Universal Orlando August 1 Press Conference

[Alicia]

Question: If i am to get this right, that the hub for Fantastic Worlds is one long road with a hotel at the very end, does that mean that the article posted by TPU from awhile back about the park's layout and admission system is correct? I thought it was confirmed to be false information.

The separate turnstiles for each land is what we’ve been saying is no longer true.

 

[RFRees]

In a better place than HTTYD

At least HTTYD is a 1st party IP. They won't care how it's doing as a franchise if they don't have to pay for it.

Universal is going to want to use as many 1st party IPs as possible. FW is already assumed to be half 3rd party (Nintendo + FB, with DW and CM being 1st), and I'm betting Universal is not super happy about that fact.

I expect them to really push for 1st party IPs even harder in the future. So this is why my second land I am predicting for dry park 4 in 2033 is.....

F&F-Supercharged-LAND. (I'm half serious.)

It’s looking like the lands will have entrances along the way to the hub/icon, rather than all at the hub.

Maybe it's my lack of imagination, but I'm just not picturing this. Wouldn't guests have to walk a very far distance along a narrow path to get anywhere?

 

[JungleSkip]

At least HTTYD is a 1st party IP. They won't care how it's doing as a franchise if they don't have to pay for it.

It’s also a great, ready-made theme park property

 

[AstroOwl52]

The separate turnstiles for each land is what we’ve been saying is no longer true.

Ohhhhh ok. Got it. Thanks Alicia! :up:

 

[Alicia]

Maybe it's my lack of imagination, but I'm just not picturing this. Wouldn't guests have to walk a very far distance along a narrow path to get anywhere?

No one said anything about narrow.

 

[rastuso]

Doubt it. They’ll probably just release a PR video through the blog or twitter



Yea, it’s about the Second Age of Middle Earth, while LOTR is set at the end of the Third Age

It will still have all the D&D mainstay creatures. Hopefully with the same, or at least similar, designs. It would be cool if there was more magic, IMHO.

 

[RFRees]

No one said anything about narrow.

So something like this?



Note: blue sections/arrows are park entrances. W indicates an individual world. Obviously I don't know how many precise worlds there will be or how much room for expansion, so I just placed 6.


If the above is at least somewhat accurate, this would mean the hub is actually the "front" of the park for the hotel guests.

This is actually somewhat close to what TPU had also crudely drawn/reported.

 

[jrn14]

Will The Hub have some type of attraction to draw people towards it or will it just be like a photo op

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I somehow don't think they'd build a park they tout as having a hub-and-spoke model without having.... spokes off the hub.

 

[RFRees]

I somehow don't think they'd build a park they tout as having a hub-and-spoke model without having.... spokes off the hub.

But nothing has actually been touted yet?

 

[JungleSkip]

But nothing has actually been touted yet?

They talked about it in the leaked documents from the presentation a few month back

 

[Parkscope Joe]

They talked about it in the leaked documents from the presentation a few month back

Yup

“[While] our creative teams are still in the early stages of developing the new park, we can already reveal some more details besides just the name. The park will be designed in a ‘hub and spoke’ design, with a central icon and space, known as a ‘hub’, allowing for easy wayfinding between the many immersive worlds.”

 

[Alicia]

Yup

I just think the hub will be hub-ier than we’re probably picturing.

 

[RFRees]

I just think the hub will be hub-ier than we’re probably picturing.

"The red rectangular area is your main hub. It’s pretty massive (larger than Magic Kingdom in Orlando) and will feature shops, dining, entertainment and a few attractions."

 

[Mad Dog]

It's a hub on steroids.

 

[Imperius]

I saw remove the loops for the lands. I think they go with a main entrance/exit for each place like Diagon.

 

[Alicia]

"The red rectangular area is your main hub. It’s pretty massive (larger than Magic Kingdom in Orlando) and will feature shops, dining, entertainment and a few attractions."

I can’t speak to the entertainment and attractions content, but yea, I think TPU’s crude drawing captures the hub fairly well... if those circles are just the entrances to the much larger lands behind them that is.

 

[rhino4evr]

So because the hotel is at the back of the park...you would basically have to make entering the hub “free”, or maybe just proof of a reservation, or 2nd entrance in the rear of the park for check in?

Actually thinking more about it, they would definitely need a second entrance as I can’t imagine tourist wanting to wade through a hub with their luggage. Unless they had bell men at the front gates?

It’s an interesting concept for sure. That hotel better be “something” to look at, if it stares down at the rest of the park.

 

[WAJAS]

I saw remove the loops for the lands. I think they go with a main entrance/exit for each place like Diagon.

Makes each individual land more immersive and doesn’t require careful transition like MK does. It’s an interesting idea. Crowd flow and way-finding would be the best arguments against it.

 

[RFRees]

I can’t speak to the entertainment and attractions content, but yea, I think TPU’s crude drawing captures the hub fairly well... if those circles are just the entrances to the much larger lands behind them that is.

TPU said it wasn't to scale... but I think the idea of the circles being small is that the hub is "massive."

Honestly, I can only see a massive hub ('larger than Magic Kingdom', as TPU is reporting) being supported on a free, Disney Springs like model.

If they were right about the crude drawing, what else could they be right about?..