Construction update: First fantastic beast arrives in Epic Universe’s Wizarding World
A painting of a fantastic beast is among the latest updates at the construction site of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Epic Universe.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic will be one of the five worlds of Universal Epic Universe when the new theme park opens next year at Universal Orlando Resort. bioreconstruct shared an overview of construction progress captured from the sky in March 2024.
Guess That Magical Creature
Many façades within the land — which depict Place Cachée from “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” — are now scaffolding-free.
By removing the scaffolding from the building shown below, construction teams revealed a first look at a fantastic beast. Identifying the magical creature is an exercise in intense sleuthing of fictional world-building. Any guesses?
A logical source to search for answers is “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” an in-universe textbook studied by Hogwarts students and written by Newt Scamander, and a real book written by J.K. Rowling that served as the inspiration for the film series of the same name.
Based on descriptions and illustrations in Scamander’s A-Z reference book, the magical creature in the Epic Universe painting possesses traits of the hippogriff, occamy, phoenix, and snallygaster, but doesn’t seem to be a complete match to any of them. For what it’s worth, the only of those four creatures to be native to Europe is the hippogriff.
For an assist, we asked the experts. We consulted with our friends at MuggleNet, who believe the creature to be a griffin.
The griffin originated in Greece and has the front legs and head of a giant eagle, but the body and hind legs of a lion. Like sphinxes, griffins are often employed by wizards to guard treasure. Though griffins are fierce, a handful of skilled wizards have been known to befriend one. Griffins feed on raw meat.
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” by J.K. Rowling as Newt Scamander
Paint and Pavement
Without scaffolding in the way, Place Cachée’s artistic details are also more visible.
One building bears the words “tout hex ôte” (all hex removed) and “nul hex ici” (no hex here).
Construction crews also began laying the groundwork for the area, which marks a step forward for the park at large, as most of the pathways throughout Epic Universe are still dirt.
Aerial Overview of Ministry of Magic
The photo below shows nearly the entirety of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic. The world will contain narrow (and narrower) alleyways, as well as to-be-announced attraction(s) in a large building. Guests will enter The Wizarding World from Celestial Park, the central plaza of Epic Universe, by stepping through the portal shown near the top center of the photo below.
Looking even wider, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic, shown in the foreground of the photo below, will be situated between the Starfall Racers roller coaster and Universal Helios Grand Hotel. The main entrance of Epic Universe is at the top left of this photo.
Flipping perspectives, in the following photo The Wizarding World is situated toward the top left corner. Moving counter-clockwise around Celestial Park from there, one can see Helios Grand, Dark Universe, Super Nintendo World, the main entrance of Epic Universe, How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk, and Starfall Racers.
Putting Place Cachée in Context
Place Cachée, only seen on screen in the sequel to the prequel of “Harry Potter,” may be less familiar to park guests than the land’s previous Wizarding World counterparts of Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. For a refresher on Place Cachée from “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” and speculation about what its alleyways at Epic Universe may entail, read our previous story:
Beyond Epic Universe’s Wizarding World, construction teams continue to make progress elsewhere throughout the park. Check out our previous updates with photos by bioreconstruct of Starfall Racers coaster trains and uncovered Yoshi ride vehicles.
