Universal is building up to the opening of its new theme park in Orlando, Epic Universe, on May 22, 2025. If the images that are being released and leaked are any indication, this park will be spectacular.
Universal released photos of the new Harry Potter ride, "Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry," and it looks like it will be innovative, massive in scale, and luxurious in detail.
This looks like a photo of the queue area of the ride, and it's breathtaking. If the sky effect is as cool in real life as it is in this photo, I don't think anyone will want to skip the line (within reason). And what's going on in those lit office windows?
Below is a shot of the ride's vehicles, which not only look gorgeous, but also will be technologically groundbreaking, as described by Universal:
"Guests will board a magical, omnidirectional lift that seats up to 14 guests to travel even deeper through the British Ministry for the long-awaited trial of Dolores Umbridge. Adorned with vibrant red and gold accents, these lifts are unlike any ride vehicle ever created and will propel guests up, down, forward, backward, sideways and more throughout the Ministry – just like guests have seen in the films."
Bioreconstruct is the social media name for a person who helicopters around Orlando taking aerial photos of the theme parks, built and under construction. They did a pass over the construction site for Epic Universe last week, and the shots look awesome.
(Link to the Bioreconstruct's Bluesky account, and tons more photos of Epic Universe's current state, is here.)
The village in the "Isle of Berk" portal, based on the How to Train Your Dragon portal, looks fantastic, even at this stage of construction.
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Bioreconstructs posted the following caption for the below photo of the gigantic Harry Potter portal themed to wizarding Paris in the 1920s: "Aerial look at the Paris skyline of the Harry Potter world in Epic Universe. The Phoenix Gate at left is partially aged. It's been a pattern in this park's theming where the artists step back and [assess] before continuing and completing."
And here are a couple of shots of the super-colorful Super Nintendo World portal.
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And here is a link to a TV commercial for Epic Universe's Dark Universe portal themed to Universal's classic monsters, showcasing the monster village and animatronics.
These IP franchises may not all be my favorites, but that's never been what theme parks have been about for me. I love the incredibly creative and immersive ways the designers create their worlds, whatever worlds they are. And these cool advance peeks make Epic Universe look state of the art.
