Thursday, May 29, 2025 marks one full week of Universal Epic Universe being open to the public. One previously advertised offering has yet to make an appearance since the days of Team Member previews, however: the flying dragon drones of How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk.
Where are the Dragon Drones at Epic Universe?
The flying dragon drones were confirmed back in February of this year, following the release of initial concept art that featured several dragons flying in the skies above Berk. However, only one dragon drone has been seen since then.
One of the flying dragon drones was first spotted back in mid-March by WESH 2 News, ahead of Team Member previews. In their footage, the drone was Hookfang, Snotlout’s Monstrous Nightmare dragon. It wasn’t actively flying at the time, but was seen parked on the ground. Guests visiting the park in mid-April reported seeing the same drone in flight.
As bioreconstruct noted on X (formerly Twitter), the flying dragons have not been seen since, including:
- Not during any of the media preview dates
- Not during the Grand Opening VIP party
- Not during Grand Opening Day
- Not mentioned during either of the Grand Opening livestreams hosted by Universal
Universal has not made an official statement regarding the absence of the flying dragon drones, and a mention of them is still present in the post that confirmed their appearance on the Discover Universal Blog. Flying dragons are also still mentioned on the world’s page on the Universal Orlando website.
It is possible that the flying dragon drone(s) are simply not guest-ready, or there could be a safety issue, among other potential reasons. Late last year, a drone was involved in an accident that injured a child in nearby downtown Orlando; after the incident, Universal ceased the use of drones while safety measures were evaluated. While it has been some time since this incident occurred, and though Universal was not involved in the incident, it could have a link to the delay.
In a recent interview with CNET, Ryan Paul, manager of Ride & Show Engineering for Universal Creative, shared that the program is “right on the precipice” of being added to the world:
The drone program is something that has been in development for as long as the program has been alive, and they are right on the precipice of adding those [dragon drones] to the skyline here [in How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk]. I think that’ll really complete the picture, especially here at the vista when you’re actually looking out at the Isle of Berk.
Ryan Paul, Manager, Ride & Show Engineering in an interview with CNET
For now, guests can see a “flying” dragon in the form of Toothless taking flight with Hiccup during “The Untrainable Dragon,” the stage show in How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk.
We hope to see the flying dragon drones eventually make their way to daily operations at Epic Universe, and that whatever is preventing them from joining their fellow dragons in Berk will be resolved soon.
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