Universal's New Park/Site B Blue Sky Thread

[Imperius]

Oh interesting. As in we have insiders who already know what some of the concepts may be?

Not saying our insiders, but just UC.

 

[shiekra38]

So I'm assuming the lands are already known by some people of this new park seeing this opening date.

I'm sure there is a good idea, if you know anything about IOA, stuff changed constantly...So who knows what we'll actually get...I'm sure stuff will start leaking shortly before an announcement...And by shortly, I mean 6 months haha

 

[Imperius]

Hoping so

 

[jseal777]

Wait are we talking about Orlando or China?

 

[zg44]

Wait are we talking about Orlando or China?

Beijing is being built, so that Phase 1 is fully designed even though they're using placeholder images in public to prevent IP/design theft (rampant in China).

As for Orlando, they're theorizing that UC has designs for the new dry theme park, CityWalk, and 2+ hotels; I'd imagine UC at least has some semblence of how they want that to look in the context of the 475 acres (and possibly future land acquisition), even though they haven't broke ground yet.

 

[Scott W.]

I'm pretty schlitterbahn is already trying to come to Florida and that is European themed.

As for waterpark theme I have two themes which have not been done ever:

I would want an indoor fantasy space-based waterpark with the roof being a planetarium. You travel through exotic extraterrestrial planets visiting each one some safe and friendly while others dark and dangerous. You never know what may come as you travel in...the final frontier.

Second theme would be an Indoor gothic horror themed waterpark. Ever since I read the drop box patent for the waterslide concept and they mentioned it filling up and the water turning red, I thought that would be really cool.

I'm still hitting on the indoor part due to the fact Orlando is lacking and according to most people after it rains, VB tends to empty out which means lot of revenue lost which means less nice things for us.

That sounds badass. I watched Contact last night as well, so I think I have a good idea of how you would want it to look.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I believe 2022 is the goal. They want it after the 50th to swing the attention back to Universal after Disney's big blow out.

Hmmmm. I'm willing to bet WDW does a Millennium of 100 Years and makes the start of the birthday the beginning of a 18 month celebration. Oct 1 2021 to Dec 31 2022.

 

[Nick]

Hmmmm. I'm willing to bet WDW does a Millennium of 100 Years and makes the start of the birthday the beginning of a 18 month celebration. Oct 1 2021 to Dec 31 2022.

That's pretty much what Disneyland did for the 60th.

 

[Mike S]

Hmmmm. I'm willing to bet WDW does a Millennium of 100 Years and makes the start of the birthday the beginning of a 18 month celebration. Oct 1 2021 to Dec 31 2022.

Wouldn't that be 14 months?

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Wouldn't that be 14 months?

It's too early to count. And we're both wrong, it's actually 15 months!

 

[JungleSkip]

I believe 2022 is the goal. They want it after the 50th to swing the attention back to Universal after Disney's big blow out.

2022 would probably be during the 50th, but 2022 seems about right.

 

[zg44]

Based on those WDW dates, wouldn't March-April of 2023 make the most sense for a new Universal gate? You could iron out the kinks by May/June as the travel season kicks off and pretty much have the focus of tourists after WDW has finished its run of expansion/anniversary years.

 

[quinnmac000]

Based on those WDW dates, wouldn't March-April of 2023 make the most sense for a new Universal gate? You could iron out the kinks by May/June as the travel season kicks off and pretty much have the focus of tourists after WDW has finished its run of expansion/anniversary years.

Why do it afterwards when you can do it during and steal people already coming to Disney for the 50th? While Disney has a lot of repeat visitors most people do the vacation every few years then come back because expensive. You alter their travel plans to now include a few days to Universal, Universal still makes bank.

 

[zg44]

Why do it afterwards when you can do it during and steal people already coming to Disney for the 50th? While Disney has a lot of repeat visitors most people do the vacation every few years then come back because expensive. You alter their travel plans to now include a few days to Universal, Universal still makes bank.

It typically takes years to ramp up a park's attendance (granted that's based on past models and there's no recent comparable example among major US parks). I'm not sure what Universal's expectations are, but I'd expect around 7-8m (annualized) visitors in the park's first year and then 3-5 year ramp up to a target around 10m+ per year as you build word of mouth/advertising/repeat visitors over time.

Just feel like they shouldn't risk competing with Disney's 50th when a new park launch on this scale is something of a 3-5 year launch, not something you try to win all in year 1.

You make a fair point though that 2022 will probably be as busy a year for Orlando as there's ever been, so that's a factor in favor of 2022 but I'm not sure if a new park needs that to support it.

 

[epcyclopedia]

It typically takes years to ramp up a park's attendance (granted that's based on past models and there's no recent comparable example among major US parks). I'm not sure what Universal's expectations are, but I'd expect around 7-8m (annualized) visitors in the park's first year and then 3-5 year ramp up to a target around 10m+ per year as you build word of mouth/advertising/repeat visitors over time.

Just feel like they shouldn't risk competing with Disney's 50th when a new park launch on this scale is something of a 3-5 year launch, not something you try to win all in year 1.

You make a fair point though that 2022 will probably be as busy a year for Orlando as there's ever been, so that's a factor in favor of 2022 but I'm not sure if a new park needs that to support it.

DCA and Epcot were both projected at about 6million. Epcot exceeded it, DCA couldn't muster it.

 

[zg44]

DCA and Epcot were both projected at about 6million. Epcot exceeded it, DCA couldn't muster it.

Yeah, I think expectations are a fair bit higher for the next park because of the size of the Orlando tourism market projected in the 2020s (we can reasonably expect UOF and IoA to be pulling over 11-12m each annually by then with the 4 WDW parks pulling a combined 65-70m or so).

Theoretically, the baseline for a 3rd dry park (larger in acreage than UOF or IoA with comparable IP) should be around 7-8m for the first year around 2023.

 

[GAcoaster]

That sounds badass. I watched Contact last night as well, so I think I have a good idea of how you would want it to look.

Pensacola

 

[AlexanderMBush]

Yeah, I think expectations are a fair bit higher for the next park because of the size of the Orlando tourism market projected in the 2020s (we can reasonably expect UOF and IoA to be pulling over 11-12m each annually by then with the 4 WDW parks pulling a combined 65-70m or so).

Theoretically, the baseline for a 3rd dry park (larger in acreage than UOF or IoA with comparable IP) should be around 7-8m for the first year around 2023.

UOF? It's USF, not UOF.

People don't say UHC when it comes to Hollywood.

That said, I would be shocked if Gate IV would open after 2022.

 

[quinnmac000]

Kid Horror Land if they include this as well as Coraline/Paranorman?

DreamWorks Animation, Blumhouse Team For Animated Pic ‘Spooky Jack’ | Deadline

 

[zg44]

UOF? It's USF, not UOF.

People don't say UHC when it comes to Hollywood.

That said, I would be shocked if Gate IV would open after 2022.

Yeah, brain fart on my part there.

As far as dates go, I don't think anything would shock me in the early/mid-2020s; there's a couple things that might need to be settled one way or another (the pending court case, further land purchases, etc.) before things are definitive.