A hastily deleted video posted to a Universal Studios Instagram account for employees shows Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma overseeing some sort of construction at the park, prompting a whole lot of speculation that the long-rumored Zelda expansion to Super Nintendo World is finally underway.
The video itself is long gone, but the image of Aonuma - standing right next to Zelda godfather Shigeru Miyamoto - at a construction site in safety gear was quickly preserved online. There's no context for the video now, but according to those who saw it before it disappeared, it's about the construction of the upcoming Epic Universe expansion of the Universal Studios theme park in Orlando, Florida.
https://t.co/Pk1Rz7dSizおー、ホントだ、よく見つけてくるなあ pic.twitter.com/rVNS5NrwC6January 25, 2024
Epic Universe was already confirmed to be the site of the first Super Nintendo World attraction at Universal Studios Orlando, following its opening at the park's Hollywood and Japan locations. Up to this point, Super Nintendo World has pretty much exclusively featured characters and locations from the Mario and Donkey Kong franchises, but rumors of additional areas based on series like Pokemon and Zelda have been cropping up from various theme park insiders for years.
One of those rumors dates back to a late 2020 report from Orlando Park Stop, which suggested that there were plans for a Legend of Zelda area to replace the existing Lost Continent attraction at Universal Orlando. Portions of Lost Continent closed back in May 2023 as Universal made ready to clear the way for some "exciting new experiences" in the area.
In case you're finding this all as confusing as I did while researching this news, let's recap it in brief: The Orlando version of Super Nintendo World is set to open as part of the new Epic Universe expansion in that area. At the same time, construction at Universal Orlando's current Lost Continent attraction is currently ongoing, and rumored to be the site of a Zelda world. With Aonuma's appearance at an Orlando park construction site, speculation that a Zelda area will appear at one or both locations is going wild.
That 2020 report suggested a couple of potential Zelda rides were in various stages of planning, including a theater-style show where rows of seats could rise and be shifted around, and a ride that started off as a Pirates of the Caribbean-style water attraction where boats would eventually be lifted into the air and flown around.
Epic Universe and Super Nintendo World Orlando are set to open in summer 2025, so hopefully it won't be too much longer before we hear for certain if this Zelda world is truly real.
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