ORLANDO, Fla. — We are almost a week away from the grand opening of Universal Orlando's fourth theme park: Epic Universe.
Spectrum News will bring you live coverage morning, day, and night in the days leading up the May 22 debut. This week, we’re highlighting two of the five worlds guests are about to experience.
1. Epic Universe is 750 acres. (For comparison, Universal’s Islands of Adventure is 110). The new theme park has five worlds, which includes Super Nintendo World. Guests access it — and the other worlds — through a selfie-screaming portal.
2. Super Nintendo World is, of course, inspired by widely known video game franchises, like Mario Bros. The huge space has a bunch of notable landmarks, including Princess Peach's castle and the Mushroom Kingdom. Guests can play interactive games with their Power-Up bands, creating those sounds many of us were familiar with as kids.
3. One of the main attractions at Super Nintendo World is Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge, with a height requirement of 40 inches. Special goggles enhance the motion simulation adventure. Other attractions include the Donkey Kong ride, Mine-Cart Madness, and Yoshi’s Adventure, as visitors weave their way through the Mushroom Kingdom in search for glowing eggs.
4. Elsewhere in the park, things get “darker.” Dark Universe is another Epic Universe world, where guests experience myth and mystery as classic characters — like Frankenstein's monster — come to life. One of the attractions is Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment, getting you up close to iconic monsters in the form of animatronics.
5. Epic Universe has been open to team members for weeks, but the general public is welcome Thursday, May 22.
6. At last check, no tickets are available online until May 25. An adult ticket shows up as $189.