Is Universal Moving too Fast?

[AlexanderMBush]

One thing to note as well is that Hogsmeade and Transformers were paid for by GE. The 2010-2014 spread represents the investments of two separate companies, two different bottom lines.

As for TF; USS and USH's were paid for by GE (you can tell by the cheapening of USH's façade for TF) if I am correct. UOR's most likely came from Comcast due to that they wanted to check any bases for capacity and that USH's was a major hit, even from technical rehearsal standpoints.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

This probably won't be popular, but I feel like Disney has done more stuff overall in the past couple years than Universal (Shanghai, cough). If you factor in the number of theme parks each company has, Universal has done much, much more per park than Disney has.

For someone Orlando centric, Universal has done more, but they're pretty comparable. Don't forget all the weird small stuff they've done over the years like the Sesame Street ride, Despicable Me, all the shows, parade, etc

 

[Disneyhead]

We are seeing the Theme Park Wars: Asia battle brewing. China has a thousand knock off parks, but the "real deal" Disney Park seems to be resonating with the locals. Universal better bring their A Game.

I have heard recent developments have sent the 3rd gate into some serious retooling.

And reading too much into what @Marni1971 said over yonder, and knowing UC's ADHD mentality, I am gonna guess that Dreamworks and Nintendo will be anchor IPs at the third gate (and 4th gate?). How that effects KidZone? IDK.

Peach's Castle as the hub weenie?

Then what to do with KidZone? Bikini Bottom? TMNT? Both?

 

[Teebin]

Aaah... fun and games.

 

[quinnmac000]

We are seeing the Theme Park Wars: Asia battle brewing. China has a thousand knock off parks, but the "real deal" Disney Park seems to be resonating with the locals. Universal better bring their A Game.

I have heard recent developments have sent the 3rd gate into some serious retooling.

And reading too much into what @Marni1971 said over yonder, and knowing UC's ADHD mentality, I am gonna guess that Dreamworks and Nintendo will be anchor IPs at the third gate (and 4th gate?). How that effects KidZone? IDK.

Peach's Castle as the hub weenie?

Then what to do with KidZone? Bikini Bottom? TMNT? Both?

I'm also going to guess its more than just those two IPs....

 

[fryoj]

Peach's Castle as the hub weenie?

Is it just me, or will having a princess castle at the center of a theme park with a huge animated/kid presence be interpreted too much as copying disney? I get why the decision would be made, and if they are going to go after Disney's core demographic, that might be what they have to do. But I just can see the impression it would give, even if the park was better than anything Disney did.

I'm not sure what I'd use though. I mean Minis Tirith or Mt Doom(Or even a double spoke and hub design with each of the Two towers anchoring one) would give me goosebumps to walk into a park and see, but we know that's not happening.

Another issue I see is, depending on how their contract with Nintendo is, do you really want the centerpiece of your park to be designed around something you don't really own? If Nintendo pulls out down the road for whatever reason, your park loses its weenie. (Who wants a castrated park right? lol) It's one thing to retheme a land, losing the hub to your park though....

Unfortunately, I don't see a guaranteed winner for a weenie in Universal's or Dreamwork's IP's. There are things that could fill the role, but nothing "park anchoring".

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I have heard recent developments have sent the 3rd gate into some serious retooling.

Blunt: I think it's due to the failure of Warcraft as a movie.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

Blunt: I think it's due to the failure of Warcraft as a movie.

Hmm, that actually makes a lot of sense when you think about it.

Warcraft should've been more well marketed, and should've been a much better film than what it was, and sadly it showed in it's box office and critic response not positive. I wonder what'll happen over time with DVD/Blu Ray sales, but at this point; that would add a piece to the puzzle that'd make sense to why things have changed for the Third Gate.

There also lies something else that could be due to the change itself, DWA being acquired. That opens the door to tons of IP's that they can just center a park with Nintendo for pretty easily and have those two be the focal points of a true family (MK like if you may say) theme park with attractions for all ages and demographics.

 

[Nick]

Blunt: I think it's due to the failure of Warcraft as a movie.

If they were banking their 3rd park on Warcraft they were wasting time from the start.

 

[IzzyB]

If they were banking their 3rd park on Warcraft they were wasting time from the start.

I agree, but I don't think it was an anchor, just a land and now they need to replace it. I imagine that DW also changes things a bit. I still think they put Mario in Kidzone and do other Nintendo properties in the 3rd park, mixed with DW, and I think 1 or 2 other IPs for adults.

 

[Disneyhead]

I agree, but I don't think it was an anchor, just a land and now they need to replace it. I imagine that DW also changes things a bit. I still think they put Mario in Kidzone and do other Nintendo properties in the 3rd park, mixed with DW, and I think 1 or 2 other IPs for adults.

One of the reasons I suspect that things regarding USF may have changed is what you mentioned earlier about opening a MAJOR land right before opening a new park.

 

[GadgetGuru]

One of the reasons I suspect that things regarding USF may have changed is what you mentioned earlier about opening a MAJOR land right before opening a new park.

I think Universal will definitely open a major land before a major park. Disney's problem has been that their newer parks always cannibalize the older parks. So, they've built new attractions after the fact to help stabilize attendance at the older parks.

Universal should be smart enough to see the pattern that's emerged. They'll probably open new attractions at each of the older parks to preemptively counteract this from happening. This'll be the first new park under Comcast. They'll want to see strong resort earnings to keep the firehose going.

 

[DoubleJ]

I think Universal will definitely open a major land before a major park. Disney's problem has been that their newer parks always cannibalize the older parks. So, they've built new attractions after the fact to help stabilize attendance at the older parks.

Universal should be smart enough to see the pattern that's emerged. They'll probably open new attractions at each of the older parks to preemptively counteract this from happening. This'll be the first new park under Comcast. They'll want to see strong resort earnings to keep the firehose going.

This is exactly what I suspect Disney is doing right now. Looking at the whole picture, I think the stars are lining up for Disney to build their next gate (based on their actions). Disney is going on a massive building spree all of a sudden at each of their 4 parks, with major construction at every one of them. Then you have the Mira Lago purchase to offset construction on wetlands. And the extension of Western Way with a "pedestrian underpass" in the middle of nowhere, exactly where the massive Parcel 4 in the RCID plan is (West of Flamingo Crossings). The Sentinel reported:

Part of that road will be raised in the middle to accommodate pedestrians to walk underneath when the area is developed. "We don't know what will be developed there," said Kathryn Kolbo, manager of planning and engineering at Reedy Creek, but the district wants to prepare.

Quite suspicious if you ask me.

 

[Galaxy Defender]

Another thread asked if Universal Orlando was moving too fast. I wonder if the brakes have been applied for some reason. The projects being worked on now have been planned for a while and are well under way. A UO member mentioned Fallon was actually delayed by a year. F&F was started in large part due to end of operational life of Disaster and for capacity. It had a delay due to track issues. All of the projects were originally scheduled to be completed next year, though the F&F delay pushed it back to early 2018.

My point is that all of this will be done relatively soon. None of the next batch of projects has started. I am not suggesting Nintendo is on hold. Nintendo will likely be open in 2020, a year or so before the new park and around the same time as Star Wars opens. Assuming F&F opens early 2018 (or maybe earlier), this leaves the rest of 2018 and 2019 without any started projects (not counting hotels). I can't imaging Universal skipping almost two years. The big rumors were SLoP and a replacement for Dragon Challenge. Each was supposed to start by now but not even a permit has popped up.

So, has Universal taking a time out from starting new projects? Are they rethinking their strategy? Indoor rides would seem to be needed for IOA. The DreamWorks deal was unplanned, so it could be affecting strategy. SLoP has done very well in the box office, so that can't be an issue. DC was originally rumored to be a Hulk level refurb, but more recent rumors suggest much more would happen. It was rumored to shut down right after Labor Day. Sounds like something changed there.

 

[Teebin]

I am not concerned about it. F&F was delayed because of the whole Kong trackless thing. This delay probably reshuffled the whole deck. Three major projects are in the works right now and if they take a year or two off (which I doubt they will) I will be fine with it. Look for cracks in the walkways and fix them in the meantime and I will be satisfied.

 

[Scott W.]

The speed at which Universal is throwing up attractions gives them a bit more of a buffer to play with between announcing new rides. Universal could announce a new project in 18 months and still have a major new opening in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

 

[shiekra38]

Another thread asked if Universal Orlando was moving too fast. I wonder if the brakes have been applied for some reason. The projects being worked on now have been planned for a while and are well under way. A UO member mentioned Fallon was actually delayed by a year. F&F was started in large part due to end of operational life of Disaster and for capacity. It had a delay due to track issues. All of the projects were originally scheduled to be completed next year, though the F&F delay pushed it back to early 2018.

My point is that all of this will be done relatively soon. None of the next batch of projects has started. I am not suggesting Nintendo is on hold. Nintendo will likely be open in 2020, a year or so before the new park and around the same time as Star Wars opens. Assuming F&F opens early 2018 (or maybe earlier), this leaves the rest of 2018 and 2019 without any started projects (not counting hotels). I can't imaging Universal skipping almost two years. The big rumors were SLoP and a replacement for Dragon Challenge. Each was supposed to start by now but not even a permit has popped up.

So, has Universal taking a time out from starting new projects? Are they rethinking their strategy? Indoor rides would seem to be needed for IOA. The DreamWorks deal was unplanned, so it could be affecting strategy. SLoP has done very well in the box office, so that can't be an issue. DC was originally rumored to be a Hulk level refurb, but more recent rumors suggest much more would happen. It was rumored to shut down right after Labor Day. Sounds like something changed there.

You say too slow, I say too fast...Who wants to create a thread that says they are going just right?

 

[Mad Dog]

A very wise Universal insider told me a couple of weeks ago that so much has been affected by the land purchase and the Dreamworks acquisition that just about everything is in flux right now, and any rumors, no matter how accurate at the time, that are more than six months old, are now questionable.

 

[Teebin]

A very wise Universal insider told me a couple of weeks ago that so much has been affected by the land purchase and the Dreamworks acquisition that just about everything is in flux right now, and any rumors, no matter how accurate at the time, that are more than six months old, are now questionable.

I believe this. Some vendors are going up in flames, metaphorically speaking. Catch while catch can isn't necessarily a good thing.

 

[GAcoaster]

I think they had to put the brakes on with all the projects going on. Between the design and construction teams being stretched, the vendors being overwhelmed and trying to figure out what is going into the new location and what timeline it will be on, it has to be a little overwhelming for everyone involved.

I'd guess that with the end of construction in sight for Volcano Bay we may things start to ramp up with the next round of projects. Right now the logistics of materials/labor/etc. alone all around the property must be a nightmare for the teams in charge. I'll be they are looking forward to the closure of WnW in December so they can really utilize the space there for things like parking all the construction workers.