ByBlake Taylor
Universal packed so many details into announcing Dark Universe, opening in 2025 at Epic Universe, you may have missed a few discoveries.
We’re about to get into microscopic details, sure to excite superfans. Check out our previous story for a more macro overview of Dark Universe at Universal Epic Universe, the new theme park coming to Universal Orlando Resort.
Let’s take a magnifying glass to the Dark Universe concept art, videos, and literature Universal published on June 20, 2024 and see what we can find.
Dark Universe Timeline
“In our world, all the Universal monster stories have happened,” said Patrick Braillard, senior show writer at Universal Creative, “and Darkmoor is the result of that. It’s the consequence.”
Darkmoor takes place in the present day, generations after the vintage Universal Classic Monster movies. Within this lore, the narratives of those films assumedly take place in the same years those movies debuted in real life (most of them in the 1930s). The real-life time-jump from this period to 2025 is the same passage of time within Darkmoor’s story. It’s a “Toy Story 2” to “Toy Story 3” situation, if you will.
Darkmoor’s placemaking in 2025 makes for a subversive take on the usual “spooky village” aesthetic. Most examples of this archetype have trained our brain to associate it with a medieval, storybook era. The modern timeframe of Dark Universe, though, posits a new perspective on that design, and one that could lead to lots of discovery within its details.
So which Universal Classic Monsters films are canon to this lore? The full roster (and how strict any canon is at play to begin with) is TBD.
For what it’s worth, Universal’s reveal video contains clips from the following movies:
- “Dracula” (1931)
- “Frankenstein” (1931)
- “The Mummy” (1932)
- “The Invisible Man” (1933)
- “The Bride of Frankenstein” (1935)
- “Creature from the Black Lagoon” (1954)
- “The Wolfman” (2010)
- “Dracula Untold” (2014)
Additionally, Universal stated the Curse of the Werewolf roller coaster is based upon the original 1941 version of “The Wolf Man” and will feature a new version of Maleva from that film (pictured below). Universal also confirmed the titular character from “The Phantom of the Opera” (1925) will appear in Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment.
You almost certainly won’t find any of these folks starring in any rides (wrong Dark Universe) …
Hype for Monsters Unchained
Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment is clearly the signature attraction of Dark Universe, but artists in Universal’s reveal video gave reason for fans to believe the ride may be not just the stand-out of Dark Universe, but an all-timer for anything Universal has ever created.
“Inside Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment, you’re going to see things that defy what you know of as a theme park attraction,” said Braillard.
Press materials describe Monsters Unchained as Universal’s “most chilling ride ever” and “most terrifying attraction yet.”
The ride will also contain “the most technologically advanced animated figures that have ever been built,” according to Peter Carsillo, senior creative director at Universal Creative. The reveal video included a quick, out-of-focus peek at what might be one of these advanced figures:
“In case you’re wondering, this is not CGI,” Gregory Hall, assistant director of creative design at Universal Creative, posted on X alongside a screenshot of the figure in the video.
The tech won’t just limit itself to character figures. During the ride, the Phantom of the Opera will play an organ with “14 individual flame points that shoot vertical flames over three feet in the air and dance in synchronicity with the organ music,” Universal says.
Though Universal didn’t outright say it in any promotional materials today, the ride system of Monsters Unchained appears similar to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, aka the Hogwarts ride, over at Universal Islands of Adventure.
Monsters Unchained will feature appearances by Dr. Victoria Frankenstein, Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Brides of Dracula, and the Phantom of the Opera. It’s a real “Infinity War” of Universal Classic Monsters.
Monsters with a Message
“Theme park theory” is a term to describe the deeper meaning behind themed park attractions. Like film theory, theme park theory may encompass qualities such as color psychology, character development, or even philosophy. Sometimes these layers of thought are more hidden than others.
Dark Universe will showcase theme park theory on full display, if guests are looking for it. For example, the portal leading from Celestial Park into Dark Universe is abuzz special effects mimicking electricity, “representing the eternal struggle of science against death,” according to Nicole Wills, senior editor of Discover Universal (an official Universal blog).
After experiencing the attractions of Dark Universe, guests may notice an underlying theme among them. It turns out, a land based on horror films may counterintuitively pull on the heartstrings.
“To me, Dark Universe is about acceptance,” said Carsillo. “A lot of these monsters, they’re the outsiders. They’re the ones that are looking for a connection. Dark Universe is for everybody.”
Press materials also mentioned an idea based in perspective: What defines a monster? In any given situation on these attractions, who is the real monster in question? Might the answer not be the actual “monstrous” creatures at hand?
Monsters Café Lives On
Universal Studios’ Classic Monsters Café was a quick-service restaurant at Universal Studios Florida that closed in 2022 to make way for Minion Café. Looking around at the decked-out theming and paraphernalia of Monsters Café, diners might have wondered, “This is so extra for a quick-service restaurant.” In that respect, Monsters Café will achieve something of an afterlife with the differently designed but similarly over-the-top spirit of the two quick-service restaurants inside Dark Universe.
For starters, take a look at this concept art below. At first glance, you might assume it depicts a major ride. Nope; it’s artwork for Das Stakehaus.
Das Stakehaus will communicate even more Dark Universe lore not present in the main attractions. It sounds like superfans wanting to learn the full backstory of Darkmoor may spend quite a while perusing the walls of Das Stakehaus.
Universal says, “Das Stakehaus’ many paintings depict the world of vampires from their point of view, painting them as heroes in their stories, while displaying some of Darkmoor’s history, and referencing its architecture.”
Additionally, both The Burning Blade Tavern and Das Stakehaus are frequently inhabited by different groups of characters within the Darkmoor narrative. The Hounds (monster hunters) call The Burning Blade Tavern their home digs, while vampire servants visit Das Stakehaus.
Flames Every 20 Minutes
The windmill outside of The Burning Blade Tavern will earn its name by becoming ablaze with fire every so often — every 20 minutes, to be exact, according to Wills.
Additionally, the flames will utilize two types of fuel, “allowing for easy visibility to guests during both day and night,” reads the restaurant’s landing page on Universal Orlando’s website.
Walt Disney World has hidden Mickeys. Universal has … hidden Kenan Thompsons? Earlier this year, YouTuber/podcaster Alicia Stella noticed comedian Kenan Thompson from “Saturday Night Live” hidden within the concept art for How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk. Can you find him in the image below?
It seems Thompson has made his way to Darkmoor, as he’s clearly shown onboard Curse of the Werewolf in the concept art below (and quite bewildered at the predicament in which he finds himself, to boot), as spotted by @SchenectaDana on X.
Universal released two separate versions of this artwork: one with Thompson (in the media kit, pictured above) and one without (in the reveal video, pictured below).
Character Greetings
Universal says guests will encounter “a variety of strange and unusual inhabitants” roaming Darkmoor, including:
- Dr. Victoria Frankenstein’s Monster
- the Bride of Frankenstein
- Ygor, Victoria’s assistant
- the Invisible Man
- a “courageous monster hunter” (in The Burning Blade Tavern)
- a musician
Single-Rider Line for Curse of the Werewolf
As seen (just barely) in Universal’s virtual fly-through video of Dark Universe, Curse of the Werewolf will have a single-rider line. The signage is visible on the far right of the screenshot below. Though the virtual camera never pans over to see the entire sign, the beginning of the word “single” is clearly there.
New AR at Preview Center
Following the Dark Universe reveal, Universal activated new augmented reality effects inside the recently opened Epic Universe Preview Center at CityWalk. Now if you scan your phone above the scale model, you can see inside a show scene for Monsters Unchained.
See You in the Fog
Universal describes Darkmoor as being located within the “fog-shrouded depths of Dark Universe.” Fans of Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) at Universal Studios affectionately count the event’s heavy use of fog as among the best parts of the evening. Universal has even employed the slogan “See you in the fog” to promote HHN in years past. Come 2025, fog will be Universal year-round inside Dark Universe. (Though for what it’s worth, Festival of the Lion King at Disney’s Animal Kingdom seems to smell the same way if you can’t wait until then.)
Logos and Height Requirements
Displayed on the individual landing pages for various rides and restaurants are their official logos.
These pages also reveal some important information. Guests must be at least 48 inches tall to ride Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment and at least 40 inches tall to ride Curse of the Werewolf. The latter attraction will reach speeds of 37 mph.
“Repurposing” Space
A theme park trope has emerged in recent years. Have you noticed it? Many new attractions tell a story that takes place within a defunct (fictional) business that’s been reclaimed by the ride’s characters for the purposes of the attraction’s backstory.
For example, according to authors Kevin M. Kern, Tim O’ Day, and Steven Vagnini, many structures throughout Disney Springs are meant to be “adaptive reuse” of buildings the served other functions in the late 1800s through the 1950s (again, within the lore of Disney Springs’ backstory).
Other examples include Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure (it “used to be” a Stark Industries plant) and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Magic Kingdom (the queue winds its way through Tiana’s Foods, which operates from a “repurposed” salt mine).
Dark Universe at Epic Universe will contain no fewer than three such repurposed spaces. The Burning Blade Tavern is located in “the old mill which Darkmoor Village’s monster hunters have transformed into their hangout,” Universal says. Meanwhile, Das Stakehaus is “an old inn and dining hall built over the ruins of ancient catacombs.” Lastly, Darkmoor Monster Makeup Experience (pictured below) takes place in what was formerly Dr. Pretorius’ lab. (Dr. Septimus Pretorius is the villain in 1935’s “The Bride of Frankenstein.”)
On this subject, Kern, O’Day, and Vagnini write that “the smart reuse of previously erected edifices … serves as a narrative device that helps us discover a variety of ‘original’ purposes, all of which seek to uncover the story of the ever-flowing landscape at hand.” The authors — their passages quoted here coming from “A Portrait of Walt Disney World: 50 Years of the Most Magical Place on Earth” — are referring to Disney Springs, but their sentiments apply to the same principles at work within Dark Universe.
The Portal and the Manor are Connected
“As our guests approach the portal, there’s a spire that’s crackling with electricity,” said Chris Frisella, assistant director and executive producer at Universal Creative. “This is how the dark energy is gathered.”
“We’re gonna see the electricity pulsating through the land,” continued Frances Franceschi, production designer at Universal Creative, “and connecting at the top of [Frankenstein] Manor.”
Fancasting Tina Fey as Dr. Victoria Frankenstein
Earlier this year during their interview with Tina Fey, “Las Culturistas” podcast hosts Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang expressed their excitement for Epic Universe and said Fey would be a perfect fit in the role of Dr. Victoria Frankenstein. Though their conversation was clearly for fun and didn’t indicate any inside scoop, it’s nonetheless a worthwhile listen for Universal fans.
Tina Fey talks Victoria Frankenstein at Epic Universe
Discover More Deep-Dive Details
Can’t wait for Epic Universe? Check out our previous stories with details you may have missed from when Universal revealed How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk and Super Nintendo World:
Isle of Berk details you may have missed in Epic Universe reveal
Super Nintendo World details you might’ve missed in Epic Universe reveal
Attractions Magazine
Ready for adventure? Our trusted partner Universal Fan Travel will handle the planning so you can focus on the fun. They offer free vacation-planning services and have nearly 20 years of experience creating epic vacations. Visit Universal Fan Travel for a fee-free, no-obligation quote today.
