Why Disney Fans Should Care About Epic Universe

It’s the battle as old as time — Disney World or Universal Studios.

Both located in Central Florida, these theme parks are incredibly immersive and are packed full of rides, entertainment, characters, and fun experiences! But in 2025, there will be a brand new theme park entering the arena — it’s called Epic Universe and it’s set to open by summer 2025! If you’re a diehard Disney fan, you might be thinking “who cares?” Well, we’re here to tell you why you should.

Disney World Isn’t Opening a New Theme Park Anytime Soon

It’s been a while since Disney has opened a brand new theme park (1998 with Disney’s Animal Kingdom, to be exact). And although Disney has teased new lands in the parks, there is no sign of another theme park coming anytime soon.

At the 2022 D23 Expo, Disney teased new Encanto, Coco, and villains themed lands for Magic Kingdom and Zootopia and Moana lands for Animal Kingdom. These are called Disney’s “blue-sky projects“, so they are simply ideas but they are not confirmed and do not have a full plan just yet.

Epic Universe will bring a big, brand new theme park to the Orlando area which is something you don’t see too often! There will be several themed lands — some are completely new and some are recreations from other Universal parks (like the Super Nintendo-themed land).

©Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel

As much as we love to visit Disney World or Universal theme parks over and over again, it can be exciting to explore a brand new place — especially if you are a local or you visit Florida frequently!

Consider a Universal-Disney Hybrid Vacation

There is so much to do at Disney World that it’s very easy to dedicate an entire week there. But with the addition of Epic Universe, you may find yourself giving up a Disney day to try something new!

Universal Orlando Universal’s Epic Universe Map ©Universal/Comcast

Universal Orlando and Disney World are not far from each other making it easy to do a hybrid vacation. Even if you want to stay at one hotel the entire time at either Disney or Universal, it won’t take you long to get between the two resorts.

Experience a TON of Exciting New Attractions at Once

Disney makes new rides every once in a while but there will be a bunch of new attractions to try experience at once.

Disney World opened Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind in May of 2022, TRON Lightcycle Run is opening on April 4th, 2023, and Journey of Water — Inspired by Moana is opening in late 2023. Tiana Bayou Adventure is also set to open in late 2024. While there are quite a few new attractions coming to Disney, there will be an entire theme park full of attractions — several of them are never-before-seen!

We did a deep dive into the Epic Universe concept art where we saw what kind of rides could be coming to the park. These are mostly estimations based on what we see in the art — Universal has not officially announced many details just yet.

Near the entrance, we noticed a giant show building. Could this be an attraction? We’ll have to wait and see, but it seems like a ride or show could fit in there.

A Yoshi Adventure ride could be coming to the Super Nintendo World area of the park…

…and some speculate that a Donkey Kong-themed space could be coming. If you look closely, you’ll see a ride track coming out of the building.

If this has you excited, see what other attractions could be coming to Epic Universe here!

Epic Universe May Be Home to Another One of Your Fandoms

If you’re a big Disney fan, chances are that you are a part of other fandoms, too. And those fandoms just might be represented in this new park!

As we mentioned above, we expect to see lands, attractions, rides, restaurants, and more themed to things like Harry Potter, How to Train Your Dragon, classic Monsters, and Super Nintendo World.

Since Disney does not own any of these things, you won’t be seeing these in the Disney World parks. So if you’re a huge Nintendo fan or you have watched How to Train Your Dragon 100 times, you may want to head to Epic Universe.

Epic Universe is set to open sometime in 2025 and until then we’ll keep watching for details and construction updates from the new theme park. If you’re a Disney fan, keep following these updates — something at Epic Universe just might catch your eye!