Back in August, Universal officially revealed that they’re building their next theme park in Orlando. An opening date has not yet been announced for Universal’s Epic Universe (Epic Universe), however an opening year has been revealed. Epic Universe is set to open in 2023.
In the aerial photos below, we’ll be taking a look at the future side of the park. We have to thank Orlando Park Stop for allowing us to use these photos. The below photos show all of the cleared land that will be used for the new park – as well as the backstage areas, a hotel (at least) and massive parking lot.
Stay tuned to Orlando Theme Park Zone for more construction updates, rumours and permit updates for Epic Universe. With that being said, lets take a look at these incredible aerial photos.
Backstage Lot of Epic Universe
The Backstage Lot will be the first area which will see significant construction as permits for the employee parking lots and warehouses have been approved. This particular area is right against Sand Lake Road, seen on the right side of the photo above.
This particular area will be used for staging, parking and Creative work related to this significant project over the coming years. When Epic Universe opens, this is where Team Members can park and the backstage areas that run the park will be located.
The photo below shows the backstage areas as seen from above the theme park, looking north towards Sand Lake Road. Below that photo is an overlay of the current backstage area permitted plans onto an aerial photo.
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Epic Universe
In the photo below, you can see almost the entire area for the theme park in the foreground. The backstage area can be seen in the back-right of the photo below. The in-park hotel is in the back-center of the photo below. The park’s themed lands will be on the left and right side of the photo below.
The parking lot will be off screen to the bottom-right of the above photo. It would be fair to say it’s hard to tell from the above photo, however you’re essentially looking at an area about one and half times the size of Universal’s Islands of Adventure. Below is the same photo, however with estimated labels for the different themed lands of Epic Universe.
The below photo is estimated map for all of the lands for Epic Universe, drawn on top of the development plans for the specific area. The roads that can be seen between each of the themed lands of the park will be for emergency vehicles so that they’re able to gain access1.
1: Emergency vehicles include fire engines and ambulances.
Once we start to see the access roads be built, it’s safe to say we’ll have a much better understanding of how the land will be laid out.
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Drainage Pond of Epic Universe
The photo below shows that the drainage pond that will be located behind the hotel is only still halfway formed. Once finished, this pond will be a part of the view from rooms that don’t face the park.
It has also been rumoured to be where fireworks will be set off from for the nightly show. In the photo below, the hotel will be located in somewhat the center of the photo, with the lagoon behind it.
Whilst still looking the same way, which is looking south, we can see the bottom half of Epic Universe, as well as the area where the parking lot will be. The parking lot will be at the top-left of the photo below.
Epic Universe Parking Lot
The photo below offers a closer view of the future location of the parking lot, along with where they plan to build a new road named; Universal Way. This road will connect the future Kirkman Road expansion to the existing Destination Park.
This new will take guests to and from the immense parking lot. In addition to the parking lot, this area may someday offer an extra theme park or some other type of entertainment offering.
There’s more unused located to the south of where the theme park and parking will be built that could be used for additional hotels or other future projects as well.
Moving the camera to the left, the photo below shows the view of what is located just to the north of the immense parking lot, and to the east of the theme park: a water treatment plant (treatment plant).
The treatment plant (seen in the above photo) leans up against the ride side of Epic Universe, this is where most of the park’s forthcoming expansion will be located, as well as the backside of the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them land2.
2: One of a number of themed lands at Epic Universe.
With the water treatment located here, individuals have speculated that this may have been of the calculation for place the Fantastic Beasts land in the corner of Epic Universe, essentially, a majority of this land will be indoors.
Maybe an inside land is a way of how Universal plans to get around the fact that the treatment plant can sometimes smell awful!
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Source: Orlando Park Stop
