Come with me on a Journey to a Far away place inhabited by Mythological Gods and Constellations. Through the Portals we go to an Epic Universe.

[DL1WDW2]

I always think your trip reports are Awesome but now they are EPIC !
I was hoping for a new EPIC Starbucks report Haha I think the first thing will be standing in line for the new EPIC Starbucks mug. I don’t even know,what they look like but I want one !
I have Helios Grand Open Day and tickets to enter EPIC .

I wish they would have a Commemorative Opening Day Park Guide Map .
I attended the Open Day for DCA and still have the Commemorative Opening Day Map…boy have things changed there. !

 

[angryduck71]

I'm going to need to take and extra suitcase... or two... for all the monster merch. I want the jewelry too! Can't wait to see what you got!

 

[Robo56]

I always think your trip reports are Awesome but now they are EPIC !
I was hoping for a new EPIC Starbucks report Haha I think the first thing will be standing in line for the new EPIC Starbucks mug. I don’t even know,what they look like but I want one !
I have Helios Grand Open Day and tickets to enter EPIC .

I did have the Starbucks to add to the report. I found the photos.

There are two Starbucks in Celestial Park.

If you walk through the Chronos at the front of the park and turn right continue walking past the shops and you will eventually run into the indoor Starbucks. It is beautiful.



The second Starbucks is a walk up close to Dark Universe.

Here’s your cup. I was so tempted to buy one.

I wish they would have a Commemorative Opening Day Park Guide Map .
I attended the Open Day for DCA and still have the Commemorative Opening Day Map…boy have things changed there. !

Epic is one of the easiest walkable parks to navigate. Celestial Park is in the center and as you walk around the circle you see the various Portals to enter.

There are a couple of areas if I remember correctly in the center to cross over to the other side.

I'm going to need to take and extra suitcase... or two... for all the monster merch. I want the jewelry too! Can't wait to see what you got!

I wish I had had a bigger suitcase.

Just want to remind everyone that you can ship merchandise from the parks to your home. It is really reasonable and they will work out the timing with you for the delivery so it is not delivered until you are home.

 

[Robo56]

Monday, May 5th continued


After I came out of the Manor store I turned right and followed the curved walk to the Curse of the Werewolf.

Just wanted to share that as the new trees and other vegetation continues to grow this will feel more like an overgrown forest which will add a lot more to the theming which is already pretty awesome.



In the Universal backstory, Maleva is a Wolf-Seer for the Guild of the Mystics.

Maleva invites you into her caravan. As you travel through the Forest you are for sure going to encounter a Werewolf and most likely be bitten.


When I was watching the podcast on Dark Universe from Universal. Peter Carrillo Senior Creative Director for Dark Universe explained that they wanted to take people on a journey from meeting Maleva and having the experience of turning into the Werewolf.

Ok Lets talk about the spinning part.

I looked for a good picture of what the ride cars look like and I found a good one on bioreconstruct that would help explain in picture what I’am talking about.


Each car has two seats in the front and two in the back. According to the weight distribution the car will spin more or less. So you will never have the same experience twice as the weight distribution will vary everytime.

So the ride goes forward and backward and spins according to the weight distribution. You do go through a structure a number of times.

According to the creators the idea of the spinning was to simulate the feeling you would have as you were turning into a werewolf.

The creators also said they wanted the wolf in this ride to have the appearance of a more long snouted Lycanthrope as compared to the man face transformed Werewolf.

An example of what they area talking about.





Again their ideas are always incredibly detailed.

There are no lockers on this ride. There are test seats to make sure you fit on the ride comfortably.

There is Single rider, Express and of course the regular line.

Do not have loose objects on you while you are riding this ride ie….sunglasses, phones etc….secure your stuff. You are spinning backwards and forwards and loose objects fly. When you are going at a fast rate of speed being hit by one of those objects would be pretty bad.

There is a lot of protective netting surrounding this ride. So like Hulk and any other coaster there has been a lot of thought into safety and loose articles they know people will not secure no matter how many times they are warned is my guess.

After standing and watching the ride for awhile I figured the unpredictable spinning was not for me. I’am not a fan of spinning rides anymore. I never know how I’am going to feel after those rides and decided to skip it this time.

I did stand and watch for a while and there was a lot of screaming going on I can tell you…..so it must be fun.

The ride time appeared to be short.

A little history on Maleva. In the Universal movie the Wolf Man from 1941 Maleva is a gypsy woman who travels in a gypsy caravan with her son who is Fortune Teller. She is a Seer who is knowledgable about the Curse of the Werewolf.


Oh boy………..I was excited about my next stop as I continued on the path. It was the

 

[Robo56]

I have to admit I was so looking forward to this.

The pictures I had a seen did not do justice to seeing the windmill in person. Again as with everything done by the creative minds behind this structure, the attention to detail was mind blowing.

A little backstory. In the 1931 Universal picture Frankenstein, the towns people formed a mob and chased Frankenstein’s Monster through the woods to the Windmill on the outskirts of town after being enraged by his drowning of Maria.








The Tavern is the meeting place of the Hounds. They are cloaked Monster Hunters. They do roam inside and outside the Tavern at various times for you to meet with.

The hounds are very good actors, as are all the characters you will see in Darkmoor Village and they stay in character. This is a very unique aspect of your interactive experience in Darkmoor.

Displayed on the walls are the trophy’s of the Hounds successful past hunts as well as some of the weapons they use to hunt the monsters.






This looks like the skulls of a few of Monsters the Hounds hunted and discarded set in mud and stone.



They do sell food and drinks in The Burning Blade, but on the day I visited they were wanting folks to order the drinks inside the Tavern and mobile order the food at the outside window once you exit the tavern on the right side of the building. They have a few tables on the outside of the building.

I’am new to the whole Mobile ordering thing so it’s was a new learning situation that I got the hang of pretty quick. You use the Universal App to do this. Can you order at the window and pay, Yes. The mobile ordering seems to streamline the process.

There was a line to order and pick up the food and all the tables were taken already. So I could see this being a busy place.

I would have liked to have ordered my snack and drink inside the Tavern and stayed inside the Tavern and soaked up the vibe, but there is not enough seating and it was pretty jam packed in there.

I understood the need to have a system to move as many people trough the Tavern as possible. I think Universal underestimated the popularity of the this place and made it a bit to small.

On the drinks


I saw a lot of people ordering the Monocane drink. I think you have an option of getting this in a regular plastic cup or a Erlenmyer Chemistry Flask. I will have to say the drink in the lab flask looked awesome. Also what a nice keepsake to take home.

A little backstory on Monocane….. this is the drink that caused the invisible man to become invisible and also caused his mental decline.

 

[Robo56]

Here’s a look at the Monocane drink in the beaker.


There are two secret drinks you can ask for at the Burning Blade Tavern. Of course it’s not a secret now……LOL….

One is the Crossbow…..which is a mix of Dark Universe Mead and Strongbow Cider.

The second one is The Smoking Jacket…… which is a mix of Dark Universe Mead and Crooked Can Reaper’s Reserve Brown Ale.

I did mobile order one of Hunter’s Garlic Stakes.


This is served with a Garlic dipping sauce which I had taken out of the cardboard basket.

The pretzel was delicious. Both lightly crispy and soft inside with a nice pretzel taste. The buttery garlic seasoning on the pretzel was so good. I tried some of provided garlic dipping sauce. I did not feel as though the sauce added anything to the pretzel as the pretzel is so well seasoned.

I can tell you after this pretzel you won’t have to worry about being bitten by a Vampire….LOL



On seeing the Windmill catch Fire. I was told by the TM cleaning nearby that when you hear the bell toll the Windmill then catches fire not long after. He said it happened about every 15 minutes.

I hung around for awhile and alas it did not see the Windmill catch fire. I was coming back into Darkmoor later in the evening so I knew would probably see it then.

If you continue on waking past the Burning Blade Tavern you will run into DeLacey’s Cottage. This is were you can buy the Frankenstein Monster pretzel.

The story line behind the Cottage is that in the movie the Monster comes across the cottage of the DeLacey family in the woods. The old man in the cottage is blind and can not see the monster. So he takes pity on the Monster.

In fit of rage after being rejected by the other members of the family the Monster burns down the cottage.


More to come.

 

[Charade67]

I got the pretzel stake and Monocain Mocktail. I thought both were good. They need a little more seating outside The Burning Blade though.

 

[Robo56]

I got the pretzel stake and Monocain Mocktail. I thought both were good. They need a little more seating outside The Burning Blade though.

I agree. More seating would surely be nice. I had to find a bench to sit on.

Did you get your Monocane in the beaker and if so did you get it home in one piece on the plane. It looked a bit fragile.

 

[Charade67]

Did you get your Monocane in the beaker and if so did you get it home in one piece on the plane. It looked a bit fragile.

Yes, I got the beaker. Mine survived the trip with no problem. I think I had it in my carry on which is also my CPAP bag.