About the only thing I remember about the "How to Train Your Dragon" movie franchise from when I saw the first installment with my kids in 2010 is that I found it odd that there was a Viking village in which the adults spoke with Scottish accents and the kids spoke with American accents.
But that didn't matter to me as I entered the land based on the franchise at Universal Orlando's new theme park Epic Universe. I generally don't care what IP a theme park land or attraction is based on, as long as the theming and rides are great. And the "How to Train Your Dragon: Isle of Berk" area of Epic Universe in Orlando is so great, I feel like I just become an ardent fan of the franchise.
The "Isle of Berk" portal creates an entire Viking village in which humans have befriended and learned to live with dragons (okay, that's another thing I do remember about the movie). From the moment I went through the portal/tunnel to the land, I was enchanted by the charming design.
The land has three rides, a show, a play area, and restaurants and shops. But I was impressed with how jam-packed it is with details and living (fire and frost) breathing dragons walking around, sticking their heads out of buildings, and meeting guests.
That's one of the things I've loved about Epic Universe. They put creative energy and money into lands' nooks and crannies that you may stumble upon as you wander around, not just the spotlighted features that your ride's omnimover swivel toward.
The delightful "Hiccup's Wing Gliders" is billed as a family coaster, but it's more than that — it's really the best of that type, with extra surprises. Here is a spoiler-filled (obviously) ride-through video of the ride, that's sure to be a hit. It continues the very welcome theme park trend of including a soundtrack on roller coasters, which in the past were always silent.
"Dragon Rader's Rally" is a spinner ride that allows individual tilting and even barrel rolling. "Fyre Drill" is a water-gun boat battle and target game. I was mortified that in trying to hit a target, I hit a guest in another boat with my water-gun. That's supposed to be part of the ride, but he let out such a shriek, I slunk down in my boat.
Another sure-fire winner is the meet-and-greet for Toothless, an adorable dragon robot apparently with a Boston Dynamics dog robot skeleton. Unfortunately, the below video shows only adults interacting with the robot. It's so sweet watching kids do this.
I'm not the biggest fan of theme park shows, but the show in this land, "The Untrainable Dragon," has effects that are so spectacular, I won't even write more about them to avoid spoiling its genuinely amazing moments.
I spoke to Kathrynn DiGenova, Senior Show Producer at Universal Creative, and she was particularly proud of how this and the other portals in the park fully envelope you into their worlds. And she even used the magic word "immersive" twice:
"Each of our immersive worlds need to feel immersive. So, of course we're always challenged with sight lines, but being able to walk through a portal and feel like you're in How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk, feel like you're in our Dark Universe Darkmoor [Village], those are important moments for the guest to feel that transition. And so that's absolutely been part of our design goals."
—
I attended a press event at Universal Epic Universe at the invitation of, and at the expense of, Universal Orlando Resort.
