We had a fantastic time in Epic Universe for the first time last week and learned SO much about the new park in just one day.

Celestial Park

Annual Passholder previews were just announced for this new park and are going pretty fast, and Universal announced that Helios Grand Hotel is opening early as well, and for those of you who are securing your spots to go sometime this year, we’re here to tell you that you’re going to have a great time. However, we’ll be the first to admit that we do feel there’s something big missing from this park, and it’s not what you’re expecting.

Epic Universe has five lands: Celestial Park (the main hub), Dark Universe, Super Nintendo World, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Ministry of Magic, and How To Train Your Dragon: Isle of Berk.

Dark Universe Portal

All of these lands are filled with dining options, merchandise locations, and attractions that appeal to all ages. However, most of these lands are also home to different meet and greets you can enjoy, many of them being roaming characters.

Spit Fyre Grill

In Isle of Berk, you’ll get the chance to meet Hiccup and Toothless, Astrid and Stormfly, roaming dragons throughout the land, as well as other characters. It really makes you feel like you’re fully immersed in the land!

Toothless and Hiccup!

Over in Dark Universe, you can meet Frankenstein and the Bride of Frankenstein, and you may even see other characters like The Invisible Man roaming around the land.

It’s The Invisible Man!

In Super Nintendo World, you’ll of course be able to meet iconic characters Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Toad, and Donkey Kong!

Super Nintendo World

Finally, in Ministry of Magic, you’ll find characters roaming around to fully immerse you in the world — we saw a Beauxbatons student leading around curious Hogwarts students on a tour of Paris. This land, so far, has the fewest amount of character interactions we’ve seen so far.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter — Ministry of Magic

However, it still beats out Celestial Park in this area, because unfortunately, Universal has seemingly cut all Celestial Park performers ahead of the planned opening on May 22nd. This change occurred while the park was recently in Team Member previews, and from what we can tell, it might not be changed back.

Welcome to Celestial Park!

This is really a shame because there were plans to see entertainment in multiple different locations around this section of the park — Universal had previously announced travelers telling tales of their journeys at Hemisphere Stage, or the Sound Collector which supposedly was a highly interactive experience with guests.

Why did these cuts happen? Well, it’s hard to say right now. Some have said it was due to a lack of interest from Team Members during their previews, while others speculate budget cuts.

Epic Universe — The Chronos Tower

We, and many Disney fans, greatly miss the Citizens of Hollywood in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and it sounds like some of these characters would have been in a similar vein! We’re hoping that once Epic Universe officially opens and Universal sees how well live entertainment and characters do in the rest of the parks, they’ll consider bringing characters to Celestial Park.

Be sure to stay tuned to DFB for all the latest Epic Universe news!

Epic Universe Previews Announced for Universal Hotel Guests and More

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