Five Guys headed to CityWalk

The burger spot getting pushed out is not a mystery: Five Guys is taking over the Burger King Whopper Bar space at Universal CityWalk, and Universal says the new restaurant is due later in summer 2026. That tells you what kind of change this is. Universal is not adding a brand-new building for burgers; it is swapping one familiar fast-food name for another in one of the busiest walk-through zones outside its parks. CityWalk is the open-air dining and entertainment district in front of the parks, with restaurants, shops, a movie theater, and nightlife in one strip. Universal’s own site pitches it as the place to dine, dance, and shop, which is why every tenant change there gets noticed faster than a restaurant opening tucked inside a single park. The practical part for visitors is that CityWalk is outside the ticketed gates. You can eat there without a theme park ticket, so a Five Guys at CityWalk is aimed at hotel guests, locals, and parkgoers leaving the rides as much as it is at people already inside Universal Studios Florida or Islands of Adventure. Universal tied the burger swap to a wider refresh announced on April 10, 2026. In the same update, the company said the Universal Legacy Store will return in late April 2026, replacing the Epic Universe Preview Center. That preview center had a short, specific job: sell merchandise and build hype for Epic Universe before the new park’s debut. Local coverage says it opened in June 2024, and now Universal is turning that space back into a nostalgia-heavy store built around older rides and films like E.T., Jaws, Back to the Future, and Universal Monsters. There is also a longer-range piece of the same plan. Universal has already announced that Luke Combs’ Category 10, a country music venue backed by Opry Entertainment Group, is coming to a waterfront CityWalk location in late 2027. So the pattern is pretty clear by now: one quick-service restaurant is changing this summer, one retail concept is returning this month, and one large entertainment venue is on deck for 2027. CityWalk is being tuned less like a static mall and more like a lineup that can rotate with whatever Universal thinks will pull people before and after park hours. For guests, the immediate change is simple: the Whopper Bar is on the way out, and Five Guys is the replacement. For Universal, the more revealing detail is where this is happening — not inside a new land, but in the front-door district every visitor passes through.