Universal's New Park/Site B Blue Sky Thread

[captainmoch]

Throwing my hat into the Fantastic Worlds prediction pile...
- Entry area is World Crossroads. A small plaza beside the park's mountain-themed park icon, that cleverly acts as both a picturesque focal point for the park and as a divider between the worlds.
- A huge draw of the park is Super Nintendo World; a packed 20-acre world featuring Nintendo Plaza in the center, which leads into the lands Mushroom Kingdom, the Kingdom of Zelda, or Pokemon City.
- The most family-friendly area is the World of Dreamworks; featuring the quaint worlds of Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, and How to Train Your Dragon, tied together by the DreamWorks Center.
- The thrill center of the park is Sci-Fi World, a wondrous city of tomorrow that contains districts based off Star Trek, Godzilla, and Doctor Who; the centerpiece of course being Sci-Fi City.
- Of course, Wizarding World of Fantastic Beasts, featuring three separate areas based off iconic locales from the franchise, tied together by a unique indoor plaza themed to Newt's briefcase menagerie.
So basically, each of the main four worlds includes three mini-lands and a plaza in the center to tie them all together. I'll possibly go more in-depth with attraction ideas later.

 

[Andysol]

Again, as I've said before here, the existing SNW is *only* 8 acres. It's relatively tiny., especially if they want it to be the "cornerstone" of the new park. It makes sense to have Pokmeon and Zelda or whatever else they have planned to go along with it.

And it's not like the popularity of Pokemon or Zelda will wain the the coming years. While this is an unpopular opinion, they would be prudent to hold onto one of those popular titles as an expansion ~4-5 years after park opening. They almost certainly will. It's just a matter of which IP they'll likely hold back from Day 1. Sad, yet humbling reality.

I have heard Warner Bros. WORLD is pretty FANTASTIC.

Just sayin'.

I have to wander if WB ever sits back and wishes they would have jumped in the Theme Park arena back in the 80s, instead of Universal. To be completely honest and non-biased, WB has a much more extensive catalog of IP than actual Universal IP. And one that bodes well for a theme park. Granted, most of these are shoehorned into other parks, or licenses, etc. But think of this lineup:

Harry Potter/Fantastic Beasts
DC
Lord of the Rings/Hobbit
Lego Movie (if no Legoland)
Godzilla and Kong

That alone would be a park better than Universal-exclusive IPs in both USF and IoA combined (no marvel, kong, HP, toon lagoon, Seuss, Transformers, Simpsons etc). Universal relies on external IPs quite a bit.

Lesser "tier" but fully capitalized properties of:
Dr Who/The Matrix/Blade Runner
Sherlock Holmes
Pacific Rim/Edge of Tomorrow
Ninja Turtles
Mad Max
Scooby/Jetsons/Happy Feet/Looney Toons/Tom & Jerry

Seasonal:
It/The Conjuring/Exorcist/Misery/Nightmare on Elm Street/Friday the 13th/Final Destination
Elf/The Polar Express/Christmas Vacation

Walk Around Characters:
Austin Powers
The Mask
Dirty Harry
The Griswolds
Striptease and Magic Mike, depending on your flavor

Their category is expansive. But instead they license out a chunk of their properties- some poorly (looney toons, DC), some incredible (HP) and some acceptable (Kong, HHN)

 

[ThrillRideLover3214]

Again the horror section seems to be fading away as a possibility for a 4th gate at Universal Orlando.

 

[JungleSkip]

Again the horror section seems to be fading away as a possibility for a 4th gate at Universal Orlando.

Says who?

And it's not like the popularity of Pokemon or Zelda will wain the the coming years. While this is an unpopular opinion, they would be prudent to hold onto one of those popular titles as an expansion ~4-5 years after park opening. They almost certainly will. It's just a matter of which IP they'll likely hold back from Day 1. Sad, yet humbling reality.

Maybe, but it's a whole different story when we're dealing with outside companies. I could see Nintendo stipulating that Universal builds everything at once.

 

[ThrillRideLover3214]

Well I mean we are talking about the possibility of the 4th gate being named fantastic worlds And a horror section doesn't seem to fit in a 4th gate if the park is named fantastic worlds right? Dennis Speigel who is like the CEO I believe of Universal said he expects an announcement of some sort of a 4th Uni gate within 18 months this article dates back to Oct 2017 if anyone saw that article. So that means counting those months we would hear something about a 4th universal Orlando park around April 2019 at least the title of the park. If that's correct I expect to hear more about the themed worlds in the coming months.

 

[Andysol]

Maybe, but it's a whole different story when we're dealing with outside companies. I could see Nintendo stipulating that Universal builds everything at once.

They absolutely could. The argument could also be made that if Universal wants that, it's an easy sell job. "Look at Diagon Alley. By extending the opening to two different times, we get double the publicity as well as a merchandise spike of $xyz"

They certainly have something in their minds for continuing the hype. They won't build park 4 to completion and say "welp, we're done", as you know. What better way to hype up excitement again than Pokemon or Zelda, as examples? Maybe it could be something minor like Luigi's mansion. Just throwing out the idea that theres a good chance we won't get everything day 1.

 

[ThrillRideLover3214]

I don't mean to double post but I meant an announcement of a 4th gate not the 4th gate opening next year just to be clear. We would expect the opening in the early 2020's at the earliest.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Again the horror section seems to be fading away as a possibility for a 4th gate at Universal Orlando.

Well was that ever anything more than HHN fans wanting it?

 

[JungleSkip]

Well was that ever anything more than HHN fans wanting it?

I mean, what do we mean by "Horror"? Uni Monsters? Because I absolutely think they have a good chance of popping up

 

[Disneyhead]

I don't mean to double post but I meant an announcement of a 4th gate not the 4th gate opening next year just to be clear. We would expect the opening in the early 2020's at the earliest.

Just FYI, there is an edit function at the bottom of your posts if you need to clarify your thoughts.

The mods here don't like double posts. :shrug:

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Just FYI, there is an edit function at the bottom of your posts if you need to clarify your thoughts.

The mods here don't like double posts. :shrug:

Side tangent, double (or more) posts spam up a thread. Double posts are when a poster replaces twice or more in rapid succession.

 

[Scott W.]

With all the talk of IPs getting thrown about, I would like to see an original land IP free. I know it’s not the done thing but for the sake of variety it would be welcomed. I’m not sure if Monsters would fall into that category.

 

[Magic-Man]

I mean, what do we mean by "Horror"? Uni Monsters? Because I absolutely think they have a good chance of popping up

Again, it seems like Uni Monsters is going into Beijing. That gives me hope that they’ll show up in the new gate.

They certainly have something in their minds for continuing the hype. They won't build park 4 to completion and say "welp, we're done", as you know. What better way to hype up excitement again than Pokemon or Zelda, as examples? Maybe it could be something minor like Luigi's mansion. Just throwing out the idea that theres a good chance we won't get everything day 1.

I agree with this, but I don’t see them holding off on both Pokémon and Zelda. It’ll either be Mario and Zelda, Mario and Pokémon, or all three with small expansions in the mix. This also doesn’t include the possibility of Splatoon or Kirby.

 

[Disneyhead]

What do you want a bet Universal manages to screw up the whole thing with stupid ideas like trying to redefine things like "Gates" and "Admission Media". The à la park. An endless buffet of entertainment.

 

[Magic-Man]

With all the talk of IPs getting thrown about, I would like to see an original land IP free. I know it’s not the done thing but for the sake of variety it would be welcomed. I’m not sure if Monsters would fall into that category.

I think Monsters would definitely fit into that category. The rides/land wouldn’t be based on the movies or books (most likely). They’d be a standalone thing.

 

[ThrillRideLover3214]

Well jaws I heard someone say it would not fit under classic monsters but back to the future would fit under sci-fi.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I'm really intrigued by what idea/design they choose for the entrance plaza/land.

 

[Alicia]

We need fresh meat! Who has any left-field ideas no one is talking about? I get the feeling Universal is gonna shock us with some things no one is thinking about for the new park.

Think forward, not backward. What's the future, not the past? What will last long enough in the cultural zeitgeist that it's worth building a ride or land for?

 

[Scott W.]

What do you want a bet Universal manages to screw up the whole thing with stupid ideas like trying to redefine things like "Gates" and "Admission Media". The à la park. An endless buffet of entertainment.

I think having a system similar to Tapu Tapu for a dry park could help in that aspect. An app that is fundamental to the experience would help.

 

[JungleSkip]

I think having a system similar to Tapu Tapu for a dry park could help in that aspect. An app that is fundamental to the experience would help.

After the disastrous results at VB, I seriously doubt anything like this will happen. I think it was definitely a plan at one point, until VB opened.

We need fresh meat! Who has any left-field ideas no one is talking about? I get the feeling Universal is gonna shock us with some things no one is thinking about for the new park.

Think forward, not backward. What's the future, not the past? What will last long enough in the cultural zeitgeist that it's worth building a ride or land for?

I still think there's an outside chance something like DC Comics ends up here. Or Loony Tunes. Or both. I think there's a ton of potential for merch sales. I don't know what Six Flag's restrictions look like for markets they're not in though. I feel like some property like these will show up