Universal Great Britain - Speculation & Rumors

[rob@rar]

It does look like indoor lands have come a fair way recently. Somehow WB in Abu Dhabi have managed to fake a sky in there.

Apparently not all of the indoor theme park looks like that. Here’s another perspective from WB Abu Dhabi. It’s not for me.

 

[Chessy]

I agree there’s no need to go overkill on the indoor lands as there will be enough indoor attractions. Maybe just one geared towards young kids will do.

 

[Steeb]

Just to clarify my own thoughts on indoor lands, I agree with you all that I would prefer them not to be a thing, but if they do include any, I would hope they at least try to fake a sky rather than slapping an obvious metal roof on it

 

[yepthatguy]

This is from Kung Fu Panda land in Beijing.

View attachment 21740

That looks very poor in my opinion. It’s not much better than crazy golf at the Trafford centre. You can see the ceiling which is about as non immersive as it gets.

Really hope they don’t do that if the uk park goes ahead

 

[tielo]

I'm impressed with how the ceiling in WB Abu Dhabi looks but most of the time it's ugly.
When going to England (like living in the Netherlands) you know rain will be a part of your day. We are all used to it and it feels like in the Netherlands we haven't had a rainless day in a year time. It's fine (I keep telling myself). Universal is known for big indoor rides and attractions (with indoor queues) and the occasional coaster outside. That is fine, I will enjoy that.

 

[Lost Meerkat]

Universal not hanging about again, The website is updated with the survey removed and some of the text updated. I note they say they are preparing their planning submission. Strange phrase if they are yet to decide if to proceed or not....
"We are now carefully considering the feedback we received during the engagement period and preparing our planning submission."

 

[Altonsky]

What kind of things will be in the planning application. It’ll be public I assume and I assume it’ll be a far more fleshed out version of the stuff they’ve already released?

 

[LoneBacon254]

Likely won't happen (at least not yet) but I'd be very happy if we get at least a rough concept art of the what the park may look like if (when) this goes head. I adore Universals designs

 

[tielo]

Universal not hanging about again, The website is updated with the survey removed and some of the text updated. I note they say they are preparing their planning submission. Strange phrase if they are yet to decide if to proceed or not....
"We are now carefully considering the feedback we received during the engagement period and preparing our planning submission."

I think they need an approvel on that planning permission. If they don't get that or there are wishes from local governement that make to project much more expensive I can see them pull out (not likely but that will be the game that's going to be played, it'll be a give and take thing).

 

[Lost Meerkat]

What kind of things will be in the planning application. It’ll be public I assume and I assume it’ll be a far more fleshed out version of the stuff they’ve already released?

They will have plans of the current site and plans of the proposed site showing building layouts. They do not have to have exact details of the rides.
They will also have have environmental surveys, transport and drainage surveys.
They can also apply for an outline permission which has very few details but tests the water.
Not sure how it will be different for an SDO direct with the Government

 

[rob@rar]

What kind of things will be in the planning application. It’ll be public I assume and I assume it’ll be a far more fleshed out version of the stuff they’ve already released?

I don't think we will see much detail of the planned park if Universal do work with the government for a Special Development Order rather than planning permission via the local authority. There's not much of a precedent for a SDO for a commercial project of this scale, so it's difficult to say how much, or how little, detail will be made public. The most recent SDO's brought forward by the government (several detention centres for people claiming asylum, to be housed at former RAF bases) had very little detail published alongside the SDO, essentially showing the borders of the development and stating a change of use. However, none of those SDO were for a Greenfield site, so the SDO simply showed the buildings which already existed. My guess is that whatever is published by the government will be on the minimal side of things. I've got some questions in with the Ministerial private offices at DCMS and DLUHC to ask about the timetable and process for approving the Special Development Order, but I'm not sure if I'll get an answer to what I asked.

I'm pretty sure that even if permission for this development is given by central government through a SDO, Universal will still have to comply with the relevant building regulations, so might well have to go through the usual local authority planning processes for that. Perhaps that's the best hope for getting info about what they are going to build, but that's going top be a few years away, at best.

 

[BBPH]

Lovely wording there

 

[yepthatguy]

Lovely wording there

I really like the black and white theming of the website, and also the flags, queuing lines, stationary etc at the consultations. Its cool.

 

[xtpower]

The wording is very positive but does not indicate that board approval has or has not been given yet. They can be preparing the planning submission while the greenlight decision is still to come - that way once approval is given they can immediately submit the plan etc etc.

 

[BBPH]

The wording is very positive but does not indicate that board approval has or has not been given yet. They can be preparing the planning submission while the greenlight decision is still to come - that way once approval is given they can immediately submit the plan etc etc.

Certainly not suggesting it is, just nice positive wording.

 

[Chessy]

I think they need an approvel on that planning permission. If they don't get that or there are wishes from local governement that make to project much more expensive I can see them pull out (not likely but that will be the game that's going to be played, it'll be a give and take thing).

It’s a kind of you have to spend money to make money. Originally Disney passed up on the UK due to the amount of incentives the French offered. Don’t think that’ll be happening again.

 

[ProjectUniversal]

Time to get PUU on the case with his trusty drone.

Hey all, I’m away for the bank holiday weekend. Will be back on it next week.

 

[OrlLover]

• I worry about the potential impact this would have on the existing Orlando parks
• I’m excited that Universal is deciding to compete with Disney in the European market
• This process has been moving at lightning speed so far.
• After this potentially opens I feel they won’t be building any new ones for a long time
• What IPs do you guys want to appear at this park?

 

[JoeMcSqueezy]

• I worry about the potential impact this would have on the existing Orlando parks
• I’m excited that Universal is deciding to compete with Disney in the European market
• This process has been moving at lightning speed so far.
• After this potentially opens I feel they won’t be building any new ones for a long time
• What IPs do you guys want to appear at this park?

I don’t think this’ll change much in Orlando, maybe take a few people away, but if this Park is to be built without any Orlando attractions, the desire to go for its unique stuff will still be there

Also in terms of IP, SpongeBob, Wallace & Gromit and a new area based on Nintendo are stuff I’d love to see

 

[OrlLover]

I don’t think this’ll change much in Orlando, maybe take a few people away, but if this Park is to be built without any Orlando attractions, the desire to go for its unique stuff will still be there

Also in terms of IP, SpongeBob, Wallace & Gromit and a new area based on Nintendo are stuff I’d love to see

That’s true I didn’t think about the possibility of this being a completely unique park with no cloned attractions.