Anticipation is rising for Epic Universe, the theme park that Universal Orlando is crafting. The announcement of an official opening day and the first phase of ticket sales has Epic front-of-mind in the attractions community.

Epic Universe will be the first theme park to open in Orlando in more than 25 years. Disney’s Animal Kingdom opened in 1998, followed by Universal’s Islands of Adventure in 1999.  Bill Clinton was president, Cher’s “Believe” topped the charts and the newsy virus was attached to Y2K.

A generation of Central Floridians wasn’t around for those big events. Epic’s design and promotions may reflect that eager audience.

“It is the first full new theme park domestically in quite a long time and certainly the first in the social media age. So I think it’s hard to avoid the excitement,” said Alicia Stella, owner of Orlando ParkStop website.

“There’s a whole new set of everything. As a theme park fan, it’s every little detail, like down to new attractions, new lands, new background music, new foods to try, new sights, sounds and smells,” she said. “It’s the full gambit, and it’s not just one land or one ride. It’s a whole theme park.”

Stella fell into the Epic rabbithole early, when water-drainage permits were made public for the project about six months before Universal officially announced the park in 2019, she said.

“We could see, ‘Oh, there’s just a there’s a gigantic flat parking lot, you know, with thousands of spaces, and there’s water main running through the center of this left side of the plot of land that circles around and then connects out into like branches, like almost like a hub and spoke.’” she said.

“There’s access roads for emergency vehicles that delineate between what are clearly like theme park lands. We could see what the park was going to look like based on this permit,” Stella said. “And there’s no going back from that. Once I saw that, I was like, ‘I am all in on this.’”

Max Elam, a lifelong Floridian, was born the same year that Animal Kingdom opened. He monitors progress at the Epic construction site, which is near Orange County Convention Center, about 2.5 miles from Universal’s existing theme parks. A grand opening date of May 22 has been announced.

“I’ve been following it whenever I drive by. … Seeing, like, rides go up and facades go up really, really helped kind of build hype around it,” Elam said.

“As more things have been unveiled and the pieces started coming together … I think it’s really cool to see the vision that they have in mind for it,” he said.

Epic will be made of areas devoted to the “How to Train Your Dragon” franchise, Super Nintendo World, Dark Universe featuring classic monsters and a Wizarding World of Harry Potter installation. The park also includes a Celestial Park section with rides and restaurants.

“I read the ‘How To Train Your Dragon’ books when I was in elementary school. I watched the movies as they came out. Nintendo has obviously been a part of my childhood and life growing up. So there’s some nostalgia to it, I’d say,” Elam said.

“It’s like a mixed bag of everything I could look for in a park,” he said.

Tharin White, lead producer of EYNTK.info, moved to Central Florida a decade ago. In that time, Walt Disney World has added Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Pandora – The World of Avatar at Animal Kingdom, and Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley debuted at Universal Studios.

“For Epic, I feel like I’m twice as excited, because I can see every part of it get built up and it’s in Orlando and it’s new and it’s not being copied other than, you know, Super Nintendo World,” White said.

Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Japan already feature Super Nintendo World attractions. The Orlando version is said to be larger, and it has White’s attention.

“I know Super Nintendo World is in other parks, but just the color and all the stuff that I’ve seen in the animatronics and the Donkey Kong coaster. … It’s, to me, their over-the-top, super-iconic land. … It’s the first one that’s ever, I think, gone toe-to-toe with Harry Potter,” he said.

White thinks Epic is “truly going to be the definition of a modern-day super theme park,” he said, comparing its effect with other global projects such as SeaWorld Abu Dhabi and Shanghai Disneyland.

“I think this is Universal’s version, while sticking to their roots, to also totally redefine themselves and say, ‘Look, if we could take all of our parks and start from the beginning, this is what we meant with immersion. This is what we meant with storytelling,’” he said.

Mark Woodbury, CEO of Universal Destinations & Experiences, has touted Epic as the “most technologically advanced park we’ve ever done.” That applies to operations and attractions, he said.

Some of that has been realized with detailed computer-generated fly-throughs of the future theme park. Social media accounts also have documented progress on the construction site, where work is done in clear view of public streets, nearby apartment complexes and from the sky with real-life fly-overs.

“Because of social media, it’s easier to reach younger people than it ever has been,” Stella said. “Since January, every like advert on YouTube I see is for Epic Universe. Instagram ads scroll by. Facebook ads scroll by.”

Expectations are growing for a complete, ready-to-go park. Matthew Miller said he stayed up late to secure a three-day package in the first wave of Epic ticketing.

“I think this is going to be the most filled-out, the most complete theme park on opening day that we’ve ever had in Central Florida,” said Miller, recalling early days of other parks with missing pieces. “I think the park is going to be incredible.”

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