Inside Universal Forums

Welcome to the Inside Universal Forums! Register a free account today to become a member. Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members and unlock our forums features!

  • Signing up for a Premium Membership is a donation to help Inside Universal maintain costs and offers an ad-free experience on the forum. Learn more about it here.

Stage 28/Phantom Stage Replacement

Karen's already had an impact on the park in many different ways, and I'm happy that plans may be changing. Whether the plan to include an SLoP IP has been scrapped or if it's being drastically reworked (again) is unknown, but the delay was most likely not her. 


Like Chris, I can say that the original proposed version of this attraction would have floored us all. This had a chance to be like something you would've seen in Japan... at Disney. I can only hope whatever comes can also rise to that level again.

Makes me wonder of something. If, and I do hope on this; If SLoP didn't happen at all and that it would've been on the quality from the stuff from TDR, I have a strange feeling that whatever replaces it HAS to be something similar in what SLoP had originally set out to do. I'm not saying HTTYD (Love the IP, wouldn't be in the right area); but I am curious now.

9 hours ago, GoodO'lDays said:



The superstar parade at Orlando had a new float in the parade with Secret Life of Pets animatronics. They might be puppets but the bunny on the second floats looks like an animatronic.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/0dk0QcMRQgc?feature=oembed

...How exactly did I shun you? 


And as another thing, I remember asking about it but @Jon (not dissing) mentioned that the thread's name will be changed to if/when they officially announce it.
 
I've been shunned for making my new page about Shrek. So, am I allowed to make one for SLOP since it doesn't have one yet or is it supposed to go here.

Please keep it here as while the ride has been confirmed to be in the works, its current staus and location is still relatively unknown. If strong enough rumors persist that the ride is happening in another location, then a new thread will be made.

Makes me wonder of something. If, and I do hope on this; If SLoP didn't happen at all and that it would've been on the quality from the stuff from TDR, I have a strange feeling that whatever replaces it HAS to be something similar in what SLoP had originally set out to do. I'm not saying HTTYD (Love the IP, wouldn't be in the right area); but I am curious now.

Not necessarily. The concept was supposedly dragged down significantly in scope before entering back into development hell. While Karen Irwin's current moves have me optimistic, there's no guarantee we're getting anything on that level instead of SLoP.
 
So the big question now is: Why Soundstages 22-25 when we already have the former Soundstage 28 land sitting unused?
Let's get the big question mark out of the way: Nintendo Land? Soundstages 22-25 take up about 100,000 square feet - including the road between 22/23 and Soundstage 28 - which is not much over 2 acres. Adding in the Soundstage 28 space only gets it to about 135,000sf, one extra acre. Nintendo Land is going to be north of 200,000sf. Adding in Soundstage 29 and 31 gets the total closer to 200,000. That's a really weird shape but it's not unworkable. 28 could be the main courtyard with a ride building going into 29/31 and one or two going into 22-25. But Nintendo Land isn't scheduled until 2021 for USH, so this is at least a year early. Considering nothing's going on in Japan - which gets the first version in 2020 - this demolition isn't for that.
The other big question for some would be Diagon Alley, but I just can't figure out a way for this to work down here. (And I actually found a way to make it work in the WaterWorld space.) The ride building is about 100,000sf and Diagon Alley itself is another 90,000-100,000sf (not counting Kings Cross but counting some portion of the London Waterfront) and both spaces are pretty wide. The ride building would need small portions of the Panda Express and Jurassic Cafe buildings, but then Diagon Alley would need all of Soundstages 28, 29, 31 AND Transformers. So, I'm going with no.
So what else? I think everyone is in general agreement that the Lower Lot is a mess. It needs a central plaza like nobody's bidness. Soundstage 28 is obviously not central to anything, even with the addition of the 22-25 land. The obvious placement for a plaza would be the Panda Express building. But where would they move the stuff in that building? They could move it to Soundstage 28, but they could've already done that. Demolishing Soundstages 22-25 DOES open up an area for the Jurassic Cafe building to expand. But there really isn't all that much in that central building for it to take up 100,000sf.
Obviously they can do a mini-expansion of Jurassic Park. I'm sure a nice Raptor Encounter is on the menu - it can actually be advertised as an attraction without annoying too many people. And they could make the kiddie area less pathetic without taking up too much extra space. It doesn't need to be Camp Jurassic, but enough to turn it into an actual attraction itself, something along the lines of one of the Super Silly Fun Land play areas. But these aren't exactly earth-shattering ideas. The Studio Tour has long been rumored to be moving back down here, so I checked and the current island that attraction occupies takes up a mere 53,000sf (ish). I originally thought they'd put it where Soundstage 28 was, but 22-25 is actually the BEST location for it. Kirk Douglas Dr, the road where the trams currently load/unload, wraps around Springfield, goes under the Starway, and then down to the backlot where it turns into the road that sits between Soundstages 16-20 and 22-25, which gives the trams separate unload and load areas without taking up any valuable theme park space. Take away the escalators and the buildings around them and the entire queue area takes up less than 35,000sf of space. Which allows 65,000sf of space for Jurassic Park extensions, a gift shop and whatever they need to transfer out of the Panda Express building. (I'm not moving the tram garage here. That can go anywhere.)
What I'd like to see is better immersion down here. Enough with the soundstage-chic! How about you enter the Jurassic Park gate and you are actually in a land filled with trees? A land where you can't see The Mummy RIGHT THERE? How about entering a Mummy-based land by entering through an Egyptian-style arch and the ride building is an Egyptian temple and you are surrounded by palm trees and equipment? I have no clue what kind of environment the Transformers would be in, but part of one of them took place in a desert - I have only been about 90% successful in removing my one Transformers movie experience from my memory, OMG, I just remembered I actually saw the second one also - so maybe link these into one themed desert area? Create little areas for photo ops and for kids to fool around. Move everything that ruins the theming into the new plaza or the Studio Tour building. Make that building two floors and give it a nice seating area up on top. You're welcome!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
any updates on this or rumors of what could be coming ? i hope it's not a secret  life of pets or a  jimmy fallon attraction 

It's anyone's guess. I'd personally like to see part of that area used for a small JP expansion. I find it interesting that they're not touching SS 28/29/31 plot yet. That could be another attraction on it's own. I would imagine SLOP is still being tossed around as well but who knows at this point.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Okay, Screamscape has posted that the map of Universal Studios Beijing has been revealed and part of it is a mirror image of USF. Actually it's a map of the PROPOSED Beijing resort, with the parts they are building having way more detail than the future areas. Obviously this second park won't be a Universal Studios Florida clone, as some of the stuff from USF will obviously appear in this first park, with Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley both supposedly making an appearance. One would also think Transformers would also appear here since one of the movies apparently turned into a commercial for China and Chinese products (which I know of due to the excellent Honest Trailers). Shrek has been popular in Singapore, so that may show up here also. And there's an Egyptian-themed section in the artwork, which suggests The Mummy is not dead yet. 


Since the second park will obviously NOT be a complete clone of USF, one has to wonder why the buildings in USF's KidZone are completely different. Especially when the Disaster building is still the old Disaster building and not the half-built Fast & Furious. There's no reason to put new buildings in concept art that has absolutely no chance of being replicated. It seems like Universal Creative just needed to include a map of a park that would fit in that plot of land and this map filled the bill. A map that was created before Fast & Furious was greenlit. A map maybe created to show some Nintendo executives where a Nintendo Land would go? The building situation seems to match, as recent patents suggest a Mario Kart ride, a Donkey Kong Country ride and possibly an interactive theater attraction.


Anyhow, not to get too much into detail about Nintendo Land in the Soundstage 28 thread, but one of the questions has been if the Soundstage 22-25 and 28 were going to be Nintendo Land. I measured the buildings as best I could - the largest is pretty close in size to ET, with the second-largest not that much smaller. The buildings sit next to each other in an L-shape, with one side being about 650' long and the other side about 550'. There is NO way that would fit into this location. The distance from the edge of this lot to Transformers is only about 400'.


Of course they could always break up the buildings, though that goes against their usual MO. But even if they did, I can't find a way to fit them all here. The Soundstages behind Transformers aren't big enough to be replaced by either of the large buildings. The long building would fit, but it'd have to be at an angle, which would then cut into the space needed for the bigger buildings. Coming at it from a purely mathematical point, the KidZone area is about 200,000 square feet. The area taken by Soundstages 22-25, 28, 29 and 31 is about 190,000sf. So if they get rid of the Panda Express building, they could fit it all IN THEORY. But Nintendo Land, in artwork and on that map, is clearly created to be a courtyard surrounded by all the structures of the land. This plot of land would totally eliminate that courtyard. 


So whatever is going here, it's not the main part of Nintendo Land.
 
We currently do not, however it seems like SLoP has had its life rejuvenated recently. Nobody is quite sure which version that we got out of it (AAs/screens/VR), but it's very possible that it may open in 2019 if all approval goes through.

For those keeping track, SLoP 2 has been delayed a year til July 2019, so it would open right alongside it if this indeed happens.
 
We currently do not, however it seems like SLoP has had its life rejuvenated recently. Nobody is quite sure which version that we got out of it (AAs/screens/VR), but it's very possible that it may open in 2019 if all approval goes through.

For those keeping track, SLoP 2 has been delayed a year til July 2019, so it would open right alongside it if this indeed happens.
2019 it is then.

As of now, here is my predicted timeline:

17: Nothing. Well, a light show.
18: Kung Fu Panda 4D, relocated tour entrance?
19: SLoP, Fallon?
20: Nintendo
21: Diagon.

So USH ain't doing much for two years apparently. Shame. They're gonna get toasted when SWL opens.
 
2019 it is then.

As of now, here is my predicted timeline:

17: Nothing. Well, a light show.
18: Kung Fu Panda 4D, relocated tour entrance?
19: SLoP, Fallon?
20: Nintendo
21: Diagon.

So USH ain't doing much for two years apparently. Shame. They're gonna get toasted when SWL opens.


I don't think they will get toasted when SWL OPENS . I believe they're just holding back for a bit to see if LA gets the olympics on 2024? Before they can announce anything going foward , If LA lands the olympics (crossing fingers) it's going to be huge for years to come & that's when we can expect a big announcement .
 
I don't think they will get toasted when SWL OPENS . I believe they're just holding back for a bit to see if LA gets the olympics on 2024? Before they can announce anything going foward , If LA lands the olympics (crossing fingers) it's going to be huge for years to come & that's when we can expect a big announcement .
USH should not be waiting until 2024 for us to ge SNW or especially DA. They need to have something else planned.
 
USH should not be waiting until 2024 for us to ge SNW or especially DA. They need to have something else planned.

The Olympics will directly determine how many hotel's will go in. The more hotel rooms you have, the more attractions you need to bring tourists to fill said rooms once the olympics leave.

17: Nothing. Well, a light show.
18: Kung Fu Panda 4D, relocated tour entrance?
19: SLoP, Fallon?
20: Nintendo
21: Diagon.

Here's my dream prediction lineup and what I can realistically see them doing IF LA get's the Olympics.

17: Projection Show(s)
18: Shrek Replacement
19: SLOP / Phase 1 of NY Makeover of Lower Lot
20: Fallon (or something similar) Phase 2 of LL Makeover / 1st Hotel
21: Nintendo
22: CityWalk Expansion / 2nd Hotel
23: Diagon (If LA does not get the Olympics)
24: 2nd Gate / 2 Hotels (Diagon will go here if LA does get the Olympics)
 
Last edited:
The Olympics will directly determine how many hotel's will go in. The more hotel rooms you have, the more attractions you need to bring tourists to fill said rooms once the olympics leave.



Here's my dream prediction lineup and what I can realistically see them doing IF LA get's the Olympics.

17: Projection Show(s)
18: Shrek Replacement
19: SLOP / Phase 1 of NY Makeover of Lower Lot
20: Fallon (or something similar) Phase 2 of LL Makeover / 1st Hotel
21: Nintendo
22: CityWalk Expansion / 2nd Hotel
23: Diagon
24: 2nd Gate / 2 Hotels

If theres going to be a second gate, don't you think DA will be there for the HE effect? Or are you saying they will split up the current park for a 2nd gate?
 
Top