Technologies

Your Guide to Epic Universe, the New Universal Theme Park Open Now

An insider’s guide to everything you’ll find at Universal Resort’s brand new theme park, including Donkey Kong Country, dragon drones and robotics, the Ministry of Magic ride and the werewolf roller coaster.

Universal Resort Orlando’s brand new theme park Epic Universe is now open, and CNET has all the details on the park and its immersive entertainment that ties in with movies, games and technology. We’re here to provide you with an insider’s guide to Epic Universe, which has five lands: Super Nintendo World, How to Train Your Dragon — Isle of Berk, Dark Universe, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Ministry of Magic and Celestial Park.

Epic Universe is the fourth Universal Orlando theme park, after Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure and water park Volcano Bay. Universal says it’s goal is to be «a weeklong vacation destination,» much like its Orlando theme park competitor Walt Disney World, which has six theme parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, along with water parks Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon).

Part of Universal’s expansion also includes three new hotels: Universal Helios Grand Hotel, Universal Stella Nova Resort and Universal Terra Luna Resort, bringing its total to 11 hotels. (Disney World has more than 20 hotels, for comparison.)

Check out CNET’s guide below for what you need to know about Epic Universe, including ticket prices, new rides, restaurants and experiences. And read here for more on Universal’s planned UK theme park.

Super Nintendo World (featuring Donkey Kong Country)

Universal Orlando is finally joining Universal Studios Japan and Universal Studios Hollywood in hosting a Mario-themed land. Much like in the Japan and Hollywood parks, the marquee ride is Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge, where you hop inside a kart, collect coins and throw shells to try to win the cup.

There’s also Mine Cart Madness, a Donkey Kong-themed roller coaster, and Yoshi’s Adventure, where you board a Yoshi and go egg-spotting through the Mushroom Kingdom.

There are meet and greets with Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach and Toad, and the Toadstool Cafe for your dining needs.

Buy a Power-Up Band and you’ll be able to collect coins throughout the land and rides on the wearable wristband. It works throughout all three Super Nintendo World locations.

How to Train Your Dragon — Isle of Berk

How to Train Your Dragon finally has some space in a Universal theme park, 15 years after the original movie (which still has 99% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes) was released in 2010.

The much-loved DreamWorks movie, which featured Hiccup the teenage Viking and his quest to befriend rather than kill a dragon he names Toothless, spawned two sequels (both with over 90% on Rotten Tomatoes), as well as 10 seasons of two separate animated series and a live-action version of the first movie, which releases in June.

Now, you’ll be able to visit Berk (Florida’s version). It won’t be as cold, but it will be filled with Viking characters walking around the land, dragon robots you can greet on the ground and dragons flying over the colorful wooden buildings.

Hiccup’s Wing Gliders is the main attraction, a roller coaster that simulates the experience of riding on a dragon. A second ride, Dragon Racer’s Rally, will see each rider strapped into an individual dragon-shaped seat attached to a pendulum arm, flipping upside down as the arm swings up and around.

There’s also a water ride called Fyre Drill, where you’ll board a Viking longboat and shoot water cannons at the dragon targets and other boats you sail past, while you in turn get soaked.

For the younger visitors, Viking Training Camp is an adventure playground where they can climb, run, slide and play with interactive elements.

Rounding out the land is a live show starring Hiccup, Toothless, Astrid and Gobber, and Mead Hall, a dining option serving Scandinavian offerings like fish, meat, ale and mead.

Dark Universe, and Classic Universal monsters

This sinister-sounding land is dedicated to all the classic Universal monsters out there, with villains from Frankenstein’s monster to Dracula, The Wolf Man, The Mummy and the Creature from the Black Lagoon roaming Darkmoor Village.

Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment is a ride inside a spooky Victorian manor, where you need to escape the experiments of Dr. Victoria Frankenstein. A second ride, Curse of the Werewolf, is a coaster that soars through the forest as you escape a pack of werewolves.

You can also experience the wonders of theatrical makeup and be transformed into a werewolf, vampire or mummy with the Monster Makeup Experience.

There are two dining locations in Dark Universe:

Das Stakehaus, a vampire-themed restaurant.
The Burning Blade Tavern, a more casual eatery inside a windmill that catches fire several times each hour.

Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Ministry of Magic

This is the third Harry Potter location at Universal Orlando, after the Diagon Alley area in Universal Studios Florida and the Hogwarts/Hogsmeade area in Islands of Adventure.

It’ll span both the Fantastic Beasts movies and the original Harry Potter series, meaning most of the land is themed after Paris in the 1920s, from where you can travel by the Métro-Floo network to the British Ministry of Magic in the 1990s.

The main attraction is the Battle at the Ministry ride, where you’ll help the trio fight Dolores Umbridge. It’s similar to the mechanics of the Hogwarts ride, except you’ll be in an elevator compartment at the Ministry of Magic, and it also features much-updated technology so it’s even more immersive.

There’s also Le Cirque Arcanus, a live show with performers, puppets and special effects, and is set in the Fantastic Beasts universe.

There’s plenty to explore in this new area, including a new wand store called Cosme Acajor Baguettes Magique, more interactive wand locations and a French restaurant called Café L’air De La Sirène.

It’s not connected to the Hogwarts Express train ride that goes between the other two Harry Potter lands in Orlando, however, due to the park’s distance from Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure.

Celestial Park

Celestial Park is themed as a cosmic getaway, where you can ride a rocket at speeds of up to 62mph on the dual-launch roller coaster Stardust Racers — or if something slower-paced is more your thing, you can ride the Constellation Carousel.

There are also two restaurants — Atlantic and The Blue Dragon Pan-Asian Restaurant — as well as a shopping location called the Nintendo Super Star Store.

Celestial Park is the hub of the new theme park: you’ll enter Epic Universe into Celestial Park, and from there can take one of the four portals into the other lands.

How much do Epic Universe tickets cost?

Ticket pricing depends on how many days you want to spend at Universal Studios Florida, as well as which parks you want to go to, and whether you want to visit more than one park each day. Here are the options and starting prices. Keep in mind that pricing will change depending on what day of the week and time of year you visit, too.

For now, you can only purchase multiday park tickets to visit Epic Universe, unless you’re a Universal passholder. In future, Universal will allow you to buy a single-day ticket to visit the new park, but that option is not yet available.

3-day park tickets

3 day, 4-park hopper: $452/adult, $442/child (Note: you can only spend one day inside Epic Universe, while on the other two days you can hop between Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and Volcano Bay).
3-day, 3-park hopper: $412/adult, $402/child (Note: you can only spend one day inside Epic Universe, while on the other two days you can hop between Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure).
3-day, 3 parks, one park per day: $352/adult, $342/child (Note: you can only spend one day inside Epic Universe, one day at Universal Studios and one day at Islands of Adventure).

4-day park tickets

4-day, 4-park hopper: $486/adult, $476/child (Note: you can only spend one day inside Epic Universe, while on the other three days you can hop between Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and Volcano Bay).
4-day, 3-park hopper: $436/adult, $426/child (Note: you can only spend one day inside Epic Universe, while on the other two days you can hop between Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure).
4-day, 4 parks, one park per day: $421/adult, $411/child (Note: you can only spend one day inside Epic Universe, one day at Universal Studios, one day at Islands of Adventure and one day at Volcano Bay).
4-day, 3 parks, one park per day: $371/adult, $361/child (Note: you can only spend one day inside Epic Universe, one day at Universal Studios and one day at Islands of Adventure).

5-day park tickets

5-day, 4-park hopper: $522/adult, $512/child (Note: you can only spend one day inside Epic Universe, while on the other four days you can hop between Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and Volcano Bay).
5-day, 3-park hopper: $462/adult, $452/child (Note: you can only spend one day inside Epic Universe, while on the other four days you can hop between Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure).
5-day, 4 parks, one park per day: $452/adult, $442/child (Note: you can only spend one day inside Epic Universe, and then choose between Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and Volcano Bay for your other one-day tickets).
5-day, 3 parks, one park per day: $392/adult, $382/child (Note: you can only spend one day inside Epic Universe, and then choose between Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure for your other one-day tickets).

Express Pass and VIP tours at Epic Universe

You can now also purchase a 1-day Express Pass for Epic Universe that’ll allow you to skip the lines at each attraction once. The cost is between $130 and $310 per person (on top of your regular ticket), depending on what date you go.

And if you want a truly luxe experience, you can fork over between $390 and $650 per person (also on top of your ticket) for a 4-hour VIP guided walking tour of the new park. With a VIP package, you’ll also get priority entrance to the rides, a discount on merchandise, complimentary valet parking and more.

A Photo Tour Inside Epic Universe

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Technologies

The Clicks Communicator Will Have Keyboard Layouts in Arabic, French, German, Korean

After debuting it at CES, Clicks is expanding the BlackBerry-like Communicator phone with localized options ahead of MWC 2026.

The Clicks Communicator created a buzz after its CES reveal, with its focus on offering a communications-forward Android phone that looks like a BlackBerry, complete with a physical keyboard, prioritizing messaging and typing over everything else. It turns out the keyboard phone may have made a bigger splash than anyone realized. Clicks will offer multiple versions of the Communicator, each with a keyboard that supports a different language, in response to the overwhelming demand for the unreleased phone.

The company is expanding the Communicator to include models with keyboard layouts for Arabic, French (AZERTY), German (QWERTZ) and Korean. Clicks said interest in the Communicator was higher than the company expected, especially globally.

It’s clear there are still plenty of people who yearn for compelling, straightforward devices with smartly designed hardware that aim to make texting and writing easier. The timing of Click’s news strikes a stark juxtaposition, coming just days after Samsung launched its Galaxy S26 series, which features updates heavily steeped in AI.

«The response from customers around the world sends a strong signal that Communicator fills a gap for a phone purpose-built for communicating and taking action,» Clicks CEO Adrian Li Mow Ching said in a press release.

But there’s more good news ahead of MWC if you’re interested in getting a Clicks Communicator. The early-bird window to reserve one now runs through March 15. The phone costs $499, but an early reservation gets you a $100 discount and, when paid in full, a bundle of the phone and two additional back covers.
Clicks also shared that the phone will have a Dimensity 8300 chip (MT8883), which is in phones like the Xiaomi Poco X6 Pro. The MT8883 lets the company offer OS updates to the Communicator through Android 20 and five years of security updates.
I’m definitely excited to see where Clicks is headed with the Communicator, but should note that we’ve yet to see a working version of the phone. The Clicks Communicator will be available in Smoke, Clover and Onyx. Reservations are open, and people can select their preferred keyboard layout closer to when the phone ships later this year.

Technologies

I Tested the New Circle to Search on the Galaxy S26 and It Nailed My Outfit

Samsung’s AI-powered visual search tool on its new phones is now dangerously good at helping me shop. RIP my bank account.

As a fashion lover who’s always hunting for outfit inspo, I’ve spent more hours than I care to admit trying to track down the exact pieces from a TV scene or red carpet look. So when Samsung unveiled an upgraded version of Circle to Search at its Galaxy Unpacked event in San Francisco that can identify multiple items from a single image, I made a beeline for the Galaxy S26 demo area to try it myself.

Circle to Search, which first appeared on the Galaxy S24 phones and then expanded to other devices as Google Lens, felt like magic: Circle anything on your screen and get instant results. The AI-powered visual search tool can identify objects, translate text and surface contextual results without ever leaving the app you’re on.

Now it’s gotten even smarter, and broader: Google says it’s now also on Pixel 10 devices.

Instead of just identifying a single item, it can recognize and surface information about multiple things you’ve presented it with, including an entire outfit. The feature can be used for just about everything, from identifying bird species to translating text, but Samsung says fashion and shopping are hands-down the most popular use case.

So of course I had to put it to the test by having it scan my outfit — and I was genuinely floored. In the crowded event space under harsh lighting, I was skeptical it could deliver. It did.

First, it pulled up an AI summary describing the scene: «The look features a vibrant blue structured blazer, white top, dark fitted leggings and classic black leather boots.» Right below that, I pressed the «Find the look» button and watched it do its magic.

Within seconds, I was staring at the exact same in-your-face cerulean blazer I was wearing, with a link to the online store I’d bought it from, along with a slew of strikingly similar shopping options ranging from upscale alternatives to budget-friendly picks. This level of stalking would’ve taken me at least 20 minutes to lock down.

Scrolling down revealed the same for my glossy black leggings. Despite being from many seasons ago and not available anymore, it returned convincing dupes from different retailers. It did the same for my decade-old knee-high boots and even pulled up a used pair from Postmark; a nod at the fact that mine are old AF. The only thing it failed to surface was the shirt I was wearing under the blazer that was clearly visible in the shot. Maybe layers is the next frontier for Circle to Search.

Surprisingly, the hardest part of the process was figuring out how to use the feature. I had to ask a Samsung employee to take a full-body picture of me. Once I had it on the screen, I long-pressed on the home button at the bottom of the screen, which triggered a Google overlay. I then had to circle myself from head to toe. It’s the kind of feature I’d program on an action button if I could — although my wallet would likely suffer the consequences.

In doing this, Samsung and Google have virtually removed the friction between liking someone’s outfit, and pressing the trigger on buying it. It wasn’t that long ago that the closest alternative involved screenshotting a look, posting it to Pinterest and attempting to track down similar pieces. This is faster, cleaner and almost dangerously good for fashion lovers like me.

If this gets any better, Samsung may need to add a few guardrails for those of us prone to a little too much impulse shopping.

Technologies

A New Mini Game Boy Collectible That Just Plays Pokemon Music? What a Tease

A surprise collectible on Pokemon Day looks just like a tiny Game Boy and plays music on swappable cartridges. Give us the real Game Boy again, come on.

Nintendo sure does love teasing us with Game Boy things. First, a collectible Lego Game Boy model last year that almost looked like a real Game Boy (but wasn’t). Now, for the 30th anniversary of Pokemon, Nintendo and the Pokemon Group are selling a collectible music player that looks like a tiny Game Boy and plays authentic original Pokemon Red/Blue songs on swappable cartridges, one per song. The Game Boy Jukebox is being sold on the Pokemon Center site later today, for a price that hasn’t yet been listed.

This level of absurdity is standard issue for Nintendo: Just in the last 18 months we’ve had Alarmo, a talking Super Mario flower and a Virtual Boy recreation. This new collectible is so tempting precisely because it looks like a little, even more pocketable Game Boy. Except it isn’t a Game Boy at all. It’s just a music player. Even the dot-matrix «screen» is fake — it’s just an overlay that the cartridges display when they’re slotted in.

The music this thing plays is Game Boy-accurate, down to the little boot-up ping. It just makes my skin itch for a new Game Boy (that isn’t one already made by several other companies).

But come on. Make a real Game Boy collectible, with actual preloaded games on it. You know you want to, Nintendo. It’s only a matter of time.

In the meantime, if you’re desperate for all 45 Pokemon Red and Blue songs on a little Game Boy music player, now’s your chance.