Some Fans Caught Footage At Epic Universe That Made It Look Like The Dark Universe Was On Fire. What Really Happened

Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida recently opened a brand new park called Epic Universe. As promised, the park is chock full of fun, with epic rides and attractions that live up to the park's name, and some stand-out animatronics that must be seen to be believed. What some fans recently saw, though, was black smoke, which looked like it was emerging from the fan-favorite Dark Universe section of the park. However, this was not an intended effect, and there was a simple explanation for the smog.

The smoke that seemed to be coming from the Dark Universe was seen in a video posted to X. As theme park aficionados probably know, this area centers around classic movie monsters like the Mummy, the Invisible Man and Frankenstein’s Monster. This effect seemed to hammer home the dark and mysterious aesthetic of this particular park section and its featured attraction, Monsters Unleashed: The Frankenstein Experiment. You can see a video of the smoke below:

It actually wouldn’t be out of the realm of belief that this smoke was intentional by Universal. There's legitimately a windmill that catches on fire periodically within the Dark Universe, so I could understand if park-goers attributed the smoke to that. It's possible that attendees thought something had gone terribly wrong with the windmill but, of course, that's all just an assumption on my part.

However, the theoretical scenario laid out above was far from the actual case. NBC’s satellite network, WESH Orlando published a report that confirmed this thick black smoke wasn’t actually coming from the Dark Universe at all. In actuality, it was coming from outside of the park, where two tour buses caught fire at the Universal Resort's bus depot. The fire department responded quickly, and the flames were swiftly extinguished. There was severe damage to both buses but, tespite that, thankfully, there were no injuries reported.

It's not uncommon for fires to break out at theme parks for one reason or another, and they can make for truly distressing situations. I'm just glad that no one was ultimately hurt during this recent situation.

However, I still have to admit that the black smoke would’ve been a spooky effect had it been intentional by the theme park. Someone on X even joked that Universal was electing a new Frankenstein, which I found funny. It added a new dimension to the term “Dark Universe” and intrigue about what Universal could be planning for this park area. Of course, as the area continues to expand, let's just hope that any smoke that park attendees see is all part of attractions.

The Dark Universe is currently open within the new Epic Universe in Orlando, Florida, so check it out if you're able. Epic Universe lives up to the hype, and is one of the most exciting new theme parks in years.