Universal Orlando Announces Construction Of 4th Park "Epic Universe"

ORLANDO (CBSMiami/AP) - The Universal Orlando Resort is getting bigger.

Thursday morning they announced plans for a fourth theme park which will be called Epic Universe.

The new park is being built on the more than 500 acres northeast of the Orange County Convention Center, which just so happened to the be site of the press conference. The park will be about four miles away from the parks they already operate - Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, and the Volcano Bay water park.

Our Universe is expanding. See concept art for Universal's #EpicUniverse at https://t.co/sWJsO99Osb pic.twitter.com/yPsXG4AEE3

— Universal Orlando Resort (@UniversalORL) August 1, 2019

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Universal Orlando will add 14,000 team members to its current 25,000 to staff Epic Universe and along with a new entertainment center, hotels, restaurants, and shops. Starting wage for the new hires will be $15 an hour.

No opening date was given.

Universal's announcement comes weeks ahead of the planned opening of a Star Wars land at rival Walt Disney World. An identical land opened earlier this summer at sister park Disneyland in California

Earlier this summer, Universal also debuted a new ride based on the Harry Potter property, which had fans waiting for hours to ride it.

(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)