Construction continues around the future site of Epic Universe at Universal Orlando Resort. Aerial photographer @bioreconstruct on X (formerly known as Twitter) has shared new photos from the sky, offering a look at the portal to the Universal Classic Monsters-themed land, the overall portal entrance for the park, and more.

Overview

Work is moving right along in Epic Universe. Here, you can see the portal to the Wizarding World-related land on the left, and the dual-racing roller coaster on the right.

Entrance

This image shows the entrance to Epic Universe. Here, we can see the first ring of wooden concrete forms in place for the park’s overall entrance portal. An arrow on the left points to additional concrete work.

In this photo:

1. Additional concrete form sections are staged to continue the Epic Universe portal entrance.
2. Here we can see supports for a concrete form shown above.
3. An excavated area that will be a future water feature.

In this image, we can see domed roof elements that have been recently placed at 1 and 2. At 3, a kiosk roof has been added.

Security and admission will be located in both of these structures in the foreground.

Looking at this excavated area at the park’s entrance, we can see that new rectangular concrete forms have been added.

The trees at the top center of this image, ahead of the security and admissions area, were recently transplanted.

Rebar and sand have been added to this water feature construction. The building at the right will be a restaurant that overlooks the water. Scrims currently cover the large window openings.

In this photo:

1. Tunnel entrance.
2. The outline of the tunnel can be seen here, and foam blocks are staged on top.
3. An underground kitchen is located here.
4. The restaurant’s entrance will be here, and guests will descend to the dining level at the water’s edge.

Celestial Park

This aerial photo of the dual-racing roller coaster in Celestial Park shows tiered scaffolding has gone up for theming of the central part of the station.

This image shows the track returning to the front of the roller coaster. The green and yellow tracks wrap around at the second launch. 1 marks a break run at the end of the ride, and 2 marks the return to the station.

Here’s an updated look at the construction for an audience viewing area of the Epic Universe main fountain. Not much has changed since our last update.

Isle of Berk

Looking over Isle of Berk, the rumored name for the How to Train Your Dragon land, an arrow points to recently added theming of a small building. Shapes of dragon characters wrapped in plastic can be seen at the front edge of the roof.

The arrow in this photo points to a newly added deck platform with an uneven edge.

Dark Universe

“Dark Universe”, rumored to be the name of the Universal Classic Monsters land, is located across from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter land in Epic Universe, on the other side of the in-park hotel.

In our last update, the entrance portal to the land was entirely encapsulated in scaffolding. As of bioreconstruct’s latest update, we can now see that most of the scaffolding has been removed, revealing the giant tree that will tower high over guests.

This side of the portal faces the land. With the scaffolding down, we can now see the intertwined tree roots and vines as they crawl over the rocks below.

At the top of the portal is various copper machinery, akin to something you might see in Dr. Frankenstein’s lab.

In this photo:

1. Wiring for an effect or lightning.
2. A themed ring and insulator.
3. Patina in the metal accents.
4. Conduits (4-6).

This close-up look at the actual portal itself shows where guests will enter the land. Materials are piled throughout the area, which helps to illustrate the sheer scale of the entrance opening.

In this photo:

1. An unfinished area.
2. An unfinished area with conduits.
3. Coiled wiring at the center of the portal.
4. Many conduits are visible here.
5. This could be wiring for admission podiums, which is present in other portal entrances.

In this aerial photo of the portal, you can see where the scaffolding was recently removed at 1, with rockwork and other theming ready to be painted. At 2, you can spot a theming model. 3 shows a short wall that will direct guests around a corner. A recent frame stands at 4, which bioreconstruct supposes will be a future water feature. 5 shows scaffolding has covered an area that was previously just steel framing.

This aerial photo shows the exit through the portal from inside the land. 1, 2, and 3 are various theming models. An unfinished service access area is located at 4. At 5, bioreconstruct believes that this opening will have lightning directed at the top of the portal.

Now that the scaffolding is mostly down around this portal, we can see the intricate details in the roots of the tree as it scrambles up the structure.

This aerial overview shows how the portal itself fits with the rest of the land.

Once the park opens, this portal will lead guests into a village.

The mansion, which will house the land’s main attraction, is starting to come to life with more exterior work uncovered by scaffolding.

In this photo:

1. Scaffolding has gone up around this building as work begins on its theming.
2. The manor entry is now covered in scaffolding.
3. The orange coating here could be a base layer for masonry work.
4. Scaffolding has come down here, revealing a doorway.

Back at the portal, this arrow points to a themed uneven roof peak over the exit of the land.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Paris

This aerial photo shows a courtyard area in the next Wizarding World land. Much of it is surrounded by scaffolding. Eventually, guests will pass through this area to get to a restaurant. At the top left is a ride show building.

Super Nintendo World

At the portal to Super Nintendo World, an arrow in this image points to the ground-level exit for the land, which moves around curved concrete walls.

Theming continues around the perimeter of Mount Beanpole.

It appears that the Yoshi ride cars have arrived in the park, located at the yellow arrow on the left. Of course, they are covered.

Looking along the Yoshi’s Adventure track, the yellow arrow points to window openings next to the covered ride cars.

The arrows in this photo represent guest flow in and out of the land. Guests will enter Super Nintendo World by escalator and then through Peach’s Castle. When exiting, guests will leave at ground level.

The arrow in this photo points at a hexagon-shaped wall near Peach’s Castle, located on the right.

Here we can see the largest courtyard of Super Nintendo World. The yellow arrow points to what will be Toad’s Cafe.

Moving over to the Donkey Kong roller coaster, the yellow arrow points to a section of transfer track for the maintenance bay, with a platform.

This section of the Donkey Kong roller coaster area is rumored to include a waterfall. The arrow in this image points to where a large character face sculpture will be.

In this image, you can see how the real track goes sideways, while the faux track appears to create a gap that the coaster cars will “jump” over.

The coaster will also reportedly splash through water here. Workers can be seen on the right assembling more framework for theming.

In-Park Hotel

At the Epic Universe in-park resort hotel, concrete forms are taking shape for the roof over the lobby floor extension leading toward the park.

Additional Hotels

Over at the resort hotel to the south of Epic Universe, the colorful reflective tile has begun to wrap around the side of the building.

In this photo, crews are shown finishing the edges of a recently placed window, which has been left open for worker access to place the exterior tiles.

During bioreconstruct’s fly-over, crews were spotted working in the porte-cochère area of the resort.

Epic Universe is scheduled to open in 2025.

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Brit Tuttle