What if Universal acquired the Epic Universe land five years after the original purchase?

[Magic-Man]

I came across this idea while on another forum, and wanted to translate it into a fully-fleshed out idea here.

Let's say (for speculation sake) that Universal Orlando acquired the Epic Universe land this year, five years after the original purchase of the land back in 2015. What would USF, IOA, VB, and Epic Universe look like in this altered timeline?

My predictions

USF:

• Bourne, Cinematic Celebration, F&F Supercharged, and Fallon still exist in this altered timeline. These were presumably being worked on prior to the land purchase.
• The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Diagon Alley would have opened a Ministry of Magic attraction this year. I believe there were rumors surrounding this back when in 2016. Fear Factor Live no longer exists.
• Super Nintendo World opens in 2021 where Kidzone now stands, just like it was originally meant to. Orlando is the first to get the DK mini-land.
• Shrek 4D gets shut down, maybe replaced by more Minions stuff. Maybe a 2019 opening.

IOA:

• Hagrid, the Hulk refurb, and Skull Island still exist in this altered timeline. These were presumably being worked on prior to the land purchase.
• Velocicoaster never happens. It always struck me as a backup plan for the resort when SNW got moved. Instead, Jurassic Park gets the Jurassic World treatment, with River Adventure going under the knife to become something greater. Maybe a ride still opens where the majority of Velocicoaster will now stand, but it won't be a big coaster. Presumably something smaller.

VB:

• Nothing changes

Epic Universe:

• No SNW or Ministry of Magic, obviously. I'd even go so far as to say no Harry Potter presence in this park.
• Pokemon now goes where SNW will now stand
• Universal acquires the LOTR rights, builds a big land where MoM will now stand.
• HTTYD becomes a Dreamworks compilation land, with several mini-lands similar to Super Nintendo World. Shrek now included.

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In the end, even if only the obvious changes to the parks that I listed come to pass (SNW, MoM in USF), I still think that's the better timeline. It can't be denied how great of an effect Epic Universe had on the future development of USF, and it could be argued that Epic Universe could have done fine without both of its major cancelled attractions. But we got what we got.

 

[deathcab4cutie]

I have to look it up but if i remember right when universal was owned by mca they owned part of that land with plans to expand.But they decided to sell two plots of land. one became apartments and the other universal just re boughtFrom the person they sold it to.So in a way we couldve had a third universal park in the early 2000s.Which would also have drastically changed the timeline.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

I came across this idea while on another forum, and wanted to translate it into a fully-fleshed out idea here.

Let's say (for speculation sake) that Universal Orlando acquired the Epic Universe land this year, five years after the original purchase of the land back in 2015. What would USF, IOA, VB, and Epic Universe look like in this altered timeline?

My predictions

USF:

• Bourne, Cinematic Celebration, F&F Supercharged, and Fallon still exist in this altered timeline. These were presumably being worked on prior to the land purchase.
• The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Diagon Alley would have opened a Ministry of Magic attraction this year. I believe there were rumors surrounding this back when in 2016. Fear Factor Live no longer exists.
• Super Nintendo World opens in 2021 where Kidzone now stands, just like it was originally meant to. Orlando is the first to get the DK mini-land.
• Shrek 4D gets shut down, maybe replaced by more Minions stuff. Maybe a 2019 opening.

IOA:

• Hagrid, the Hulk refurb, and Skull Island still exist in this altered timeline. These were presumably being worked on prior to the land purchase.
• Velocicoaster never happens. It always struck me as a backup plan for the resort when SNW got moved. Instead, Jurassic Park gets the Jurassic World treatment, with River Adventure going under the knife to become something greater. Maybe a ride still opens where the majority of Velocicoaster will now stand, but it won't be a big coaster. Presumably something smaller.

VB:

• Nothing changes

Epic Universe:

• No SNW or Ministry of Magic, obviously. I'd even go so far as to say no Harry Potter presence in this park.
• Pokemon now goes where SNW will now stand
• Universal acquires the LOTR rights, builds a big land where MoM will now stand.
• HTTYD becomes a Dreamworks compilation land, with several mini-lands similar to Super Nintendo World. Shrek now included.

------------------------------------------------------

In the end, even if only the obvious changes to the parks that I listed come to pass (SNW, MoM in USF), I still think that's the better timeline. It can't be denied how great of an effect Epic Universe had on the future development of USF, and it could be argued that Epic Universe could have done fine without both of its major cancelled attractions. But we got what we got.

Honestly, pretty much agree with everything you said here. I think the only change is that Shrek doesn’t go and SLOP becomes a 2022 ride here, OR, Orlando gets it first in early 2019 (not even sure it’d be ready by hypothetical) in correspondent with the movie, and with Hagrid’s to help spread crowds.

Imagine an alternate timeline where we’d have SLOP and SNW opening at USF by next year

 

[Brian G.]

Good grief ... what a wordy title ...

We can theoretically do a "butterfly effect" thread for any decision (please don't) in the past whatevermany years. "What if Universal never demolished Jaws?", "What if Universal never sold off the land to begin with", “What if Disney decided to build the original FLE?” etc. etc. At the end of the day, it's just another armchair creative/Imagineering thread in sheep's clothing. I don't mean to piss on any parades - but this is kind of a pointless discussion. With that said, topic locked.