Universal's New Park/Site B Blue Sky Thread

[JoeCamel]

This^

Theme park board logic:

Harry Potter, who only has one movie over $1 billion worldwide, gets a land in every park they own. Absolutely!

Jurrassic Park/World which has two movies over $1 Billion including one that was the second biggest ever when it came out, and one that is the 4th biggest domestic and worldwide currently. Never!

Yeah I get there is a difference in the IP's, but it's not out of the question that it would have two lands.

Also Potter propelled JKR to the best earning author ever. People voted with their wallets and bought her stuff.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

Doing a redux..

Spoiler: UGIV Idea - Redux

Park Name: Universal's Plains of Wonder

Theme: Taking a page off of Tokyo Disneysea, Universal's Plains of Wonder would base itself around a world that has wonder of various kinds, and wonder's that come from various stories. From the biggest to the smallest, this park would bring in a mix of Family adventures with thrills; along with immersing you into the stories that you enter. And that the icon of the park, is a mountain; with designs similar to the Alps of Europe. This would also connect with the opening land of the park.

Area 1: Alpine Harbor/Mount Winken

• Alpine Harbor, similar to TokyoDisneySea, would barrow inspiration of that, but with the environment feeling more like a spacious village, with dozens upon dozens of homes (which would hide the hotel, and giving hotel guests views. There would also be something similar to the Skipper Tours of Islands, with one of the docks at Alpine Harbor, allowing guests to have a mode of transportation all throughout the land
• Multiple shops, dining, and live entertainment would reside, inviting and welcoming guests into the park in ways that are enticing and giving respect
• There would be a large seating area for the show's nighttime spectacular here, along with a stage that can be used for the park openings and other live shows throughout the day.
• Mount Winken, translated from German to be Mount Beckon would be similar to Mysterious Island, would house a version of the originally planned "Grinch" coaster, with indoor/outdoor elements, as it would follow an original story of a sled ride that goes astray when the forces of nature collide; and that guests encounter not only the blizzard, but also what lurked beneath the mountains
• The second attraction would be a dark ride, with guests traversing in the caverns of Mount Winken to discover the beauty of the caves, and encounter creatures of all kinds
• Has a transportation stop
• The mountain would be at 160 feet high, being a landmark of the park and the property

Area 2: Super Nintendo World: Castle Hyrule

• Castle Hyrule, would transport guests to Castle Hyrule, and that guests would be transported into the world of Zelda. In this, guests would have multiple shops, dining, and two attractions for young and old.
• The E-Ticket, is a interactive dark ride with guests going with Link to stop the evil Ganon from his wrath onto Hyrule, and that guests go through multiple locations from the franchise; leading to a showdown between Link, Ganon, and the Guests.
• The second attraction, would be a transportation attraction; allowing guests to have a look of various spots of Castle Hyrule, and even getting glimpses of certain show-scenes from the Zelda E-Ticket.
• Has no Transportation stop

Area 3: The Wild's of Pokemon

• This would be the first of three "pavilion" lands, as The Wilds of Pokemon would feature three "Micro-lands", off of three of the most iconic aspects of Pokemon
• One attraction, would be a interactive family dark ride, based off of Pokemon Snap, as the attraction uses AR and practical environments for you to find and take photos of various Pokemon from the series, while in a ride vehicle. AA's would also be incorporated in the attraction as-well as Projection Mapping technology
• The Second, would be an Ollivanders like experience where you get to fight with another player in a simulated Pokemon Arena. And, with use of a smartphone or handheld Nintendo Console; you can have your Pokemon come with you, and fight other Pokemon all throughout the land
• The Third, would be the Flight of Passage of Pokemon, allowing you to ride ontop of a Charizard and fly in a simulator of high motion

Area 4: Sci-Fi Metropolis

• The Second of the Pavilion Lands, this would be the smallest of the lands; but would offer three attractions for those of the thrill
• The first, would be a interlocking dueling coaster based off of Battlestar Galactica; using the layout from Singapore but theming it off of the upcoming movie
• The second, with be a multi-media dark ride based off of Star Trek, using the cabin concept from Avengers at IMG; the attraction would take guests to different locations from the series, with the cast of the remake trilogy along with the guests
• The Third, would be a Doctor Who Trackless shooter dark ride, as guests fight against the Daleks and Cyber-Men in an all new attraction.
• Attaches to a transportation stop

Area 5: Festival of DreamWork's

• The Third of the Pavilion land's, with three mini-lands
• E-Ticket Shrek family water ride, and small Far Far Away section
• the Kung Fu Panda 4-D attraction with a immersive area based off of Gongmen City, with high class dining
• Berk Mini-land with a 1 hour Dinner Show, where guests can eat and watch the dragons; with them being able to meet with Hiccup, Astrid, along with Nightfury and the dragons and a Mack launched family Hyper with 4 seating (with the two side seats being similar to Sky Rush on that they are floorless)
• Stop for Transportation

Area 6: The City of Lights

• The first area to the left of the park, this would be heavily based off of the second film; with tall landscapes of buildings in french architecture and highly themed sections of the land
• E-Ticket attraction to be a Multimedia Dark ride, with the use of the Pandora's Box ride system, the attraction takes guests on a journey with Newt, Dumbledore, Tina, Queenie, and Jacob needing the help of guests as they fight against Grindlewald and the original Death Eaters. A scene of guests in Newt's suitcase would be shown, but that would not be the focus
• Would include within it, a large Broadway style theater that could be interchangeable for various shows of Universal's choosing that could be an 45-55 minute show
• Has a nighttime light show using projection
• Stop for Transportation

Other notes:

• The Nighttime Spectacular, would be of a celebration of the elements seen in the park; and that the places of Wonder in Magic, Dreams, Futures, Exploration, and Adventures would all come to circle in a nighttime show of water, pyro, projection mapping, and fire.
• Marketing would highly go for Middle Earth, Pokemon, Fantastic Beasts, and Zelda; but to also mention DreamWorks and the various Sci-Fi IP's.

 

[Dinoman96]

I suppose the thing with Harry Potter is that Diagon Alley is meant to be an extension of Hogsmeade; They're even connected together by the train. Jurassic World would be a completely seperated land from Jurassic Park.

Another problem is, both Potter areas are basically the same in terms of quality as far as theming goes. If Universal were to design Jurassic World with the same love and care they put into Potter, it would completely outclass JP back in IOA and make it feel even more outdated than it is now.

That is, unless Uni decided to revamp Jurassic Park as well...

 

[captainmoch]

Honestly, I want JW as a new, completely separate land from JP for the same reason that Star Wars: Galaxy Edge is a new, completely separate land from Star Tours. They could do so, so much better from a theme and attraction perspective without having to shove a round peg into a square hole and theme it around the existing things.

 

[zg44]

I suppose the thing with Harry Potter is that Diagon Alley is meant to be an extension of Hogsmeade; They're even connected together by the train. Jurassic World would be a completely seperated land from Jurassic Park.

Another problem is, both Potter areas are basically the same in terms of quality as far as theming goes. If Universal were to design Jurassic World with the same love and care they put into Potter, it would completely outclass JP back in IOA and make it feel even more outdated than it is now.

That is, unless Uni decided to revamp Jurassic Park as well...

I think JP changes are inevitable in some sense. Given that Universal Beijing is likely to get a fully updated version of Jurassic World, we should probably just wait until we see what they get and whether that's better as a replacement for JP in IoA or as a completely separate land in the next park.

JW made over $200m in China, and the older Jurassic Park movies aren't anywhere near as relevant there. Plus, you'd want to promote the JW franchise since that's the one that has a couple of new movies coming out over the next decade. So I'd be surprised if they didn't get a fully updated Jurassic World Gyrosphere experience.

The bigger question for Universal will be what to do about the other parks; JP nostalgia still exists among the older crowd in the US/Japan, so for Orlando there might be serious consideration to putting it in a separate park and keeping JP and maybe updating it later.

 

[Scott W.]

I think JP changes are inevitable in some sense. Given that Universal Beijing is likely to get a fully updated version of Jurassic World, we should probably just wait until we see what they get and whether that's better as a replacement for JP in IoA or as a completely separate land in the next park.

JW made over $200m in China, and the older Jurassic Park movies aren't anywhere near as relevant there. Plus, you'd want to promote the JW franchise since that's the one that has a couple of new movies coming out over the next decade. So I'd be surprised if they didn't get a fully updated Jurassic World Gyrosphere experience.

The bigger question for Universal will be what to do about the other parks; JP nostalgia still exists among the older crowd in the US/Japan, so for Orlando there might be serious consideration to putting it in a separate park and keeping JP and maybe updating it later.

While on the topic of Beijing, if we use their timeline for this park and they made an announcement today, the park would begin construction in 2 years with an opening date in 2023.

 

[Magic-Man]

Can we please get something like this? Please?

 

[belloq87]

These proposals for the next (I refuse to say 4th) theme park are a lot of fun to read! I might have to work up my own.

But come on, guys... find a way to fit in The Great Universal Movie Ride somewhere!

 

[Alicia]

But come on, guys... find a way to fit in The Great Universal Movie Ride somewhere!

When they finally completely give up on filming at the Studios, one of the double-wide sounstages would work well for a ride like that. With an entrance at the Production Central gates near Fallon.

 

[belloq87]

When they finally completely give up on filming at the Studios, one of the double-wide sounstages would work well for a ride like that. With an entrance at the Production Central gates near Fallon.

Oh, something at USF would be the optimal choice, for sure. And I've been counting the days until those soundstages might come into play for attraction expansion.

 

[shiekra38]

Can we please get something like this? Please?

Basically anything at that park would be welcomed

Although you may get your wish with the new HP coaster, just inside rather than outside

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Updated my version of gate 3:

Spoiler

Universal’s Wonder Mountain

The entire park is a Disneyland style park with a mountain acting as the divider and the icon of the park, right in the middle.


The Oasis

Themed as desert oasis with a central small lake in the middle. Think of Port of Entry but a lake splitting both sides. Architecture is a ‘whimsical’ take of Arabic/Middle Eastern architecture.

The standard main park general store, several unique shops selling other items, cafes, 1 counter service restaurant and a table service restaurant.

Does contain a theater for indoor shows that can be switched in every couple of years.


DreamWorks Village

Fantasyland Style area of the park with subsections to each area with a general cohesive theme of a forest.

Far Far Away

Copy of Singapore without Shrek 4D and Puss in Boots coaster

Attractions:

Shrek Adventure- Family Dark Ride, ala Classic Fantasyland

Dragon Express- Vekoma Junior Coaster replica of Singapore’s

Dumbo Flat Ride

Meet and Greet buffet style restaurant inside the castle. Shops making up the main street area.

Madagascar

Copy of Singapore

Attractions:

Madagascar Crate Adventure- Singapore but better and a small drop

King Julian’s Carousel- Carousel

A shop that’s the exit for the Crate Adventure and a stand themed like Marty’s from the movie

How to Train Your Dragon

Small village of Burk

Attractions:

Hiccup’s Flying Journey- Indoor Family Inverted Coaster

Shop acting as exit as well as a shop selling Universal’s own version of the Banshees

Kung Fu Panda

Themed after Po’s Village; the smallest area of the land

Attractions:

Indoor Dodo Show- ala Jedi Training Academy

Counter Service restaurant themed, Ping’s Noodle Shop, and a gift shop


Sci-Fi City

Futuristic Metropolis that can fit any IP Uni can fit

Attractions:

Star Trek- trackless dark ride

Battlestar Galactica- indoor SFX coaster



Europa

Mix of European architectures, think Epcot but in a smaller scale

Attractions:

Doctor Who- Dark Ride

Fantastic Beasts- Tower of Terror style, smaller drop, and more show scenes

Shops and a Counter Service


Emerald Bay

The 2nd and only original land with attractions; located behind the mountain with a body of water representing the bay and a majestic waterfall that can be used for the nighttime show. Architecture represents a steampunk type mining town.

Attractions:

Emerald Mine Carts- ‘the mega coaster’ for the park, coaster going thru the mountain and out. Mummy style trains with inversions and large drops

Counter Service restaurant and shops selling steampunk style gifts


Thrill Rides: 3

Family/Dark Rides: 5

Other(Kids/Shows): 6

Total: 14

 

[quinnmac000]

With Gkids getting all of the rights from Studio Ghibli, Universal's partnership with them already distributing studio ghilbli films and other animated films, then Universal's own ownership of animation with Amblin Animation, Universal Animation Studios, Dreamworks, Illuminations, NUEJ, and all current Laika films, why not take all that animation from the properties and make an world animated film festival style land celebrating animation. This way they can revamp toon lagoon to something else as they can all move to a larger land.

 

[Andysol]

Going to slightly revise my blue sky plan to be slightly more "realistic." Aka, something without Jurassic World and with less lands.

Spoiler: Park 3 Plan 2.0

Universal's Wonder Valley
Universal's 3rd park is a dedication to the feeling of wonder, adventure, and atmosphere. The park icon is Wonder Mountain, a massive mountain that towers over the park with an imposing, but beautiful design.

• Wonder Village - The opening area to the park is a mountainside village. It's relatively small and humble, but features a decent amount of shopping and dining, including the obligatory table service character dining spot. There is also dedicated viewing space for the park's nightly firework spectacular.
• Beastly Point - Imagine this area as... Mystic Point from Hong Kong Disneyland, but with a French touch. Guests enter this mysterious European town that is full of odd creatures, monsters, and beasts. The architecture is distinctly French, with an added whimsical element to match the area's theme.
  • The first section guests walk through is based off Fantastic Beasts; the French locales of the second film, to be exact. Guests can discover themed shopping as well as a Fantastic Beasts e-ticket indoor coaster based off a set-piece from the second film, with a queue based off the inside of Newt's magical briefcase.
  • The next section just features a unique, non-IP table service restaurant within the manor of an eccentric billionaire zoologist. Guests dine inside the halls of his home, and can admire the many strange artifacts and creatures that reside throughout.
  • The last section of the area is based off Pokémon, using the French aesthetic of the Kalos region. Here guests can ride the highly detailed and elaborate Pokémon Snap Safari interactive dark ride, board a Flight of the Charizard spinner, become a trainer in a unique interactive experience, and shop at a huge Pokémon Center.
• Fantasy Kingdom - This huge land is the marquee new area of the park, based off massive the iconic massive fantasy worlds of Lord of the Rings and the Legend of Zelda. Being the largest area in the park, the area has large, sweeping landscapes, tons of rock-work, and tons of merchandise, dining, and entertainment.
  • Within the land of Lord of the Rings, guests can come across Mordor, Gondor, and Hobbiton. Gondor is the most extensive, featuring several shopping and dining opportunities, as well as an e-ticket state of the art thrilling dark ride Lord of the Rings: Journey through Middle-Earth. Mordor isn't fully explorable, but features the a thrilling drop ride attraction within the iconic Dark Tower of Mordor, with the queue being through Mordor itself. Hobbiton doesn't have any attractions, but has shopping and a table service buffet.
  • The Legend of Zelda subsection of this land is more targeted towards families. Guests enter Hyrule Castle Town, where they can enjoy unique, immersive shopping and dining opportunities. Attraction-wise, there's an interactive trackless dark ride through the Temple of Time called The Legend of Zelda: Battle for Hyrule, as well as a live action stunt show called The Legendary Story of Zelda.
• DreamWorks Land - The primary area of the park for families, DreamWorks Land brings to life some of the most iconic properties to come out of DreamWorks Animation. Each of these sections is around the size of a World Showcase Pavilion, and transition to each other in a non-intrusive way.
  • Of course, Shrek makes his return to a theme park presence through an area based off Far Far Away. Guests can board boats and join Shrek on a river cruise in Shrek's Fairytale Tour, which pokes fun of classic Disney attraction tropes, as well as dine and shop at locations from the Shrek films. There's also the outdoor family coaster themed to Dragon, Far Far Away Express.
  • Kung Fu Panda gets a courtyard based off the Valley of Peace, in which guests can dine at Mr. Ping's Noodles & Tofu, or join Po and the Furious Five on a mission to protect the valley from bandits in the interactive shooter attraction, Kung Fu Panda: Defenders of Awesomeness. There's also a play area themed for young kids themed to the Kung Fu training equipment in the dojo from the films.
  • The most elaborate of these three sections is the How to Train Your Dragon-based one. The area's e-ticket is a multimedia dark ride mixing together screens, sets, and other effects to recreate the feeling of flying around the island on top of a dragon. Alongside that, there's a live show that uses advanced puppetry to teach guests about the unique qualities of dragons.
• Sci-Fi City - The smallest area of the park is the Tomorrowland-esque Sci-Fi City, based on a futuristic city in which aliens, robots, humans, and more interact. This area is the least developed with only two attractions within close proximity, however it has room for future expansion in case future sci-fi IPs take off.
  • Star Trek makes its major theme park debut with an interactive simulator in a similar vein to the Millenium Falcon attraction at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, except instead, guests take control of a Galactic Federation ship to fly through the cosmos and avoid the occasional hostile enemy. This attraction has an elaborate and highly themed queue as well as a small surrounding area featuring themed shopping.
  • Pacific Rim gets represented through a massive, dueling outdoor coaster within the city. The coaster has a facade similar to the Dueling Dragons Facade, except with a giant, highly detailed statue of a Jaeger fighting a Kaiju. The coasters themselves are very similar to the Battlestar Galactica one in Singapore. The coaster also has extra safety measures and a unique design to prevent injuries in the vein of what happened with Dragon Challenge.

Updated my version of gate 3:

Spoiler

Universal’s Wonder Mountain

The entire park is a Disneyland style park with a mountain acting as the divider and the icon of the park, right in the middle.


The Oasis

Themed as desert oasis with a central small lake in the middle. Think of Port of Entry but a lake splitting both sides. Architecture is a ‘whimsical’ take of Arabic/Middle Eastern architecture.

The standard main park general store, several unique shops selling other items, cafes, 1 counter service restaurant and a table service restaurant.

Does contain a theater for indoor shows that can be switched in every couple of years.


DreamWorks Village

Fantasyland Style area of the park with subsections to each area with a general cohesive theme of a forest.

Far Far Away

Copy of Singapore without Shrek 4D and Puss in Boots coaster

Attractions:

Shrek Adventure- Family Dark Ride, ala Classic Fantasyland

Dragon Express- Vekoma Junior Coaster replica of Singapore’s

Dumbo Flat Ride

Meet and Greet buffet style restaurant inside the castle. Shops making up the main street area.

Madagascar

Copy of Singapore

Attractions:

Madagascar Crate Adventure- Singapore but better and a small drop

King Julian’s Carousel- Carousel

A shop that’s the exit for the Crate Adventure and a stand themed like Marty’s from the movie

How to Train Your Dragon

Small village of Burk

Attractions:

Hiccup’s Flying Journey- Indoor Family Inverted Coaster

Shop acting as exit as well as a shop selling Universal’s own version of the Banshees

Kung Fu Panda

Themed after Po’s Village; the smallest area of the land

Attractions:

Indoor Dodo Show- ala Jedi Training Academy

Counter Service restaurant themed, Ping’s Noodle Shop, and a gift shop


Sci-Fi City

Futuristic Metropolis that can fit any IP Uni can fit

Attractions:

Star Trek- trackless dark ride

Battlestar Galactica- indoor SFX coaster



Europa

Mix of European architectures, think Epcot but in a smaller scale

Attractions:

Doctor Who- Dark Ride

Fantastic Beasts- Tower of Terror style, smaller drop, and more show scenes

Shops and a Counter Service


Emerald Bay

The 2nd and only original land with attractions; located behind the mountain with a body of water representing the bay and a majestic waterfall that can be used for the nighttime show. Architecture represents a steampunk type mining town.

Attractions:

Emerald Mine Carts- ‘the mega coaster’ for the park, coaster going thru the mountain and out. Mummy style trains with inversions and large drops

Counter Service restaurant and shops selling steampunk style gifts


Thrill Rides: 3

Family/Dark Rides: 5

Other(Kids/Shows): 6

Total: 14

Really enjoying the reads and revisions.

Sorry for sounding dismissive the first go round when I was mentioning being more “realistic”- I.e- having less lands and attractions.
But I think that’s a major challenge that UC is facing, and now we understand a major part of their delima. They have so many IPs that we want in their parks, yet we have to make painful cuts and remove things that we’d love to see and know would be sucessful. Sucks, right? Hah

 

[quinnmac000]

So NBCUniversal is pushing hard on increasing their family based strategy to where they now have the parks and creative working with the programming side in what properties to pick up for Universal Kids Channel which may make me think this may be huge on family based ips and way less adult ips and way more kid friendly stuff.

As its programming schedule continues to evolve, some question NBCU’s decision to launch its own linear channel amid increased cord-cutting and more competition for ad dollars between established kidsnets and leading SVODs like Netflix and Amazon. But the move does, in fact, support NBCU’s emerging strategy of using kids and family content to connect its television, movie and theme park businesses.

One of Brennan’s tasks is to work alongside NBCU’s host of business units—including Universal Brand Development, Universal Cable Productions and DreamWorks—to maximize the company’s overall kids strategy. “The support we’ve received from the entire organization, including the Cable Entertainment portfolio, Universal Parks, DreamWorks, NBC, Illumination and the Universal Brand Development team, has been remarkable,” says Brennan.

While NBCU does complement its linear kids channel with an extensive, tailored VOD offering, Brennan says the biggest challenge currently facing Universal Kids is discoverability. “Once the audience finds us, the opportunity to offer kids something different in the US market is our greatest opportunity,” she says. But unlike Disney, which announced it will launch its own SVOD service next year, Universal Kids plans to concentrate on linear distribution—for now.

“We are in the process of building a collaborative working community within the business, and our current focus is delivering great content to our audience on the Universal Kids channel,” says Brennan.

 

[GAcoaster]

I heard that there is a plan to soon break ground on a new parking structure on the south property. I'm guessing this is in preparation for the new park, but just as much to create more parking for the construction crews off-site from Dry-N-Tame as well as the main property. Space is at a premium (and that will just get worse with Nintendo and the other new projects breaking ground soon), so having more parking sooner rather than later makes a lot of sense.

Supposedly the permit is coming any day...

 

[AlexanderMBush]

I heard that there is a plan to soon break ground on a new parking structure on the south property. I'm guessing this is in preparation for the new park, but just as much to create more parking for the construction crews off-site from Dry-N-Tame as well as the main property. Space is at a premium (and that will just get worse with Nintendo and the other new projects breaking ground soon), so having more parking sooner rather than later makes a lot of sense.

Supposedly the permit is coming any day...

Will the parking structure be used after construction completes for guests?

 

[Teebin]

Will the parking structure be used after construction completes for guests?

The article states that the “parking lot” is temporary. I think it was posted in the expansion thread.

 

[GAcoaster]

Will the parking structure be used after construction completes for guests?

I heard this will be a sizable structure, as large as one of the existing garages with an eye to future development and work. Basically the parking garage for the fourth gate being built first.

 

[Teebin]

I heard this will be a sizable structure, as large as one of the existing garages with an eye to future development and work. Basically the parking garage for the fourth gate being built first.

Wait, have plans been sumitted to the county for the structure you are talking about, as public record?

This was posted yesterday and is 2500 spaces:
Universal files plan for 2,451 parking spaces near convention center - Orlando Sentinel