The Epic Universe Preview Center in CityWalk at Universal Orlando Resort is a must-see for Harry Potter fans looking forward to experiencing the wizarding world brought to life in yet another theme park setting. During a quick December trip to the parks, Social Media Team member Lizzie and I stopped in to take a look.

The preview center has display areas for new Epic Universe merchandise aligned with each of the five “worlds” that will make up the park. If you haven’t been keeping up with the construction of the latest Universal Orlando expansion, it will be built around a center hub with intricately themed archways, or “portals,” ushering guests into five different worlds: Celestial Park, Dark Universe, How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk, Super Nintendo World, and of course the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic. Images representing the portal entrances to these worlds surround the interior walls of the preview center, but of course, the main attraction is the enormous scale diorama of the park in the center of the room that guests can walk around.

In the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic, you can clearly make out the tent for the Circus Arcanus show, inspired by the magical circus seen in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. You can also make out the archway to the world and the tall beacon topped with a hand holding the Elder Wand. When examining the diorama, we were struck by the sheer size of the warehouse-like buildings behind the Paris facades that are clearly housing the much-anticipated Battle at the Ministry ride.

The Harry Potter merch available for sale in the preview center is emblazoned with a Time-Turner design. As we’ve speculated on past episodes of the podcast, could this be a nod to the fact that there will be some timeline jumping within this world? We know the actual streets and facades of wizarding Paris are built to align with the Fantastic Beasts timeline, which spans the 1920s and 1930s, but the ride jumps forward to a post-Deathly Hallows timeline where we see Umbridge on trial for the crimes she commits during the Second Wizarding War.

Have the theme park creators developed a storytelling device that uses the Time-Turner to explain this shift? Let us know what you think in the comments or send us an email at reveliopodcaststaff@gmail.com!