When they’re not sneaking peeks at the under-construction Epic Universe, all eyes have been on DreamWorks Land at Universal Studios Florida, set to open June 14.
The former location of Woody Woodpecker’s KidZone has been overhauled and transformed to include beloved characters and scenes from DreamWorks Animation films like Shrek, Trolls and Kung Fu Panda. The rebranding of the area near the E.T. ride will still be family-friendly with interactive play areas, character meet-and-greets, theme food and drinks, photo ops and an indoor live show titled DreamWorks Imagination Celebration.
As for attractions, DreamWorks Land includes a re-creation of Shrek’s Swamp, the Trollercoaster ride, visits with Po in the Panda Village and experiences with characters from Gabby’s Dollhouse.
About a month and a half out from the opening day, Universal already has new DreamWorks Land merch available — including Shrek ears headbands. They also teased new bubble wands that interact with other wands and with some of the parade floats in the new Universal Mega Movie Parade.
More on that parade in a minute.
Also debuting on June 14 at the Studios is the CineSational: A Symphonic Spectacular nighttime show over the park’s lagoon.
The show will be a grand finale to a day at the park where you “ride the movies.” It features 4K projection mapping and special effects choreographed with scenes and scores from over a dozen movies. That includes music from future Universal attractions themed after How to Train Your Dragon and The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
CineSational will also have 228 fountains as high as 131 feet and more than 600 drones working alongside an original composition.
Over at Islands of Adventure on June 14, the new Hogwarts Always projection show will light up the Wizarding World’s most famous castle.
On select nights, the castle will showcase iconic moments from a school year at Hogwarts — from Diagon Alley shopping and riding the Hogwarts Express train to being sorted into houses and winning the coveted House Cup. The show will also have four different endings for each Hogwarts house, along with dialogue from characters like Professor Dumbledore, Hagrid, the Sorting Hat and others.
Hogwarts Always will be the fourth castle projection show in Hogsmeade. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter has also hosted the Nighttime Lights at Hogwarts Castle, The Magic of Christmas at Hogwarts Castle and Dark Arts at Hogwarts Castle shows.
Back to the parade.
The Universal Mega Movie Parade debuts on July 3 at the Studios and is billed as the park’s biggest daytime parade to date, with 13 new floats and nearly 100 performers.
The parade celebrates iconic characters and scenes from movies like E.T., Back to the Future, Jaws, Ghostbusters, Jurassic Park, Minions, Sing, Trolls and Kung Fu Panda.
Some of the new parade attractions include a 16-foot Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man on the Ghostbusters float, the Trolls Caterbus and a marching drumline playing the ominous Jaws score. The grand finale features a Gyrosphere, raptors and a Tyrannosaurus rex from Jurassic World.
To celebrate, the Summer Tribute Store will feature rooms and merchandise themed to some of the films featured in the parade.
More details about the Tribute Store — and all of these new attractions — are coming soon, Universal says.
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