Universal Orlando Resort Expansion (Part 1)

[jrn14]

Aren't Hyrule and LOTR almost too similar? I feel like they should be in separate parks?

 

[JungleSkip]

Aren't Hyrule and LOTR almost too similar? I feel like they should be in separate parks?

Other than being "Fantasy", no, I don't think they're all that similar, and there are ways to differentiate Zelda. The series has had so many different art styles. They could base it off Wind Waker and give it more of an island feel than a pure Fantasy one.

 

[Joel]

If your talking another exit on the Turnpike going straight into Universal like what they have on I-4, I doubt Turnpike would be willing to do that. They're much stricter on their exits, the spacing, etc. Turnpike has many, many less exits then the rest of the highways in the state.

Correct, there's actually laws about spacing between exits (for safety reasons). Anything below the spacing needs to get special approval and go through lots of testing / designs.

That direct exit to Hard Rock Stadium is not actually from the Turnpike mainline but an alternate route of the Turnpike. It’s actually the only exit for that alt route from what I can tell. The road ends at I-95.

I thought the exit was before th I-95 exit/end of the line. I thought the alt Turnpike route was if you headed out towards homestead...no biggie, I just thought I recall the turnpike’s toll booth being at the exit for Joe Robbie Stadium (or any of the many names since).

I think their issue with exits being too close is that they have a tough time figuring how to account for the toll to charge...but up in Orlando, they seem to build a lot more toll roads to help move traffic...down here, they have just started adding toll lanes (with surge pricing) to I-95.

Regardless, counties will attempt to plan for traffic flow...but maybe now everyone is just waiting to get humans out of the driving equation so they can just teach the cars how to efficiently move around.

Technically that still is the turnpike up until it hits I95, the alt Turnpike route is called the Turnpike Extension and it links to the rest of the Turnpike which heads south to the Keys, but on the western side of civilization before the everglades. I live in Ft. Lauderdale and work in Miami so if 95 is backed up or I'm going to a game this is the route I take.

 

[Magic-Man]

Lord of the Rings just kinda seems outdated to me. It's been years since the last Hobbit installment, even longer since the last LOTR. It might not be as big of a success as some people think.

 

[JungleSkip]

Lord of the Rings just kinda seems outdated to me. It's been years since the last Hobbit installment, even longer since the last LOTR. It might not be as big of a success as some people think.

LOTR has been an enduring literary and pop culture phenomenon for 63 years. I fail to see how it wouldn't draw a crowd.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Lord of the Rings just kinda seems outdated to me. It's been years since the last Hobbit installment, even longer since the last LOTR. It might not be as big of a success as some people think.

Star Wars was a fad in the 90s. Let’s stop with this.

 

[jrn14]

I would say LOTR is the biggest IP that isn't currently represented in US theme parks, besides maybe Game of Thrones

 

[Imperius]

While I don’t really care about LOTR, saying it’s irrevant is kind of ridiculous. It’s not like it was a new movie based off a new idea and then ran its short course. Its been around forever.

 

[Magic-Man]

While I don’t really care about LOTR, saying it’s irrevant is kind of ridiculous. It’s not like it was a new movie based off a new idea and then ran its short course. Its been around forever.

I'm not saying it's stupid or anything like that. I'm just worried that it's not as big as other franchises. It's not like Star Wars, which has new movies and is expanding the universe. But the franchise of LOTR has ended (for now), and has been for years, so it is kinda outdated.

 

[JungleSkip]

I'm not saying it's stupid or anything like that. I'm just worried that it's not as big as other franchises. It's not like Star Wars, which has new movies and is expanding the universe. But the franchise of LOTR has ended (for now), and has been for years, so it is kinda outdated.

You don't need to worry about expanding the universe when you're one of the most enduringly loved literary creations of all time.

 

[zg44]

I'm not saying it's stupid or anything like that. I'm just worried that it's not as big as other franchises. It's not like Star Wars, which has new movies and is expanding the universe. But the franchise of LOTR has ended (for now), and has been for years, so it is kinda outdated.

I think you're underselling Tolkien though by just considering the movie franchise. The Hobbit has been in print for 80 years, LOTR has been for 60 years; both have remained fantasy top-sellers for that entire period, we're talking about a set of content that has proven beyond any doubt to stand the test of time.

In 50 years, LOTR and the Hobbit will still be among the top selling/read fantasy books. Other than Harry Potter itself; I really don't think there's many books in that class. I'm not even sure Game of Thrones/Song of Ice and Fire will have the same kind of long-range impact when it's complete and it may be the closest to those two.

So there's no real worry there; if you build an immersive Shire, Mordor, Rivendell, people will come from far away for that and pay good money to spend time there for decades to come.

 

[rhino4evr]

so I haven't been following any of the 3rd park rumors, and there are like 230 pages in this thread. What is the rumored consensus on a possible groundbreaking, and what exactly would be the theme?

 

[Andysol]

so I haven't been following any of the 3rd park rumors, and there are like 230 pages in this thread. What is the rumored consensus on a possible groundbreaking, and what exactly would be the theme?

No one knows... Its just fun speculation at this point. Could start next year- could start in 2020- could start in 2022... no one would be surprised in any of those years.

Right now its in limbo with the land acquisitions- hopefully we know more in the next month or so- and @zg44 has had some great analysis of it all and might have insight on when the next movement we see could be (when will we know the outcome of mediation?)

 

[JungleSkip]

so I haven't been following any of the 3rd park rumors, and there are like 230 pages in this thread. What is the rumored consensus on a possible groundbreaking, and what exactly would be the theme?

Groundbreaking - Shrug

Theme - shrug

All I heard was "Shooting for TDS-level detail with a lot of IPs."

Rumors are LOTR, more Nintendo, Star Trek, etc

 

[rhino4evr]

Lord of the rings would be pretty big deal to a lot of people. Lots they could do with it.

 

[quinnmac000]

Lord of the Rings would be a US park exclusive. But still a big win.

 

[JoeCamel]

Lord of the rings would be pretty big deal to a lot of people. Lots they could do with it.

Hobbit feet for everyone!

 

[zg44]

so I haven't been following any of the 3rd park rumors, and there are like 230 pages in this thread. What is the rumored consensus on a possible groundbreaking, and what exactly would be the theme?

It's complicated: let's just say that first things first, the land situation needs to be cleared up. Right now there's an ongoing lawsuit between Stan Thomas who owns parcels around the Universal-owned land, and he owns UCPM III which holds the master declarant rights for all the properties. If you look at this map, you'll be able to see which party owns which land: Universal Resort Expansion?

Today, there was a scheduled mediation between Stan Thomas and Universal as for the ongoing lawsuit over whether Universal can build a park on the land. Most likely, the lawsuit is Stan Thomas' way of forcing Universal to buy him out of UCPM III at a high price (since most of the UCPM III land is only going to be useful in Universal's hands).

If there's a settlement reached soon based on today's mediation, then that would go a long way towards clearing up at least the legal issues.

But there's other issues as well; for decades in the 60s-80s, Lockheed did a lot of missile testing on this land, and that cleanup started around 2004, but I don't believe it ever finished. So there's still possibly toxic cleanup that needs to be finished before anything can actually be built. And there's the matter of rearranging various things like the bodies of water on the land.

Once you get past all of that, you can start thinking about building another resort. But it'll most likely take at least 5 or 6 years from now for the "first phase" of the next resort to be completed. All we know is that the first phase is like to be the next dry park + a larger CityWalk + at least 2-3 hotels + a transportation hub. Those are the most obvious things that need to be completed around the same time. 2023 still seems like the best guess for opening based on what we know.

As for themes, it's really up in the air, all we know is that Universal's been trying to get Tolkien rights and possibly Star Trek rights. There's a lot of guesses that one of Nintendo's IPs will be held for the next park as well (possibly Zelda if it doesn't appear in the US before the next park). And there's always a possibility for Fantastic Beasts to add a Harry Potter element to the next park. Jurassic World is a possibility but that might just go to IoA and replace Jurassic Park if they choose that route.

 

[GadgetGuru]

It's really worth noting that clean up will take a while. Site prep on this land will take a lot longer than usual.

 

[fryoj]

Lord of the Rings just kinda seems outdated to me. It's been years since the last Hobbit installment, even longer since the last LOTR. It might not be as big of a success as some people think.

The Last Hobbit movie came out in 2014. The last Potter movie came out in 2011.