Universal Plaza

[William]

Does anyone have any photos of what's going on behind the walls?

 

[Miss Betty Juice]

I will hopefully later this week.we'll see.

 

[William]

I will hopefully later this week.we'll see.

When are you planning on visiting this week?

 

[Allen The Actor]

^ I agree. I had hopes for early summer before, but considering the project is a bit more "complicated" than we expected before and considering they're going so slow, I don't see it.

Although early summer WOULD be smart to help ease upper lot congestion that'll be crazy during summer. After all, it's the Summer of Survival lol

 

[William]

Now that would truly suck. Honestly, I'm somewhat confused with the pace of this construction.. for the most part, things have been going pretty darn slow, but every now and then things seem to go at lightning speed for a few days.... and then back to sloth speed.  -_-

 

[Jon Fu]

^ I agree. I had hopes for early summer before, but considering the project is a bit more "complicated" than we expected before and considering they're going so slow, I don't see it.


Although early summer WOULD be smart to help ease upper lot congestion that'll be crazy during summer. After all, it's the Summer of Survival lol

Definitely. All of our sources pointed to a summer opening, but I doubt many - including ourselves - anticipated this much work. After all, if you look at the Evolution Plan, you can see that they didn't have much planned. I guess we were wrong.

 

[Miss Betty Juice]

Either a design change or someone goofed with the plans the first time and they realized there was more to worry about in typical universal fashion. =/

 

[Allen The Actor]

I'm gonna give Universal the benefit of the doubt and say that they changed plans last second to make it a nicer area that features more in it.

I hope....haha.

Still disappointed that there won't be a grassy park like area.

Will there still be adequate seating and shade structures?

As of now, what do we know/are guessing on?

Water Play Area: check

Some sort of stage areas. ???

Dining and merchandise: ???

 

[Jon Fu]

Dining, entertainment and water playground are confirmed.

 

[William]

Lots of shade? Universal Plaza's gonna be packed on peak days.

 

[UniversalFan]

I was really hoping for a grassy area, like at the Getty Center. 

 

[Please Remove]

I've heard there will be a Pink's there. Not a cart, but a permeant "shack" like the original. And that one building close to Animal Actors is sure looking like some kind of "backstage" area for shows. Tech booth, maybe dressing rooms or greenroom, small office?

 

[William]

Wasn't there a rumor about a Starbucks being placed?

 

[Miss Betty Juice]

Seeing recent pictures, I'm still leaning towards a Starbucks. The structure that looked like a tech area before is what I believe will be the Starbucks if a Starbucks is coming, as the curve and structure resembles the sign/entrance area of many current Starbucks storefronts - either that or I think it's another restaurant / fast dining option. There's a metal structure on the other side of plaza that looks more like the stage than the other structure does now. 

I was given a heads up from a source that several groups of outdoor vending / food cart employees have been scheduled for restaurant training shifts over the past few weeks. When the dining options were mentioned to a few employees, they were told that they would be staffed by the outdoor cart employees, rather than current dining employees. If a Starbucks and / or small fast dining option such as a Pink's shack is added, and they are training the cart employees for restaurant work, then it leads me to believe that they are training as many current employees with comparable previous experience as possible so that they can hit the ground running when plaza opens, instead of hiring all the summer employees and then trying to train them cold. They want to be fully ready to go when plaza opens.

 

[William]

Well I'm glad to know they're already preparing! Is there gonna be an announcement for Universal Plaza of any kind, whether it's a press announcement or through social media?

 

[Allen The Actor]

So...will any part of Universal Plaza actually resemble or look like/act like a park? And will there be any "central" icon/structure? I'm assuming the water area will be central?

 

[William]

So...will any part of Universal Plaza actually resemble or look like/act like a park? And will there be any "central" icon/structure? I'm assuming the water area will be central?

Most likely nothing on the scale of the Partner Statue at Disney. I don't mind if we don't have a central point in the park - as long as it's a welcoming environment with new things to do, I'm all for it.

 

[Allen The Actor]

I agree but I still wish it will act as a central point for the upper lot.

 

[William]

I was kinda leaning on that side of the argument a while back, but at this point I don't care if we have one or not. The Upper Lot isn't terribly hard to navigate, though it wouldn't hurt to have some sort of waypoint for lost guests.

 

[Allen The Actor]

Good to know I just couldn't tell anymore with all the new structures.

I'm curious what the buildings/structures and their facades will be themed like. Like, will they have the same Spanish inspired look of the entrance stores, will it blend more into the nearby New York facades, or London/french facades, or will it have the generic Studio building look of the refurbished lower lot buildings?