Universal's Epic Universe General News & Discussion

[Brian G.]

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?

About 7-8 years but that is an extreme example that is unlikely at the present moment.

 

[JoeCamel]

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?

I think even with a recession (2-3 years til recovery) they will go ahead as long as they can operate the existing parks. If we are still dealing with closures I think you can kiss the parks and orlando bye.

@SeventyOne raised this point on twitter eariler today that there is a possibility that the theme park business will fold if we have extended closures.

 

[Magic-Man]

I hate this timeline.

 

[Jerroddragon]

wow...thats insane to think a third park would cost less to just let sit there then make it.

Heck the park would not be open until all this is over but this really sucks for people in Florida pushing back Nintendoland which would kill me if here in CA does the same

 

[Parkscope Joe]

@SeventyOne raised this point on twitter eariler today that there is a possibility that the theme park business will fold if we have extended closures.

I mean Cedar Fair and Six Flags have said they can weather this through 2021 so, no. Big fat no.

 

[Evan]

I hate this timeline.

Me too. 2016 onward has been the weirdest timeline. Who messed with it? Who was time travelling and ruined everything?! (I may have been watching Star Trek Voyager lately, the timeline episodes always stress me out).

 

[Mad Dog]

This will probably be a very uneven recession. The areas that will suffer the most will be anything involved with tourism/travel/entertainment. But, even with this heavy unemployment, there's many areas of the country that don't have a sky high unemployment rate, and didn't lock down their economies to the extent that others did. The recovery will therefore be very uneven also. No way Orlando bounces back this year though, they're too theme park oriented. But, if the overall US economy rebounds sometime in 2021, or 2022 latest , Comcast will probably base their decision on that, since people will be ready to vacation heavily to make up for lost time..One big difference on this recession, it was purposely manufactured with a lock down, since that was the advice the pandemic experts gave.. That's a big difference from a recession resulting from intrinsic economic issues. ...The economy always bounces back, no matter how dark the downturn was.

 

[Evan]

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,

Very true. We can hope any delay means they really fine tune all plans and they create the best product possible.

 

[JoeCamel]

This will probably be a very uneven recession. The areas that will suffer the most will be anything involved with tourism/travel/entertainment. But, even with this heavy unemployment, there's many areas of the country that don't have a sky high unemployment rate, and didn't lock down their economies to the extent that others did. The recovery will therefore be very uneven also. No way Orlando bounces back this year though, they're too theme park oriented. But, if the overall US economy rebounds sometime in 2021, or 2022 latest , Comcast will probably base their decision on that, since people will be ready to vacation heavily to make up for lost time..One big difference on this recession, it was purposely manufactured with a lock down, since that was the advice the pandemic experts gave.. That's a big difference from a recession resulting from intrinsic economic issues. ...The economy always bounces back, no matter how dark the downturn was.

I agree that the economy will come back and in a much shorter timeframe than the housing recession did (thanks FED) but there will still be a number of small business and even mid that will not make it out the other side and those are the ones that employ a bunch of people that are one or two paychecks from being out on the street. It will not be business as usual in Florida anytime soon and there is a lot of pain to come. We are just getting started with this.

 

[Brian G.]

Something to keep in mind:

The economy's dive is a direct correlation to the pandemic. Most analysts are predicting a U-shape or even a check-shape recovery, and that is all dependent on a formidable treatment or vaccine. Universal was in worse shape in 2008's recession and remained invested in Potter to come out the other side shining bright. Obviously, with the large investment that is EU, they're playing it more cautiously than the first Wizarding World.

Again, just sayin', I don't think today's quotes are a sign of further delays just yet.

 

[viking_wizard_eyes]

EU actually has the unique opportunity to provide a template for the first post-COVID theme park resort. Obviously not the ideal circumstance, but also, they can kinda lead the direction of where things go from here. Continuing to build a park that was scaled and designed in a pre-COVID world would be crazy, imo. Current cost of construction has a lot to do with it, no doubt, but maybe the're going back to the drawing board and trying to rethink how this park operates on an enterprise level?

 

[Alicia]

EU actually has the unique opportunity to provide a template for the first post-COVID theme park resort. Obviously not the ideal circumstance, but also, they can kinda lead the direction of where things go from here. Continuing to build a park that was scaled and designed in a pre-COVID world would be crazy, imo. Current cost of construction has a lot to do with it, no doubt, but maybe the're going back to the drawing board and trying to rethink how this park operates on an enterprise level?

Once we get through to the other side of things, however we get there, I feel like there won't be as many permanent changes as some are fearing. I don't foresee movie theaters ripping out half their seating, or queues to put down labels for users to keep 6 feet apart for the rest of forever.

We may be, I don't know, 5+ years away from getting back to 100% normal, but other than everyone being a little more cognizant about washing your hands more frequently, and maybe engaging in less hand shakes, I'm not sure I see too many big changes to human activity, especially in the entertainment and leisure sectors.

 

[Brian G.]

Once we get through to the other side of things, however we get there, I feel like there won't be as many permanent changes as some are fearing. I don't foresee movie theaters ripping out half their seating, or queues to put down labels for users to keep 6 feet apart for the rest of forever.

We may be, I don't know, 5+ years away from getting back to 100% normal, but other than everyone being a little more cognizant about washing your hands more frequently, and maybe engaging in less hand shakes, I'm not sure I see too many big changes to human activity, especially in the entertainment and leisure sectors.

Agreed 100%. Once a vaccine is developed, we're off to the races of normalcy. The amount of time of recovery is anyone's guess, and is likely tied to however long the lockdown is. After that, we're not looking at anything beyond what you've said.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

I said this in the entertainment thread, and idk how easy this would be to pull off, BUT, if this gets delayed to 2025+, which I don't think but anything is a possibility right now, than I don't see how SNW doesn't takeover kid zone, especially since it was designed to fit that space anyways, so it wouldn't be a difficult transition. The question would be what replaces it but main point being, I don't see Universal waiting past 2025 for SNW and Mario Kart to be in Orlando. I could see it opening in kid zone in 2023/2024 when hopefully tourism is a bit on the uptick though.

 

[Brian G.]

I said this in the entertainment thread, and idk how easy this would be to pull off, BUT, if this gets delayed to 2025+, which I don't think but anything is a possibility right now, than I don't see how SNW doesn't takeover kid zone, especially since it was designed to fit that space anyways, so it wouldn't be a difficult transition. The question would be what replaces it but main point being, I don't see Universal waiting past 2025 for SNW and Mario Kart to be in Orlando. I could see it opening in kid zone in 2023/2024 when hopefully tourism is a bit on the uptick though.

SNW will anchor the new park. The only way SNW is coming back to IOA or USF is if they outright cancel EU.

 

[Alicia]

I said this in the entertainment thread, and idk how easy this would be to pull off, BUT, if this gets delayed to 2025+, which I don't think but anything is a possibility right now, than I don't see how SNW doesn't takeover kid zone, especially since it was designed to fit that space anyways, so it wouldn't be a difficult transition. The question would be what replaces it but main point being, I don't see Universal waiting past 2025 for SNW and Mario Kart to be in Orlando. I could see it opening in kid zone in 2023/2024 when hopefully tourism is a bit on the uptick though.

If they're holding back on the new park due to a lack of tourism or a dip in the economy, you should expect all other large projects that haven't already started to also be paused. If they can start one, they can start the other.

 

[Scott W.]

wow...thats insane to think a third park would cost less to just let sit there then make it.

Heck the park would not be open until all this is over but this really sucks for people in Florida pushing back Nintendoland which would kill me if here in CA does the same

The impression I get is that this is mostly a cash flow issue, not that the demand won't eventually be there for this. Most people right now are probably not buying anything excessive since they don't know when things are going to return to normal. Outside of groceries, I've barely spent a penny since lockdown started (Not that there's much to spend money on anyway)

Something to keep in mind:

The economy's dive is a direct correlation to the pandemic. Most analysts are predicting a U-shape or even a check-shape recovery, and that is all dependent on a formidable treatment or vaccine. Universal was in worse shape in 2008's recession and remained invested in Potter to come out the other side shining bright. Obviously, with the large investment that is EU, they're playing it more cautiously than the first Wizarding World.

Again, just sayin', I don't think today's quotes are a sign of further delays just yet.

It's going to be interesting to see how the economy rebounds. Everybody is jacked up and wanting to just go and get back on with life, maybe even excessively get back into everything to make up for lost time.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

If they're holding back on the new park due to a lack of tourism or a dip in the economy, you should expect all other large projects that haven't already started to also be paused. If they can start one, they can start the other.

That's very true, I'm more thinking worst case scenario like, 2026/2027 type thing. If it takes 2 years for the economy to begin to bounce back for normal and crowd levels to grow again that may take a year, which then puts us in 2023, that'd be a few years out from EU and they'd need to advertise something. You're right though, everything likely just gets pushed back.

 

[JungleSkip]

If they're holding back on the new park due to a lack of tourism or a dip in the economy, you should expect all other large projects that haven't already started to also be paused. If they can start one, they can start the other.

I don’t agree with this. I almost guarantee if EU is indefinitely put off we see Nintendo in USF, because Nintendo is going to damn well expect Nintendo World in Orlando sooner rather than later.

 

[Alicia]

I don’t agree with this. I almost guarantee if EU is indefinitely put off we see Nintendo in USF, because Nintendo is going to damn well expect Nintendo World in Orlando sooner rather than later.

If SNW isn’t in the new park, that probably means the new park has been cancelled. In which case, sure, put it in KidsZone.