Universal Studios Beijing (Now Open)

[Descendo]

I did a little research and Nintendo doesn't really seem to be an entity in China. Nintendo's console weren't allowed until 2014 and most gaming is mobile.

I'm thinking a lot of Dreamworks will be going to China. Also, and I apologize for introducing this to the conversation, but I could envision a world where Universal agrees to share USA Marvel theme park rights in exchange for getting shared Marvel rights in China.

I thought the same about the whole "no consoles inside China until 2014" too, until I asked my Chinese friend about how he felt growing up without any gaming consoles. He was sort of surprised by my question and then told me that every 90s Chinese kid in Kunming (a city near Vietnam) grew up with a GameBoy Advance and bootleg copies of Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire. Apparently the text and Pokemon names' translation varied depending on which "distributor" translated and put the game onto the bootleg GBA cartridge. So even though Pokemon Sun and Moon are the first Pokemon games to be released in China with the option of Mandarin, Chinese people have been finding a way to get their Nintendo/Pokemon fix since the 90s haha

And also, while I was I was in China, I saw a little bit of Nintendo everywhere. I saw quite a lot of Pokemon products, like balloons and Pikachu t-shirts. And then while I was at Thames Town, Shanghai (Google "Thames Town", it's really weird) I saw this graffiti..




I'm super interested to see how Universal Beijing turns out, I have been super excited ever since seeing that placeholder aerial artwork back in 2014. I have only been to Universal Studios Singapore and Shanghai Disneyland so I only know Asian theme parks (New Zealand's 1 and only theme park is just horrific)

A few things, firstly, Shanghai Disneyland is already on track to breaking even soon, pretty good considering Hong Kong's/Paris' history. I wonder if Universal sees this as an opportunity to go bigger and better to hopefully get a better return in the long run? Bigger and better in both quality and quantity of rides/lands. Even though Shanghai Disneyland has been really successful, a lot of people who attended the park criticized the park for not having enough to do. Heck, even the staff at the Toy Story Hotel told me that 2 days at the park would be too much as it is "more of a half-day park". They were wrong, I was dangerously theme-park-deficient and I had been deprived of Disney parks my whole life (I have never been to any Disney park except the Shanghai one) so I went to the park from opening until closing for three days, and even considered going for a fourth day, but thought that maybe 3 days was enough as to not overdo it.

Secondly, due to the deadly New Years Eve Shanghai Stampede, and the 330,000,000 people who live within a 3 hour car/train trip from the park, Shanghai completely revamped their original plans to have much wider paths. Treasure Cove's original concept art showed narrow paths but the finished park has paths that are so wide that the theming feels a little "diluted" at times.
I wonder if Hogsmeade's design will be changed for China? JK Rowling says she doesn't want the Hogsmeade shops to feel like shopping malls, and the Main Streets at Hogsmeade in the US/Japan parks are already as wide as they can be without losing their magic. I wonder if they'll just implement a return pass system like Japan had in place to limit crowds for their Wizarding World's opening season?

 

[quinnmac000]

Grain of Salt but Spirit is saying on the other site, everything in the park got cut and is going to be a "best of" park with cloned highlights of other parks *paraphased* with a large focus of food and retail and will be a ghost town most of the year and they are losing creative members to the smog.

 

[Mike S]

Grain of Salt but Spirit is saying on the other site, everything in the park got cut and is going to be a "best of" park with cloned highlights of other parks *paraphased* with a large focus of food and retail and will be a ghost town most of the year and they are losing creative members to the smog.

He also said the park wouldn't be bad at all on day 1. What I'm getting is that for any of us the only reason to go would be the Jurassic World ride which if we all wait I'm sure will be cloned to Site B anyway.

 

[belloq87]

Grain of Salt but Spirit is saying on the other site, everything in the park got cut and is going to be a "best of" park with cloned highlights of other parks *paraphased* with a large focus of food and retail and will be a ghost town most of the year and they are losing creative members to the smog.

That guy always finds a way to color almost everything he's supposedly heard in a negative way. He also has a rather pronounced (inflated? irrational?) idea of his importance to the theme park fan community.

As such, I wait for additional confirmations before I start to take anything he says as having any weight.

 

[Mad Dog]

That guy always finds a way to color almost everything he's supposedly heard in a negative way. He also has a rather pronounced (inflated? irrational?) idea of his importance to the theme park fan community.

As such, I wait for additional confirmations before I start to take anything he says as having any weight.

Yep. And his Universal track record is not so good. So I really take his Universal comments with a grain of salt. His Disney info seems reliable quite often, but his obnoxious rantings get on my nerves.

 

[GAcoaster]

Even if everything in the park is cloned exactly form other Universal parks, it won't matter much. This isn't being designed to play to people travelling to China just for theme parks, it's being designed to get a share of the more than 1 BILLION people in China who haven't been to a universal park. That is a huge audience of people who will not care if the same thing exists in 3 other parks since it will still be new to them.

Also, like with other park chains, Universal is building this as part of a partnership (you have to do that to build in China) and the partners are providing a significant part of the financing to make this happen. They will always develop new things as part of something like this because they get to spend other people's money on developing new concepts and technologies which they can then clone for use in their own parks. Everything they do there will only help the design of the new park in Orlando.

 

[Descendo]

I really don't care. I wouldn't go to China if they paid me.

I know that China is by no means perfect, and the pollution in Beijing/most major cities is horrific, but I am interested as to why you say this strong statement. Sorry if you've already mentioned why elsewhere, but you're saying that hypothetically you wouldn't go to Shanghai Disneyland even if it was paid for? What if Universal was building this resort in a less polluted city? China has the longest cultural history in the world, it is a country with really nice people and stunning scenery. I understand the principles of not wanting to be in their pollution etc, but even Beijing has fine air at times of the year. And the Forbidden City/Great Wall are definitely worth the visit, even though they've mainly been restored.

 

[Mad Dog]

I know that China is by no means perfect, and the pollution in Beijing/most major cities is horrific, but I am interested as to why you say this strong statement. Sorry if you've already mentioned why elsewhere, but you're saying that hypothetically you wouldn't go to Shanghai Disneyland even if it was paid for? What if Universal was building this resort in a less polluted city? China has the longest cultural history in the world, it is a country with really nice people and stunning scenery. I understand the principles of not wanting to be in their pollution etc, but even Beijing has fine air at times of the year. And the Forbidden City/Great Wall are definitely worth the visit, even though they've mainly been restored.

I've long been a student of Chinese history, most especially the years since the Communist revolution. The country's leadership is again creeping closer to those earlier totalitarian roots and modes of operation. I am philosophically and ethically opposed to any countries that operate under totalitarianism. I would also not visit Putin's Russia, even if you paid me to go.

 

[Descendo]

I've long been a student of Chinese history, most especially the years since the Communist revolution. The country's leadership is again creeping closer to those earlier totalitarian roots and modes of operation. I am philosophically and ethically opposed to any countries that operate under totalitarianism. I would also not visit Putin's Russia, even if you paid me to go.

That is a totally legitimate reason for not wanting to visit. I also have friends who share your beliefs, which I understand, and partly agree with. The thing is, a lot of people would say the same thing about "not stepping foot in China, even if it were paid for" for all the wrong reasons, just backwards reasons, if you know what I mean. I didn't mean any offense with my question btw, just trying to get the meaning behind the message

 

[Mad Dog]

That is a totally legitimate reason for not wanting to visit. I also have friends who share your beliefs, which I understand, and partly agree with. The thing is, a lot of people would say the same thing about "not stepping foot in China, even if it were paid for" for all the wrong reasons, just backwards reasons, if you know what I mean. I didn't mean any offense with my question btw, just trying to get the meaning behind the message

:thumbsup:

 

[Yukendoit]

I actually had the chance to go to Shanghai recently, other then not being able to get on facebook/youtube, which are pretty minor when you are traveling. It was pretty cool! I look forward to going back to China when I can.

 

[UNIrd]

@Yukendoit, I definitely enjoy your videos way more than I should. lol Thank you for posting this Shanghai one! I'll be visiting for the first time in October. Were you in a particular area that you decided to visit for the majority of the day?

 

[Mad Dog]

Good Theme Park Insider article on Shanghai Disneyland today. Seems scalpers are selling fastpass tickets for the equivalent of $15 each, and hawkers are selling knockoff Disney merchandise right inside the park. And park security, for whatever reasons, are letting them get away with it....If this is true, and as widespread as the report and a subsequent reply from visitors that are seeing this happen right out in the open, this may be something Universal needs to start looking for solutions to prevent it happening at the Beijing park. That's a sure way to erode revenue.

 

[Nick]

Good Theme Park Insider article on Shanghai Disneyland today. Seems scalpers are selling fastpass tickets for the equivalent of $15 each, and hawkers are selling knockoff Disney merchandise right inside the park. And park security, for whatever reasons, are letting them get away with it....If this is true, and as widespread as the report and a subsequent reply from visitors that are seeing this happen right out in the open, this may be something Universal needs to start looking for solutions to prevent it happening at the Beijing park. That's a sure way to erode revenue.

Basically everything i've heard from locals there is that they love the park, but they tend to bring lunches in and spend very little money. Disney charges Disney prices for food there, but the issue is that Shanghai is not incredibly wealthy. Yes it's one of the wealthier areas of China, but still.

Also, I still don't get why Disney even built this park here considering how close HKDL is... then again, HKDL does seem to be reacting fairly fast having just announced a plethora of attractions/lands so maybe the goal is to get the resorts to compete against themselves so quality remains high?

 

[UNIrd]

How would you even get bootleg merch into the parks? Doesn't it have to pass through bag checks and security?

 

[Mad Dog]

How would you even get bootleg merch into the parks? Doesn't it have to pass through bag checks and security?

In the article and the eyewitness comments following the article they are insinuating that security & management is looking the other way, or worst, involved with the corruption...Also, The most recent comment from someone that goes to the park establishes in great detail how the fast pass scheme works.

 

[Orlan d'Oh]

Was trying to spot attractions in the map, here are my 2 cents for JW roaster, already posted it in the JP expansion thread.
Not armchair imagineering, just hunting clues...

 

[Viator]

Was trying to spot attractions in the map, here are my 2 cents for JW roaster, already posted it in the JP expansion thread.
Not armchair imagineering, just hunting clues...

Jurassic World won't take up that much space in Beijing. The Ampatheater, seems to be the layout of the Waterworld stages for USH, USS and USJ. Next to it down below is a layout of WWoHP (from what it looks like, the USJ version).

And as for on the left of WWoHP and what seems to be an Indoor complex; I am not entirely sure what those two could be. If I had to guess on one of them, expect something related to Kung Fu Panda in a way.

 

[quinnmac000]

Jurassic World won't take up that much space in Beijing. The Ampatheater, seems to be the layout of the Waterworld stages for USH, USS and USJ. Next to it down below is a layout of WWoHP (from what it looks like, the USJ version).

And as for on the left of WWoHP and what seems to be an Indoor complex; I am not entirely sure what those two could be. If I had to guess on one of them, expect something related to Kung Fu Panda in a way.

I would argue otherwise especially with Jurassic World being the USB equivalent of Shanghai Disneyland's Pirate's area. However I agree with you that the ampitheatre is Waterworld/special shows.

 

[Viator]

I would argue otherwise especially with Jurassic World being the USB equivalent of Shanghai Disneyland's Pirate's area. However I agree with you that the ampitheatre is Waterworld/special shows.

Treasure Cove is about 9 acres (give or take, including the Tarzan Theater). I can't imagine JW taking more than that much. Could it be the building next to the lake? Probably, but I would expect the indoor building to be something else.

Plus, there was an interview a good while back that seemed to confirm of KFP coming to Beijing..

another thing, is on F&F. It was slipped up by Michelle Rodriguez at the Hollywood Presser that Beijing would get it, so I am wondering where it could be in this map.