NBCUniversal Evolution Plan

[Nick]

So essentially once this is all complete, the Studio lot will be practically all new and moved to a new location and it also has the benefit of freeing up the space for further park expansion on the lower lot.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

So essentially once this is all complete, the Studio lot will be practically all new and moved to a new location and it also has the benefit of freeing up the space for further park expansion on the lower lot.

Essentially yeah. Especially with the Creative Campus moving post production facilities to one unified location, should allow most of the Front Lot* to be Park property. Over on Theme Park Stop's discord, it also seems like the new Transportation location will be a structure as opposed to a normal lot as it was before.



*Most, because the largest non-soundstage property currently, the Bud Westmore seems to be not accessible for the time being. Atleast until they build a structure to accomodate it.

EDIT: Something I wanted to add, but it's kind of amazing to see how these past 8 years have radically changed and reshaped Universal Studios Hollywood, especially with the Evolution Plan. It's been amazing to see the budding ends of the Jon/Johnathan's, Chris's, and more. As I can't wait to see how things look even further once 2023 comes for the studio. Especially with SNW hopefully done by then. Can't wait to see the massive changes on the eastern end of the lot, affecting the western end and the theme park as a whole.



....now about that Hotel.

 

[Jamesh22]

Very interesting indeed!
I was fully expecting the rest of the red sea stages to be cancelled as they have shown no signs of development since the initial 4 stages, add to that the Barham gate stages making it feel more certain... but there they are in the new concept art...!

One thing for certain now - they will have plenty of room for the DK expansion of SNW :thumbsup:

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

Essentially yeah. Especially with the Creative Campus moving post production facilities to one unified location, should allow most of the Front Lot* to be Park property. Over on Theme Park Stop's discord, it also seems like the new Transportation location will be a structure as opposed to a normal lot as it was before.



*Most, because the largest non-soundstage property currently, the Bud Westmore seems to be not accessible for the time being. Atleast until they build a structure to accomodate it.

EDIT: Something I wanted to add, but it's kind of amazing to see how these past 8 years have radically changed and reshaped Universal Studios Hollywood, especially with the Evolution Plan. It's been amazing to see the budding ends of the Jon/Johnathan's, Chris's, and more. As I can't wait to see how things look even further once 2023 comes for the studio. Especially with SNW hopefully done by then. Can't wait to see the massive changes on the eastern end of the lot, affecting the western end and the theme park as a whole.



....now about that Hotel.

Onsite hotel would help a potential USH stay one day I won’t lie.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

Onsite hotel would help a potential USH stay one day I won’t lie.

Out of all things USH, the park and Citywalk, needs right now: it's the Hotel. Be that over by ET Parking or over by the Globe. It's long overdue and desperately needed.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

Out of all things USH, the park and Citywalk, needs right now: it's the Hotel. Be that over by ET Parking or over by the Globe. It's long overdue and desperately needed.

Idk the logistics but yeah, make it happen. As an Orlando vacationer USH doesn’t offer an insane amount more atm other than the tram tour. Im prolly here post Epic Universe also, so the offering disparity may be slim but I absolutely DO want to do the tram tour one day, so make a hotel and I’m there.

 

[Jwhee]

Out of all things USH, the park and Citywalk, needs right now: it's the Hotel. Be that over by ET Parking or over by the Globe. It's long overdue and desperately needed.

Surprised they haven't tried to buy the Hilton and Sheraton. They are perfect properties and are located 25 feet away from the CityWalk entrance.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

Surprised they haven't tried to buy the Hilton and Sheraton. They are perfect properties and are located 25 feet away from the CityWalk entrance.

I know they contested the Hilton expansion and we haven't seen much of that. It is expected to break ground by 2023, but if I was Universal I'd do the Globe project, in the means to block the Hilton tower out of the skyline.

 

[chris.g]

One has to wonder what this means for Studio Tour.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

One has to wonder what this means for Studio Tour.

I'm wondering about the Tour as-well. We know they are investing into it with the electric trams. And from the concept art of Barham, it looks like they'll be having some kind of forest berm separating Little Europe and the soundstages. Could they be looking at the cost justification on the tram fleets?

 

[chris.g]

I'm wondering about the Tour as-well. We know they are investing into it with the electric trams. And from the concept art of Barham, it looks like they'll be having some kind of forest berm separating Little Europe and the soundstages. Could they be looking at the cost justification on the tram fleets?

Considering they're going electric, my guess? Studio Tour is moving downstairs. Jaws, F&F Supercharged, etc. sans King Kong are all on the chopping block if my guess alludes to such a thing happening.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

Considering they're going electric, my guess? Studio Tour is moving downstairs. Jaws, F&F Supercharged, etc. sans King Kong are all on the chopping block if my guess alludes to such a thing happening.

I can buy Jaws, Earthquake, and Flash Flood getting the cut. I fully expect the Psycho House/Bates Motel to be gone if they intend to move facilities from the Front Lot further to the east, but I don't entirely buy Supercharged. Feels like a lot of investment made towards it to be thrown out (Especially considering they redid the render). Wouldn't be out of place if Supercharged is next to the Transportation area but as many know, I am likely wrong.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

For some reason, I thought they were getting rid of the stage where they filmed The Voice. Seems like the odd man out admidst all these new buildings. Maybe that building goes once shows can be relocated to the new soundstages?

 

[SnideRemarksDept]

For some reason, I thought they were getting rid of the stage where they filmed The Voice. Seems like the odd man out admidst all these new buildings. Maybe that building goes once shows can be relocated to the new soundstages?

They might but it seems unlikely for the near future. Stage 12, where they currently film The Voice, is massive, the biggest stage on the lot. The next largest stage is barely 2/3 the size and the new ones that they've built over by Park Lake are even smaller than that. There's just no place else to put it. It is interesting to note, however, that the new stages over by the Barham entrance are numbered in the low to mid 40s in the renderings.



While there isn't a Stage 40, Stages 41-44 do currently exist and they occupy the space just to the north of Revenge of the Mummy. They, as well as Stages 33-37, were also marked in Variety's 2016 article about the evolution plan as slated for demolition for future theme park expansion. It won't be for a Super Mario expansion unless they run a warp pipe behind Transformers, but that's about 5 acres which is definitely enough space for a new land. For the sake of comparison, the SNW lot is approx. 3.5 acres and WWoHP takes up a little over 5 acres if you exclude the FJ outdoor queue.

 

[Freak]

Remember the early days of the Evolution Plan when the proposed "Universal Village" back in the mid 00's? The dark days of GE when they did not give a single crap about their theme parks. The studio and theme park would've been turned into condos and shopping centers. What a travesty that would've been! Glad to see the opposite is happening here.

 

[ethanuniversal]

Update on the soundstages! Universal is FLYING with 3.5 already up! Skip to 3 or so min mark to see the progress!

 

[salismetho]

Painting has started on the new soundstages. Hopefully we'll be seeing completion on this project soon, so work can begin on the Transformer soundstages!

 

[AlexanderMBush]

Painting has started on the new soundstages. Hopefully we'll be seeing completion on this project soon, so work can begin on the Transformer soundstages!

Posting the link directly, because not just that; but the Creative Campus is beginning to go fully active in vertical nature.

 

[joerodriguez]

Have there been any rumors about Universal finally making a move on constructing an onsite hotel?

 

[GAcoaster]

I have to wonder with so much changing about the way things are filmed now (even less reliance on soundstages) if they'll be revising the Evolution Plan and further expanding the theme park? So much of the entertainment industry has been disrupted between smaller cameras, less need for stage lighting, and other changes in the technology of movies and television, they could probably condense most of the actual production facilities and just keep the backlots for outdoor shoots.