The Monsters Cafe Statues Are Lying in the Grass Behind Dark Universe, Where Universal Just Cleared the Trees

The permits told us a ride was coming to Dark Universe, a land that already has two. The aerial photos added what paperwork cannot show: the ground is being cleared, and the monsters are already on site.

WDW News Today reported Wednesday evening that Universal crews have cleared the trees off the backstage plot behind Dark Universe at Universal Epic Universe. The outlet published aerial photos by @bioreconstruct on X showing the site stripped down to grass and dirt. Its description is blunt: "Universal crews have removed trees from a backstage area behind Dark Universe at Epic Universe, potentially for a new Universal Monsters attraction."

The cleared plot behind Dark Universe. A long line of orange and white water barriers runs along the service road at upper left, with stacks of blue-grey fence panels beside them, and the grey stone show building for Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment sits at right, its closed loading door facing a concrete apron and the bare dirt beyond it. The creature statues are lying in the grass left of center. Photo: @bioreconstruct via WDW News Today.

What the photos show

WDWNT walks through it detail by detail. On the wide shot, it places the cleared site "next to the Monsters Unchained show building" and adds: "Dirt paths show where the tall trees used to be. They filled out the 'forest' of Dark Universe."

On the closer frame, the outlet notes the staging: "Rows of barriers are at the edge of the site, near the road. It looks like crews are preparing for construction." It adds a sensible caveat about the footprint, saying that "though it's not a particularly large space, it could hold a small attraction."

The statues in the grass

There is one more thing sitting in the grass. WDWNT reports that "the old Monsters Cafe statues are lying on the ground in this area, indicating they could be used in the mysterious expansion."

Three life-size figures sprawled on the grass. The one at left is a scaled, web-footed creature painted deep teal green, lying face down. The two at right are pale grey with dark boots. A round tan prop that looks like an oversized pizza with a slice cut out of it lies between the creature and the middle figure. Photo: @bioreconstruct via WDW News Today.

These have a history. Per WDWNT, "the life-size statues once stood atop the Monsters Cafe Bone Chillin' Stand in Universal Studios Florida." The stand and the cafe closed in 2022, and the figures turned up at the Epic Universe construction site in 2024. Two years later they are laid out on the plot Universal has just cleared.

What the permits already said

This is the plot Orlando ParkStop has been tracking since March under the codename Project 680. Reporting on the first issued permit on July 24, Alicia Stella wrote that the approved documents covered site prep for what Universal originally called "early work purposes of a future attraction known as Project 680."

County comments pinned down the location. ParkStop reported that "Project 680 appears to contain a 'building 1570 on the utility plan.' This tells us that the project is for the Dark Universe area of the park, because that's the only area featuring building numbers that start with '15'." It added that "Building 1570 does not yet exist at the park. The highest number currently is Building 1560, which is for Curse of the Werewolf."

A wide look at the land, with Frankenstein Manor's dark Gothic roofline in the upper middle, the Curse of the Werewolf coaster track looping through the trees below it, the Darkmoor rooftops to the right of it and, in the top left of the frame, the bare cleared ground behind it all. Photo: @bioreconstruct via WDW News Today.

The size of what is coming is on the paperwork as well. ParkStop reported the main building listed at three stories and 93,308 square feet, with 71,500 of that as tenant usable space. About three acres behind Dark Universe had been set aside for a future expansion, per ParkStop, with "a future entrance point between The Burning Blade Tavern and Monsters Unchained." Earlier plans labeled the plot "Expansion Phase 2."

The line that mattered most to ParkStop was a question from Orange County officials about the "Ride Maintenance Bay on the first floor." As ParkStop put it, "this is our first confirmation that the new attraction will in fact be a ride, and NOT a show or theater as some have speculated." The issued permit carries an expiration of January 2027, six months from issuance.

The part that changed this week

Here is why the new aerials matter. In that same July 24 report, ParkStop looked at the plot and wrote: "Looking at aerial photos, it does not appear that work has started in the expansion plot yet either." Less than a month later, the trees are down, the barriers are staged and the bare dirt shows where the trees stood.

Looking across the back of the land from the road. A retention pond fills the top of the frame, the grey stone show building sits at center right, and the line of orange and white barriers is staged on the grass in front of it, next to stacks of blue-grey fence panels, with a long white modular building off to the right, between the cleared plot and the road. Photo: @bioreconstruct via WDW News Today.

So what is it?

Universal has not said, and everything past the permits is inference. ParkStop is explicit about that: "Universal Orlando has not released any official details for an additional ride for Epic Universe at this time, so all of this information is based on permits and speculation."

The long-running fan rumor is an indoor boat ride themed to the Creature from the Black Lagoon. ParkStop notes that more recent chatter has added the Bride of Frankenstein to the mix, and points at a clue hiding in plain sight: some of the official Dark Universe merchandise carries a comic book motif with a "Horror Comics" title, and one of those graphics shows "Gill-man from Creature from the Black Lagoon seemingly stalking the Bride of Frankenstein." Fans have spotted a comic book number 3 in the corner of the comic book art and read it as a nod to the land's third ride. ParkStop presents that as fan speculation, not reporting.

Worth remembering: a cleared lot is a cleared lot. Site prep is an early phase that reveals very little, and Universal has announced nothing. What has changed is that the plot behind Monsters Unchained went from paperwork to bare dirt in under a month, and a set of monsters that used to stand on top of the Monsters Cafe Bone Chillin' Stand at Universal Studios Florida, closed since 2022, is lying on it.

Sources

• WDW News Today, "Tree Removal, Monsters Cafe Statues Behind Dark Universe Possibly For New Attraction"
• Orlando ParkStop, "Dark Universe New Ride Expansion Approved for Epic Universe"

Image credits: all four aerial photographs by @bioreconstruct on X, via WDW News Today.