Universal Great Britain - Speculation & Rumors

[Parkscope Joe]

So my guess is as rumored, Bond, Paddington, BttF, Jurassic, Minions and LotR. Plus Gotham City and/or DC land.

I've heard not just Minions but new Minions, so no clones of existing rides.

 

[Jake S]

I've heard not just Minions but new Minions, so no clones of existing rides.

Oh, hell yes.

 

[Alicia]

I've heard not just Minions but new Minions, so no clones of existing rides.

I want to believe.

 

[tielo]

Yeah, Minions is an amazing ip for Universal and didn't get the love and attention it should get in the parks. I hope for a dark ride that rivals Secret Life of Pets.
If Paddington, BttF, Bond and LotR will be added it would be an amazing lineup. I don't care for super hero stuff (in comic form it hardly does or ever did anything in Europe) but seeing wat Uni did with Spider-man I'm sure I'm going to love it so bring it on. Hope Wicked will see a presents in the park too.

 

[TheUniC6]

Yeah, Minions is an amazing ip for Universal and didn't get the love and attention it should get in the parks. I hope for a dark ride that rivals Secret Life of Pets.
If Paddington, BttF, Bond and LotR will be added it would be an amazing lineup. I don't care for super hero stuff (in comic form it hardly does or ever did anything in Europe) but seeing wat Uni did with Spider-man I'm sure I'm going to love it so bring it on. Hope Wicked will see a presents in the park too.

Paddington was at one point being considered and workshopped for UGB, per Tomfoolery. IDK if that still holds or if stuff shifted around though.

If Wicked comes to Orlando first, would be interesting to see how they make it different for the UK market.

 

[Legacy]

I really don’t care what rides show up here, but I’d love the Mischief Comedy Theatre troupe getting to do a Movie Stunts Goes Wrong show.

 

[xtpower]

We have the first UK based (that we know of) Creative for the Park. Bradley Wynn (Creative lead for Wickerman at Alton Towers) has posted on Linkedin that he is a Creative Director for the project.

Here's the link - #newjob | Bradley Wynne | 115 comments and I took a screenshot for anyone who doesn't wanna register to see it.

 

[Chessy]

Congratulations to him!

I hope I don’t sound negative but I hope they don’t have too many people transferring over from Merlin. I’m sure they are well aware Universal does things very differently to them. I’m sure with experienced executives like Mark Woodbury they will steer this project to where it needs to be.

 

[xtpower]

They finally added Bedford to the locations dropdown for Universal jobs.

 

[masekwm]

Congratulations to him!

I hope I don’t sound negative but I hope they don’t have too many people transferring over from Merlin. I’m sure they are well aware Universal does things very differently to them. I’m sure with experienced executives like Mark Woodbury they will steer this project to where it needs to be.

There's another one who has joined from Merlin after several years.

 

[xtpower]

There's another one who has joined from Merlin after several years.

I saw that post on towerstimes, but declined to post it because the person themselves hadn't publicly announced it. But it does sound like Universal are hoovering up the talents that Merlin have let fall by the wayside.

 

[masekwm]

I saw that post on towerstimes, but declined to post it because the person themselves hadn't publicly announced it. But it does sound like Universal are hoovering up the talents that Merlin have let fall by the wayside.

3 public profiles at Universal UK now, 2 from Merlin and another from a company I've never heard of. All 3 have public LinkedIn posts about moving roles. I wonder how many will move on 5 January on return to the "office".

 

[MangoDance]

Congratulations to him!

I hope I don’t sound negative but I hope they don’t have too many people transferring over from Merlin. I’m sure they are well aware Universal does things very differently to them. I’m sure with experienced executives like Mark Woodbury they will steer this project to where it needs to be.

Indeed, I’m glad folks here in the UK are not missing out on a once in a lifetime job opportunity, but, Merlin have run their UK parks into the ground, so any association between them and this new project gets me worried, I don’t want another Merlin park.

I’d feel a lot more positive if they said they were bringing the Epic Universe team over to design this one, a team with a proven track record. With these former Merlin creatives it’s impossible to know if they were just severely handicapped by budgets and upper management, or to be blunt, not very good.

 

[xtpower]

Indeed, I’m glad folks here in the UK are not missing out on a once in a lifetime job opportunity, but, Merlin have run their UK parks into the ground, so any association between them and this new project gets me worried, I don’t want another Merlin park.

I’d feel a lot more positive if they said they were bringing the Epic Universe team over to design this one, a team with a proven track record. With these former Merlin creatives it’s impossible to know if they were just severely handicapped by budgets and upper management, or to be blunt, not very good.

I expect the majority of the creative leads will be Universal Creative stalwarts. We've known for a while now that Shelby Honea will be one of those leads and the roles are likely filled by a majority of Universal Creative people.

I also wouldn't put any stock in what Merlin has produced having any bearing on Universal's product, the budgets alone will be night and day and the expectations will be too.

Personally I'm happy we're getting Brits in a few of these roles, they'll better understand our culture and our pet-peeves - e.g. not having the Union Jack plastered in every single merch store.

 

[tielo]

If anything a local could prevent the mistakes Disney made in France like using foam and stucco for instance at the horrible Indiana Jones coaster that eventually had to be rebuild with bricks and concrete as weather conditions just don't make that kind of "building" durable for this climate. Or having enough parking spaces for your busses as many Europeans take short trip using a bus that specifically goes to the designated location.
Also knowing what food and drinks to serve (like not having wine in France) and the list goes on. It looks Universal is much smarter and hires some solid attraction park creatives to strengthen that part of the creation or the resort.