Yes, we're right on track, literally right on track. So we expect to open it in '25. I don't think we've said the exact date that we're opening in, but we will have an impact on '25 that will open in time for the summer of '25," Shell said, according to an online transcript.
"I think it's perfect timing given the demand constraints in Orlando right now, new airline terminal, what Disney is seeing and what we're seeing as far as hotel bookings, and there's clearly a demand supply imbalance, and I think we're opening a theme park right in the right time in that."
The update comes weeks and months after Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Nicole brought wind, rain, and flooding to Florida, including Central Florida.
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Epic Universe: Aerial view of Universal's latest theme park coming in 2025
SKYFOX flew over construction of Universal's Epic Universe in Orlando, Florida on Tuesday. Executives said on Monday during a conference that the theme park is still on track to open in 2025.
"We're now what they call ‘going vertical.’ I was down there a couple of weeks ago, and everything is coming out of the ground. So all the infrastructure is in, a lot of the steel is in, and now it's just a question of, of building out," Shell said.
Few details about what lands, rides, and hotels the theme park have been released yet. However, here is what we know:
- The theme park is "on track" to open summer 2025
- The project has reached the vertical stage, which is where the framework for buildings and structures start to be built
- Orlando's Epic Universe will have a Super Nintendo World land (" Japan is doing extremely well, which has an added benefit of the fact that it's really the new Nintendo land that's driving a lot of that attendance. And given that we bet on Nintendo both for Hollywood and for Epic Universe our new park in Orlando, very encouraged by that," Shell said.)
- "The park is built so that you can come into one land and not the whole park ," Shell said, referring to possibility of people in town for conventions visit the theme park at night.
"Universal's Epic Universe will offer an entirely new level of experience that will forever change theme park entertainment. Guests will venture beyond their wildest imagination, traveling into beloved stories and through vibrant lands on adventures where the journey is as astounding as the ultimate destination," reads Universal's website about the theme park.
Clint Gamache, a theme park enthusiast who runs thrillgeek.com, has been following developments big and small about Epic Universe closely.
"Universal is really, really kicking it up with this park as far as construction. They’re past the ground, dirt moving, we’re starting to see structures come up from the park," he said.
"From all the rumored additions to it, from Super Nintendo World, to rumored Classic Monsters, there are all sorts of really cool things coming to this park. And this will legitimately put Universal on the map as a single destination to go to," he said.
An official opening date has not been announced yet.