Surface lots on Universal's land doesn't make sense, IMO. Sure, they have a large mass of land, but it is nowhere limitless. A surface lot absorbs too much footprint. WDW most likely still has surface lots for multiple reasons:
If Universal chooses to go with a surface lot, so be it. But I just don't see how that's a feasible start/use of this land.
- They have an abundance of land and are not constrained yet to build up and not out
- Some of their parks benefit from large marquee visuals (i.e. Spaceship Earth visible from far away and not blocked by say a garage)
- (Admittedly, this is my opinion) Some guests may view the tram ride from the lot to the park as the start and end of a Disney visit, thus Disney sees the nostalgia value in keeping that.
IOA was built on the Studio's parking lot, if they build garages across the street later it could be just USF/IOA redux as far as the master plan goes.