Universal's Epic Universe Wish List & Speculation

[Frank Drackman]

Really getting ahead of ourselves here lol

eu part one is so old school -- need to stay ahead of the curve!

so when are softs?

 

[SkiBum]

Alicia have you seen any blueprints for the 5th gate yet? /s

I figure that Universal is going to announce their purchase of Walt Disney World any day.

 

[JungleSkip]

I'm worried about Uni handling 3 gates and a water park, let alone 4 gates and 2 water parks. VB's expansion has already been pushed off till god knows when, a lot of USF's attractions are reaching their end of life stage at the same time, and IoA's theaters are all sitting empty.

Let's see how things go during EU construction and in the following years before we clamor for more parks.

 

[Neo]

I'm not a big fan of water parks and don't think Universal needs two just because the mouse house does....

BUT, if they were to open a Nintendo themed waterpark it could be amazing! Just the green tubes on anything Mario, a Yoshi's kid area / splash park, some sort of kid-safe obstacle course that has ? blocks that you hit and they spray water either at you or somewhere else so you have a fun interactive experience, a Donkey Kong slide with matts that have a barrel at the front of it, a "toilet bowl" ride tied to Zelda (I think one of them had you play a flute and a tornado or whirlpool or something appeared), etc.

That would differentiate it from all the others and be something that I, not a fan of water parks, would be dying to check out.

 

[JungleSkip]

I'm not a big fan of water parks and don't think Universal needs two just because the mouse house does....

BUT, if they were to open a Nintendo themed waterpark it could be amazing! Just the green tubes on anything Mario, a Yoshi's kid area / splash park, some sort of kid-safe obstacle course that has ? blocks that you hit and they spray water either at you or somewhere else so you have a fun interactive experience, a Donkey Kong slide with matts that have a barrel at the front of it, a "toilet bowl" ride tied to Zelda (I think one of them had you play a flute and a tornado or whirlpool or something appeared), etc.

That would differentiate it from all the others and be something that I, not a fan of water parks, would be dying to check out.

I’d argue out of a 4th park or a 2nd water park, Uni needs a second water park much more. VB hits capacity a lot, and will probably do so more often the more resorts Uni adds to its collection.

 

[Contravarient]

The Cirque du Soleil water park concept was/is fascinating and would’ve been an interesting second park for Universal. I’m anxious to see the final product’s reception.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

I’d argue out of a 4th park or a 2nd water park, Uni needs a second water park much more. VB hits capacity a lot, and will probably do so more often the more resorts Uni adds to its collection.

Ehhh, it also shuts down a lot during the winter and I’d imagine there are several days in the off-season where the amount of people in the park doesn’t offset the costs to keep it open. They’d be better off expanding the capacity of VB and stopping there, IMO...reduce the problems of capacity closures in summer while mitigating the losses that come with shutting down a business with such low operating leverage.

 

[RevFreako]

Ehhh, it also shuts down a lot during the winter and I’d imagine there are several days in the off-season where the amount of people in the park doesn’t offset the costs to keep it open. They’d be better off expanding the capacity of VB and stopping there, IMO...reduce the problems of capacity closures in summer while mitigating the losses that come with shutting down a business with such low operating leverage.

theme it to something evergreen like Nintendo and you mitigate that problem. People won't brave cooler temps for a polar bear or a tiki hut, but Mario they would.

 

[shiekra38]

I'm worried about Uni handling 3 gates and a water park, let alone 4 gates and 2 water parks. VB's expansion has already been pushed off till god knows when, a lot of USF's attractions are reaching their end of life stage at the same time, and IoA's theaters are all sitting empty.

Let's see how things go during EU construction and in the following years before we clamor for more parks.

This was my concern...Watching Disney flop around trying to update four parks makes me think Universal should stop at a certain point

 

[JungleSkip]

Ehhh, it also shuts down a lot during the winter and I’d imagine there are several days in the off-season where the amount of people in the park doesn’t offset the costs to keep it open. They’d be better off expanding the capacity of VB and stopping there, IMO...reduce the problems of capacity closures in summer while mitigating the losses that come with shutting down a business with such low operating leverage.

The problem is there’s not all that much room. I’m not convinced they’d be able to build more than a handful of slides, and they need more than that

This was my concern...Watching Disney flop around trying to update four parks makes me think Universal should stop at a certain point

Agreed. As it stands WDW has 4 parks and only one of them is a park of absolutely need to go to if I was visiting. The other three are parks with a ride here or there I love, and then a whole lot of wasted space. I don’t want Uni to have the same kind of issues

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

The problem is there’s not all that much room. I’m not convinced they’d be able to build more than a handful of slides, and they need more than that

Would an indoor facility alleviate those issues, allowing them to build on multiple levels? Or would the expense outweigh the benefit?

 

[JungleSkip]

Would an indoor facility alleviate those issues, allowing them to build on multiple levels? Or would the expense outweigh the benefit?

That’s way above my pay grade/knowledge. I know the new water park at the big mall in New Jersey looks to be packed vertically.

That being said, people go to Orlando to be outside in the sun

 

[joelbryant11]

Is there even room for a fifth gate? I’m going to put my energy into rooting for the best version of EU and the best upgrades to US/VB as possible before we even get into that

 

[RevFreako]

Is there even room for a fifth gate? I’m going to put my energy into rooting for the best version of EU and the best upgrades to US/VB as possible before we even get into that

Someone mapped out what a potential 4th/5th gate might look like based on the land Uni has. There is room it appears.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

Is there even room for a fifth gate? I’m going to put my energy into rooting for the best version of EU and the best upgrades to US/VB as possible before we even get into that

5? Lol, no.

 

[RevFreako]

5? Lol, no.

5 counting VB, so 4th

 

[shiekra38]

Would an indoor facility alleviate those issues, allowing them to build on multiple levels? Or would the expense outweigh the benefit?

I think it would be a waste of time for them to enclose something.

The much maligned heat and sun is not a huge deal to folks visiting and the addition of levels could be achieved outdoors (SNW)

 

[Scott W.]

I’d argue out of a 4th park or a 2nd water park, Uni needs a second water park much more. VB hits capacity a lot, and will probably do so more often the more resorts Uni adds to its collection.

For everybody pushing for a 4th theme park because of Disney, they forget that Disney built Blizzard Beach before Animal Kingdom. This is the route I would expect Universal to take.

Is there even room for a fifth gate? I’m going to put my energy into rooting for the best version of EU and the best upgrades to US/VB as possible before we even get into that

There's enough room for a 5th theme park if they really want. There's an 180 acre parcel of land north of Sand Lake but that's probably being saved as offset wetlands.

Even if Universal decides to build a 4th theme park, I wouldn't be expecting it this decade nor probably even next deacde.

 

[SkiBum]

My opinion is that Universal needs to open Epic and the accompanying resorts, continue to build out IoA and UNI while fixing areas that need fixing (ex. Furious, FearFactor, Kidszone, Lost Continent, etc) and continue to add to Epic. Based on crowd reaction and popularity, they can decide how to proceed. I like Animal Kingdom well enough but it and Studios both suffer from not having enough to do. Just an opinion. If Disney had focused on developing Studios out with more rides and the same with Epcot, including fixing Future World two decades ago, they would now have arrived at the point where they could determine if they needed a fourth park. Yes, tourism is starting to rebound and that's great but Universal/Comcast needs to figure out how much growth they can absorb.

 

[shiekra38]

My opinion is that Universal needs to open Epic and the accompanying resorts, continue to build out IoA and UNI while fixing areas that need fixing (ex. Furious, FearFactor, Kidszone, Lost Continent, etc) and continue to add to Epic. Based on crowd reaction and popularity, they can decide how to proceed. I like Animal Kingdom well enough but it and Studios both suffer from not having enough to do. Just an opinion. If Disney had focused on developing Studios out with more rides and the same with Epcot, including fixing Future World two decades ago, they would now have arrived at the point where they could determine if they needed a fourth park. Yes, tourism is starting to rebound and that's great but Universal/Comcast needs to figure out how much growth they can absorb.

Yes, I think we can all agree that they waited a bit too long with updating Epcot...I think that's the most glaring case

That's my major concern with them getting too much bigger that a third gate

I've heard the argument that "they're out of room" pre-EU land acquisition

But that's a very MK line of thinking...I much prefer the no ride is safe approach Universal takes