Universal's Epic Universe General News & Discussion

[devinp267]

As for EU getting delayed, had a feeling it would happen at some point, but a year delay isn't bad at all. Though I will admit, I'm curious how some people (not on here), are equating a year delay to "It may not happen this decade...", or it may be largely cancelled. It's like they're acting as if Uni stopped construction completely when this whole thing began...I think they're getting their wires crossed with somewhere a little southwest.

Right.. I think people need to realize that the theme parks (I'm pretty sure) are comcast's least profitable division, but has proven to bring in the money and close the gap with competitors. They know this park is going to be a smash, it will be built by any means necessary Covid will not be bad enough to cancel this project.

 

[OLSinFLA]

Right.. I think people need to realize that the theme parks (I'm pretty sure) are comcast's least profitable division, but has proven to bring in the money and close the gap with competitors. They know this park is going to be a smash, it will be built by any means necessary Covid will not be bad enough to cancel this project.

Theme parks, as a rule, aren't always the biggest profit makers, but are the most reliable, even for Disney. TV and films are a gamble, but parks generally remain a steady, profitable income. The downside is they always require new stuff, so the balance is to add something to increase profit, while not overdoing the costs.

When Disney last posted a yearly loss, for example (1960) it wasn't the theme parks that did it. All it took was one film. "Sleeping Beauty"

 

[kingcooger]

You know, I waited two and a half hours for this ride when my family was visiting California, and even though I was firmly in the thrill ride age group that should have loved this, I just remember it as being a disappointment. Watching this video really brought back memories of how much of a let down this attraction was as well as how ugly Tomorrowland looked in that era. Thank you for the reminder.

So, to sum up, one year delay, it's still under construction, FB might not be FB anymore, and maybe this was all a ploy because they got over zealous with their timeline. Did I miss anything else of note?

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

Did I miss anything else of note?

Probably that Universal isn't the only one doing this kind of ploy. I imagine there are lots of projects that were delayed and canceled now because COVID provided a convenient excuse that wouldn't ruffle any feathers.

EDIT: I.E there were projects that would have been delayed or were on the verge of being delayed and now have a ready-made justification for that delay

 

[Happytycho]

I have no clue how relevant this still is after the delay, but apparently Universal snuck one by us earlier this year in getting approval for a new ~500 space parking lot near the UEU site under the name "Universal North Campus Staging-Parking Area":



The area in question can now be seen as the upper-right-most cleared area in this recent aerial from Bioreconstruct:

 

[Mad Dog]

I have no clue how relevant this still is after the delay, but apparently Universal snuck one by us earlier this year in getting approval for a new ~500 space parking lot near the UEU site under the name "Universal North Campus Staging-Parking Area":



The area in question can now be seen as the upper-right-most cleared area in this recent aerial from Bioreconstruct:

Nice find. :thumbsup:

 

[Disneyhead]

Just to give a different reason for the delay, I'm hearing the reason isn't changes to the park's content, but because the estimated completion date for the park and the estimated completion date for the infrastructure (roads) wasn't lining up. They said that Universal was ahead of the County. That is why the road construction is continuing. And Universal is taking advantage of suspending construction to save money now because of Covid-19

 

[Mad Dog]

Just to give a different reason, I'm hearing the reason for the delay isn't changes to the park's content, but because the estimated completion date for the park and the estimated completion date for the infrastructure (roads) wasn't lining up. They said that Universal was ahead of the County. That is why the road construction is continuing.

Sounds like that could be accurate. Your sources are generally pretty solid.Though it may mean more of delaying completion than suspending construction. ....Interesting, since the road completion issue is a topic we had discussed previously on IU, and the fact the roads might not be ready for a 2023 opening. Seems like the IU Forum is generally a good predictor for Universal goings on.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Just to give a different reason for the delay, I'm hearing the reason isn't changes to the park's content, but because the estimated completion date for the park and the estimated completion date for the infrastructure (roads) wasn't lining up. They said that Universal was ahead of the County. That is why the road construction is continuing. And Universal is taking advantage of suspending construction to save money now because of Covid-19

Theyre not suspending construction, Bios pics today show work going on.

 

[Scott W.]

Just to give a different reason for the delay, I'm hearing the reason isn't changes to the park's content, but because the estimated completion date for the park and the estimated completion date for the infrastructure (roads) wasn't lining up. They said that Universal was ahead of the County. That is why the road construction is continuing. And Universal is taking advantage of suspending construction to save money now because of Covid-19

A bit ironic given that they're trying to speed up the roadworks due to COVID making the roads quieter than normal.

 

[GoUCFKnights]

A bit ironic given that they're trying to speed up the roadworks due to COVID making the roads quieter than normal.

Since this is a new road and not an expansion that needs to worry about times of lane closures, there isn't an opportunity to speed up road construction. Infact, since they want to accelerate other roads where they have a temporary benefit of less traffic, it could direct resources away from this one.

 

[Evan]

Construction is indeed halted.

Construction of the new Epic Universe theme park in Orlando won’t resume until the nation’s economy begins to revive, a key leader of Universal Orlando’s parent company said Wednesday.

“All things considered, it’s a big capital swing, so better to really march forward with that when we have just a bit more visibility on what’s going on with the economy post-COVID,” Comcast Chief Financial Officer Mike Cavanagh said during a virtual interview at the J.P. Morgan Investor Conference. “I can’t tell you when that’s going to be when we revisit it.”

When asked, Cavanagh stressed Universal is delaying the project, not rethinking whether to do it at all.

“The confidence is high," he said. "It’s a great project.”

Comcast revealed on April 30 the work was stopping at what will be Universal’s third theme park gate in Orlando. Original plans called for it to open in 2023.

 

[NuteGunrayWasFramed]

What’s incredibly wild about this situation is that new build construction is INCREDIBLY cheap right now.

 

[Evan]

What’s incredibly wild about this situation is new build construction is INCREDIBLY cheap right now.

From the article, it makes it sound like they aren't willing to take on the risk of a new build right now, with the current economic outlook. Many analysts think it could be years before things get back to normal, and I assume Comcast is looking at that and has trepidation on maintaining profitability on their existing parks first before diving in here.

We are in a weird timeline right now... The last time this sort of economic/travel disaster happened, theme park investment/development all but died for years and years. Let's hope this isn't the case.

 

[Scott W.]

From the article, it makes it sound like they aren't willing to take on the risk of a new build right now, with the current economic outlook. Many analysts think it could be years before things get back to normal, and I assume Comcast is looking at that and has trepidation on maintaining profitability on their existing parks first before diving in here.

We are in a weird timeline right now... The last time this sort of economic/travel disaster happened, theme park investment/development all but died for years and years. Let's hope this isn't the case.

Even if it does take years to return to normal, it also takes years to build this park.

If construction else where is coming to a halt, there’s probably deals to be made to bring the cost down.

Plus, having a new park for the time things return to normal is a huge advantage to Universal when attracting returning guests.

 

[Brian G.]

From the article, it makes it sound like they aren't willing to take on the risk of a new build right now, with the current economic outlook. Many analysts think it could be years before things get back to normal, and I assume Comcast is looking at that and has trepidation on maintaining profitability on their existing parks first before diving in here.

We are in a weird timeline right now... The last time this sort of economic/travel disaster happened, theme park investment/development all but died for years and years. Let's hope this isn't the case.

We were talking about this in the Corona Tourism thread but I'll state it again to take the convo here.

Basically, "Hey, the economy is crap right now. We'll build once the economy starts to recover".

In the general scheme of things, the economy hasn't changed since they originally announced the year delay - so my line of thinking is the delay already takes what they're talking about into account. We're just getting a more detailed answer today from the CFO. I'm not saying there can't, or won't, be a delay; but pointing out that I don't think its time to start down that line of thinking after today's quotes.

Had we not known about the year delay already, we'd probably be saying 2024 today. As far as I'm concerned, we're still looking at the year delay as of now.

 

[Alicia]

I don't blame them, like he said, they're at a point where it's easy to stop and pause, as vertical construction hasn't even begun yet. Will be interesting to see how this plays out. It could be outright cancelled, like Universal's previous attempt to develop on this land, (strangely enough). The plans could be could be tweaked and we might see major changes to the lineup by the time it starts up again, depending on how long they wait. Or it could go right back to where they left off like nothing ever happened if they feel confident in a tourism rebound to coincide with its opening timeframe. There's no way they know yet, so of course it's hard for us to predict as well.

 

[Scott W.]

All Universal need is a sign that things are getting better to green light the project once again and I don't see that taking over a year.

 

[Evan]

I don't blame them, like he said, they're at a point where it's easy to stop and pause, as vertical construction hasn't even begun yet. Will be interesting to see how this plays out. It could be outright cancelled, like Universal's previous attempt to develop on this land, (strangely enough). The plans could be could be tweaked and we might see major changes to the lineup by the time it starts up again, depending on how long they wait. Or it could go right back to where they left off like nothing ever happened if they feel confident in a tourism rebound to coincide with its opening timeframe. There's no way they know yet, so of course it's hard for us to predict as well.

I definitely don't think they will cancel this, at least I hope not. But I do fear the delays could become severe depending on the feared economic
recession.

I'm picturing a pop century abandonment/delay. How long did it take until they finally finished that site and made it Art of Animation?

 

[Alicia]

I definitely don't think they will cancel this, at least I hope not. But I do fear the delays could become severe depending on the feared economic recession. I'm picturing a pop century abandonment.

Weirdly I feel like what we ended up getting in place of the Pop Century was better. Not to compare your example to this situation, but as odd as it is admitting, that one ended up better than what it would've been had it not be abandoned for so long after 9/11,