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.

[Robo56]

Tuesday, May 6th continued

While I was wondering around I noticed this massive edifice. Of course there was no way to miss it…. with the headless statue in front of it. I knew this had to have some meaning. The incredible creators and design team at Universal always leave no stone unturned in their creations.

The Latin phrase says “Perfectly Performed Magic 1790”

So I went digging for any possible information of the statue as I knew it had to have meaning.

Turns out it is the statue of Vincent Duc de Trefle Picques. He was a French wizard and nobleman that was alive during the time of the French Revolution.

When he was younger he had attended the Beauxbaton Acadamy of Magic.

He escaped the Reign of Terror in 1793-1794 by casting a concealment charm on his neck pretending that his head had been already cut off.

The Reign of Terror was during the time of the French Revolution and was a period of mass execution of the enemies of the French Revolution which took place between 1793 to 1794.

The Duc had been targeted by the revolutionaries.

There is a spell in the fountain here.


I then wondered around to what I would call the Knockturn Alley of this Potter World. I had heard it called the Flamel Corridor.


The home of Nicolas Flamel is located in this area.. He was the creator of the Philosophers Stone. There are a couple of spells to be cast here.

In the Flamel corridor The Elizabethan Architecture was weathered and dark in contrast to the other beautiful areas of the Place Cachee.






The red sign for “The Coffin House” was interesting.


I did not go into the Le Goblet Noir. I figured I would save that to next visit as I wanted to make sure I was able to walk through and see what I could in the Battle of the Ministry ride area.








I loved all the Architecture in the this dark Wizarding area and felt I only barely touched on the contents. I look forward to coming back.


There were so many posters located throughout the Place Cachee.

I left the Flamel Quarter.

The last show for the Circus Arcanus was already over and I decided that it was another thing to look forward to on my next visit.

I had to look for a photo of the exterior of the circus entrance as I thought I had taken one and alas had not.


I had read up on the Circus. It was performed in 1927 and was attended by witches and wizards.

A riot broke out releasing many creatures and crew members including Nagini who was a Maledictus, Firedrakes and Creedance Barebone who was a Obscurial. I remember seeing the circus in the Fantastic Beast movie Crimes of Grindlewald.

I think it is so cool that the Circus appears to be in such small tent when in reality is it so much bigger inside. It’s Magic………




More to come…….

 

[disneyseniors]

Tuesday, May 6th continued

While I was wondering around I noticed this massive edifice. Of course there was no way to miss it…. with the headless statue in front of it. I knew this had to have some meaning. The incredible creators and design team at Universal always leave no stone unturned in their creations.

The Latin phrase says “Perfectly Performed Magic 1790”

So I went digging for any possible information of the statue as I knew it had to have meaning.

Turns out it is the statue of Vincent Duc de Trefle Picques. He was a French wizard and nobleman that was alive during the time of the French Revolution.

When he was younger he had attended the Beauxbaton Acadamy of Magic.

He escaped the Reign of Terror in 1793-1794 by casting a concealment charm on his neck pretending that his head had been already cut off.

The Reign of Terror was during the time of the French Revolution and was a period of mass execution of the enemies of the French Revolution which took place between 1794 to 1794.

The Duc had been targeted by the revolutionaries.

There is a spell in the fountain here.
View attachment 978305

I then wondered around to what I would call the Knockturn of this Potter World. I had heard it called the Flamel Quarter.


The home of Nicolas Flamel is located in this area.. He was the creator of the Philosophers. There are a couple of spells to be cast here.

The Elizabethan Architecture was weathered and dark in contrast to the other beautiful areas of the Place Cachee.
View attachment 978306

View attachment 978298

View attachment 978300

The red sign for “The Coffin House” was interesting.
View attachment 978302

I did not go into the Le Goblet Noir. I figured I would save that to next visit as I wanted to make sure I was able to walk through and see what I could in the Battle of the Ministry ride area.
View attachment 978303



View attachment 978299

View attachment 978304

I loved all the Architecture in the this dark Wizarding area and felt I only barely touched on the contents. I look forward to coming back.
View attachment 978317

There were so many posters located throughout the Place Cachee.

I left the Flamel Quarter.

The last show for the Circus Arcanus was already over and I decided that it was another thing to look forward to on my next visit.

I had to look for a photo of the exterior of the circus entrance as I thought I had taken one and alas had not.
View attachment 978324

I had read up on the Circus. It was performed in 1927 and was attended by witches and wizards.

A riot broke out releasing many creatures and crew members including Nagini who was a Maledictus, Firedrakes and Creedance Barebone who was a Obscurial. I remember seeing the circus in the Fantastic Beast movie Crimes of Grindlewald.

I think it is so cool that the Circus appears to be in such small tent when in reality is it so much bigger inside. It’s Magic………




More to come…….

I loved the photos of the buildings in the Nicolas Flamel area. They are amazing architecture of that period. The red coffin sign fits in very well. What an interesting area...

 

[Robo56]

I loved the photos of the buildings in the Nicolas Flamel area. They are amazing architecture of that period. The red coffin sign fits in very well. What an interesting area...

Thank you Ruth. It is a very interesting area. I look forward to having a look in there again when I go back hopefully in September.

You will like it. There are so many interesting things to look at.

 

[Robo56]

Tuesday, May 6th continued

I had to stop and get a photo of the MoonCalf in the window. I think the MoonCalf is cute and is one of three of the Fantastic Beasts I like.


They are sold in the shops at in Epic Universe.

The MoonCalf is a gentle nocturnal creature.




I also like the Demiguise. They have two unique abilities. They can predict the future and can become invisible. They can only be seen by well trained Witches and Wizards.

It is possible that their fur was used in the creation of the Invisibility Cloak.



My other favorite Fantastic Beast is the Bowtruckle. There is one picking a lock in a store window the Place Cache.


Bowtruckles live in and protect trees. They are tree guardians of Primarily trees that are used to create wands.

Newt Scamander carried a Bowtruckle around in his picket that was named Pickett.


Next up I was looking forward to seeing what I could see of the interior of the Battle of the Ministry ride queue. I did try as I had said before to get a VQ six times for the ride and was unsuccessful. So finding out I could see a little of the queue was nice.



The MetroFloo is a network of Fire places that are in the households of Witches and Wizards to travel.

You need to use Floo Powder in order to travel in the MetroFloo.

Floo powder is a glitter looking magical powder that is thrown into the fireplace.

When it is thrown in the fire place it turns bright emerald green allowing the person to step into the fire place and travel. You must say clearly where it is you want to go.

Floo poweder was created by Ignaita Wildsmith during the thirteenth century. She discovered the magical properties of the Floo plant and developed the powder.

She was a Witch and a Wizarding inventor. She was also a student of The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was a RavenClaw.

The first time the MetroFloo was used with the Floo Powder in the Potter film series was in the Harry Potter movie “The Chamber of Secrets”. Harry was in the home of the Weasley’s at the time.

Molly Weasley was instructing an apprehensive Harry on how to use the Floo Network in their fire place. He was going to travel to Daigon Alley. When you use the powder you need to say clearly where you are going and Harry said Diagon Alley to quickly and ended up in Knockturn Alley.



The line was not long at all when I entered the queue for the ride . It was nice to get out of the heat for a little while.

I had read that there are 80,000 tiles in this area of the queue.








More to come

 

[Robo56]

Tuesday, May 6th continued

The ride “Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry” is an adventure about the trial of the wicked Delores Umbridge.

I had wondered how the creators of this ride where going to simulate the travel through the Fire place and what a wonderful concept they came up with.

There are multiple fire places with numbers above them. First off the beautiful glazed tile work around the human sized fire places is beautiful.

You just wait in line for the next fire place to be ready. The light about the fire place comes on letting you know it is time for you walk through



The bricks in the back of fire are stained with soot as though there have been many fires burnt in there over the years.


My journey through the emerald green haze.





When you get out of the Floo Network on the other side you have returned to the 1990’s after the war and the destruction of Voldemort. You arrive into the atrium of the Ministry of Magic.


Ok…….I will have to say this is one of those jaw dropping moments. Entering the massive atrium of the British Ministry of Magic.

You look up and see the night sky simulated on the ceiling then there are lit offices around you and the massive amount of glazed green tile work on the walls everywhere it is both beautiful and awe inspiring.

On Universal’s website it says over 125,000 tiles were used in this area of the atrium alone.

The very large screen was toggling from a photo of Kingsley Shacklebolt and Delores Umbridge.

Kingsley was made Minister of Magic after the death of Voldemort in 1998 and was responsible for capturing the Death Eaters and all the followers of Voldemort after Voldemort was destroyed.

A little side note……..guess who the Minister of Magic was after Kingsley Shacklebolt?……..in 2019 it was Hermione Granger.







Honestly pictures just do not do this justice you have to see it with your own eyes to appreciate it.




More to come

 

[Robo56]

Tuesday, May the 6th continued




I loved that there was a massive fireplace for Giants.


Delores Umbridge first showed up in the Harry Potter movie “Order of the Phoenix”. Next to Voldemort she became one of the most hated villains of the series of Potter films.









In the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic is a large Golden Statue of a Wizard that is in his Ministry of Magic hat and robe with his wand held high.


Also in the center of atrium is “The Fountain of Magical Brethren” Which has large goldern statues of a witch, goblin, house-elf and centaur.




After having a good look around the atrium I exited as you could not go further on the queue unless you had a VQ for the ride. That will be for another day when I actually do get to ride the ride.

The thought occurred to me it would be my luck that this would be the one ride that would make me sick…..LOL…..perish the thought.

Of course when you exit the ride there is a lot of tempting merchandise to buy in the store.





More to come

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

Appreciate your review of the sandwich at the cafe, I had thought we might get that for the vegetarian in our party but we will try something else. I’ve heard in general that the bread for the sandwiches/burgers is not great park-wide so will be avoiding. Also thinking we might try to get dinner reservations for the two table service places and see if that helps with things being the right temperature. We have two full days so we can afford to spend more time with some meals.

 

[Robo56]

Tuesday, May 6th continued

The sun was going down by now and I had stopped for a rest on one of the benches. I had a nice rest and took in the ambiance in the Place Cachee. There were still a lot people milling about, but it was not busy. The nice thing about this world is it is big enough to suck up a lot of people.

It was getting dark by the time I left and I had planned to make sure I could spend my last night of the park in my favorite place at Epic Universe.



I just want to remind everyone that you think the park is awesome in the daylight it is really something to see at night.


As I rounded the corner into the village the spiked fountain that feeds the Vampires below in their catacombs was misting red with the blood of their victims.




The bride of Frankenstein and the big green fella himself were out for photos.


I needed to have one more ride on the Monsters Unchained ride and it was as awesome as it had been the other times I had rode it. I love this ride and it is without a doubt my favorite ride at Epic Universe.



I stood in front of Frankenstein Manor and just took in this massive beautiful haunting structure. It is something to behold in the dark.

I needed to go and have by last look at the burning windmill. I had a sit on the stone wall and waited for the sounds of the villagers chasing Frankenstein’s Monster toward the Windmill and then the blades lighting on fire.


After I was done at the windmill I wanted to stop by the Manor store and pick up a couple of the bitty monster plushies.

I had seen these at the store and wanted to get a couple of them. I really liked the little Wolfie one so I got two of them. One for my little Great-Nephew J and one for myself.




More to come

 

[Robo56]

Appreciate your review of the sandwich at the cafe, I had thought we might get that for the vegetarian in our party but we will try something else. I’ve heard in general that the bread for the sandwiches/burgers is not great park-wide so will be avoiding. Also thinking we might try to get dinner reservations for the two table service places and see if that helps with things being the right temperature. We have two full days so we can afford to spend more time with some meals.

Your are welcome…..I’am hoping with all the feedback they are getting that the quality control on the food will improve.

I will be back for a day in September. I will give a couple of the restaurants another try and see how it goes.

I have seen some nice reviews for the Blue Dragon and Atlantic restaurants.

I hope you have a wonderful experience on your trip to Epic Universe.

 

[Robo56]

Tuesday, May 6th continued.

After I left Dark Universe I took a walk over to have a look at Constellation Carousel. The lights on the Carosel at night are beautiful.



I then headed towards the large fountain for the water show. I had heard it last night from my room which over looked the fountain at Helios Grand.

There is plenty of seating to sit and enjoy the show.

There is music pipped in from each of the Worlds…Harry Potter Ministry of Magic, Super Nintendo, How to Train Your Dragon and Dark Universe during the show.

The best place to really enjoy the show is directly facing the side of the fountain that faces Helios Grand. This is where the majority of folks were sitting.

Just a note to those who are staying in the rooms facing the park side. I was sitting next to some folks who were talking about how easy it was to see in the rooms at night when the lights are on in the room. While that is a bit creepy, it was true.

I was paying attention to the light show and not paid much attention to the windows, but when I looked up and focused on the hotel windows and sure enough you could see into the rooms.

I had suspected this and would keep my curtains closed when I was in my room at night getting ready for bed.










Another interesting light display is the Lights that beam up into the sky and intersect from all the Worlds as well as the Main Chronos at the front of the park.






I found this picture that was a lot clearer than the ones I took.

 

[Robo56]

I was hot and tired and was ready for a shower. So I decided to to leave the fountain show before if was over.

I stopped for another picture of Apollo.


As soon as I got into my room I closed the shears and curtains with the control buttons right by the door.

There is also a way to close the curtains from the pad on the bedside table.

After having my suspicions confirmed about the possibility of seeing into the rooms from Celestial Park. I made sure to close the curtains as soon as I entered the room and turned the lights on.

Not a very clear photo, but you can see the control buttons by the door.


After I was showered and ready for bed I tuned the lights off and used the beautiful lights of Celestial Park for my nightlight as I had last night and it was beautiful.



I was sad this was my last night, but I think I was fast asleep before my head hit the pillow.


I had a great sleep. The bed was so comfy. I sat and enjoyed the view from my window again when I woke up.


Then it was time to get ready to go.

I got my suitcase and off I went to check out.

It was really busy in the lobby when I arrived downstairs. The line for check in was snaked around the lobby. I always like to have a paper copy of the things to look over when I leave. I really did not want to wait in the that line.

I walked over to the area where the luggage intake was and I asked the young lady if she could print me copy and she did. She was so nice and I was thankful.

I looked at the bill and noted they had charged me $20.00 per night more than the amount that I had arranged through Universal reservations. I always keep the email confirmation and double checked it and they had charged me $ 40.00 extra for the two nights I was there.

I was not going to try and deal with this waiting in that line. So I decided I would give them a call when I got home.

I did call when I got home and they corrected the error and credited my credit card without any issue.

I was glad for the short walk to the parking garage and I loaded by suitcase in the car.

Today was the last day of my quick adventure trip. I was heading over to checkin at the Portofino for my last day at Universal.

I knew my room would not be ready, but I wanted to make the most of my last day so off I went.


More to come

 

[Robo56]

Wednesday, May 7th


After I was done loading my suitcase in the car I made the short drive over to Universal.

I arrived at Portofino and walked trough the doors and immediately felt like I was home.

The wonderful smell in the lobby is so nice. The scent is called Bright Suns and I believe that is the same scent in Sapphire Falls.

I went to the check in desk and I was warmly welcomed. My room was not ready as I new it would not be, but I was ready to get the day started.

I took the elevator down to the Harbor. I wanted to grab a cup of coffee. The store where Starbucks used to be was replaced by Cafe Espresso.




They had a lot of quick options of breakfast.






I decided to hold off on the coffee and have an early lunch instread.

I took the Water Taxi over CityWalk. I saw this sign and it reminded me that Mother’s Day was Sunday.



I headed to the big Universal Store. I always stop by and have a look at the new merchandise and displays.

There was a nice display of Pygmy Puff merchandise. I had never seen the cups and pajamas before.





I had never seen these Time Turner popcorn buckets.

Unless something has changed you have to show your receipt and get your popcorn on the day you purchase your popcorn bucket. You don’t have to get the popcorn in the bucket they will give it to you in a bag if you want.

A lot of folks collect the popcorn buckets and don’t want popcorn in them.


There was a nice display of The Marauders Map merch. They always do such a nice job with the merchandise displays.

 

[Robo56]

I had forgotten about this new plush design of Bob and Tim. I have a great-nephew little J who loves Bob and Tim so I will have to look for this on my return in September


For those that have not visited Epic yet and like How to Train Your Dragon there is a nice amount of merchandise available at the Universal Store.
















I’am wishing I had picked up a few more T-shirts for my little great-nephew J on this trip. Will have to have another look in September and do a little shopping.


More to come

 

[keishashadow]

thought it was a little strange that the tables inside the cafe were cheaply designed wood tables and chairs considering the opulent design on the walls of the cafe. Not a complaint just an observation.

Thot the same thing, was disjointed.

You can Mobile order here too.

Didn’t seem to speed up the process at all for us

Your are welcome…..I’am hoping with all the feedback they are getting that the quality control on the food will improve.

One can only hope. Only did one day recently. Had high expectations, the design is remarkable. The practical aspect of guest enjoyment of it, well, I’d like to think they are still working out the bumps. We’ll be back, think another month or two and things will fall into place.

I’m of the mind the staff training needs tweaked and more management on-site presence is sorely needed, both in the restaurants and the technical aspects of the attractions not operating properly.

I’d also love to see the park & Monsters area open to 11 pm vs 10 pm to truly be able to thoroughly soak up the beauty of it in the evening.

 

[Robo56]

Didn’t seem to speed up the process at all for us

i agree my longest wait was at he cafe at Ministry of Magic park.

One can only hope. Only did one day recently. Had high expectations, the design is remarkable. The practical aspect of guest enjoyment of it, well, I’d like to think they are still working out the bumps. We’ll be back, think another month or two and things will fall into place.

I will give it another try in September. Will see how things are working at the restaurant’s then….hoping lots better.

I’m of the mind the staff training needs tweaked and more management on-site presence is sorely needed, both in the restaurants and the technical aspects of the attractions not operating properly.

There is definitely need of management assessing quality of food leaving the kitchen.

I’d also love to see the park & Monsters area open to 11 pm vs 10 pm to truly be able to thoroughly soak up the beauty of it in the evening.

During the summer when it is light out so long totally agree. It would make the experience so much nicer at Dark Universe.

Epic really comes alive at night with all the beautiful lights especially Dark Universe.

 

[Robo56]

Wednesday, May 7th continued

After I was done looking in the big Universal Store I noticed that the Epic preview store was still open and walked in to look around. I’am wondering what they will do with this space now that Epic is open.


I have to admit that these Ewe shirts and hats are kinda of cute.








The Ewe hair bands are also cute.

They have a lot of nice merchandise in the store to look at and purchase if you are a fan of any of the worlds at Epic and are not ready to go there yet.


After I done looking around the Preview store I headed to IOA






I like walking through the Island of Adventure Trading Company Store when I enter the park and looking around at the merch there. I’am always on the look out for gifts for the Potter fans in the family.


I had never seen this charm bracelet before so I took a picture to help remind me to go back and get it.



Did I do that? Nooooooooooooooo…..why? Because I had no idea how hot it was going to get. I was just starting out my day thought I will head back this way before I go to the resort.

Although it was already smoking hot it was not any where near as hot as it was going to be.

I’am used to the Florida heat, but before this day was over I was going to be tested on the limits my Florida internal thermometer could stand…….LOL

 

[Robo56]

After I was done in the Trading Company Store I crossed over to have a look at the Port of Entry Christmas Store. I always like walking through this store. You can not walk out of here not happy. Its full of Christmas cheer.


My younger sister K really likes the Grinch and the other characters in the Grinch story line. She curated a collection of Grinch Christmas decorations and displays them for Christmas. Her display is beautiful.

I have to admit I do like the grumpy Grinch just a little bit too.


The store is beautifully designed inside and they have such nice Christmas merchandise to choose from.





I had never seen the this little Cindy Lou Who plush before.


There was of course some Earl the Squirrel merch in here too. I have to fess up that this little rodent has captured my heart just a tad.

If you ever wondered if Universal puts things on sell in their shops this is proof. Earl the Squirrel Christmas merch was 50% off.

I asked the store clerk who the little female squirrel was and she said it was Earl’s girlfriend Pearl.

Now Universal needs to have Earl and Pearl walking around at Christmas time for sure.



I really like the Hogsmeade Christmas merchandise and the display design of the merchandise is always wonderful.


I had never seen this hat or the pajamas before. They are really cute.





More to come on my adventure.

 

[keishashadow]

Earl has a girl named Pearl? lol who knew? That's cute

 

[Robo56]

Earl has a girl named Pearl? lol who knew? That's cuteI

I know, now that the word is out…. Earl and Pearl definitely have to show up for the Christmas celebrations at Universal.

 

[cchs82]

Robo56- Thank you so much for the awesome photos and write-up from your journey! Thanks for taking the time to record and post all of this very helpful info! It is much appreciated.

My wife and I are heading to EPIC next week for our first visit. I took lots of notes from your trip report to help us!