Universal Orlando Resort Expansion (Part 1)

[fryoj]

What would be the point of opening hotels on a piece of land that is far removed from parks that are open? I'd think you want to open the hotels with the park.


New Deluxe hotels hopefully? It's been quite awhile since Universal has built a Deluxe Resort.

Probably the same point of all the hotels around the OCCC. Theres a lot of business to be had in that area. Add in the Citiwalk and dedicated OCCC shuttles and you give conventioneers even more reason to stay there. Uni level Hotels with a Citiwalk attached would be profitable at that location even without a park ever getting built.

It’s the only thing I know.

I can’t give inside tips like @Teebin @AliciaStella or @Disneyhead
I don’t have zoning/expansion expertise like @zg44
I can’t edit and make photos like @scott_walker
I can’t take pics like @Frank Drackman
I don’t search all over twitter for breaking updates like @AlexanderMBush
I don’t have the sense of humor like @shiekra38
I don’t contribute to articles and moderation like @Brian G. @Joe or @Nick

Poop is legitimately my only contribution to the forum.

That’s both literally and metaphorically

To summarize, Andy really knows his $--+

 

[Magic-Man]

Five major things we can expect Universal to build in Orlando that aren't theme parks | Blogs
No new information, but a good article anyways.

 

[Nick]

Would they really go several years with no new hotels.

Eventually they will need to slow down on the amount of on-site rooms. I think the most they can go to is 25,000 total between all their property. Due to their proximity to OCCC though, they may be able to go slightly beyond that.

 

[zg44]

Eventually they will need to slow down on the amount of on-site rooms. I think the most they can go to is 25,000 total between all their property. Due to their proximity to OCCC though, they may be able to go slightly beyond that.

I'd say that 25,000 is the absolute upper limit for the planning (and probably slightly higher than where Universal will end up).

With the current UOR heading for 9,000 rooms; it's feasible to think that the south resort will be able to handle somewhere north of that number due to the OCCC proximity.

But how much more?

I think 11,000 rooms is the minimum for a 2 dry park south resort near OCCC, with the upper limit somewhere around 15,000.

That gets you somewhere around 20,000 to 24,000 hotel rooms which is probably perfect for 4 dry parks that are seeing 10+ million visitors each. You can keep 90% capacity and healthy, profitable pricing.

Only if attendance is measurably higher (i.e. each park is seeing 12+ million attendance) should they consider going to 25,000+ rooms.

At that point, it's worth revisiting this consideration and buying up cheaper <$100 room rate hotels (the parcels in green on Universal Blvd. in image below) that are getting squeezed and renovating them into Loews-branded hotels:

 

[s8film40]

Eventually they will need to slow down on the amount of on-site rooms. I think the most they can go to is 25,000 total between all their property. Due to their proximity to OCCC though, they may be able to go slightly beyond that.

I agree there's a limit and they'll have to slow down at some point. Do you really expect that slow down sooner rather than later though? I guess with Universal pretty much staying in a state of continuous construction it's hard to imagine them not opening anything new for a period of multiple years.

 

[Happytycho]

The 2 value hotels on Universal Blvd. (the ones around that Brownfield parcel that Stan Thomas still owns) are the most likely to open before 3rd dry park and CityWalk 2.0.

Those 2 can easily feed into current UOR with buses on Universal Blvd. just like the Wet 'n Wild hotels.

I don't think they'll open much else before the 2nd resort area is a destination in and of itself.

The Universal Blvd. parcel north of the proposed Mandarin Dr extension has a 50ft height limit, which will make it hard to build much there. That could get changed, but such a change would definitely be opposed by I-drive 360 and possibly Lockheed as well. That land also has a canal running through the middle of it that would have to be realigned or worked around.

I have a hard time seeing that being the site of one of the earlier hotels.

 

[JoeCamel]

The 2 value hotels on Universal Blvd. (the ones around that Brownfield parcel that Stan Thomas still owns) are the most likely to open before 3rd dry park and CityWalk 2.0.

Those 2 can easily feed into current UOR with buses on Universal Blvd. just like the Wet 'n Wild hotels.

I don't think they'll open much else before the 2nd resort area is a destination in and of itself.

Could they be convention hotels as well to service the OCCC?

 

[s8film40]

Could they be convention hotels as well to service the OCCC?

Universal is really going to have an edge on conventions. If they can offer up packages to take advantage of the OCCC with the benefit of in-park events. No one else can do that.

 

[Mad Dog]

Universal is really going to have an edge on conventions. If they can offer up packages to take advantage of the OCCC with the benefit of in-park events. No one else can do that.

That has to be a MAJOR concern to Disney. Very very close proximity to, will be a huge advantage for Universal.

 

[quinnmac000]

Could they be convention hotels as well to service the OCCC?

I think that was the thought process

 

[Nick]

That has to be a MAJOR concern to Disney. Very very close proximity to, will be a huge advantage for Universal.

I'm sure Disney knows Universal will take advantage of it, but there's nothing they can do. Disney is also expanding and giving multiple of their current convention hotels updated looks and better features. Disney will do what they can. Will it change where people do business in Orlando? Maybe. But the OCCC really is only for the mega conventions. It's not going to hurt them too much for the smaller ones that come around and there are a growing number of those.

 

[Scott W.]

That has to be a MAJOR concern to Disney. Very very close proximity to, will be a huge advantage for Universal.

It sells itself. They will have probably some of the best hotels in the area and while mum or dad go to their convention, the rest of the family can enjoy a day at the parks and then meet up later in CityWalk for some dinner. It will also attract more companies to have conventions there as they can sell the experience.

 

[zg44]

The Universal Blvd. parcel north of the proposed Mandarin Dr extension has a 50ft height limit, which will make it hard to build much there. That could get changed, but such a change would definitely be opposed by I-drive 360 and possibly Lockheed as well. That land also has a canal running through the middle of it that would have to be realigned or worked around.

I have a hard time seeing that being the site of one of the earlier hotels.

Yeah, the only reason I was suggesting that is that it sounds as if they already know how they want to build on those 2 parcels based on the fact that they were already listing some sort of transportation option for them (possibly over that pond nearby or via the proposed Mandarin extension) to connect them to the main resort area when they filed the plans for a new theme zone district in that area for those 2 parcels + the main bulk of land.

 

[Mad Dog]

Just to add a few of Disney/Universal Insider Marni's quotes from today on Magic....On the 10/1/22 date Disneyhead threw out for discussion , "It's very possible"..........On the proposed new dry park; "Nothing I can talk about yet. But it sounds wonderful"..."I've known about it for quite a while so you can bet they've had it ready to go for a long time. I wouldn't say I've seen the final design but what I do know does excite me".

 

[Magic-Man]

Just to add a few of Disney/Universal Insider Marni's quotes from today on Magic....On the 10/1/22 date Disneyhead threw out for discussion , "It's very possible"..........On the proposed new dry park; "Nothing I can talk about yet. But it sounds wonderful"..."I've known about it for quite a while so you can bet they've had it ready to go for a long time. I wouldn't say I've seen the final design but what I do know does excite me".

:whoo:

 

[Scott W.]

Just to add a few of Disney/Universal Insider Marni's quotes from today on Magic....On the 10/1/22 date Disneyhead threw out for discussion , "It's very possible"..........On the proposed new dry park; "Nothing I can talk about yet. But it sounds wonderful"..."I've known about it for quite a while so you can bet they've had it ready to go for a long time. I wouldn't say I've seen the final design but what I do know does excite me".

 

[captainmoch]

Not to mention Mega Con weekend will cause Park 3 to be absolutely slammed... especially if there's LOTR/Nintendo/etc.

 

[Mike S]

Not to mention Mega Con weekend will cause Park 3 to be absolutely slammed... especially if there's LOTR/Nintendo/etc.

I’m hoping for a Nintendo run convention like the old Space World.

 

[uiwansonic88]

If Universal opened a third park that had mostly dry attractions in Orlando in 2023, it would be changing from having 2 such parks in Orlando to 3 parks like that in Orlando in the same year in which Universal Orlando celebrates 33 years of running its first park in Orlando.

If Universal opened a new park that had mostly dry attractions in Orlando or China in 2024, Universal could be changing from having 5 such parks throughout the world to having 6 such parks through out the world in the same year in which 60 years will have passed since Universal began running the Universal Hollywood park.

If Universal opened a new park that had mostly dry attractions in Orlando or China in 2021, Universal could be changing from having 5 such parks throughout the world to having 6 such parks through out the world in the same year in which 106 years will have passed since Universal City along Lankershim Boulevard in California was created.

 

[Ridgepole]

opcorn: