Legends: Epic Universe Creators to Share Secrets at IAAPA Expo 2025
ORLANDO, FLORIDA — For more than two decades, the Legends Panel at IAAPA Expo has been a rare chance for theme park fans and professionals alike to hear directly from the creative minds who’ve shaped the attractions industry. Now in its 23rd year, the tradition continues with a panel that promises to be one of the most exciting yet—spotlighting the extraordinary team behind Universal’s Epic Universe.
Guided, as always, by Bob Rogers—industry icon, IAAPA Hall of Fame inductee, and founder of BRC Imagination Arts—the panel has become both a master class in creative storytelling and a living archive of industry wisdom. This year, Rogers will sit down with four of the people who helped bring Universal’s most ambitious theme park ever to life.
“Epic Universe represents a new era for our industry,” Rogers said. “These are the leaders who dared to imagine what’s possible and then actually built it.”
The lineup reads like a who’s who of Universal Creative:
Eric Parr, Senior Vice President of the Creative Studio, is known for pushing teams beyond convention with a mischievous edge and fearless imagination. His fingerprints are on many of Epic’s boldest creative leaps.
Jody Keller, Vice President of Advanced Technology, helped chart the future of immersion by marrying cutting-edge tech with storytelling—inviting guests into experiences that blur the line between real and digital.
Steve Blum, Executive Vice President of Engineering & Safety, brought decades of know-how to ensure that rides not only thrilled but operated with rock-solid reliability. “Engineering can be creative, too,” he often reminds colleagues.
Katy Pacitti, Senior Director and Executive Producer, served as creative lead for the Isle of Berk, translating DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon into a living, breathing Viking world brimming with surprises.
Together, their stories reveal just how colossal an undertaking Epic Universe really is. More than ten years in the making, the park is designed around a series of majestic portals that whisk guests into five richly themed lands. With over 50 attractions, shows, restaurants, and shopping experiences, it’s billed as the most immersive and technologically advanced park Universal has ever built.
And while the glossy press releases highlight its grandeur, the Legends Panel promises something more intimate: the challenges, the near-misses, the “aha” moments, and the personal philosophies that fueled its creation.
For Bob Rogers, who began his career performing magic tricks in Disneyland’s Magic Shop before founding BRC Imagination Arts, this kind of knowledge-sharing is essential. “The Legends Panel is about capturing wisdom before it disappears,” he said. “It’s about making sure the next generation of dreamers doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel.”
At IAAPA Expo 2025, those dreamers, whether seasoned executives or young designers just getting their start, will get a front-row seat to hear how Epic Universe went from sketches and blueprints to the most anticipated theme park opening of the decade.
And if history is any guide, the conversation will be candid, surprising, and, true to its name, legendary
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