UPDATE March 21 – This week there has been exciting news from Universal Epic Universe as we have seen three major roller coasters begin testing.
Here is a new video posted to YouTube using aerial footage taken by WESH of the headlining roller coaster in Celestial Park, Starfall Racers. Recently, we got to see the new trains and now we can see that testing has begin on the track.
February 2, 2024 – With Universal releasing new concept art and details this week regarding its upcoming third gate, Epic Universe, a new unofficial POV of the headlining attraction of Celestial Park has been released.
Amusement Insider has created an unofficial off-ride POV using NoLimits 2 of the dual-track Starfall Racers roller coaster manufactured by MACK rides which will headline The Celestial Park land at Epic Universe. It will include two duelling 5,000 ft long tracks, reach a height of 133ft and speeds of up to 62mph. As can be seen in the video embedded below the two trains will race against each other similar to the now demolished Dueling Dragons at Universal Studios Florida.
Universal has now confirmed on their official website that the height restriction for Starfall Racers will be 48″ (122cm) making it an ideal first roller coaster for many young Universal fans.
March 23, 2023 – When Universal Epic Universe opens by Summer 2025, the first fans through the turnstiles will sure have a lot of bucket list items to check off. Without a doubt, many will race to Super Nintendo World – the next “Living Land” in Disney and Universal’s back-and-forth theme park battles. Fans of the classics might make a beeline to the Dark Universe – a village populated by Universal’s monsters of the ’30s and ’40s. Families will no doubt race to the Isle of Berk to learn how to train a dragon. Potterheads will instead head for Ministry of Magic – a 1920s Paris drawn from the Wizarding World.
But like Islands of Adventure before it, the immersive worlds of Epic Universe will also be accentuated by something a little louder: a cutting edge, iconic set of roller coasters. While Universal has barely acknowledged that Epic Universe is happening at all, they haven’t been able to hide their newest thrill ride – a pair of intertwined racing coasters that will dominate the new park’s celestial hub.
What’s the story behind this new coaster that’s sure to be a landmark of Orlando? Who’s manufacturing it, and what tricks have they packed within? For that matter, what will a ride on these twisted tracks be like? Here’s what we know (and think we know) about the roller coaster that’s set to define Epic Universe…
1. It’s a “spiritual successor” to a fan favorite
When Universal’s Islands of Adventure opened in 1999, it, too, had a cutting edge double coaster as one of its main draws… Part of the Lost Legend: The Lost Continent, Dueling Dragons was a technological marvel made of two separate but intertwined B&M inverted coasters – a blazing red “Fire” track and a gleaming blue “Ice” track meant to represent the aerial clash between two elemental dragons ravaging a town.
Though each had a different layout, elements, inversions, speed, and statistics, trains from each would be dispatched together along mirrored lift hills. Then brakes throughout the rides’ courses would adjust to accommodate for differing weights between them, ensuring that at three key moments along their courses, the two trains would “duel,” racing at each other or spiraling around each other in visual “near miss” encounters. That continued even when the ride was absorbed into The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade in 2010, officially being renamed Dragon Challenge.
Unfortunately, in 2011, two significant events saw riders on the recently-renamed Dragon Challenge injured by being struck by loose items as the trains barreled toward one another at high speeds. As a result, the ride’s “dueling” was officially ended leaving the two tracks to operate independently and asynchronously until the ride closed in 2017. (The space today is home to Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure.)
It’s interesting that Epic Universe will follow in Islands of Adventure’s footsteps by including its own intertwined double coaster which (as we’ll see on the next page) is even rumored to have dueling elements of its own. No doubt that’ll mean that safety protocols will be in place for this ride to ensure loose items are stored in lockers… but of course, Universal guests have gotten used to mandatory lockers and metal detectors on Universal’s high-thrill coasters post-2011 anyway.
2. It’s a cosmic journey
Remember, fans knew a lot about Epic Universe even before Universal’s official detail drop inJanuary 2024 thanks, in large part, to the incredible Orlando ParkStop. you might forget that technically, almost nothing has officially been confirmed about Universal’s third gate in Orlando. However, one area of the park that concept art did not obscure was its fabled hub. Just as Islands of Adventure begins with Port of Entry (a literary, nautical, seaside village) it seems that Epic Universe will have an opening act that’s fittingly cosmic – a celestial, bronze garden of art deco and steampunk influence.
Finally confirmed in 2024 as Celestial Park, this sprawling, multi-level garden space will be reigned over by the park’s entry icon: the Chronos, a great otherworldly energy beacon that powers the portals of Epic Universe. Guests will enter through the Chronos and enter a lush landscape overseen by the goddess Luna who orchestrates the movement of the worlds.
Defined by bronze arches, astrolabes, Zodiac signs, and cosmic symbols, this elemental space is rumored to be sub-divided into courtyards representing the elements – in this case: water, fire, earth, air, and aether (or, in common language, space). It’s believed that the park’s racing, intertwined coaster will be found in the latter, being themed to space or space exploration – but through the fantasy lens of this retro-futuristic land. That seemed to be confirmed by a 2023 trademark filing…
3. Its name will be Starfall Racers
A March 2023 trademark filing by Universal included a number of proposed attraction and area names for the park (including the name “Constellation Carousel” for the hub’s family flat ride). Among the filings was “Starfall Racers,” a name that seemed unlikely to apply to anything in the park but for the new space-themed racing coasters found in the park’s hub.
Indeed, that name was confirmed in January 2024, when Universal released a batch of confirmations around Epic Universe, including the concept art above. There’s still something Universal did not confirm, though. If rumors are to be believed, you might be able to ride both the Constellation Carousel and Starfall Racers without buying admission to Epic Universe… How? Read on…
4. You may not need a park ticket to ride it… sometimes…
Rumors abound that in Epic Universe, Universal is looking to redefine some of the “rules” we’re used to seeing in a theme park. For sure, a major one is that each of the park’s four IP lands will be accessed by its own portal, and allegedly, Universal is interested in the ability to shift admission turnstiles to those portals. At least in theory, that’s for the very intriguing proposition that once the park’s normal operating hours conclude in the evening, each of the four portals can be powered down and gated off leaving the massive, central hub area open to the public – yes, even those without a park ticket! – till the wee hours of the morning.
When you think about it, it makes sense. The new “South Complex” taking shape around Epic Universe will be a bus ride away from the existing CityWalk retail and dining district, meaning Epic Universe day guests – and those staying at the three on-site hotels already under construction for the South Complex – will need a place to eat, shop, dance, and play once the park closes. Given that this massive hub is packed with quick service, full service, snack, and bar-style dining outlets, retail spaces, water shows, and programmable pockets, it really could end up being an attraction in its own right and a playground for guests staying on-site in the Helios Grand, Stella Nova, and Terra Luna hotels.
Likewise, Epic Universe is strategically located very near to the tourist-packed International Drive district and the Orange County Convention Center. At least in theory, that will mean that when conventions let out and families flock back to International Drive in the evening, Epic Universe’s hub could shift into a “CityWalk South,” absorbing thousands and thousands of guests into Universal’s property. Indeed, Universal’s CEO Jeff Shell confirmed as recently as December 2022 that the park will be an “experiment” in many ways as it relates to its flexible operations.
Though the park is still far from having an operational model decided, it’s possible that when the Hub is open, Universal will continue to operate the Constellation Carousel and Starfall Racers at a pay-per-ride rate. Theoretically, the Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit coaster back at Universal Studios Florida was purposefully constructed with the same capability (with the ability to route guests to it from CityWalk rather than through the park). There, the pay-per-ride plan was never put into action. But in an Individual Lightning Lane world, guests may not balk at paying $15 per person to ride Starfall Racers after the park has closed! We’ll see…
5. It’s manufactured by a Universal Orlando newcomer
Like most parks, Universal Orlando’s feature coasters from several high profile manufacturers, each bringing their unique specialty and personality to the parks –? Intamin – VelociCoaster and Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure. Given Intamin’s experience in launched, dueling coasters and their clear partnership with Universal, many suspected they’d be behind Starfall Racers. But, nope!
Starfall Racers is instead being manufactured by Mack Rides (pronounced “Mock”) of Germany. Owners of Germany’s Europa Park (which serves as the firm’s showplace and testing ground), Mack has a very extensive history in the industry, and has created well over 150 coasters in its time.
Their portfolio includes dozens of simple wild mouse coasters, plus custom water coasters (including SeaWorld’s Journey to Atlantis), family coasters (including both Universal Studios Hollywood’s Flight of the Hippogriff and Disney World’s Slinky Dog Dash), specialty inverted powered coasters (like Universal Beijing’s Jurassic Flyers and Europa Park’s Arthur) plus very large and renowned launched rides like Europa Park’s Blue Fire and Silver Dollar City’s Time Traveler. (Those last two are the POV videos to watch if you want to see what Mack is capable of.)
Just given our few shots of the track for Starfall Racers, it’s clear that Mack’s specialty for launches, weightless, graceful rides will translate beautifully to this ride, and that the mix of high-thrill and almost poetic, dance-like layouts that Mack develops will add a unique new mix to Universal Orlando’s coaster collection.
6. It has some tricks up its sleeve
Based on site plans for Epic Universe, Orlando ParkStop created the above layout showing just how complex and intertwined the two tracks of Starfall Racers are expected to be. Their sources suggest that each of the two tracks will reach heights of about 140 feet, traveling along over 4,700 feet of track – both statistics being comparable to VelociCoaster.
It appears that the two tracks will have a number of exhilarating features, beginning with twin launches that will accelerate the trains into a first act where they’ll dance alongside each other on parallel, parabolic arcs before breaking apart and spiraling away from one another in mirrored out-and-back layouts. For this first half of the ride, the trains will be visibly racing, completing identical (but flipped) courses as they dive over hills all the way out to the edge of the park, then back toward the hub. That’ll lead to the two tracks visibly “dueling” in a sweeping turn along the park’s hub – sure to be a big photo moment.
They’ll then realign and accelerate through a second high speed launch, reaching the coasters’ top speed. That second launch will send both trains into the ride’s signature moment – a new track element patented by Mack that will send the two trains spiraling around one another in orchestrated zero-G rolls. (Can we recommend calling it a “cosmic roll”?)
The cool thing is that in this second half – beginning with the newly-patented maneuver – the trains will cease their parallel race and instead begin a process that might best be described as dancing. For the rest of the ride, sweeping turns and hills will see the two trains alternate sides, crossing over one another back and forth as they soar through the skies like twin comets. Don’t get us wrong – it’ll be high-speed, high-thrill, and a whole lot of fun… but it’ll also be somewhat beautiful, graceful, and harmonious – words you may not always equate with multi-launch roller coasters! And that brings us to coolest part…
7. We can see what it’ll be like to ride…
Having analyzed the site plans, support structure blueprints, and current construction (which is well underway), AmusementInsider has created what’s shaping up to be a ridiculously accurate digital recreation of Starfall Racers – with its parallel, mirrored, racing first half, and its poetic, interchanging, “dancing” second half.
You can watch Amusement Insider’s full digital recreation above (with the point-of-view simulation itself beginning at about 1:15. As you can see, not only will Starfall Racers have the length, height, and speed of Velocicoaster, but it’ll have a significant capacity boost thanks to the double tracks, sending pairs of trains through the 90 second ride together.
There’s no doubt that E-Ticket dark rides themed to MarioKart, The Wizarding World, and Universal Monsters will be top tier headliners for Universal Epic Universe when it opens in 2025… but in that unique way that only Universal can manage, the park will also be balanced with a world-class coaster collection with Starfall Racers as its crown jewel. A sort of “spiritual rebirth” of Dueling Dragons, this cutting edge, 21st century mix of race, duel, and dance is shaping up to be one of the best coasters in Orlando – and maybe the country.
Are you excited for Starfall Racers? Or will you leave this thrill ride to the pros and stick to the Constellation Carousel? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
