“Our new park represents the single-largest investment Comcast NBCUniversal has made in its theme park business and in Florida overall,” Roberts said at the time.
Epic Universe is the culmination of those learnings.
And then it struck gold with Harry Potter.
Universal’s Harry Potter lands changed the course of the company’s experiences business, and led to the creation of Epic.
It subsequently built Diagon Alley in Universal Studios, recreating another part of the Harry Potter universe.
In what it described (in a subtle way) as a “celebratory moment,” NBCUniversal illuminated the skies over Orlando on Wednesday with fireworks, flames, water, and drones to mark the grand opening of its newest multi-billion dollar wager: Epic Universe.
However, it had to introduce Steven Spielberg first.
The visionary director was not present, but his voice could be heard clearly throughout the park. According to Universal Destinations and Experiences chairman and CEO Mark Woodbury, he was a “good friend and creative consultant” to Universal’s experiences business, so his presence was felt, especially in the area based on Spielberg’s Dreamworks’ How to Train Your Dragon franchise.
A Bellagio-style fountain gracefully sprayed water high into the sky as Spielberg’s voice uttered, “In each of us, lies a desire to explore new worlds in search of adventures, joy, discovery, and even to face our fears.”. Through captivating tales and enduring characters, we are exposed to fantastical worlds we could never have imagined, and in the process, we find our inner hero. Those worlds have come to life thanks to Universal Epic Universe. “”.
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The theme park features four immersive themed lands encircling a central green space known as Celestial Park. It officially opened to the public on Thursday after offering paid previews for a few months. A third Harry Potter world with the Ministry of Magic, set in 1920s Paris, and Super Nintendo World, based on the video game giant’s renowned intellectual property (including, for the first time in the U.S.), are How to Train Your Dragon’s Isle of Berk and Super Nintendo World. A. a section dedicated to Donkey Kong Country); and “Dark Universe,” which is based on Universal’s collection of well-known monsters, including Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Mummy.
Before entering the highly themed areas with shops, restaurants, rides, characters, and attractions, visitors to each land must pass through a portal.
Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts told reporters just hours before the opening celebration, “It’s taken us probably a decade to be at this moment.”. It’s incredible how well-coordinated that team was to travel from Beijing, where the company had recently constructed a theme park, during COVID to do this here, where nothing like it has ever been done before. It’s a moment of pride. “.”.
Comcast executives, including Roberts, Woodbury, Mike Cavanagh, and Donna Langley, joined executives from partner companies, such as Warner Bros., at the opening celebration on Wednesday. Prominent figures such as the cast of the upcoming live-action How to Train Your Dragon Gerard Butler (Stoick the Vast), Mason Thames (Hiccup), and Nico Parker, as well as members of the Harry Potter franchise like James and Oliver Phelps (Fred and George Weasley) and Warwick Davis (Professor Flitwick), as well as WWE star Cody Rhodes and Saturday Night Live star Bowen Yang, were involved.
The business transformed it into an entertainment event and broadcast live on its digital and social media channels.
NBCUniversal’s largest wager to date on live experiences is Epic Universe, a multibillion dollar venture into a high-cost sector of the entertainment industry that can yield enormous returns in terms of both revenue and what one top experiences executive refers to as the “soft power” of entering an immersive world.
According to Roberts, the park has been in the works for years. The park had been planned for years before it was formally unveiled in 2019.
“Our new park is the single biggest investment Comcast NBCUniversal has made in Florida and its theme park business,” Roberts stated at the time. We are really excited about the future of our theme park business and the future of our entire company in Florida, and it shows in this. “.”.
When Governor Ron DeSantis was seen strolling through the park on Wednesday night, it served as a reminder of the park’s significance to Florida’s overall economy.
Disney has long held a dominant position in theme parks and live experiences, but Comcast has quietly learned how to capitalize on the experiential business it acquired with NBCUniversal in 2011—much like the velociraptors in Jurassic Park.
These lessons have culminated in Epic Universe. With soundstages and fake New York streets, the original Universal Studios Florida was designed to resemble a Hollywood backlot. Islands of Adventure developed themed areas based on Dr. Dot Seuss, Jurassic Park, and Marvel comics characters (in a deal that predated Disney’s acquisition of the comic book company).
Roberts stated that “the theme parks were not doing great in that moment” when they purchased NBCU, as they were still recovering from the global financial crisis that had occurred a few years prior. The business had started selling off its land holdings. After that, Harry Potter was a huge hit.
Epic was founded as a result of Universal’s Harry Potter lands, which altered the company’s experience business strategy. With its immersive stores, eateries, and rides, the company transported guests to Hogwarts Castle by recreating Hogsmeade at Island of Adventure. In order to recreate another area of the Harry Potter universe, it later constructed Diagon Alley at Universal Studios.
The company was surprised by the response to the Harry Potter lands, which led to the creation of Celestial Park, the main area that combines elements of Greek mythology and the space age, as well as Epic Universe and its four completely immersive lands. Indeed, Universal has developed a whole mythology and backstory for Celestial Park, complete with stories and characters that guests might learn about while there.
In order to make this a popular destination for people on their Orlando vacations, Woodbury explains, “it began with the idea, how do we continue to grow our Orlando business, and the realization that in order to do that, we needed another park to garner a week’s vacation.”.
Epic Universe is the largest theme park to open in the United States. New theme parks don’t open very often. S. . since the release of Disney’s California Adventure in 2001. As is always the case with experiential worlds, the true test will be years from now, making sure that the locations turn out to be the must-sees that Woodbury has in mind. The opening celebration’s grand finale emphasized how the characters, IP, and worlds are in many ways the answer to that riddle.
Above Celestial Park, a swarm of drones spelled out the word “Epic” as the fountain show went on and the sky above the Grand Helios Hotel next to the park was illuminated by fireworks. The drones formed a semicircle above the hotel, somewhat emulating the recognizable spinning globe that opens every Universal movie, and then the “Universal Studios Fanfare” began to play.
The lights went down as the Fanfare came to an end, and the company got ready for the first real test of Epic Universe: welcoming paying customers looking for the “adventures” Spielberg had promised.
