Huge progress on five roller coasters at Universal’s Epic Universe

Universal’s Epic Universe is going to be that, EPIC! Thanks to Peaceful Thrill Seeker on Instagram, we got some fantastic shots of upcoming roller coasters at Epic Universe. These coasters range from family-friendly to world-class thrills.

Donkey Kong roller coaster at Super Nintendo World.

Come 2025, Universal Orlando Resort will be home to at least five new roller coaster offerings, and is aligning itself to be in direct competition with Walt Disney World as Universal’s Epic Universe park will truly make the Universal Orlando Resort a multi-day destination. I recently spoke with WESH 2 News on this exact subject.

Seen in the image above, we are looking over Super Nintendo World, which is rumored to be the largest version of any Super Nintendo World in the entire world. Recently, Universal Studios Hollywood opened their version of Super Nintendo World. Fans flocked in to see this incredibly detailed and energetic land, but the version of the land in Florida will have three times as many rides as Hollywood.


Roller coasters at Universal's Epic Universe – Donkey Kong.

The first of the five roller coasters we can see is the Donkey Kong coaster. This is expected to be one of the most technologically-advanced and highly-themed roller coasters ever created. I previously wrote a deep-dive article on this attraction, with details on how it should work.

The tan circled structure is what has theme park nerds and roller coaster fans excited. If rumors are true, riders will appear to “jump the track” on this section of the ride. Much like out of a game of Roller Coaster Tycoon (except your vehicle is actually safe), this ride vehicle will look like it is leaving the ride supports to jump to the other side of the ride. This will be an illusion, but an illusion we think Universal will spare no expense to sell.

For sizing, I circled the yellow F-150 truck. This is the easiest comparison of scale for a roller coaster that is taking up some serious space. And, let it be known, this roller coaster isn’t even the main attraction of the land. That would be the Mario Kart themed AR ride.


Roller coasters at Universal's Epic Universe – Classic Monsters Wolf Man.

At the nearby Universal’s Classic Monsters area we can see another one of the roller coasters at Universal’s Epic Universe. This will be a family-friendly attraction in a land that might not be super family-friendly. Rumors heavily suggest that this land will be themed to Universal’s Classic Monsters. The main indoor attraction of this land is expected to have some jump scares that could frighten younger ones.

This coaster will be more family friendly, with a potential multi-launch speed build-up within the themed barn. Rumors suggest this barn fits the theme and feel of the Wolf Man. If so, this coaster is expected to be a spinner-ride with a midway-point multi-launch element. We may also see some screens or an animatronic inside the barn for additional theming.


Tommy Hawkins on Twitter made a mockup of a potential queue and landscape layout for the attraction. While not confirmed, this concept does make sense for the space and rumored theme. As we know, Universal is not afraid to create a miniature forest for a roller coaster. We see the extreme version of that with Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure.


Universal's Epic Universe construction site overview.

I know, this is a lot to look at. But, if what we know is correct, you are staring at three separate roller coaster tracks in two different themed areas of the park. Two tracks will make up the highly anticipated dueling roller coaster. The final coaster will be a themed attraction that may fly above water and into a tunnel.

I once again circled an F-150 truck to show scale. While the track isn’t installed, you can easily see how the nearby white concrete footers are going to become supports for a large turn at this section of the ride.


Roller coasters at Universal's Epic Universe – How To Train Your Dragon.

Looking closer, we see the How To Train Your Dragon land. This land is rumored to have a massive dining location located at the red circled area. This would be themed to The Great Hall from the How To Train Your Dragon franchise.

The roller coaster can be seen on one side of this land, with portions of it still carefully covered by a white protective surface. We expect these type of track protections to stay on for quite a while as large equipment continues to be installed around this park. At the green circle, we can see what we believe to be an underground portion of this attraction.

The yellow circled statue seem to perfectly align with the Berk viking statues from the How To Train Your Dragon films.

How To Train Your Dragon roller coaster details.

Thanks to Peaceful Thrill Seeker’s high-definition photography, we can really zoom in. Here we can see the previously-mentioned yellow circled statue structure and the supposed underground green circled portion of the track. It is thought to be, and I believe it is true, that this roller coaster will fly over water and drop underground for the short portion seen here. You can clearly see the concrete lip at the pink circle. This will keep the water out of the tunnel and in the large reservoir that is currently being built.

This coaster was originally expected to be a hanging coaster like Montu at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay or a flying coaster like Manta at SeaWorld Orlando. Looking at this track and its layout, that no longer appears to be the case. Instead this could be a standard coaster design. But I feel Universal has a special way we may be able to get the feeling of flight on a dragon for this ride. This could be done with a floorless design, a motorbike style (themed to dragons), or even potentially a wing coaster. While a wing coaster would be a first for Florida, it doesn’t appear the extremely wide coaster trains would fit in this area.


B/W image of Dueling Coaster construction at Universal Orlando Resort.

Cranes, construction equipment, and an upcoming world-class roller coaster. Seen above is the dueling coaster that supposedly won’t be tied to any intellectual property. This will be a stand-alone coaster with its own style of theming that won’t be tied in to a major land, sort of like Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit at Universal Studios Florida.

This coaster is expected to be a multi-launch ride that will race and rocket in and out of the load building. It will soar up and over numerous hills, and should have a few inversions as well. Just from what we see now, this should be an instant world-renowned roller coaster. From the dueling aspect, to the supposed speed and launches, and the mass of land space it takes up, this roller coaster will be spectacular. We will have to wait to see more track elements to know the full story, but it is safe to say this is for the thrill nuts. Our breakdown of the concept art in 2019 gave us an idea of what is to come with this ride and the surrounding lands.


Roller Coasters at Universal's Epic Universe – Dueling Coaster.

In this image we can see another angle of the dueling coaster and the nearby How To Train Your Dragon land. The red line is where I expect these areas to be divided. It is thought that this dueling roller coaster will be separate and will not be a part of the How To Train Your Dragon area.

The yellow circled building is a supposed portal entry that will be at the entrance to all the major lands. The rumor stands that all four of the major lands, Super Nintendo World, Universal’s Classic Monsters, How To Train Your Dragon, and the Wizarding World Expansion, will all have a portal entrance. This will serve to hide the land, allowing for more immersion. This could also tie into an overall theme of mini-universes inside of the overall park

Back to the Universal’s Epic Universe roller coasters, we continue to look at this massive yellow and green dueling attraction. From the track pieces already installed, you can see aggressive turns, drastic changes in elevation, and support pieces in the background for a lot more to come.

As stated, there will be at least five roller coasters at Universal’s Epic Universe. While the dueling coaster contains two of these five, the difference in track elements will allow for different feelings, twists, drops and turns.

I myself am incredibly excited for what is to come. It will be hard to decide which coaster to run to first. Would you race towards the highly-themed Donkey Kong roller coaster, the high-speed dueling roller coaster, the spinner horror coaster, or the over-water dragon coaster?

MouseFanTravel

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

3 Comments

  1. This will be fun if you’re 8. Us grown folks want something akin to the best rollercoaster parks in the world but that will never happen in the best state to build such a park. What a shame. Have fun hanging out with kids, I’ll be at Cedar Point getting drunk and riding Steel Vengeance, something you clearly cannot gandle.

    1. Funny considering Iron Gwazi and Velocicoaster are leagues better than Steve. Steve doesn’t even make most peoples top 5 anymore LOL. Starfall Racers is clearly going to be world class, if Cosmic Rewind is any indication, the wolf coaster will be world class, if Hagrids is any indication the train your dragon will be world class, and the Donkey Kong Coaster may or may not be world class. Islands of Adv alone sees 3-4 times the people Cedar does not including it being in a city with 4 Disney Parks, Seaworld, Near Busch Gardens, and Competing with Universal, even enthusiasts are riding Veloci and Gwazi more than any cedar ride as far as individual ride attendance goes. I don’t think we need anymore shoddily made Hybrid rmcs in central florida lol