Universal Epic Universe is the first major theme park to open in Orlando in more than two decades, and Rotolo Consultants, Inc. (RCI), based in Slidell, Louisiana, helped craft mood-setting excitement for the park with their landscaping and water features.
First announced in 2019, Epic Universe is Universal’s fourth theme park in Orlando. The 750-acre park features five ‘lands’ including Celestial Park, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter — Ministry of Magic, Dark Universe, Super Nintendo World, and How to Train Your Dragon — Isle of Berk.
Universal’s goal with this new park is to tell exclusive ‘feature-length’ stories, rather than short experiences.
Construction first began in 2021 as the pandemic delayed the expected completion date by two years.
This is RCI’s largest project to date, and they landed the job after submitting an RFP to a general contractor they have worked with for over 30 years.
“RCI’s long-standing relationship with the GC helped, but our ability to handle multiple scopes while controlling the pace of the area development schedule was a big factor,” says Jared Wingerter, division manager of construction for RCI. “In addition, aquatic mechanical systems are a specialized trade that RCI strives in.”
Project Scope
RCI was responsible for installing the landscape and irrigation for the main corridor and entrance of the park as well as all of the water features throughout Celestial Park.
Patrick Braillard, senior show writer at Universal Creative, says Celestial Park puts the ‘park’ back into theme park. This land is designed to direct visitors toward the park’s gate that leads to the four portals to the other lands.
“RCI’s landscape and aquatics support the storytelling by creating an inviting space that sets the tone for the remainder of the parks as people meander throughout the corridors into different worlds,” Wingerter says.
The company started installation of the water features in May 2022, including the Main Show lagoon, the Orion, Neptune, Aquarius, Chaos, and Apollo fountains, the Astronomica splash pad and the Mario entry fountain. Over 50+ crew members worked on the aquatic features.
“My favorite part of the park is the Apollo fountain area near the Helios hotel,” Wingerter says. “The gardens are full of exotic plants, and the water feature consists of cascading waterfalls. It’s also a great area that overlooks the Main Show lagoon for the nightly water show.”
As for the landscaping, RCI began installation in May 2024. The plant palette includes screw pines, strangler fig trees, Yellow Poinciana trees, Tabebuia trees, orchid trees, acacia trees, Japanese maples, and various evergreen trees. A total of 2,500 trees and 280,000 shrubs were installed.
“The main challenge was finding the quantity of material required for this size project that would strive in the Orlando climate,” Wingerter says. “The flowering trees are extremely hard to find mature.”
Wingerter says while they had decent access to install the mature trees, there were many situations where they had to use a five-ton crane. He says the tall planters and tight access called for more attention and coordination.
Additionally, RCI installed 300,000 square feet of sod. More than 100 RCI employees worked on the landscape-related portion of the project.
RCI maintained the plants’ health during the installation process by consistently soil testing and installing functional irrigation.
Overcoming Challenges
Some of the setbacks RCI faced included Hurricane Ian in 2022 and Hurricane Milton in 2024.
“The project was fast-paced from the first day on the job,” Wingerter says. “We constantly worked OT and weekends to make up for weather delays and unforeseen challenges. We operated with 5-7 crews working on different areas at one time.”
Wingerter says each of the fountains also presented their own challenges.
“In particular, the aquatic plumbing/underground installation that required deep excavations,” he says. “In ground water was the most challenging.”
In some cases, pipe trenches were placed 20 feet below the established finished grade. Fountains Luna, Aquarius, Neptune and Orion feature two million gallons of filtered water that include thousands of 24” to 12” underground piping.
“The underground pipe coordination with other trades was a challenge to maintain the required water flow for the headwater of Luna that’s supplied by five 30-horsepower pumps,” he says.
The Apollo fountain has multiple pools with overflowing weirs. The water level and flow over into the cascading weirs was difficult to accomplish.
The Main Stage lagoon features 46,000 square feet of concrete surface with a complete perimeter weir. Wingerter says they had to coordinate with show vendors installing fountain nozzles and electrical.
RCI also worked to meet vendor demands with the Astronomica splash pad. Wingerter says the Mario fountain had a small and difficult concrete radius to achieve Nintendo’s expectations.
Keys to Success
Throughout the project, RCI collaborated directly with Universal and the landscape architect for the project. They had multiple point people, but their main contacts were Richard Donofrio, senior manager of planning & area development design and Karen Cusack, project engineer.
“Our project management team worked hand in hand until the opening as design changes/intentions continued to develop until the grand opening,” Wingerter says.
Wingerter explains that with theme parks, some design challenges are hard to pick up on paper.
“Most of the changes came from elevations, sight lines, positive drainage that are hard to see until it’s established,” Wingerter says.
RCI would respond to these changes by increasing their manpower and accelerating their schedule.
“My advice would be to bring a strong team from the start,” Wingerter says. “Stay organized from the beginning, because the changes are constant.”
RCI had daily huddles and coordination meetings with other trades working on Epic Universe as well. The park opened on May 22, 2025, and RCI finished their work on May 22.
“A project like this takes your full attention 100% of the time,” Wingerter says. “The daily grind of a project this size and detailed can take a toll on you, but at the end, it’s very rewarding.”
