Jeff Polk walks the construction site of the Epic Universe theme park frequently. He’s an executive vice president at Universal Orlando and Epic’s general manager. Progress is visible from afar as the company builds toward an announced 2025 opening date.
“I’m sure you’ve seen it just coming out of the ground rather rapidly,” Polk told participants at an International Drive Resort Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon recently. “I’ve been living in that bunker for about seven years now working on this project. .
.. It has been the joy of a lifetime,” he said.
“We are, I would say, putting everything that we’ve learned to do well in one place at one time. And we have tried and tried and tried to make sure that what everybody’s going to experience next year just completely blows you away,” Polk said. “After having looked at drawings and looked at pictures of all of it myself, I still can’t believe what we’re building.
Every day I walk out there to something more amazing than the next,” he said. His speech at the luncheon was more of an update than an all-caps breaking news event. But his boots have been on the ground there – he’s seen things, he’s ridden rides – and he shared observations with the group.
On the portals theme, with arched gateways to the park and each land: “The intent is to let guests completely transfer from being in the real world into our worlds instead for the day. Once you step inside, you’re going to see some fantastic views and some fantastic architecture. You’ll see lush, rolling landscape and waterways.
The idea is to put the park back in theme park. ..
. There’s a lot of trees going in.” On the Stardust Racers coaster in Epic’s Celestial Park: “You’ll be on two coasters, side by side, racing with your friends.
There will be a winner, of course, but I can also tell you that this is one of the things I’m most excited about experiencing at night. There’s no lighting actually on the track. There’s lighting on the coaster itself, and it will look like shooting meteors cutting across the sky.
” On a Super Nintendo Land ride: “You’ll be able to ride on the Mario Kart adventure, which is Bowser’s Challenge, which has got augmented reality system and also fantastic projection mapping effects. It’s a very unique way to present the ride. You’ll feel as if you’re actually experiencing the video game that you may have experienced as kids.
” On another Super Nintendo Land ride: “Mine-Cart Madness is our roller coaster in that space, a family attraction. Again, we’re very excited about it as you will actually feel as if you’re in the little mine-carts on a very rickety track, jumping over gaps in the track, across the fronts of waterfalls and splashing down into the water below.” On Monsters Unchained, the dark ride in Dark Universe area: “As with every Universal attraction, something goes terribly wrong.
And you’ll find out along the way that this is actually one of the scariest rides we will have ever built. It’s got lots of interaction with the monsters, lots of interaction with Victoria [Frankenstein] and keeps you on the edge of your seat all the way through.” On Wizarding World – Ministry of Magic: “You’ll actually transition through an arch into magical Paris, and you’ll quickly realize you’re in the 1920s and this version of magical Paris is part of the Fantastic Beasts franchise from Warner Brothers that we had partnered with them on to excruciating detail.
” On the “Untrainable Dragon” show at How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk: “This show actually debuted in Beijing at our park there, and was very, very popular. And we’re very excited to have this level of live show in this park. It’s a very big spectacle.
You may actually see somebody in the room actually flying in on a dragon.” And on another Dragon attraction: “When you’re living with dragons, they set things on fire accidentally all the time. So they’ll actually have a family attraction called Fyre Drill.
We’ll be able to go out and target practice, learn how to put those fires out, so that when you’re needed in a moment’s notice, you’ll be able to help out.” On transportation: “We’ve done everything we can to make sure our guests feel that they’re part of a seamless experience between the two resort complexes via the bus system and via the roadway network. And we’re very proud of that, because we think – especially that road, I went down Kirkman [Road] a couple days ago – the extension of it is beautiful.
I mean, the landscaping and the length of the roadways and just the vistas you get as you’re driving down the road. I think the roadway – if you can get excited about a roadway – it’s going to be pretty spectacular.” On the Helios Grand Hotel: “This hotel is the perfect backdrop for our park.
You’ll see it as you step into gates. It’s the first thing that dominates the skyline. We really love the view of it.
It has beautiful fountains existing in the front of it. And unlike any other hotel that we’ve done in any of our properties today, this hotel is connected directly to the park. So guests who are staying there will actually be able to step out in the lobby and step right into the park in the morning as they want to come and enjoy their adventure.
” On expectations: “Sometimes you go build models, you do renderings, and they look really fantastic, and then when you actually go build them and you walk out, they’re not so great. This is better than the renderings. It’s better than the model.
” Email me at [email protected] . Threads account: @dbevil .
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