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The Legacy Store Is Back at CityWalk, and Yes, the DeLorean and the Shark Came With It
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The Legacy Store Is Back at CityWalk, and Yes, the DeLorean and the Shark Came With It

Michael Travels
·
Published

Top Universal Orlando news, Monday April 27, 2026 - Universal didn't make a big deal of it. There was no ribbon cutting, no media call, no Disney Parks Blog-style press blitz. The Universal Legacy Store just… reopened. On Friday, April 24, 2026, in CityWalk Orlando, in the same square footage that until April 13 housed the Epic Universe Preview Center.

And then over the weekend, the photos started showing up, and it became very clear that "the Legacy Store is back" is a much more interesting sentence than the soft launch suggested.

Storefront of the reopened Universal Legacy Store at CityWalk Orlando, with retro Universal Pictures branding above the entrance.

The Universal Legacy Store storefront at CityWalk Orlando. The Epic Universe Preview Center used to live here. Photo: Orlando ParkStop.

What's actually inside

The original Legacy Store closed in early 2024, and theme park nostalgia hounds have been quietly mourning it ever since. The reborn version leans even harder on the catalog, here's what's already drawing crowds:

  • Four life-size photo ops by retro-art icon Tom Whalen, including a Back to the Future setup with the DeLorean parked under the Hill Valley clock tower; a Jaws scene with the shark lunging beside the Orca on Amity Island; an E.T. tableau; and an oversized Universal Monsters mural featuring Frankenstein's Monster, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and Dracula.

  • A dedicated Tom Whalen Jaws collaboration, with apparel, drinkware, and limited art prints.

  • A new "UNIVRS" collection, merch from properties like Happy Gilmore, Masters of the Universe, and Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.

  • Universal Monsters merch across plush, keychains, action figures, and apparel.

  • Mystery Mania blind boxes and odds-and-ends collectibles.

  • The last remaining Epic Universe printed tees from the preview center, the closeout the Preview Center never properly held.

The Jaws photo op inside the Universal Legacy Store, with the shark lunging beside the Orca on Amity Island in a wraparound mural by Tom Whalen.

The Jaws photo op — shark, Orca, Amity Island, all rendered in Tom Whalen's retro style. Photo: Orlando ParkStop.

Why this lands harder than a typical merch reopen

A few reasons.

One: Universal Orlando has spent the better part of the last two years aggressively forward-leaning, Epic Universe, the Express Now $25 single-ride tier, face-scan portals, an HHN 35 casting cycle running unusually early. The Legacy Store is the first backward-leaning Universal moment in a long time, and the timing is interesting all on its own. Universal sits on one of the deepest pre-2000 horror, sci-fi, and adventure catalogs in the industry, and arguably the deepest on the horror side alone. Putting that catalog back on a shelf at CityWalk, right at the moment Epic Universe has the family side firmly handled, reads like a deliberate counterweight.

Two: Tom Whalen. Whalen is one of the defining illustrators of the modern American retro-poster movement. If you've seen a hand-screened Mondo poster in the last ten years, you've seen his lineage. Universal commissioning him for four full photo ops is a real budget signal, not a placeholder.

Three: the Preview Center's quiet death. The Epic Universe Preview Center had been the de facto "Universal merch hangout" at CityWalk since 2023. Universal closed it April 13 with no fanfare, and this is what got built in its place 11 days later — which is fast.

The Back to the Future photo op inside the Universal Legacy Store, featuring the DeLorean parked at the Hill Valley clock tower.

The Back to the Future photo op — DeLorean, clock tower, the works. Photo: Orlando ParkStop.

Worth the trip?

If you're in CityWalk anyway, absolutely. The four photo ops alone are worth a 15-minute lap, and the Tom Whalen Jaws art prints are the kind of thing that disappears the second it gets in front of a Reddit comment thread. If you're a Universal Monsters fan, this is the most concentrated Monsters merch retail experience anywhere on property right now.

If you're hoping for actual Epic Universe merch in volume, come fast. The remaining Preview Center tees are the last batch.

What we don't know yet

  • Whether the photo ops rotate seasonally (the original Legacy Store did pop-up swaps), or whether these four are the standing lineup.

  • Whether Universal will officially announce the reopen, or let it stay a stealth drop. As of this writing, there's been no formal Universal Orlando press release or Parks blog post, only a low-key day-before confirmation.

  • Whether the Tom Whalen Jaws collab is a one-off or the start of a recurring artist series.

  • Whether HHN 35 merch will land here in late summer, CityWalk has historically been a key seasonal Halloween Horror Nights retail node, and a retro-leaning store would be a natural fit.

Sources

Image credits — All photos: Orlando ParkStop.

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