This Teaser Of Toothless At Epic Universe Has Me Screaming, “Can I Pet That Dawg?”
Did I mention there will be flying dragons?!
I’ll be the first to admit that when Universal Orlando announced the worlds coming to their new Epic Universe theme park, one just sort of fell flat for me: How to Train Your Dragon — Isle of Berk. Sure, my kids loved this franchise growing up... but did it warrant its own land at Epic Universe, a theme park some are already arguing will be the best in the world? I felt... skeptical. But the sneak peek of Toothless making the rounds on social media is enough to convince me that (a) I was wrong and (b) I may just be making a beeline for Isle of Berk when the park opens.
As a reminder, Isle of Berk is one of five immersive worlds guests will be able to visit at Epic Universe, along with Celestial Park, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter — Ministry of Magic, Dark Universe, and Super Nintendo World. At Isle of Berk, according to Universal, you’ll be able to “discover an island where Vikings and fire-breathing dragons exist together in harmony.” And when it comes to the dragons from How to Train Your Dragon, let’s be real: No matter what age you are, if you’ve seen the movies, you wish you had a Toothless of your own.
While that’s not possible (booo), Epic Universe is giving fans the next best thing with a meet-and-greet featuring everyone’s favorite friendly Night Fury dragon. As soon as a video showing Toothless popped up on my Instagram feed, all I could think was Can I pet that dawg?!
Honestly, I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I guess I wasn’t prepared for how cute and realistic Toothless would look. “I do think that the Toothless meet and greet is what’s going to knock everybody’s socks off,” Katy Pacitti, executive producer for Isle of Berk, hints on Universal’s blog. “It’s going to be a guest experience that sets a new standard.”
Of course, the heroic Hiccup will be there at the Haddock Paddock to greet fans, too. You could also meet Astrid and her (adorable) Deadly Nadder, Stormfly, Gobber and his Hotburple dragon Grump, or even Ruffnut and Tuffnut.
And as if that wasn’t enough, you might even see dragons flying overhead (!!). In total, Isle of Berk features 30 animated and static dragons, representing 17 species.
As for what else you can expect when you visit this world, it’ll look a lot like the ecosphere created in the movies, from the iconic Viking and dragon statues at the entrance of the colorful Viking village to a lagoon dotted with Viking ships. Fun fact? It’ll be the largest world at Epic Universe.
Rides include Hiccup’s Wing Gliders (take a ride in Hiccup’s new winged flying machine), Fyre Drill (compete in a wild and wet boat battle at Berk’s Fyre Skööl as you try to hit over 130 moving targets), and Dragon Racer’s Rally (practice aerobatic maneuvers and high-speed barrel rolls in this high-flying dragon-riding trainer).
In The Untrainable Dragon live show, beloved characters like Hiccup, Gobber, and Astrid are put to the test when a new dragon shows up and proves to be quite the mystery. You’ll want to keep your eyes overhead because Toothless may just do a little flyover!
When Mom needs a minute, she can take the kids over to the Viking Training Camp, where Junior Vikings are able to climb, slide, and explore as they learn about different types of dragons in an interactive adventure area.
All of this, plus the dining at Isle of Berk — I’ll take three yaknogs, please — looks next-level. So, OK, fine, I was wrong: Isle of Berk is not Epic Universe’s weakest link. It actually looks like it will have no problem holding its own against the other worlds.
Just know that when the park opens on May 22, you can catch me headed straight for Toothless.
