ORLANDO, Fla. — Editor's Note: The video in the player above is from 2019 when the theme park's newest addition was first announced.
Universal Orlando's highly-anticipated Epic Universe theme park officially has a timeline for opening.
Theme park lovers will have to wait a few more years for the new addition as crews work "full steam ahead" to build the elaborate park in time for a summer 2025 opening.
"Epic is full steam ahead. We're -- I was down there a couple of weeks ago and the construction is going really well. And I think we've said this in the past, but we expect that park to open in '25, and certainly in time for the summer of '25," NBCUniversal CEO Jeffery Shell said during a recent earnings call.
The theme park's progress was put on hold in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. It wouldn't be until March 2021 that construction resumed.
Comcast Corporation Chairman, CEO and President Brian Roberts says "slowing down Epic" during COVID is one of the things he wishes the company could redo.
"This is a business that if you build wonderful attractions, there is pent-up demand. And we're going to make a fabulous park at Epic, and we're full steam -- we're going as fast as we can now to make up for lost time," he said during the call.
Work on the project is said to have brought back hundreds of jobs within Universal and thousands across Central Florida.
"The Epic Universe project will infuse billions of dollars into the Florida economy – and also create more than 14,000 permanent jobs in addition to the thousands of jobs that will be created during its development," Universal wrote at the time.
Universal's Epic Universe was first announced back in August 2019 and is set to be built on 750-acres of land near the Orange County Convention Center. In 2020, leaders confirmed Super Nintendo World would be among the lands that make up the new installation.
“Our vision for Epic Universe is historic,” Tom Williams, Chairman and CEO for Universal Parks & Resorts said when the project was announced. “It will build on everything we have done and become the most immersive and innovative theme park we have ever created.”
In total, Universal's Epic Universe will feature a theme park, entertainment center, hotel, shops, restaurant and more.