Universal’s 5th Park rumor

[Frankenstein79]

Universal’s 5th Park rumor

Why Universal May Build a Fifth Gate Before Disney World

Disney fans long assumed Walt Disney World would be first to add another park, but a new twist suggests Universal may beat them to the punch.

insidethemagic.net

Universal May Humiliate Disney World With a Fifth Park Bombshell | Disney Dining

Disney fans always assumed that Walt Disney World would lead the way if a fifth theme park ever appeared in Orlando. But the latest buzz hints that Universal may actually strike first.

www.disneydining.com

Universal May Outplay Disney With a Fifth Park Game Plan in the Making : Disney Fanatic

Whispers of unusual land development around Universal Boulevard suggest Universal might outplay Disney in the race to a 5th park.

www.disneyfanatic.com

They’ve got plenty of land in back of and in front of Epic Universe. Especially if they use the current flat parking for a future expansion. They’ll need way more parking anyways, like they did with USF and IOA. All they would have to do is buy Shingle Creek Trail and make a parking deck on the Right Side of the property.

For the front option, they could possibly make a promenade (like Disneyland and DCA) between the 2 newest parks. The parking garages would connect to it from the right.

Another option would be to buy Lockheed Martin and put the new park to the Left of Epic Universe. This would be my preferred location for a future park. I’ve even got an idea for one...



I'd love to see them do a Magic Kingdom styled park. With the following lands ...

Zelda, Lord of the Rings, a Haunted section (Beetlejuice, The Addams Family and Casper), Dreamland (Dreamworks, with Shrek and Kung Fu Panda theming) and a Retroland (Jaws, BTTF, Ghostbusters and King Kong, with a 70’s and 80's themed section).

 

[pumpkinbot343]

No offense, but never use the site “Inside The Magic” as a reliable source. Horrible clickbait site.

 

[Frankenstein79]

No offense, but never use the site “Inside The Magic” as a reliable source. Horrible clickbait site.

None taken man, I don't own it. lol

 

[Frankenstein79]

I wouldn’t mind seeing a new Back to the Future ride, similar to Test Track and a Ghostbusters ride, similar to Buzz Lightyear.

Bottomline Universal has to start doing more types of rides. Especially Dark rides. I think they were more well rounded back in the early days with Jaws and Kongfrontation. Coasters and Shaky Screen rides are good things, but they shouldn't be the only things.

 

[RFRees]

Edit: So Sarah Larson wrote essentially the same story on three different blogs? I'd be more interested to hear someone reliable, like @Alicia, discuss the permits.

Original post:
I wouldn't mind UOR building a new park, but the soonest I could imagine them opening it is 2034 (roughly the same timeline as USF - IOA).

But, if I had to build a fourth Universal dry park today, it would be...

• Pokemon
• LOTR
• Wicked
• Shrek (or another DW/Illuminations IP).
• Fantasy and questing theme for park name and hub. Large castle themed in-park hotel.
• IPs are 50% first party, 50% third party. Hub is non-IP. Two worlds more kid friendly (Pokemon / Shrek), two worlds more YA+ focused (Wicked / LOTR).

However, most of the above are probably coming to existing parks, with Pokemon rumored for IOA and Wicked likely to come soonish (unknown where). LOTR will likely be a London exclusive at least for a few years, so I'm guessing the soonest we see LOTR in Orlando is 2034.

Edit #2: corrected date from 2024 to 2034.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

So Sarah Larson wrote essentially the same story on three different blogs?

Almost like it's a BS story!

I absolutely do not want another universal park till issues in the existing FOUR are fixed.

 

[HandsomePete]

Also if she’s counting Volcano Bay, someone needs to tell her that the race to a 5th park ended in 1995.

 

[Frankenstein79]

You got to hand it to Universal though. They've made 3 NEW parks since Animal Kingdom opened in 1998 (IOA, Volcano Bay, Epic Universe).

Meanwhile Disney just keeps adding to their old parks. For some reason they haven't made a new Florida one in the 21st century. Also the last one happened under Michael Eisner and not Bob Iger. Sometimes they just repurpose and reuse already existing old buildings. They seem more intent in making new resorts rather than a new park. Thus further making everything more and more crowded.

 

[Legacy]

You got to hand it to Universal though. They've made 3 NEW parks since Animal Kingdom opened in 1998 (IOA, Volcano Bay, Epic Universe).

Meanwhile Disney just keeps adding to their old parks. For some reason they haven't made a new Florida one in the 21st century. Also the last one happened under Michael Eisner and not Bob Iger. Sometimes they just repurpose and reuse already existing old buildings. They seem more intent in making new resorts rather than a new park. Thus further making everything more and more crowded.

Well… Disney rushed Animal Kingdom because Islands was in development (which caused the whole Dragon Tower into Dueling Dragons thing… they opened less than a year apart), and Volcano Bay effectively replaced Wet-n-Wild after Universal bought and closed it down for hotels.

No resort can build parks ad infinitum. They will hit a saturation point of diminishing returns. Disney believes they have for the time being… to the extent they CLOSED a water park.

Universal is slowly catching up to Disney to fit their demographic, but Disney remains the market leaser. Universal doesn’t actually want Disney to just keep building parks. Unlike Universal, Disney can just keep building (and building) in their own sandbox. They have space for seven theme parks. Universal has to decide if they want a fourth park or more resorts because they’re effectively locked with what they have.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

We're running into the WDW problem of having too many deserted/underutilized areas in the parks. There's enough at the current parks to address, and I'd rather they prioritize over a new gate.

• USF -> FFL, Springfield, F&F
• IOA -> Lost Continent, Toon Lagoon Theater
• UEU -> Additional Capacity

----
However, it is fun to speculate about the next UOR gate. With their current footprint, you can add a massive Endless Summer-style hotel by the Icon Park land... roughly giving you an additional 3,000 resort rooms over there. Then, assuming a new gate is eyed for the Epic parking lot, you have a few small plots closer to Epic Universe that can fit Aventura/Stella Nova style hotels. Stella Nova, for example, has a massive parking lot that I can see converted into a garage, and then add a 2nd tower for more rooms. Kind of like how Cabana Bay added towers over time. There's also space closer to the existing parking lot toll booth that can fit a hotel by the water.



I also wouldn't mind the Epic Universe parking lot transformed into a resort paradise, like the existing north campus, with lush gardens and rivers. Add a large shopping/entertainment district that rivals Disney Springs, etc.


In a very "out there" scenario, SeaWorld becomes the 4th gate (minus animals and significant transformation of course). You can keep some elements like the Orca Stadium for a large nighttime show platform, Mako, Manta, etc. Only reason this would be considered is because SW owns a significant amount of unused land at the moment that are begging for resort hotels.

With how the SW parks are run nowadays, I wouldn't mind this at all. Of course, this area of Orlando is already congested, so a major transportation solution will be required (Just crossing the 528 along I-Drive) is a pain in the butt. Those dashed yellow lines are necessary road improvements to help people get in and out of the resort area. SeaWorld does 1/2 of the attendance of a Uni park, and the roads can't handle the traffic as is... imagine a Universal resort area.

 

[GA-MBIT]

Well… Disney rushed Animal Kingdom because Islands was in development (which caused the whole Dragon Tower into Dueling Dragons thing… they opened less than a year apart).

Off-topic, but genuinely curious. I've never been able to find a primary source for this fan-claim that Dueling Dragons and Lost Continent were born from spurned Beastly Kingdom Imagineers turned Universal Creative team members. Do you know of any yourself? From everything I've dug up, it seems like Animal Kingdom and Islands of Adventure both independently developed the idea of a Dragon Coaster around the same time, which isn't impossible given the state of the industry around that time, plus that they both came at it from different angles; Animal Kingdom found the Dragon concept through Fantasy Creatures, while Islands was making an ancient legends-type land. That seems far more likely to me.

 

[simon]

No offense, but never use the site “Inside The Magic” as a reliable source. Horrible clickbait site.

Disney dining and WDW news today are even worse.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Off-topic, but genuinely curious. I've never been able to find a primary source for this fan-claim that Dueling Dragons and Lost Continent were born from spurned Beastly Kingdom Imagineers turned Universal Creative team members. Do you know of any yourself? From everything I've dug up, it seems like Animal Kingdom and Islands of Adventure both independently developed the idea of a Dragon Coaster around the same time, which isn't impossible given the state of the industry around that time, plus that they both came at it from different angles; Animal Kingdom found the Dragon concept through Fantasy Creatures, while Islands was making an ancient legends-type land. That seems far more likely to me.

Yeah this is what I’ve found, too. There really isn’t any facts to back it up, probably just a very good coincidence.

 

[Frankenstein79]

I always thought it was strange that they made "Lost Continent". When every other section at IOA was based on IP's. I'm guessing something fell through and they just needed a throw-in area. Kinda like they did with "Camp Minnie Mickey" at Animal Kingdom.

 

[pumpkinbot343]

I always thought it was strange that they made "Lost Continent". When every other section at IOA was based on IP's. I'm guessing something fell through and they just needed a throw-in area. Kinda like they did with "Camp Minnie Mickey" at Animal Kingdom.

Not technically licensed, but not really original- Sinbad, Merlin, and Greek Mythology.

 

[Frankenstein79]

Not technically licensed, but not really original- Sinbad, Merlin, and Greek Mythology.

They are not based on certain versions of the characters. Thus they are not IP's.

Marvel, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter and The Cat in the Hat are actual IP's. Heck even Toon Lagoon's characters are based on certain versions of each character.

This is Universal’s chance to rub “The 5th park idea” in Disney’s face. Even if it isn’t seen as a true 5th park by most people.


They can always add to their current parks while making the new park. Disney World added many attractions and a water park in the mid to late 90’s (1994 - 99), while still constructing Animal Kingdom. Some really big ones too, like Blizzard Beach, Tower of Terror and Rock n Rollercoaster. Disney even did some unnecessary rethemes and replacements like Honey I Shrunk the Audience and Winnie the Pooh. They did Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin too, but I didn’t mind that one. Because I’ve always thought “Dreamflight” and “If you had Wings” sucked.


Like Disney, Universal has made the mistake of completely replacing attractions, when they shouldn’t have. Getting rid of classics (like Jaws, King Kong, Back to the Future, Earthquake, Hanna Barbera, Jimmy Neutron, Alfred Hitchcock: The Art of Making Movies, Shrek, T2: 3D, Ghostbusters, Twister and Beetlejuice) when the new attractions could have been placed elsewhere. To be fair to Universal though, unlike Disney they didn’t have much land back then. But... now they do, they have an abundance of real estate. Enough to build a New Park, City Walk 2.0 and more resorts.


And the bottomline is Whole New Parks create more excitement than rethemes (Zootopia, Tiana’s Bayou, Test Track, Muppets, etc.)

I think to beat Disney you have to beat them at their own game. Magic Kingdom seems to be the 1 park that has kept them consistently ahead. Lately though Disney has seemed to open the door with their ill advised destruction of Frontierland.

If Universal could do a castle park like MK, but “Plus it” and do it even better… then they could win the war. Afterall families have been what has kept Disney ahead of Universal. They’ve already got the thrill junkies and horror fans. It’s time to move onto the next phase… the families.