The Dark Universe portal in Universal Orlando's new theme park, Epic Universe, is set in the impeccably rendered Darkmoor Village, a possibly Transylvanian setting themed for Universal's classic monster roster.
I was with a group of writers who spoke to Peter Carsillo, Senior Creative Director at Universal Creative, and he stressed how important it was to make Darkmoor a fully realized, fully immersive land.
"When we first opened up The Wizarding World of Harry Potter [in 2010], that was the first time that a truly immersive, 100% comprehensive land was built. And so it's only been a matter of years since then to now. So if you think about it, it really hasn't been that long in coming, but boy, did we try to hit it out of the park and make sure this was something all monster fans could really love."
The village looks and feels spectacular, especially the windmill above the Burning Blade Tavern, which periodically bursts into flames, and Frankenstein Manor, at which you can periodically see electricity crackle from its windows and walls, hinting at mysterious experiments being conducted within.
The village is bathed in an original haunting, spooky score by composer Danny Elfman.
This land looks absolutely stunning at night. Unfortunately, the sun in Orlando will set after 8:00pm from now until August, and the park was set to close every day at 9:00pm. I believe in response to this concern, Universal just announced that on certain days it will stay open until 10:00pm.
The main attraction in Dark Universe is the ride "Monsters Unchained," probably my favorite ride in Epic Universe. That may be because this land is the only one that features characters that existed when I was a kid (Hell, these characters existed when my parents were kids!), and that does amp things up emotionally. When the Creature from the Black Lagoon popped up in the ride, I was less scared than happy to see an old friend.
We are told that Dr. Victoria Frankenstein (pron. FRANK-en-stine) is the great-great-great granddaughter of Dr. Victor Frankenstein, has followed her family tradition, bringing a creature back from the dead: Victoria Frankenstein's MONSTER. And she is trying to bring all the monsters under her control. The final monster she must capture is Dracula, but this plan just may go awry… in a fun, fan-service way that allows us to see all of our favorite monsters in battle.
One of the highlights of the ride is the queue. Elaborate and entertaining queues are the new, very welcome trend in theme parks, and they are a ton of fun. Nobody wants to spend hours in line for these rides, but that is going to be the reality. And these beautifully themed queues serve the purpose of passing the time, but also setting up the story and psychologically easing the guests into the world of the ride. A twenty-minute experience in this queue would be unmissable, but unfortunately, these lines will be far longer than that.
So much thought and creativity and resources went into the look of the various creepy rooms of Frankenstein Manor that the queue winds through, as you see evidence of past experiments in monster-making.
I participated in an interview with Frances Fransceschi, Production Designer of the ride, and when theme park podcaster/superstar Len Testa asked her about the design of the ride, she said that her idea in designing the manor was to first imagine how the manor would have first been built and decorated, and then how Dr. Frankenstein would have modified it for her nefarious purposes.
"Knowing that we were going to do the Frankenstein Manor, it's some place that we hadn't really done this way before. So initially, just starting and being like: What period of time is the manor house built in? What are the rooms that would be in this manor house? How would the Frankenstein family change these rooms to make it work for their experiments? …
This world is a real world that you can go to, so the architecture is also real. So we want to be sure that it lands in the real world, and that a manor house could be built this way. And then also, it's the Frankenstein house, so we need to change it, to make sure it feels like it's Frankenstein's."
That is just a snippet of the brief (very funny) interview that Len conducted, and he told me that he will play audio of that full interview on his podcast, The Disney Dish.
The queue includes two pre-shows that feature fantastic, groundbreaking animatronics. First you meet Igor, Dr. Victoria Frankenstein's assistant of course, who entertainingly explains how he'll be controlling your ride vehicle.
Then you meet the animatronic Dr. Frankenstein and Monster, both utilizing breakthrough technology, and learn about the doctor's plan to complete her control of all monsters by capturing Dracula.
Frankenstein's Monster is huge, with uncanny life-like (or death-like?) movements, even seeming to step forward toward you. Dr. Frankenstein's movements are also more fluid than I've ever seen, and she features a new innovation in animatronics: a projection mapping system in which her digitally animated face is projected onto her physically animated head, including a moving jaw. The result is remarkable.
An exhaustively complete summary of the queue (and the ride), with photos, can be seen here.
The ride itself is a dark ride in which riders move through set rooms in a vehicle while simultaneously being manipulated by a robotic arm that syncs both with screens and practical effects. This is the kind of ride system that Universal has always excelled at, starting with Islands of Adventure's 1999 "The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man" through 2010's "Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey," both groundbreaking, fantastic rides.
And the actual monster animatronics in the ride are state-of-the-art and strikingly realistic. (See "Universal reveals amazing animatronic monsters."). It makes for an absolutely thrilling ride.
I asked Frances Fransceschi how this ride pushes theme park technology forward in new ways, and she said that its greatest achievement is that it is innovative both in quality and quantity.
"How we have delivered this show, for 'Monsters Unchained,' and that layered effect with the practical, with the physical media, with the animated figures, but also the environmentals – we have so many special effects throughout this ride.
So that layered effect of all of those for every single show scene has really pushed us over the top. … Also our animated figures: them alone, and their animation and what we've been able to achieve with them I think is a huge technological achievement."
A spoiler-packed (obviously) video of the entire ride, including the queue is here.
Also in the Dark Universe portal is "Curse of the Werewolf," a spinning roller coaster.
—
I attended a press event at Universal Epic Universe at the invitation of, and at the expense of, Universal Orlando Resort.
