{"id":376194,"date":"2026-08-20T03:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T03:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/376194\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T03:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T03:18:10","slug":"tree-removal-monsters-cafe-statues-behind-dark-universe-possibly-for-new-attraction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/376194\/","title":{"rendered":"Tree Removal, Monsters Cafe Statues Behind Dark Universe Possibly For New Attraction"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Universal crews have removed trees from a backstage area behind Dark Universe at Epic Universe, potentially for a new Universal Monsters attraction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aerial photos by <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/bioreconstruct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" aria-describedby=\"external-link-warning\">@bioreconstruct on X<\/a> show the cleared site.<\/p>\n<p>Dark Universe Site Clearing<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/uor-ueu-dark-universe-site-clearing-1-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"The cleared site is in the top left corner of the above photo, next to the Monsters Unchained show building. Dirt paths show where the tall trees used to be. They filled out the \" forest=\"\" of=\"\" dark=\"\" universe.=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1475953\"\/><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/bioreconstruct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" aria-describedby=\"external-link-warning\">@bioreconstruct on X<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The cleared site is in the top left corner of the above photo, next to the Monsters Unchained show building. Dirt paths show where the tall trees used to be. They filled out the \u201cforest\u201d of Dark Universe.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1440\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/uor-ueu-dark-universe-site-clearing-2-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"The cleared site is in the top left corner of the above photo, next to the Monsters Unchained show building. Dirt paths show where the tall trees used to be. They filled out the \" forest=\"\" of=\"\" dark=\"\" universe.=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1475954\"\/><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/bioreconstruct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" aria-describedby=\"external-link-warning\">@bioreconstruct on X<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rows of barriers are at the edge of the site, near the road. It looks like crews are preparing for construction. Though it\u2019s not a particularly large space, it could hold a small attraction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A permit for Dark Universe site work was\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/wdwnt.com\/2026\/03\/breaking-universal-files-permit-future-attraction-epic-universe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" aria-describedby=\"external-link-warning\">filed back in March<\/a>, removed, and then\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/wdwnt.com\/2026\/05\/removed-universal-files-permit-for-future-attraction-at-epic-universe-returns-possibly-for-dark-universe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" aria-describedby=\"external-link-warning\">re-filed<\/a> for a future project known as Project 680. Another permit was filed in <a href=\"https:\/\/wdwnt.com\/2026\/06\/universal-filing-reveals-the-scale-of-new-dark-universe-attraction\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" aria-describedby=\"external-link-warning\">June<\/a>, revealing the size of the expansion.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1440\" data-id=\"1475955\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/uor-ueu-dark-universe-site-clearing-3-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"The cleared site is in the top left corner of the above photo, next to the Monsters Unchained show building. Dirt paths show where the tall trees used to be. They filled out the \" forest=\"\" of=\"\" dark=\"\" universe.=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1475955\"\/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1440\" data-id=\"1475958\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/uor-ueu-dark-universe-site-clearing-4-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"The old Monsters Cafe statues are lying on the ground in this area, indicating they could be used in the mysterious expansion.\" class=\"wp-image-1475958\"\/><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/bioreconstruct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" aria-describedby=\"external-link-warning\">@bioreconstruct on X<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The old Monsters Cafe statues are lying on the ground in this area, indicating they could be used in the mysterious expansion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The life-size statues once stood atop the <a href=\"https:\/\/wdwnt.com\/2022\/11\/classic-monsters-removed-cafe-bone-chillin-stand\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" aria-describedby=\"external-link-warning\">Monsters Cafe Bone Chillin\u2019 Stand<\/a> in Universal Studios Florida. The stand and cafe closed in 2022 and the figures arrived at the <a href=\"https:\/\/wdwnt.com\/2024\/08\/monsters-cafe-figures-epic-universe-coaster-test\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" aria-describedby=\"external-link-warning\">Epic Universe construction site in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What do you hope to see added to Dark Universe at Epic Universe? Let us know on social media.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For more Universal Studios news from around the world, follow Universal Parks News Today on <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UniNewsToday\" target=\"_blank\" aria-describedby=\"external-link-warning\">Twitter<\/a>, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UniversalParksNewsToday\" target=\"_blank\" aria-describedby=\"external-link-warning\">Facebook<\/a>, and <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/uninewstoday\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-describedby=\"external-link-warning\">Instagram<\/a>. For Disney Parks news, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/wdwnt.com\/category\/parks-resorts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" aria-describedby=\"external-link-warning\">WDWNT<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Universal crews have removed trees from a backstage area behind Dark Universe at Epic Universe, potentially for a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[30547,151557,6113,139,141,140,30559],"class_list":["post-376194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-dark-universe","tag-dark-universe-expansion","tag-epic-universe","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-universal-monsters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}