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Finnegan's Construction Walls Start Coming Down at Universal Studios Florida, and the Regal Cafe Sign Is Back on Its Corner
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Finnegan's Construction Walls Start Coming Down at Universal Studios Florida, and the Regal Cafe Sign Is Back on Its Corner

Michael Travels
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The Regal Cafe sign is back on its New York street corner. Nine months after Finnegan's Bar & Grill closed for its refurbishment, the first stretch of its makeover has come out from behind the walls at Universal Studios Florida.

Photographer bioreconstruct shared the photos, which WDW News Today ran on Tuesday as a first look. Part of the construction walls, scaffolding and scrim is gone, though the pub itself is still closed.

The Regal Cafe corner storefront in Universal Studios Florida's New York area, painted brown, with a beige and brown striped awning reading Lunch, Regal Cafe, Dinner, tall Breakfast and Soup and Lunch signs on the pillars, a solid tan awning over Barney's Clock Repair next door, and a park bench on the wet sidewalk

The refurbished Regal Cafe corner, with its new striped awning. Image: bioreconstruct

The Regal Cafe corner comes out first

The corner of the building that carries the Regal Cafe facade is now clear of walls. According to WDW News Today, it has been freshly painted brown and has new beige and striped brown awnings. The signs on its walls and windows look refreshed or replaced, with no visible design changes from before.

The big hanging Regal Cafe sign has returned too, out over the sidewalk. It was not lit in the photos, so whether the neon has been updated is still WDW News Today's guess rather than a confirmed detail.

A blue hanging Regal Cafe sign with cream block letters and red script lettering, mounted on a bracket off the corner of a brick building, beside a beige and brown striped Regal Cafe awning, with green construction walls and an Optimus Prime statue in the background

The Regal Cafe sign back on its bracket over the sidewalk. Image: bioreconstruct

Why this corner first? According to WDW News Today, The Blues Brothers Show, which performs across the street, uses the Regal Cafe facade as its technical booth, and this stretch of New York also hosts Downtown Clowntown, a Halloween Horror Nights scare zone, so this corner was probably finished first. That last part is WDW News Today's guess, not something Universal has said.

The Finnegan's entrance is not finished

The pub's own entrance has been revealed as well, but it does not look complete. It is the same blue-green as before, just freshly repainted, with the same gold designs on the windows. Still missing: the Finnegan's signs and the awning.

The freshly painted blue-green Finnegan's entrance, with Beer, Wine, Spirits and Bar and Saloon lettering in gold, an etched window with a crowned crest and the number 1203, a lit lantern over closed double doors, no Finnegan's sign or awning, and green construction walls with circus posters at right

The Finnegan's entrance, repainted but still without its sign and awning, with construction walls still up beside it. Image: bioreconstruct

WDW News Today expects the bigger changes to be inside. WDW News Today reported in April that the interior had been gutted and part of the facade torn down, and it now says work has also recently begun on the attached Priscilla Hotel facade.

When does it reopen?

Not yet. Finnegan's closed on January 12, 2026, and Universal's Temporary Closures list gave its return only as "Winter 2026" in the October 8 screenshot of that list we published on October 9. Inside Universal's weekly roundup this week also says Finnegan's "is scheduled to reopen in Winter 2026."

So part of the exterior is finished, but WDW News Today does not expect the pub back this year, and the latest listings give nothing more precise than Winter 2026. What are you hoping changes inside: the menu, the bar, or nothing at all?

Sources

Image credits: bioreconstruct (all photos, via WDW News Today).

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Universal Studios Florida The Blues Brothers Show Finnegan's Bar & Grill

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