Universal Orlando Project/Rumor Tracker

[peng]

Doing one of these here as an attempt earlier was shut down on Inside Universal. First Iteration is going to be a copy paste over with somewhat outdated info. Keep in mind that this is a WIP, I will get sources for all of these eventually.
UPDATE- This thread will get a proper overhaul someday, with proper sourcing and news that isn't ancient.
Universal Florida- Universal Studios (WIP)

Shrek 4D

• A replacement for it was planned to be announced last year, COVID put those plans back indefinitely.
• The Pets ride universal hollywood got and another despicable me attraction were considered for the space.
• A despicable me walkthrough may be coming next year.
• Something leaked that said that the ride is closing at the end of the year, no word what's coming in (probably Villian Con) or if the second theater will remain a space for HHN walkthroughs or be converted as part of the attraction.

Fear Factor replacement

• Show has been closed since COVID
• Theater will close for good after HHN (and we just got news for it).
• A Harry Potter VR attraction meant for Epic Universe may come here

Kidzone replacement

• Barney is dead, replaced with dreamworks stuff
• No clue what is going on here

Terminator 2/Jason Bourne

• Bourne replacement is up

General

• New parade may be coming according to Theme Park University
• Seemingly will get more attention as Epic Universe may be constructed
• Tribute Store now has multiple seasons
• This page will get actually updated when I learn how to format rumor lists.

 

[peng]

Islands of Adventure

Jurassic Park

• No, it is not being converted in a Jurassic World land.
  • Velocicoaster will explain why the Jurassic Park elements are still up in a line
  • The story is they were asked if they wanted a new attraction or a retheme of river adventure, they wisely chose the latter option.
  • Retheme may or may not come, but after Epic Universe is done
• Taron-esque coaster being constructed
  • Will be themed to the raptors
  • Jurassic World theming
  • Will have a show scene at the beginning and end of the ride, not much else
  • named velocicoaster

Marvel

• Various rides (Iron Legion and a possible Avengers ride) were in the works, were scrapped for various reasons
• Wicked overlay may be coming according to Jim Hill
  • No other insider says this is happening, inside universal made fun of it for a day, I'm just putting it in here in the very unlikely case Universal tries to make this happen (and if they do it will make their F&F ride look like a masterpiece in comparison).
• Don't expect any new rides or updates for a while, but the land isn't going anywhere, after all any Marvel rights are extremely lucrative these days.

General

• Lost continent music has been changed, with the exception of Mythos
• If I ran the Zoo and Mullberry Street store will be lightly rethemed, land is staying put for now.
• Despite the Universal Parks weathering COVID well, do not expect many additions post Velocicoaster.

 

[peng]

Epic Universe/Site B

• Name is epic universe
• Blue Sky Concept art is shown, no lands or opening windows have been confirmed
• Hub and Spoke layout
• Hub itself has water features and a few rides, but has no central lagoon
• All lands will have the level of detail of the Harry Potter Lands
• Currently earthmoving/landscaping, construction may start as early as late 2019, but will most likely be in 2020
  • This was wrong, earthmoving is still happenning, though some of the backstage is finally going vertical.
• Will have a 2025 opening (source: Universal themselves)
  • Or maybe not, universal execs said that it may take several years
• At least two rides are visible in the main hub, a dueling coaster and a possible clone of space fantasy
• Lands will be set up similarly to Diagon Alley, will not be visible from each other once you enter them
• One land will be partially indoors but not air conditioned
• There will be a hotel in the park
• A citywalk-esque area is coming too
• Plaza is not themed to IPs, filled with shops, restaurants (including a pizza place and a grill)
• Plaza itself will be loosely themed to the evidence. Concept art suggests a lot of it will be themed like a more modern lost continent.
• Super Nintendo World
  • Ignore most of what's below, I'll update this sometime in May, but what we're getting is what's in Japan with DK stuff too
    • It is way past May, insiders are saying that it's going to be like the one in Japan with the DK stuff at launch.
    • Hollywood is getting it first
  • Leaked model is not reflective of the current state of the land
  • Is visible in the concept art (look for the land whose entrance is a warp pipe)
  • Lots of AR
    • Question mark blocks are involved, have been shown off at events
    • May be used for "boss battles"
      • Bowser Jr is one of them
    • Slot machines are rumored to be AR based
  • Smartphone app integration
    • Is unknown if it is standalone or not
  • Will be mostly mario themed
    • Kirby was also considered in various stages, and is still being considered as an addition.
    • A smash show or a 3D movie based off the Illumination Mario film are under consideration
    • Zelda and Pokemon may come to the other parks if the land is a success
  • Originally in Kidzone, moved to Fantastic Worlds for more space
    • Leaked model was for the kidzone area and is no longer reflective of the current land (source)
    • In hindsight, it was reflective of the current land
  • Main attraction will be a mario kart ride
    • Will use AR heavily
    • Will feature multiple tracks from the series
    • Uses some type of bus bar ride system
    • Minimal use of screens, mostly for background/speed/transitional effects
    • Queue is based in bowser's castle
    • Ride itself will be a mix of courses, Rainbow Road and Bowser's castle are the only ones specified
    • Will be the only ride shared between all Nintendo world locations
    • Will be a clone of the one of Japan, maybe improved a bit, but what you see is what you get.
  • Yoshi Ride
    • Omnimover type attraction, using the same technology as the SLOP ride in California
    • Will be mostly made up of animatronics
    • Ride was pretty underwhelming from the POV tbh.
  • DK Coaster
    • Status is in the air, project is in development hell
    • Will come along side a DK themed area
    • Will be themed to the minecart chases in the DK games
  • Other rides and shops
    • Restaurant and at least one Nintendo themed shop is planned
    • Kirby, Luigi's Mansion and Smash Bros rides/shows are also being considered
• Universal Classic Monster Land
  • Will mostly be themed to the 1930s designs, but UC is putting their own spin on it
  • Will be primary themed to the Frankenstein movies (village, castle, the mill)
  • One ride, one show and possibly a meet and greet
  • Was going to be based on the Dark Universe, some concept art leaked of a trackless darkride based on both the classic and Dark Universe versions of Bride of Frankenstein. Said concept art has the only pic of the Dark Universe BOF (it was a very faithful to the OG). Ride was scrapped for not being exciting enough and the death of the dark universe.
  • Main ride will be a dark ride with Kuka arms inside a recreation of Dracula's Castle
    • Set in Frankenstein's castle, may be hosted by one of the descendants
  • A Poseidon's Fury style walkthrough attraction and a Creature from the Black Lagoon boat ride are also being considered
    • Show is coming when it opens, Black Lagoon ride is rumored to be a phase 2 project
  • Will be the first land to get cut if budget cuts or a more profitable IP comes along (source for the section)
  • The current people that run Universal seem to love the Monsters, besides making a big comeback in HHN, they have greenlit a lot of standalone movies starring them and the land is still a thing.
  • As of 2021 it is still happening, plans from prepandemic are still in effect, though a leaked piece of concept art shows a downsized village and the ampitheater replaced with another show building
• Dreamworks Area
  • HYTTD themed
    • Mostly a collection of flats, but a roller coaster is there too
    • There may or not be a show too.
• Fantastic Beasts Area
  • Two major attractions, possibly two different ministries
  • Attraction 1 was originally a drop tower ride, but it was scrapped for being "too boring"
  • May reuse the ride system from Kongfrontation, but with the Ford Anglias instead
  • Attraction 2 may be a VR attraction, using broomsticks instead
  • Portions of the land may be indoors, may have some interactions with the beasts
• Other
  • Park may open in sectors (say Nintendo is completed first, it may open for softs while other lands are under construction)
  • Illunmination based rides/shows/things may be coming based on exec comments.
  • Virtual line may return.

 

[peng]

Citywalk

• Permit filed to merge four shops into one (it happened, the shops became a new studio store)
• Screamscape keeps saying the SNL Comedy Club and Escape Room is still coming, but usually he's always wrong, so take it with a grain of salt

 

[peng]

Hotels

• Endless Summer phase 2 is under construction

 

[peng]

Volcano Bay

PLACEHOLDER

 

[peng]

General

• Universal will finally move away from screen based attractions after the poor reception to F&F supercharged
• Resort may be rebranded
• Presentation to be held by Universal on August 1st, is park related
• A Hobbs and Shaw attraction is coming according to a recent trademark

 

[peng]

Events/HHN

• Grinchmas is returning this year, show is being held in the Blue Man Group Theater
• I will put stuff for next year's HHN stuff as it comes out, saw something about a survey mentioning a new icon for next year, but that was on a discord server and I did not get a screen shot. This year felt like a pilot to see if an icon driven HHN is still viable, I just hope they don't theme it to the 80s again.

 

[peng]

PLACEHOLDER

 

[peng]

PLACEHOLDER

 

[peng]

Update 1: Fantastic Worlds info Added
Heavy disclaimer added to the very questionable Wicked Rumor (only doing it as misterpenguin and Basil put Jim Hill rumors in their posts, would definately not include it otherwise).

 

[mary2013]

Islands of Adventure

Jurassic Park

• Taron-esque coaster being constructed
• Jurassic World retheme incoming
  
  Marvel
• Iron Legion ride cancelled because technology wasn't ready
• Wicked overlay may be coming according to Jim HIll
• Don't expect any new rides or updates for a while

Wicked overlay coming to Marvel Land? As in the Wizard of Oz musical? Into Marvel?

 

[JT3000]

Wicked overlay coming to Marvel Land? As in the Wizard of Oz musical? Into Marvel?

Not happening. Not sure where he got that.

 

[peng]

[

Not happening. Not sure where he got that.

Oh I know it's not happening, it came from Jim Hill after all, who hasn't been write on anything since 2010. Like I said it's a WIP, and taken from an old post that I made on the insideuniversal forums.

 

[peng]

Updated the status on some of the lands in Fantastic Worlds

 

[peng]

Updates: Added the few details that we got from the reveal and some new info for trademarks. Personally the reveal was disappointing, they should have at least said Nintendo was coming to the new park (I mean it's the only land you can actually identify in the concept art, at least the entrance [there is a warp pipe visible]).

 

[trr1]

Epic Universe/Site B

• Name is epic universe
• Blue Sky Concept art is shown, no lands or opening windows have been confirmed
• Hub and Spoke layout
• Hub itself has water features and a few rides, but has no central lagoon
• Will be connected to the inital site via buses
• All lands will have the level of detail of the Harry Potter Lands
• Currently earthmoving/landscaping, construction may start as early as late 2019, but will most likely be in 2020
• Will likely have a 2023 opening
• At least two rides are visible in the main hub, a dueling coaster and a possible clone of space fantasy
• Lands will be set up similarly to Diagon Alley, will not be visible from each other once you enter them
• One land will be partially indoors but not air conditioned
• There will be a hotel in the park
• A citywalk-esque area is coming too
• Super Nintendo World
  • Is definitely happening
  • Leaked model is not reflective of the current state of the land
  • Is visible in the concept art (look for the land whose entrance is a warp pipe)
  • Will be mostly mario themed
    • Kirby was also considered in various stages, and is still being considered as an addition.
    • Zelda and Pokemon may come to the other parks if the land is a success
  • Originally in Kidzone, moved to Fantastic Worlds for more space
    • Leaked model was for the kidzone area and is no longer reflective of the current land (source)
  • Main attraction will be a mario kart ride
    • Will use AR heavily
    • Will feature multiple tracks from the series
    • May or may not use the dynamic attractions ride system
  • Yoshi Ride
    • Omnimover type attraction, using the same technology as the SLOP ride in California
    • Will be mostly made up of animatronics
  • DK Coaster
    • Status is in the air, project is in development hell
    • Will come along side a DK themed area, with a play area and shop
    • Cranky Kong will appear in AA form
    • Will be themed to the minecart chases in the DK games
    • Is currently testing
  • Other rides and shops
    • Restaurant and at least one Nintendo themed shop is plan
    • Kirby, Luigi's Mansion and Smash Bros rides/shows are also being considered
• Universal Classic Monster Land
  • Will mostly be themed to the 1930s designs, but UC is putting their own spin on it
  • Main ride will be a dark ride with Kuka arms inside a recreation of Dracula's Castle
    • Will mostly be a best of the old movies
  • A Poseidon's Fury style walkthrough attraction and a Creature from the Black Lagoon boat ride are also being considered
  • Will be the first land to get cut if budget cuts or a more profitable IP comes along (source for the section)
  • As of Late July 2019, it is very likely to be happening
• Dreamworks Area
  • May be a fantasyland style area
  • HTTYD, Shrek, Trolls and Kung Fu Panda are being considered
• Fantastic Beasts Area
  • Multiple insiders say it's in, not much I can say
  • May be the concept art

just a thought but couldn't Luigi's Mansion could go into
Universal Monster Land also

 

[peng]

Made some updates, the rumor mill has been slow for Universal Orlando, as concrete Fantastic Worlds info is years away and most of the news publically released (and rumored) has mostly been for Universal Hollywood.

 

[peng]

More updates made, I need to make this more accurate, but not right now.

 

[peng]

Even more updates made, will probably make a new post as this contains a lot of old info.