Just because I’m curious and bored I wanted to discuss the potential Nintendo expansion.
I wonder what factors went into the decision of LC not being selected for Zelda.
Why did Pokemon move there instead being the Simpsons replacement?
Could they split the land into two with Luigi’s Mansion in one corner and the rest dedicated to Zelda?
This is all speculation of course and not confirmed by anyone.
As Universal Orlando's history has shown, things can certainly change in one way or another.
Jurassic Park River Adventure was originally planned for the Studios, that changed with IOA coming to town.
Super Nintendo World was so close to replacing KidZone with markers planted and construction walls getting ready...but then Universal got that land back to make Epic Universe.
Now for Zelda and Pokemon, I may not know the factors on why things got shuffled around. But as been mentioned before, Simpsons has been a bit of a question mark regarding the contract. If it's true they can't do anything about the land for a good couple of years, it makes sense they'd change plans so they can work on Pokemon sooner. With all the projects going on, it feels like Universal isn't slowing down and they don't wanna' wait. (Which is fantastic for theme park fans especially with Disney's various projects going on.)
And I feel a nice advantage to Pokemon is its flexibility on where you can put it. This is a series which has been in cities, towns and various different biomes. I wouldn't be surprised if it was in the Studios, we'd have a city location. But they can go for a different biome etc. for something in IOA.
Zelda on the other hand, not as flexible as it's more rooted in plains, forests, temples, castles etc. While it could fit in IOA, I'm not so sure about the studios which is more urban city locations. Meanwhile Epic Universe has various expansion plots and Zelda can fit just fine in there.