Space-themed Lego models — rotating ride vehicles that are customized by passengers and a next-generation animatronic named Biff Dipper — are prominent parts of the indoor coaster.

Near the entrance is a brick-by-brick and way-bigger-than-life model of Lego set 918, a spaceship introduced in 1979.

It’s “a classic ship, but it’s got some extra flourishes that you only really find in the Legoland park,” says Rosie Brailsford, senior project director for Merlin Magic Making, the creative arm of Merlin Entertainments.

About four years ago, Brailsford was instructed to work with Lego Group to develop an attraction that would work on a global platform, she says.

“They have a line, kind of from the ’70s and various different iterations of that, which is what you will find in Lego Galaxy,” she says. “So, it’s kind of a merge of past and present and opportunity for future iterations as well.”

Brailsford guided the Orlando Sentinel on an exclusive walk-through — no riding yet — of the attraction, which opens to the public Feb. 27.

What’s outside

The new coaster is on the site of the Flying School ride that was closed in August 2023. The exterior queue looks down at the park’s Driving School attraction. There are two entrances, including one from Legoland’s water park.

The spaceship is surrounded by Lego characters, including photo opportunities. The Alien Tourist figure — outfitted in a floral shirt, red shorts, aqua hat and big old-school camera — takes snaps of a green and antennaed alien family. A Duplo play area dubbed Tot Spot and designed for the youngest visitors, includes a Lego Shuttle. (A shade structure is being added.) Nearby are large Lego space flowers and a robot dog.

Early on, potential riders meet Capt. Olivia on screen.

“She’s welcoming you to the Lego Galaxy, telling you about a little snippet of the mission that you’re going to go on,” Brailsford says.

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A large screen televises a 10-minute loop of details about what’s coming up.

“There are little moments of backstory here, so that if you are milling around in the land, you’ve already started to absorb in your subconscious what’s going on,” Brailsford says.

What’s going on? In the Galacticoaster universe, they are bracing for “the asteroid of probable destruction.”

What’s inside

The front lobby features a large blocky version of the Lego Galaxy logo, which is a bit interplanetary and a bit NASA meatball. Below it are actual assembled Lego models on display, some of which are vintage and difficult to find, Brailsford says.

A series of halls and customized posters lead to a big Briefing Room with animatronic Biff Dipper, the chief engineer. He’s about 4 feet tall and standing on an elevated platform. His arms, legs and head move, and his face is animated below the visor of his space helmet. He greets future riders — there can be as many as 80 people in the room — and explains the goal. It’s us versus the asteroid.

“Most of our minifigures in our Legoland are static, smooth minifigures. … Biff is essentially next generation of how we want to do that on a show basis,” Brailsford says. They partnered with Engineered Arts of Cornwall, United Kingdom, to create this figure, which sports 45 facial animations, Legoland says.

Merlin is “working really closely with Lego to make sure all of that motion that they do is true to how a minifigure would move, and we’re not just making them do random things,” she says.

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Other on-screen characters give ride instructions and advance the storyline of how to deal with that asteroid. Plans A and B (one involving a giant net) were flops, and they need help with Plan C. It involves “separator swarms.”

The room includes interesting visuals such as a blueprint for vehicle options and a sign that reads “Interested in time travel? Meet here last Monday, 2 p.m.”

From here, Biff sends riders into a room where ride vehicle options are selected. Riders pick design features for wings, tail, nose and such. The choices range from practical to fanciful — add-ons such as hamburger wings and disco balls. The console allows 15 seconds for each selection, and then the total look is uploaded onto an RFID-enabled bracelet. There are more than 600 possible combinations.

The idea, we’re told, is to make the spacecraft “so awesome that it grabs the separators’ attention like nothing else.” Also, don’t let them catch you.

Next stop: the Galacticoaster loading bay.

The ride stuff

Passengers navigate a moving sidewalk to the in-real-life vehicles, which seat four passengers across and have lap bars that lower from overhead.

The ride moves into an airlock space, and there “you’ll see yourself in your awesome creation,” Brailsford says. You’ll linger for about 10 seconds, “then you will launch, up to 40 miles an hour, off on your adventure,” she says.

“And you have your kind of save-the-day moment on the ride.”

The Sentinel walk-through did not include a ride-through. Brailsford said the experience is smooth and the launch makes it punchy, probably more intense than the Dragon coaster, its Legoland Florida sister attraction. The height requirement is 36 inches for riders accompanied by an adult. Unaccompanied visitors must be at least 48 inches tall.

“It’s not like terrifying or anything, but being indoors, we do feel like they’ll get a little bit more of that thrill factor as well,” she says. “Because it’s dark, you don’t necessarily quite know where you’re going.”

The spinning is programmed, she said. “It’s not like a free spinning.”

Legoland’s website says to expect “Special effects, synchronized lighting and surprise appearances from classic Lego Space characters.”

Ride time is about 1 minute and 30 seconds, and, per theme park tradition, the exit is through the gift shop (official name: Orbital Outpost).

Another Galacticoaster is under construction that’s set to open March 6 at Legoland California, and, in theory, there could be more. There are also Legoland theme parks in New York, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, Malaysia, Dubai, Japan, South Korea and China.

“We have, like, a base story and land concept that we can adjust and tweak if we were to roll a version of it out,” Brailsford says. “It might not necessarily be this ride. It might be a different ride with another story from the world.”

Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com. BlueSky: @themeparksdb. Threads account: @dbevil. X account: @themeparks. Subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com/newsletters.

An unidentified 70-year-old woman was unresponsive and later died at the hospital, according to the report compiled by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The state’s major theme parks self-report about visitors injured on rides if they result in at least 24 hours of hospitalization.

The summary “reflects only the information reported at the time of the incident,” the report says. “Due to privacy-related concerns, the department does not receive updates to initial assessments of a patron’s condition.”

A Universal spokesperson said via e-mail that the company does not comment on pending claims. The Orlando Sentinel has requested records for the scene and date from the Orlando Police Department.

The Mummy ride, which opened in 2004, reaches 40 mph as it rolls through dark Egyptian-themed scenes and fiery effects amid appearances by animatronic Imhotep and scarab beetles plus a drop hill of 39 feet. It has appeared on the quarterly report about 20 times since opening, including the death of an Apopka man who fell from the loading platform onto the tracks in 2004. He died after a related surgery, and his death was ruled an accident by the Orange-Osceola Medical Examiner’s office.

The latest injury report, posted Thursday, has a mix of spinning rides and high-intensity attractions and roller coasters, including Epic Universe’s Stardust Racers.

On Nov. 6, a 78-year-old man had chest pain after being on the Epic coaster, and on Nov. 14, a 61-year-old man had cardiac arrest on the ride. Stardust Racers is considered Epic’s most intense ride, with dueling trains going up to 62 mph and a top height of 133 feet. Both sides include one inversion, sudden launches and intertwined-rails moments. The coaster debuted with the Universal Orlando Resort park in May.

In September, 32-year-old Kevin Rodriguez Zavala of Kissimmee died after riding Stardust Racers. His family and Universal reached an “amicable resolution” in December, but no details were shared. Later, five people filed lawsuits against Universal Orlando, claiming severe and permanent injuries after their heads slammed against the seats in front of them while on Stardust Racers.

Of the nine fourth-quarter reports filed from the three Universal Orlando parks, five involved Epic rides. Other incidents included Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment, where a 41-year-old woman had numbness and visual disturbance on Oct. 4; on Oct. 25, a 19-year-old woman had altered mental status during Mario Kart: Bower’s Challenge, a flat ride with virtual-reality elements; and on Nov. 14, a 47-year-old woman had nausea after Yoshi’s Adventure, a slow-paced flat ride.

At Islands of Adventure, a 45-year-old women had motion sickness and stroke symptoms after riding the Incredible Hulk Coaster on Oct. 13 and a 49-year-old woman had chest pain after being on Jurassic World: VelociCoaster on Nov. 30. Also at IOA, a 61-year-old woman had lower back spasms after Doctor Doom’s Fearfall, a drop-tower ride.

At Walt Disney World, three Epcot incidents are on the new report. On Nov. 12, a 72-year-old woman was disoriented after exiting Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, an indoor coaster; on Nov. 23, a 59-year-old woman had breathing difficulties while exiting Test Track; and on Dec. 28, a 35-year-old woman lost consciousness while on The Seas With Nemo and Friends, a low-speed dark ride that travels through an aquarium.

At Magic Kingdom theme park, a 65-year-old woman felt chest pain after Peter Pan’s Flight ride on Oct. 28, and a 42-year-old woman had a seizure while on Mad Tea Party, the spinning ride commonly called the teacups, on Nov. 22.

A 75-year-old woman had “stroke-like symptoms” aboard Slinky Dog Dash, a roller coaster at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, on Nov. 28.

No reports were filed in the quarter from SeaWorld Orlando, Legoland Florida, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and their associated water parks.

The additions range from a planned electronic version of Walt Disney at Magic Kingdom to a lumbering Frankenstein’s monster figure that debuted with Epic in May.

“People still enjoy seeing lifelike figures of their heroes, villains and others come alive,” said Dennis Speigel, CEO of International Theme Park Services. “I think this is one area that continues to evolve, and I don’t think we’ve seen anything yet.”

Technological advances are enabling the improved illusion of the figures, said Brian Orr, show systems studio executive with Walt Disney Imagineering.

“The way that we can now simulate, the way that we now design, the way that we now can generate content for these and in style — like it is moving like the character that everybody sees and recognizes from the film … I think that’s really the appeal of like, ‘Wow, not only did I see Elsa on the ride, but I felt like it was Elsa. It moved, it performed, it looked at me,’” Orr said.

The next new animatronic at Disney World will be Benjamin Clawhauser, a cheetah character that’s part of the “Zootopia: Better Zoogether” show launching at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park on Nov. 7.

“You will see something new and unique from that figure,” Orr said.

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Other planned figures include Buddy, a support-bot, in the ongoing update for Buzz Lightyear’s Space Rangers Spin at Magic Kingdom; Scooter and other Muppets in the retheming of Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster at Disney’s Hollywood Studios; facelifts for Frozen Ever After figures at Epcot; and the addition of Walt Disney himself at the beginning of Carousel of Progress at Magic Kingdom.

These come on the heels of the first animatronic to represent Walt Disney, which debuted at Disneyland in California this summer.

“I think that has breathed a lot of life back into the animatronics and from the highest level,” Speigel said.

Figures frightening, formidable

Universal Orlando installed animatronics inside Epic Universe’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter — Ministry of Magic, Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment ride and elsewhere.

“Everyone has their normal lives that they’re going through, and that comes with people wanting to be transported,” said Gregory Hall, assistant director, creative design for Universal Creative. “We have the opportunity to bring new technology and use it for good and use it to entertain and inspire people.”

The Monsters Unchained ride is peppered with figures in action, including Dracula, Mummy and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

A crowd-pleasing scene happens in the Unchained preshow with new character Victoria Frankenstein and Frankenstein’s monster, who strides into the room. It’s a moment that prompts applause from Epic visitors, Hall said.

“That was the first time we made a figure on that scale walk,” Hall said. “And then he’s right next to Victoria, and they’re using extremely different technology.”

Another big animatronic project was the “erumpent,” a charging beast in the Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry ride.

“We’re really all about, how do we get the fastest, smoothest motion moving this giant thing?” said Anisha Vyas, director of projects for Universal Creative. “It needs to be really visceral. It needs to move really fast. It needs to be moving really fluid,” she said. “Getting it to move and stop is not hard. Getting it to look pretty and gorgeous and realistic? That’s hard.”

And the motion must be repeated for each load of passengers.

“We ensure every guest has the same experience,” Vyas said.

It all started with a bird?

The seed for Disney’s animatronics — the company trademarked the term Audio-Animatronics in the 1960s — goes back to Walt and Lillian Disney’s purchase of a miniature caged-bird decoration that tweeted. That eventually led to Enchanted Tiki Room attractions such as the one at Magic Kingdom, which opened with the park in 1971.

Animatronics got a major boost from “Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln,” developed by Disney for the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. Guests watched the faux former president give a speech, and Speigel witnessed this on a high-school trip to the event.

“When he put his arms on that chair and he stood up and talked, the whole audience, I remember, just gasped,” he said.

The 1960s technology propelled the show’s status, said Bob Rogers, chairman of BRC Imagination Arts. Otherwise, it might have been forgotten quickly, he said.

“The fact that it was just a robot, not a human, was the charm,” Rogers said.

Waiting for Walt

Fast forward to 2025 and the installation of the Walt Disney animatronic at Disneyland. “Walt Disney — A Magical Life” is temporarily taking the place of the Lincoln animatronic presentation there. Some fans have criticized the look of the new figure.

“It looks fine to me from a distance,” said Jeremiah Good, the Florida correspondent for LaughingPlace.com, “But people that were there for the opening that were in the front row filming every bit of it were going that doesn’t look a thing like Walt.”

Critics are more forgiving about animatronic looks for animated beings as opposed to actual humans, Good said. He awaits the Walt Disney figure slated to join Carousel of Progress next year.

“That is supposed to be a little bit older of a Walt, so that’ll be interesting to see,” Good said.

“I think there are some opportunities there for the point in Walt’s life,” said Imagineering’s Orr, who noted that Florida’s animatronic would be seen in shorter but more frequent bursts at Magic Kingdom than its counterpart in California. “I also think there are things just logistically about the run time of shows — if you just look at the run time of the Disneyland, the frequency of that show, versus something like Carousel of Progress that is cycling through.”

Tech talk

After pneumatic and hydraulic phases, animatronics are now settling into an all-electric era with computerized programming.

Last year, Walt Disney Imagineering gave a public peek into the process with an episode of “We Call It Imagineering” on YouTube. This preceded the debut of figures for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, the retheming of Splash Mountain at both Magic Kingdom and Disneyland.

A big challenge was the development of Louis, the trumpet-toting alligator, considered one of WDI’s largest and most dynamic figures.

“There’s a lot of moving parts. “So you have all of these layers, you’ve got fabric and it all has to be in sync,” said Sonny Chapman, principal illusion maker, in the episode. Louis’ big belly, upper torso and arms must work together with the costuming, all while he’s bouncing, looking happy and blinking.

Imagineering has expanded into “stuntronics,” creating figures that can perform elaborate aerial acrobatic feats, including one dressed as Spider-Man at Disney California Adventure theme park. The company has also developed knee-high DBX droids, which made appearances at Disney’s Hollywood Studios this summer.

“They’re wonderful not just because they’re robots, but because they are animated and they are written with stories.” Rogers said. “They express emotions. They’re doing things. They get frustrated when they can’t do what they’re trying to do. … That’s just wonderful.”

Animatronics have proven, multigenerational staying power.

“A lot of our engineers went to school just to work on animated figures. … That’s their thing,” Hall said. “They’re studying their whole lives, and they make their entire lives, and it’s time for their generation to show the next generation how to pass the baton. This is one of those moments that’s even bigger than just [theme] parks.”

Vyas points to their entertainment value.

“I just think they bring so much life to the environment,” she said. “I absolutely love that at Epic Universe we’ve doubled down on that. I really think that it just takes it to the next level.”

dbevil@orlandosentinel.com

Among the trends spotted on Friday, opening night, were a resurgence of puppetry, the returns of a lagoon show and chainsaw-driven walkaround characters, more in-house screen use than ever (mostly positive), plus splattering effects that we’ll continue to cope with by reassuring ourselves that was only water. It’s only make-believe. Repeat, repeat.

Thanks to an R.I.P. Tour provided by Universal Orlando, the Sentinel wandered through all 10 haunted house mazes on night one. Here are quick, not-too-spoilery impressions.

Dolls: Let’s Play Dead

What we saw: It’s the tried-and-true theme park scheme of being shrunken down to the size of deformed dolls. This is the handiwork of a creative/twisted young girl who may grow up to be a makeup artist. Oh, hey, was that Woody? (There are also buttons for visitors to push for extra effects.)

Why we screamed: That one big baby, that one big baby head and that one baby with three heads.

El Artista: A Spanish Haunting

What we saw: The home and architectural splendor of (fictional) Spanish artist Sergio Navarro is pretty to look at and plays well into the conservatory through-line of this year’s HHN. There are scares high and low, including a flying gargoyle.

Why we screamed: One extremely well-camouflaged vine-based character, and we were faked out/afraid of some of the statues that weren’t really scare actors after all.

Fallout

What we saw: That retro futuristic feel of the “Fallout” video game and TV series. You know, bunkers, Earth and its surviving habitants in upheaval. It wasn’t very populated during our tour, which may have been due to a shift change of scare actors.

Why we screamed: There was classic misdirection caused by robots, fork-the-eye makeup that prompted a simultaneous “OUCH” from our group and the prospects of an unnerving mirrored room.

Five Nights at Freddy’s

What we saw: The most in-demand house on opening night, based on posted wait times, features animatronic-inspired looks, and they lurk throughout the Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza place. This was achieved by working with Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. It’s not truly a comedy house, but it has funny situations.

Why we screamed: The 150-minute wait time, though not an all-time record, is scary enough.

Gálkn: Monsters of the North

What we saw: A cool, very un-Florida setting, the kind of northern village where you see fjords and Norse mythology. But there’s fire and ice, too, and a young girl in distress (not the first of the evening). They got momma and poppa, she cried. This space had multiple horned beings (Monsters? Demons? Both?) with impressive headpieces. Beastly ending also effective.

Why we screamed (and laughed hard): One scare actor got us good, three times, back-to-back-to-back. And then there was follow-up by others in a transition scene. (Co-worker: “I did my scared dance.”)

Grave of Flesh

What we saw: This is this year’s house with lots of skulls, skeletons and intestines. The space, not for the claustrophobic amongst us, is dirty and littered with decomposition punctuated by assorted underground creatures

Why we screamed: The creatures in the black-light stretch were effective, although members of our tour group placed this in the “interesting concept” category (Kind of odd for, you know, flesh eaters, but it was toward the end of the night.)

Hatchet and Chains: Demon Bounty Hunters

What we saw: More horned beings, but in an Old West setting where rootin’-tootin’ torture is common among the humans. There’s a wide variety of characters and settings, including a prison, bank and graveyard. Meanwhile, the portal known as Hell’s Well wins the HHN34 “fun to say” prize.

Why we screamed: That fireplace scene early on gave the icks.

Jason Universe

What we saw: It’s the house of a jillion Jasons, presented rapid-fire with the trademark “Friday the 13th” slashing sound effect. Just when you get into the beat of the scares, you know, just strolling along through the woods near Camp Crystal Lake, the pace gets frantic. JU also has an unusual indoor-outdoor floor plan. Kills are largely implied and there’s less blood than one might expect (See Terrifier house below).

Why we screamed: Distracted by one fake Jason only to be jump-scared by live one just inches to the left.

Terrifier

What we saw: Two words — bloody and stinky. Or maybe wet and dry. This place was dripping in it, and, fans say, true to the three films featuring Art the Clown, who also shows up unannounced in the HHN street program this year. There are, indeed, two options at the end, one dry, one wet and, in story, bloody. (There are signs to guide, but they’re kind of high. Know before you go). People have posted that they got “pretty wet,” but our party thought it was no biggie. The dry route was lonely and scary in that way. Both routes quickly arrive up at the same exit.

Why we screamed: Universal is selling ponchos in the queue.

WWE Presents: The Horrors of the Wyatt Sicks

What we saw: It’s a long and winding house featuring menacing wrestlers in the flesh and on screens. There’s Uncle Howdy and a lot of Huskus the Pig, it seemed, and others. Wrestling fans probably spot Easter eggs, but all can watch for the signature lantern of Bray Wyatt, who died (real life alert) in 2023.

Why we screamed: There’s a startle on the stoop, but then we were lulled early, only to be “got” by one of the loud drop-down windows and later by the just-after-relaxing finale that causes fists to rise in the air.

Halloween Horror Nights runs at Universal Studios theme parks on select nights through Nov. 2. It requires a separate ticket from regular theme park admission. For more information, go to universalorlando.com.

Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com. BlueSky: @themeparksdb. Threads account: @dbevil. X account: @themeparks. Subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com/newsletters.

Among the trends spotted on Friday, opening night, were a resurgence of puppetry, the returns of a lagoon show and chainsaw-driven walkaround characters, more in-house screen use than ever (mostly positive), plus splattering effects that we’ll continue to cope with by reassuring ourselves that was only water. It’s only make-believe. Repeat, repeat.

Thanks to an R.I.P. Tour provided by Universal Orlando, the Sentinel wandered through all 10 haunted house mazes on night one. Here are quick, not-too-spoilery impressions.

Dolls: Let’s Play Dead

What we saw: It’s the tried-and-true theme park scheme of being shrunken down to the size of deformed dolls. This is the handiwork of a creative/twisted young girl who may grow up to be a makeup artist. Oh, hey, was that Woody? (There are also buttons for visitors to push for extra effects.)

Why we screamed: That one big baby, that one big baby head and that one baby with three heads.

El Artista: A Spanish Haunting

What we saw: The home and architectural splendor of (fictional) Spanish artist Sergio Navarro is pretty to look at and plays well into the conservatory through-line of this year’s HHN. There are scares high and low, including a flying gargoyle.

Why we screamed: One extremely well-camouflaged vine-based character, and we were faked out/afraid of some of the statues that weren’t really scare actors after all.

Fallout

What we saw: That retro futuristic feel of the “Fallout” video game and TV series. You know, bunkers, Earth and its surviving habitants in upheaval. It wasn’t very populated during our tour, which may have been due to a shift change of scare actors.

Why we screamed: There was classic misdirection caused by robots, fork-the-eye makeup that prompted a simultaneous “OUCH” from our group and the prospects of an unnerving mirrored room.

Five Nights at Freddy’s

What we saw: The most in-demand house on opening night, based on posted wait times, features animatronic-inspired looks, and they lurk throughout the Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza place. This was achieved by working with Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. It’s not truly a comedy house, but it has funny situations.

Why we screamed: The 150-minute wait time, though not an all-time record, is scary enough.

Gálkn: Monsters of the North

What we saw: A cool, very un-Florida setting, the kind of northern village where you see fjords and Norse mythology. But there’s fire and ice, too, and a young girl in distress (not the first of the evening). They got momma and poppa, she cried. This space had multiple horned beings (Monsters? Demons? Both?) with impressive headpieces. Beastly ending also effective.

Why we screamed (and laughed hard): One scare actor got us good, three times, back-to-back-to-back. And then there was follow-up by others in a transition scene. (Co-worker: “I did my scared dance.”)

Grave of Flesh

What we saw: This is this year’s house with lots of skulls, skeletons and intestines. The space, not for the claustrophobic amongst us, is dirty and littered with decomposition punctuated by assorted underground creatures

Why we screamed: The creatures in the black-light stretch were effective, although members of our tour group placed this in the “interesting concept” category (Kind of odd for, you know, flesh eaters, but it was toward the end of the night.)

Hatchet and Chains: Demon Bounty Hunters

What we saw: More horned beings, but in an Old West setting where rootin’-tootin’ torture is common among the humans. There’s a wide variety of characters and settings, including a prison, bank and graveyard. Meanwhile, the portal known as Hell’s Well wins the HHN34 “fun to say” prize.

Why we screamed: That fireplace scene early on gave the icks.

Jason Universe

What we saw: It’s the house of a jillion Jasons, presented rapid-fire with the trademark “Friday the 13th” slashing sound effect. Just when you get into the beat of the scares, you know, just strolling along through the woods near Camp Crystal Lake, the pace gets frantic. JU also has an unusual indoor-outdoor floor plan. Kills are largely implied and there’s less blood than one might expect (See Terrifier house below).

Why we screamed: Distracted by one fake Jason only to be jump-scared by live one just inches to the left.

Terrifier

What we saw: Two words — bloody and stinky. Or maybe wet and dry. This place was dripping in it, and, fans say, true to the three films featuring Art the Clown, who also shows up unannounced in the HHN street program this year. There are, indeed, two options at the end, one dry, one wet and, in story, bloody. (There are signs to guide, but they’re kind of high. Know before you go). People have posted that they got “pretty wet,” but our party thought it was no biggie. The dry route was lonely and scary in that way. Both routes quickly arrive up at the same exit.

Why we screamed: Universal is selling ponchos in the queue.

WWE Presents: The Horrors of the Wyatt Sicks

What we saw: It’s a long and winding house featuring menacing wrestlers in the flesh and on screens. There’s Uncle Howdy and a lot of Huskus the Pig, it seemed, and others. Wrestling fans probably spot Easter eggs, but all can watch for the signature lantern of Bray Wyatt, who died (real life alert) in 2023.

Why we screamed: There’s a startle on the stoop, but then we were lulled early, only to be “got” by one of the loud drop-down windows and later by the just-after-relaxing finale that causes fists to rise in the air.

Halloween Horror Nights runs at Universal Studios theme parks on select nights through Nov. 2. It requires a separate ticket from regular theme park admission. For more information, go to universalorlando.com.

Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com. BlueSky: @themeparksdb. Threads account: @dbevil. X account: @themeparks. Subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com/newsletters.

The Kirkman Road extension has opened for traffic, so if traveling from downtown Orlando, westbound on Interstate 4, take Exit 75B for Kirkman. There are new directional road signs in place for Epic Universe. The new route is a bit curvy and elevated at points, but follow those signs to Epic Boulevard and the theme park’s parking lot, which will be on the left.

If traveling from the southwest, going eastbound on I-4, exit onto State Road 528 and then take Exit 2 to go northbound on Universal Boulevard.   Turn right onto Destination Parkway, then left onto Epic Boulevard, skirting a roundabout and then a right turn to the entrance of the parking lot.

• Parking: Epic Universe has its own parking lot; there is no parking garage there. Parking is $32. Prime self-parking is $50-$60.

• Key times: The main parking lot (including ride-share drop-off) opens at 6 a.m.; shuttle bus service from Universal Orlando hotels to Epic Universe also begins at 6 a.m.; turnstiles at the front entrance and inside the entrance for Helios Grand Hotel guests open at 7 a.m.

• Future operating hours: From June 2 through June 17, Epic’s hours will be 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. The schedule varies by day but opens at either 9 or 10 a.m., then closes at either 9 or 10 p.m. (These times are subject to change).

• Security: Bag screening occurs just before the main entrance. Among the prohibited items in the park are explosives, weapons, alcohol, marijuana or any item containing cannabis or related paraphernalia, power-driven or radio frequency-controlled devices, outside food or beverages, glass, coolers, suitcases, bags with wheels and folding chairs. Everyone must travel through a metal detector, too. (The system is similar to Universal Orlando’s mega-garage.)

• Tickets: Prices for one-day admission to Epic vary daily and range from $139 (for four days in September) to $199 (from Christmas Eve through New Year’s Eve). Universal Orlando offers multiday passes with other theme parks and Volcano Bay water park that may bring down price-per-day rates.

• App: The official Universal Orlando app can be used to facilitate purchases, dining reservations, maps, show schedules, wait times and more.

More on Epic Universe

• Fast-track tech helps Universal mold new Epic Universe

• A rolling history of Central Florida’s attractions industry

• Epic Universe: Know before you go

• Epic Universe Ride Guide: New park rides ranked from tame to super scary

• Peeking into the portals (and just beyond) of Epic Universe

• Epic Universe: Frequently asked questions (plus answers)

• Power-Up Bands get games going in Super Nintendo World

• Epic Universe timeline: From dragons to butterbeer, here’s how theme park evolved

• An Epic movie guide: What to watch before visiting Universal’s new park

• Epic Universe: Say hello to new Helios Grand, theme park neighbor

• Epic Universe survival guide: What to pack for the new park

• Epic Universe: Exec blends arts, engineering in theme park roles

• Epic Universe preview: An early walk (and rides) in the park

The Kirkman Road extension has opened for traffic, so if traveling from downtown Orlando, westbound on Interstate 4, take Exit 75B for Kirkman. There are new directional road signs in place for Epic Universe. The new route is a bit curvy and elevated at points, but follow those signs to Epic Boulevard and the theme park’s parking lot, which will be on the left.

If traveling from the southwest, going eastbound on I-4, exit onto State Road 528 and then take Exit 2 to go northbound on Universal Boulevard.   Turn right onto Destination Parkway, then left onto Epic Boulevard, skirting a roundabout and then a right turn to the entrance of the parking lot.

• Parking: Epic Universe has its own parking lot; there is no parking garage there. Parking is $32. Prime self-parking is $50-$60.

• Key times: The main parking lot (including ride-share drop-off) opens at 6 a.m.; shuttle bus service from Universal Orlando hotels to Epic Universe also begins at 6 a.m.; turnstiles at the front entrance and inside the entrance for Helios Grand Hotel guests open at 7 a.m.

• Future operating hours: From June 2 through June 17, Epic’s hours will be 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. The schedule varies by day but opens at either 9 or 10 a.m., then closes at either 9 or 10 p.m. (These times are subject to change).

• Security: Bag screening occurs just before the main entrance. Among the prohibited items in the park are explosives, weapons, alcohol, marijuana or any item containing cannabis or related paraphernalia, power-driven or radio frequency-controlled devices, outside food or beverages, glass, coolers, suitcases, bags with wheels and folding chairs. Everyone must travel through a metal detector, too. (The system is similar to Universal Orlando’s mega-garage.)

• Tickets: Prices for one-day admission to Epic vary daily and range from $139 (for four days in September) to $199 (from Christmas Eve through New Year’s Eve). Universal Orlando offers multiday passes with other theme parks and Volcano Bay water park that may bring down price-per-day rates.

• App: The official Universal Orlando app can be used to facilitate purchases, dining reservations, maps, show schedules, wait times and more.

More on Epic Universe

• Fast-track tech helps Universal mold new Epic Universe

• A rolling history of Central Florida’s attractions industry

• Epic Universe: Know before you go

• Epic Universe Ride Guide: New park rides ranked from tame to super scary

• Peeking into the portals (and just beyond) of Epic Universe

• Epic Universe: Frequently asked questions (plus answers)

• Power-Up Bands get games going in Super Nintendo World

• Epic Universe timeline: From dragons to butterbeer, here’s how theme park evolved

• An Epic movie guide: What to watch before visiting Universal’s new park

• Epic Universe: Say hello to new Helios Grand, theme park neighbor

• Epic Universe survival guide: What to pack for the new park

• Epic Universe: Exec blends arts, engineering in theme park roles

• Epic Universe preview: An early walk (and rides) in the park

Some procedures faded with the virus, and others evolved into practices that continue within the travel industry.

In 2020 and 2021, the Orlando Sentinel asked five tourism experts what trends to anticipate. Now, in 2025, they talk about the pandemic’s lasting effects as well as new trends in international travel, room service and rooftop bars.

Reservation station

Date-specific reservations for theme parks didn’t last in most places, but the technology used has accelerated related developments, said Curtis Parks, managing partner at Jacksonville-based Icon Experiences.

“From that, spawns all these new options that you can do with your ticketing systems, from dynamic pricing to bundling your hotel and your park tickets and food, and passholders can now add friends to their ticket purchases, and online tickets being sent to digital wallets,” he said.

Park reservations emerged as attractions ended pandemic-related shutdowns in 2020. Walt Disney World continues to require reservations with some ticket types, although with fewer restrictions.

An emphasis on online purchases and cleanliness influenced the trend of cashless parks at SeaWorld attractions, Busch Gardens and Six Flags locations, Parks said. Disney and Universal never stopped taking cash.

“All the major players were all still taking cash, and then when the pandemic hit, they suspended that and went to cards only and pushing everybody online,” he said.

“They say it’s faster and safer and more secure. … You don’t have the big cash vaults anymore like you used to have at the parks,” he said.

On the upside, billions of dollars are being invested in paused or once-canceled theme-park projects, a sign of confidence, Parks said.

“You’re betting on the American families and people visiting the parks, and that’s exciting to see,” he said.

Fading influences

The pandemic’s influence has faded as far as future attractions go, said Brian Morrow, owner of B Morrow Productions, a Kissimmee-based design studio that works on projects for theme parks, resorts and museums.

“The words pandemic and COVID are rarely used in any design process currently. They were back in ‘21, but now you don’t hear it at all. … Clients aren’t using those words,” he said.

Another bygone factor is the fear of touch screens.

“We do some work in the educational category, so a lot of touch screens are used there … and all that [concern] has gone away,” Morrow said. “It really has dissipated. It’s not a top topic.”

Epic Universe: Early ground-level pictures of new Orlando theme park

Talk about virtual queues has decreased, but reservations have lingered at some attractions for crowd management and guest satisfaction, he said. Gaylord Palms  Resort retained them for its holiday season “Ice” attraction.

“They kept it because it allowed them to remove this massive queue line that they would build and these massive 9 a.m. arrivals for guests,” Morrow said.

Changes to chew on

On the food front, dining at Walt Disney World is back to its old ways, with some exceptions, said AJ Wolfe, who runs the Disney Food Blog, a site independent from Disney World.

“Everything is returned to normal in terms of character meals and buffets,” two fan favorites that were suspended during the pandemic, she said.

Some restaurants inside the theme parks are not open as much as they were. And some eateries have altered dining options. For instance, Be Our Guest restaurant at Magic Kingdom bagged counter service at lunchtime in favor of a prix fixe menu, Wolfe said. A la carte service at California Grill atop the Contemporary Resort also is gone, she said.

In Disney-owned resorts, room service is available at the Grand Floridian only, Wolfe said. It could be a staffing or financial issue, she said. There are also no 24-hour eateries on Disney property now, she said.

“There were so many issues with staffing, and it could just be that they haven’t rehired for those particular things,” she said.

There’s also been the rise of food-delivery services. It’s likely a less expensive option than room service would be, Wolfe said.

“DoorDash or Uber Eats or whatever are so prominent, and they will deliver to your hotel,” she said. “The biggest difference is that you have to put on clothes because you have to go down and get it.”

Filling rooms

Hotel occupancy in the U.S. is not as robust as in 2019, said Jan Freitag, national director of hospitality, for CoStar Group, an Arlington, Virginia-based real estate company that tracks real-estate analytics.

“You would think that we’ve made up for that,” he said. “The good news is that, of course, room rates are 30% higher than they were back then.”

Industry trends that surged during the pandemic include keyless entry and remote check-in for rooms, and those have lasted.

The mindset that rooms don’t need to be cleaned daily paired pandemic precautions with hoteliers’ desire to fulfill green expectations, Freitag said.

But then during pandemic times “a lot of people got laid off, and then as they got rehired again, the unions were saying, ‘Wait, wait, wait, if we need less, if you make housekeeping optional, then we need less housekeepers, which means we have less union members, which means we have less union dues. And we don’t like that.’” he said.

A more visible hotel trend to emerge from the pandemic: Rooftop bars.

“They were always sort of in vogue in, like, ‘17, ‘18, ‘19, but I think if you build a hotel today, you will have a rooftop bar,” Freitag said. “It is just such a great magnet, and customers love it, and even locals like it. … Outdoors plus food and beverage makes for a winning combination.”

Brit parade

“Looking back to where we were in 2021, there was no immediate sign, certainly, of the international market coming back. There was a lot of doom and gloom about it,” said Simon Veness, co-author of “The Brit Guide to Orlando” as well as “111 Places in Orlando That You Must Not Miss” with his wife Susan Veness.

For Orlando-bound Brits, “bookings for this year are pretty much on a par with last year, which were pretty much getting back to pre-pandemic levels,” Veness said.

“The bad news, looking just beyond the U.K. market, is that Germany, France and Scandinavia are all trending down for us in visitation this year and especially in the last couple of months,” Veness said. “Orlando doesn’t rely a lot on those particular markets, but they’re not unsubstantial.”

Now competing for European tourists is the United Arab Emirates, which is marketing heavily in the U.K. and the U.S., he said.

“That could certainly be one place that would have an immediate appeal for the U.K. and for Western Europe because it’s a shorter flight than to the U.S. or certainly to Florida,” Veness said.

There is evidence that some people are “politically disinclined” to visit the United States now, he said.

“The good news for Orlando and Florida is that it’s a slightly different kettle of fish,” Veness said. “The U.K., in particular, tends to still see it as this fantasy destination that is divorced from reality.”

Generally, Europeans don’t plan vacations as much in advance as Americans, he said, and he suspects some people are waiting until after Epic Universe opens at Universal Orlando on May 22. A large ticket broker in England reported record sales on the first day that Epic tickets could be purchased.

“That’s a pretty hefty sign that people are more turned on by the theme parks than they are turned off by the politics,” Veness said.

Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com. BlueSky: @themeparksdb. Threads account: @dbevil. X account: @themeparks. Subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com/newsletters.

Some procedures faded with the virus, and others evolved into practices that continue within the travel industry.

In 2020 and 2021, the Orlando Sentinel asked five tourism experts what trends to anticipate. Now, in 2025, they talk about the pandemic’s lasting effects as well as new trends in international travel, room service and rooftop bars.

Reservation station

Date-specific reservations for theme parks didn’t last in most places, but the technology used has accelerated related developments, said Curtis Parks, managing partner at Jacksonville-based Icon Experiences.

“From that, spawns all these new options that you can do with your ticketing systems, from dynamic pricing to bundling your hotel and your park tickets and food, and passholders can now add friends to their ticket purchases, and online tickets being sent to digital wallets,” he said.

Park reservations emerged as attractions ended pandemic-related shutdowns in 2020. Walt Disney World continues to require reservations with some ticket types, although with fewer restrictions.

An emphasis on online purchases and cleanliness influenced the trend of cashless parks at SeaWorld attractions, Busch Gardens and Six Flags locations, Parks said. Disney and Universal never stopped taking cash.

“All the major players were all still taking cash, and then when the pandemic hit, they suspended that and went to cards only and pushing everybody online,” he said.

“They say it’s faster and safer and more secure. … You don’t have the big cash vaults anymore like you used to have at the parks,” he said.

On the upside, billions of dollars are being invested in paused or once-canceled theme-park projects, a sign of confidence, Parks said.

“You’re betting on the American families and people visiting the parks, and that’s exciting to see,” he said.

Fading influences

The pandemic’s influence has faded as far as future attractions go, said Brian Morrow, owner of B Morrow Productions, a Kissimmee-based design studio that works on projects for theme parks, resorts and museums.

“The words pandemic and COVID are rarely used in any design process currently. They were back in ‘21, but now you don’t hear it at all. … Clients aren’t using those words,” he said.

Another bygone factor is the fear of touch screens.

“We do some work in the educational category, so a lot of touch screens are used there … and all that [concern] has gone away,” Morrow said. “It really has dissipated. It’s not a top topic.”

Epic Universe: Early ground-level pictures of new Orlando theme park

Talk about virtual queues has decreased, but reservations have lingered at some attractions for crowd management and guest satisfaction, he said. Gaylord Palms  Resort retained them for its holiday season “Ice” attraction.

“They kept it because it allowed them to remove this massive queue line that they would build and these massive 9 a.m. arrivals for guests,” Morrow said.

Changes to chew on

On the food front, dining at Walt Disney World is back to its old ways, with some exceptions, said AJ Wolfe, who runs the Disney Food Blog, a site independent from Disney World.

“Everything is returned to normal in terms of character meals and buffets,” two fan favorites that were suspended during the pandemic, she said.

Some restaurants inside the theme parks are not open as much as they were. And some eateries have altered dining options. For instance, Be Our Guest restaurant at Magic Kingdom bagged counter service at lunchtime in favor of a prix fixe menu, Wolfe said. A la carte service at California Grill atop the Contemporary Resort also is gone, she said.

In Disney-owned resorts, room service is available at the Grand Floridian only, Wolfe said. It could be a staffing or financial issue, she said. There are also no 24-hour eateries on Disney property now, she said.

“There were so many issues with staffing, and it could just be that they haven’t rehired for those particular things,” she said.

There’s also been the rise of food-delivery services. It’s likely a less expensive option than room service would be, Wolfe said.

“DoorDash or Uber Eats or whatever are so prominent, and they will deliver to your hotel,” she said. “The biggest difference is that you have to put on clothes because you have to go down and get it.”

Filling rooms

Hotel occupancy in the U.S. is not as robust as in 2019, said Jan Freitag, national director of hospitality, for CoStar Group, an Arlington, Virginia-based real estate company that tracks real-estate analytics.

“You would think that we’ve made up for that,” he said. “The good news is that, of course, room rates are 30% higher than they were back then.”

Industry trends that surged during the pandemic include keyless entry and remote check-in for rooms, and those have lasted.

The mindset that rooms don’t need to be cleaned daily paired pandemic precautions with hoteliers’ desire to fulfill green expectations, Freitag said.

But then during pandemic times “a lot of people got laid off, and then as they got rehired again, the unions were saying, ‘Wait, wait, wait, if we need less, if you make housekeeping optional, then we need less housekeepers, which means we have less union members, which means we have less union dues. And we don’t like that.’” he said.

A more visible hotel trend to emerge from the pandemic: Rooftop bars.

“They were always sort of in vogue in, like, ‘17, ‘18, ‘19, but I think if you build a hotel today, you will have a rooftop bar,” Freitag said. “It is just such a great magnet, and customers love it, and even locals like it. … Outdoors plus food and beverage makes for a winning combination.”

Brit parade

“Looking back to where we were in 2021, there was no immediate sign, certainly, of the international market coming back. There was a lot of doom and gloom about it,” said Simon Veness, co-author of “The Brit Guide to Orlando” as well as “111 Places in Orlando That You Must Not Miss” with his wife Susan Veness.

For Orlando-bound Brits, “bookings for this year are pretty much on a par with last year, which were pretty much getting back to pre-pandemic levels,” Veness said.

“The bad news, looking just beyond the U.K. market, is that Germany, France and Scandinavia are all trending down for us in visitation this year and especially in the last couple of months,” Veness said. “Orlando doesn’t rely a lot on those particular markets, but they’re not unsubstantial.”

Now competing for European tourists is the United Arab Emirates, which is marketing heavily in the U.K. and the U.S., he said.

“That could certainly be one place that would have an immediate appeal for the U.K. and for Western Europe because it’s a shorter flight than to the U.S. or certainly to Florida,” Veness said.

There is evidence that some people are “politically disinclined” to visit the United States now, he said.

“The good news for Orlando and Florida is that it’s a slightly different kettle of fish,” Veness said. “The U.K., in particular, tends to still see it as this fantasy destination that is divorced from reality.”

Generally, Europeans don’t plan vacations as much in advance as Americans, he said, and he suspects some people are waiting until after Epic Universe opens at Universal Orlando on May 22. A large ticket broker in England reported record sales on the first day that Epic tickets could be purchased.

“That’s a pretty hefty sign that people are more turned on by the theme parks than they are turned off by the politics,” Veness said.

Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com. BlueSky: @themeparksdb. Threads account: @dbevil. X account: @themeparks. Subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com/newsletters.

“For the last 20 years we have been working flat-out, seven days a week, never took time off,” Susan Veness says. “We didn’t take vacations, and we were so burned out that we just needed to hit the reset button.”

The Venesses took off in their 36-foot RV – dog Ruthie and a subcompact car in tow – with a route in mind that went to Michigan, then across the country to the West Coast before swooping down across the South and back home to Apopka.

“The challenge was to try and see as much of the country as we could. We really wanted to see America,” Simon Veness says.

Their mission was completed, mostly, and ended recently with a stay at Fort Wilderness at Walt Disney World. There were bumps along the way, including mechanical difficulties, a stretch of 19 days without hot water, tight mountain passes and harrowing bridges that might have contributed to high blood pressure.

“We met a lot of mobile technicians in those first months,” Susan says. After two months and another frustrating RV repair, they considered pulling the plug on the 12-month project that had been in the works for four years.

“So we had to take the rig in, stay in a hotel. We spent a couple of days really just saying we’re not sure we can do this,” Susan says. “And then we bucked up our courage and decided, yeah, we want to keep going. And then, for months, it was just beautiful. Smooth sailing.”

“The last six months were the gravy. They just seemed to go so fast,” Simon says.

The Venesses are the creators of “The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World” book sires and the “Brit Guide to Orlando and Walt Disney World” guidebook. They have written for blogs, magazines and newspapers, and their trip updates have appeared in The Independent newspaper in the U.K. The second edition of Susan’s “Walt Disney World Hacks” book came out in April.

They submitted another book days before heading out in the RV. This fall, their new book “111 Places in Orlando That You Must Not Miss,” will be published.

Their on-the-road workload was “doing this easy stuff that we can do remotely rather than the press events and the openings and the restaurants and everything that goes with it, which is what makes it feel like you’re on a treadmill,” Simon says.

A stand-out state for Simon was Utah, he says.

“Absolutely everywhere we went, there was a stunning panorama … amazing national parks, just incredible vistas right throughout the state,” he says.

Another highlight for the couple was watching “wave after wave” of sandhill cranes at Wilcox Playa in southeast Arizona, Susan says.

“We spent a whole evening one night watching these birds flying in from literally out of the sunset into this wildlife area of marshlands, where they were settling for the winter,” Simon says.

“It was mind-blowing watching those. The noise, the site, the backdrop. It was like a David Attenborough nature documentary. You’re sitting there open-jawed for hours watching those,” he says.

So much togetherness in such tight living quarters was not an issue for Venesses, they said.

“We’re always together. For 20 years all of our work has been together. So that was really the easy part,” she says.

“Our office is only 11 feet square [at home], and both of us are in there pretty much every day,” he says.

Along the way, they decided their initial itinerary was too ambitious, so they opted against Washington, Oregon and northern California, which allowed them to slow their pace.

Simon says he eventually got used to the conditions of driving an RV.

“You’ve got to be dialed in all the time because it just takes one small give in the road, and it throws you off course because of the weight of the whole vehicle,” he says.

“By the end of the trip, I didn’t want to stop because I love the view from the cab,” he says.

The trip covered more than 35,000 miles between the RV and the car in 22 states.

Once they got back to Florida, they stayed at Disney World before heading back to their house.

“We really wanted to end the trip where, really, everything for us started. We met through Disney, you know, we got engaged to IllumiNations [at Epcot]. A huge portion of our work has been around the theme parks,” Susan says.

They say they missed their Florida neighbors; they didn’t miss the humidity.

They plan to write something about the experience, but they’re mulling the best angle to take. They believe they’ll make another RV trip, but for a shorter duration and in a smaller vehicle.

“We definitely want to do more,” Simon says. “We still have unfinished business out west.”

dbevil@orlandosentinel.com