How Universal’s Epic Universe Park Still Drives Innovation With Drone Dragons, Power Bands and Wizardly Wands as It Celebrates Its First Anniversary

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Universal's Epic Universe, which opened in Orlando last May as the first major U.S. theme park to debut in 25 years, marks its first anniversary by doubling down on technological innovation. The park's five immersive worlds, Dark Universe, How to Train Your Dragon, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Nintendo and Illumination, are enhanced by gadgets like drone dragons soaring overhead, interactive power bands, and augmented-reality wands that let visitors cast spells in real time. A year in, Epic Universe continues iterating on its signature gimmick: turning each zone into a self-contained universe where guests can interact with rides and environments through cutting-edge hardware and software that blur the line between theme park and video game.