Universal's New Park/Site B Blue Sky Thread

[Alicia]

I don’t want to hub to be a giant city walk though. I want it to be a themed land in itself. I fee it would cheapen the worlds if it empties out into a mall.

Port of Entry has a third party clothing store, Starbucks and Cinnabon, but manages to be very well themed. I’d imagine just like that, but more third party stuff.

 

[quinnmac000]

I don’t want to hub to be a giant city walk though. I want it to be a themed land in itself. I fee it would cheapen the worlds if it empties out into a mall.

Remember how the old rumours was the park leading up to the hub was going to be based on Far Far Away.....(This was from @Disneyhead) It still can be themed well even if it is a citywalk type area.

 

[ParkRumors]

Bingo.

So they're basically building a mall/entertainment district with theme parks attached? Seems silly. Universal is already one of the top destinations in the world for theme parks. People obviously plan their whole trips to Orlando specifically to go to the parks. How many people do they really think are showing up to a THEME PARK destination just to walk around the entertainment district and are "on the fence" about paying for admission into park itself? Do they really think they're missing out on that much revenue to design their new destination around this idea?

Like Alicia said, unless parking is free, I don't see how it's going to attract anymore people than the current CityWalk would. And if the park admission price is relatively the same as the price for IOA/USF, then how is this any different from the current resort? It just seems like an unneeded annoyance for park guests and an operational disaster waiting to happen.

 

[GAcoaster]

Look at the trends in "downtown" areas where they have retail on the ground floor with apartments above. What if the new hub/CW/entrance was the same kind of thing, with shops, restaurants, etc. at ground level with hotel space above?

 

[natespf]

The one thing I'm realizing now though...the hotel will be right next to the warehouse if I'm imagining this correct which means people with rooms in the back are going to have awful views.

As for the ticket thing, theme parks here in Korea require you to show your ticket at each attraction so while it can cause some issues (pulling your ticket out consistently has caused some to lose their tickets), it doesn't really effect much. The main issue will be the bottlenecking in popular lands so they would really need to increase capacity in each world or the number of worlds.

The hotel would seem to line up with what I've been trying to piece together. It could be oriented away from the backstage buildings, so one side overlooks the parks and the other side overlooks a lake.

But the notion in the article that there just is not enough space for a standalone CW2.0 is a bit ridiculous. I mean there is space, it's just a matter of how they want to use it. I rather do not like the idea of it splitting up the themepark. I know we were all taken back buy the size of this place, not as impressive if 1/3 or so isn't actually in the park. It would also further restrict the possibilities of the shopping area.

I will say having the paths to separate immersive areas is not so much a problem if the paths are big enough, but the hub doesn't need to be outside the park for this to be done (like the Diagon example). Adding ticket gates at each does open it up to more problems.

 

[Imperius]

Port of Entry has a third party clothing store, Starbucks and Cinnabon, but manages to be very well themed. I’d imagine just like that, but more third party stuff.

True enough. Just think this would be a much different scenario.

 

[Alicia]

Remember how the old rumours was the park leading up to the hub was going to be based on Far Far Away.....(This was from @Disneyhead) It still can be themed well even if it is a citywalk type area.

Lol so so true. Hotel shaped like the castle?

 

[quinnmac000]

The hotel would seem to line up with what I've been trying to piece together. It could be oriented away from the backstage buildings, so one side overlooks the parks and the other side overlooks a lake.

But the notion in the article that there just is not enough space for a standalone CW2.0 is a bit ridiculous. I mean there is space, it's just a matter of how they want to use it. I rather do not like the idea of it splitting up the themepark. I know we were all taken back buy the size of this place, not as impressive if 1/3 or so isn't actually in the park. It would also further restrict the possibilities of the shopping area.

I will say having the paths to separate immersive areas is not so much a problem if the paths are big enough, but the hub doesn't need to be outside the park for this to be done (like the Diagon example). Adding ticket gates at each does open it up to more problems.

There is a difference between this campus and the other which most are forgetting and I'm thinking this is the actual belief and why they are going this route.

The difference between the main campus and this campus is the proximity to the convention center and I drive. All those hotels on I-drive are relatively close by and I'm sure that Universal will have buses from the hotels in the area to this campus. So people find out oh hey we can go to the park for "free" and eat and look around, they probably will go to dine, etc. Some may not think much about the park after a long day at a convention, go to the hub, and then change their mind.

The main thing though is Universal will definitely need to increase their park hours here because if a convention goes on until 6 pm and the park closes at 10 pm, I'm not going to spend money to go into any lands

 

[ParkRumors]

But conventioners already flock to CityWalk as it is. And parking is already free after 6pm. If the driving factor behind this decision is "people are more likely to pay full price, day of admission to our parks if they don't have to pay $25 to park" then I don't know what to say.

 

[JungleSkip]

But conventioners already flock to CityWalk as it is. And parking is already free after 6pm. If the driving factor behind this decision is "people are more likely to pay full price, day of admission to our parks if they don't have to pay $25 to park" then I don't know what to say.

Yea it's seriously a baffling thought. Again, AFAIK the idea has been dropped and this will have standard admission practices, but if not, I think this is another Universal Escape/Tapu Tapu disaster in the making

 

[Brian G.]

No need to reinvent the wheel.

AFAIK - this is not the direction anymore.

 

[Alicia]

No need to reinvent the wheel.

AFAIK - this is not the direction anymore.

No need to reinvent the wheel... especially a hub and spoke one. :thumbsup:

 

[Brian G.]

No need to reinvent the wheel... especially a hub and spoke one. :thumbsup:

She gets it.

 

[GadgetGuru]

Look at the trends in "downtown" areas where they have retail on the ground floor with apartments above. What if the new hub/CW/entrance was the same kind of thing, with shops, restaurants, etc. at ground level with hotel space above?

This does bring up a great point. The “gentrification” aesthetic is totally in. Disney’s embracing it with Grand Tavern and the new World of Disney.

I imagine that’s what CW 2.0 and maybe even the FW hub will look like. I think CW 1.0’s aesthetic is really showing its age, so this could be really refreshing

 

[Dhdhddh]

The general impression I’m getting of the entry hub is a cross between CityWalk and Mediterranean Harbor at Disneysea. Would that be an accurate description?

 

[JungleSkip]

The general impression I’m getting of the entry hub is a cross between CityWalk and Mediterranean Harbor at Disneysea. Would that be an accurate description?

I would not expect it to be much like CityWalk

 

[Funnymonkey]

I wonder why the article only said How to Train Your Dragon instead of DreamWorks. Maybe that'll be one of the places in the DreamWorks "world" and he's only heard about that one.

When they inevitably make the Fantastic Beasts world I hope they make it a location shared with the Harry Potter story, because Beasts simply doesn't have the cultural impact and popularity that the Potter movies/books did. I don't know anybody who saw or even cared about Grindelwald.

 

[Happytycho]

I wonder why the article only said How to Train Your Dragon instead of DreamWorks. Maybe that'll be one of the places in the DreamWorks "world" and he's only heard about that one.

When they inevitably make the Fantastic Beasts world I hope they make it a location shared with the Harry Potter story, because Beasts simply doesn't have the cultural impact and popularity that the Potter movies/books did. I don't know anybody who saw or even cared about Grindelwald.

If it can't support a land on its own then maybe they shouldn't bother with it at all...

 

[AlexanderMBush]

I wonder why the article only said How to Train Your Dragon instead of DreamWorks. Maybe that'll be one of the places in the DreamWorks "world" and he's only heard about that one.

..Food for thought, what if they only intend to use one DWA IP at the start, similar to Beijing getting Kung Fu Panda and not any other DWA IP?

 

[belloq87]

Is there a prohibition against sharing this article in here? I can't find it on their website.

Or a summary of the pertinent points would be appreciated!