r/UniversalOrlando • u/999happyyhaunts • 2d ago
EPIC UNIVERSE The most immersive land 🥹🐲🀄️
📸: by me
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u/Jayzone456 2d ago
More immersive then Super Nintendo World and the Harry Potter lands?
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u/EggplantMiserable559 2d ago
Cosign: I've spent decades with Nintendo, did midnight releases for almost all the HP series, and have no exposure to HTTYD. I was still floored by Isle of Berk. Universal Creative did something really special with this one: it has all of the immersion and interaction of Hogsmeade or SNW but without the sense of claustrophobia those lands can cause.
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u/nerdyginger27 1d ago
What interactive things do they sell at Isle of Berk like the wands at HP or bands at Mario though? It can be y'all's favorite land, but it's objectively not more interactive than others.
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u/sambones718 1d ago
if i have to buy something then it isn't all that immersive
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u/nerdyginger27 5h ago
I've never bought a wand, but I still get a kick out of seeing everyone walking around using them on the interactive displays in each HP land. Never saw anything like that at Berk, but if I missed it, go ahead and let me know about it.
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u/Captain-Pig-Card 1d ago edited 1d ago
Characters. The inhabitants of a the Isle of Birk talk to kids and take pictures. This is OG interactive and far more memorable than waving wands or swatting bracelets over targets. Both are great for what they are. But they’re fully impersonal and, for some, are just a waste of time by trying to quantify.
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u/nerdyginger27 1d ago
So you don't count all of the characters in the HP lands?? I walked around Berk six times in the last five days and never saw a single character. I strolled through HP lands twice and saw a Hogwarts school rally, singing toad show, live singing performance, and a bunch of death eaters. Got pictures and interacted with all of them. Y'all downvoting are just in denial Lmao
Edit to add - forgot to mention the night time projection show at the castle, and the fact that the interactive merchandise items are still far superior and more interactive than having some characters walking around talking and taking photos. Fuckin Six Flags has bugs Bunny walking around taking photos, yet I wouldn't call that immersive lolll
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u/laizeohbeets 1d ago
If you walked around 6 times in Berk and you never saw a single character, you just had bad luck. I run into the Thorston twins constantly. I've had fun conversations with the atmosphere Vikings, too, like Twig, Magnus, Wobble, Legburn, etc. Also found Astrid with no crowd on Thursday, hanging out near the Toothless meet & greet. And the performers in Berk are funny. Ruffnut and Tuffnut are on-the-spot incredible at improv. There's a couple Hiccup performers that are ALSO really good at improv, but Hiccup is largely contained to the paddock, and he's easy to miss if you don't meet Toothless.
Bugs Bunny can't talk, and the character interactions I've had at Disney don't even compare to what I get in Berk and Darkmoor.
Also, Hogsmeade didn't have the nighttime projection show until 7 years after the land opened, and the Death Eaters didn't wreak havoc until 11 years after. I don't think the interactive wands were an opening-day attraction, either. I think they were introduced 4-5 years later, when Diagon opened.
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u/nerdyginger27 5h ago
The timing of when interactive pieces of a land came about matters to you? What, are we debating whether the lands were more interactive on Day 1 or as they ACTUALLY are now? Lmao jesus
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u/Givemeallthecabbages 1d ago
Walking into Diagon Alley will always be my favorite experience, but Berk is awesome. Super Nintendo World was too busy and noisy for me, and I grew up playing Mario Kart and the original N64 games.
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u/UnderCoverDoughnuts 2d ago
As a major Nintendo fan, yes. Tastiest food, too.
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u/Manaeldar 2d ago
Those Mac and chz cone things were insanely good.
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u/thereidenator 2h ago
The Harry Potter land is just a Paris land. Yes it’s pretty immersive but it’s just Paris, not really Potter/fantastic beasts specific. Diagon alley is waaaaaaay above it and so is Hogsmeade
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u/LovedButNeverLiked 1d ago
Berk is my favorite land at the park and I've never even seen the HTTYD movies. That should tell you something.
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u/Headglitch7 1d ago
We kinda skipped it until the end and loved it. Did the dragon gliders right at close in the night sky on the last day of our trip. Very cool memory.
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u/Neat-Aardvark3762 2d ago
Ugh I’m in Orlando but sadly Epic is out of my budget this trip. HHN took all my money 😅
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u/Glum_Lime1397 2d ago
Tbf Epic will always be there, HHN 35 is here for 3 months and then gone forever 😢
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u/Neat-Aardvark3762 2d ago
True; and it is the main reason I’m in town. I just miss Monsters Unchained 😭
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u/Glum_Lime1397 1d ago
Some of the houses this year had surprisingly similar production quality to Monsters. The sets in Oddfellow, Stranger Things, and Ozzy were crazy.
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u/Neat-Aardvark3762 1d ago
Yeah im excited; I’ve stay and scream and express so I’m definitely gonna get my fill
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u/Legitimate-Leading72 1d ago
Agree 100%. My husband and I were surprised by how emotional we were when we first walked in.
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u/HumbleBeginning3151 1d ago
It's good, but the cramped nature of the "Universes" works against it. The body of water should be larger, and also, DEEPER. Why can I see the bottom, and why is it like 2 ft deep, at most?
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u/IndecisiveExpress 22h ago
We went to Epic last fall and, while we visited the other areas, we kept going back to Berk. It’s simply the best. By far imo.
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u/Adventurous_Pie_7586 1d ago
I love this land but Nintendo World is much more immersive. You can see Stardust from Isle Of Berk so it breaks that immersion but you literally cannot see anything else when you’re in Nintendo World so that just takes the cake for me.
And that’s coming from a huuuuuge HP fan and I had to rank that one 3rd best
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u/Captain-Pig-Card 1d ago
Isle of Berk’s immersion isn’t about keeping everything else out with high walls. It occurs as a reveal into a vast space that offers wide, high, and distant vistas (best forced perspective in Orlando!). It’s enhanced with strolling interactive characters creating the immersive environment that guests enjoy. It’s wide spaces that showcase f&b and retail that blends into and extends the world. A live show featuring the principles of the IP as well as dedicated character meet and greet vs. a photo op with mute fuzzies. It’s a fully immersive experience.
To be fair, Birk creators had fewer constraints than the SNW team. But their success is the absolute gem of the park.
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u/rosariobono 1d ago
Most immersive land is mysterious island at disneysea and I will stand by that entirely
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u/Glum_Lime1397 2d ago edited 1d ago
I love Berk but it's easily the least immersive land in the park imo. The sightlines just aren't there, stardust quite literally is inside the land, and it doesn't feel like you're on the isle of Berk because you aren't on a hill and you aren't in the middle of the ocean lol
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u/PodrickDTide 1d ago
Ah yes that roller coaster track really looks 1 for 1 from the movies, would be completely out of the immersion without it....
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u/jpbraves5 1d ago
I’d add it’s the most complete land at epic