Universal Epic Universe Park Paused Indefinitely

This morning, NBC/ Comcast is holding a quarterly earnings call. Executives on the call indicated that work on Epic Universe will pause for an unspecified amount of time. Read on for details.

Last year, Universal Orlando announced a fourth park: Universal’s Epic Universe. The park was slated to open in 2023. Epic Universe was to include Super Nintendo World. Super Nintendo World has already started to take shape at Universal Studios Japan!

Early in the Comcast earnings call, executives stated that they plan to pause work towards Universal’s Epic Universe park until the “future is more certain”, according to Orlando Sentinel reporter Gabrielle Russon.

Comcast earnings today: Mention of company's decision to pause Epic Universe construction in Orlando until "the future is more certain." Early in earnings call, no word of when work will resume. @orlandosentinel

— Gabrielle Russon (@GabrielleRusson) July 30, 2020

There was no mention of when work would resume on the park. Universal also indicated that although attendance is down, it still makes more sense financially for the parks to be open than to have them closed.

Universal Orlando has largely escaped criticism for opening their theme parks, while Disney has taken quite a bit of heat. I (Rebecca) wrote an op-ed explaining my thoughts as to why that might be. Check it out here.

Universal Orlando opened their parks about a month prior to Disney World’s reopening. Both parks had their reopening plans approved through the Orange County Economic Recovery Commission.

In other recent Universal news, the new Bourne Stuntacular show has opened to guests, the Punga Racers slide has reopened with changes at Volcano Bay due to guest injuries, Halloween Horror Nights has been canceled and Universal updated their mask policy.

While we at Kenny the Pirate usually focus on Disney World, we have some great Universal content too! I wrote a guide to the water park, Volcano Bay. Heather covered some frequently asked questions about visiting Universal after reopening, and Kenny reviewed his experience at Universal Orlando when it first opened up!

Will you be visiting Universal Orlando soon? Are you disappointed, if not surprised, to hear that work will halt on Epic Universe? Let us know in the comments on Facebook and in our Facebook group!

-Rebecca W Davis