Universal UK

[Gusey]

I’m a little worried that Universal doesn’t think there’s serious risk of cannibalising Florida attendance.

I think that when they announce the properties coming to the park we'll know if they've considered this risk. From concept art speculation, it seems that the only overlap that could be between Orlando and UK is Minions and Jurassic World, although Jurassic could have a different slate of attractions to IoA (a dark ride and different coaster, compared to flume ride and Velocicoaster). Minions is hopefully like Beijing's so only overlap being Minion Mayhem

 

[BrianLo]

I’m a little worried that Universal doesn’t think there’s serious risk of cannibalising Florida attendance.

That seems the slightly more likely feature to me. But UK guests won’t make or break Florida per se. It’s such a strong product in Florida comparatively, I’m getting more HKDL energy out of this project; it might bumble along for a while.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

That seems the slightly more likely feature to me. But UK guests won’t make or break Florida per se. It’s such a strong product in Florida comparatively, I’m getting more HKDL energy out of this project; it might bumble along for a while.

UK guests will still go to Florida for all the reasons they want to go to Florida

Same reason they go to WDW despite DLP being a lot closer (and with more than what Universal UK will be)

 

[DonniePeverley]

I know of two land surveys so far and I'm pretty sure they did a hazards survey as well so I think a 100 billion dollar company would have done the due diligence and planned the best path to completion for this project. Not to say something would never come up but the bases are covered

Look, you aren't from the UK (or are you?) ... you have no idea of planning laws in Europe and the Uk specifically. It's a clown show of epic proportions. Nothing get's built in the UK anymore.

They tried to build a fast railway, and they had to delay and spend hundreds of millions in one instance when they found bats nest.

 

[JoeCamel]

Look, you aren't from the UK (or are you?) ... you have no idea of planning laws in Europe and the Uk specifically. It's a clown show of epic proportions. Nothing get's built in the UK anymore.

They tried to build a fast railway, and they had to delay and spend hundreds of millions in one instance when they found bats nest.

I am aware of the rail debacle, the hedgerow controversy and the antiquities preservation act.

Who was building the rail again? HS2 Ltd I believe and who is the controlling party of that corporation?

Government is not who is building a theme park and the theme park is not being built through communities that oppose it's construction. Comcast is a company that is experienced building parks in far flung corners of the world and will build this one in a timely manner.

Your constant whinging about things that happened to a completely different project but have no application here is tiresome and misplaced. Go back to whining about APs, at least you have some experience with those.

 

[Disney Analyst]

I’m a little worried that Universal doesn’t think there’s serious risk of cannibalising Florida attendance.

I doubt Universal sees this as a major risk. They are thinking big picture, and planning globally, so a UK park likely taps into a huge market that would never visit Florida due to cost, distance, or time.

Even if some UK visitors shift away from Florida, Universal probably expects the overall guest numbers and revenue to grow rather than shrink.

 

[UpAllNight]

Disneyland Paris often leads to interest in Disney World.

If you like something, you want more and better.

I’ve seen this play out many times with friends and family.

Off topic but the decision to close Disney Stores across the UK was a tragic marketing decision and a miscalculated financial one. Similar kind of story, a visit to Disney Store was great marketing for the parks.

 

[nickys]

Universal UK theme park could rival Disneyland Paris in size

Within its first 20 years, Universal is expecting more annual visitors than any park gets in Europe.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[DonniePeverley]

I am aware of the rail debacle, the hedgerow controversy and the antiquities preservation act.

Who was building the rail again? HS2 Ltd I believe and who is the controlling party of that corporation?

Government is not who is building a theme park and the theme park is not being built through communities that oppose it's construction. Comcast is a company that is experienced building parks in far flung corners of the world and will build this one in a timely manner.

Your constant whinging about things that happened to a completely different project but have no application here is tiresome and misplaced. Go back to whining about APs, at least you have some experience with those.

You appear very defensive for some reason. I'm glad they've got through the planning hurdle, with the government taking over control of the planning process. But as i say, over the coming months and years as they construct they will feel the full strength of the inane planning process - because you still have to keep submitting planning as you go along. Eg, something minor like installing solar panels will require planning permission. If they find a bats nest and want to remove it, they will have to go through planning.

You clearly have done chatGpt research on UK planning debacle (judging by your choice of words) - you literally have no idea how it works. SO get back to pushing the narrative everything is utopia in the world of Universal.

 

[lazyboy97o]

You appear very defensive for some reason. I'm glad they've got through the planning hurdle, with the government taking over control of the planning process. But as i say, over the coming months and years as they construct they will feel the full strength of the inane planning process - because you still have to keep submitting planning as you go along. Eg, something minor like installing solar panels will require planning permission. If they find a bats nest and want to remove it, they will have to go through planning.

You clearly have done chatGpt research on UK planning debacle (judging by your choice of words) - you literally have no idea how it works. SO get back to pushing the narrative everything is utopia in the world of Universal.

How many sock puppets did you burn through claiming Epic Universe wasn’t being built?

 

[MisterPenguin]

You appear very defensive for some reason.

Since you keep repeating the same thing over and over (like when you said EU wasn't going to be built), then we can surely say that you appear very trollish for some reason.

 

[Jon81uk]

You appear very defensive for some reason. I'm glad they've got through the planning hurdle, with the government taking over control of the planning process. But as i say, over the coming months and years as they construct they will feel the full strength of the inane planning process - because you still have to keep submitting planning as you go along. Eg, something minor like installing solar panels will require planning permission. If they find a bats nest and want to remove it, they will have to go through planning.

You clearly have done chatGpt research on UK planning debacle (judging by your choice of words) - you literally have no idea how it works. SO get back to pushing the narrative everything is utopia in the world of Universal.

The site is an old brickworks, chance of them finding something that a competent survey hasn’t already found is low and the process isn’t as bad as you make out.

Also solar panels don’t need planning permission in almost all cases.

 

[nickys]

The site is an old brickworks, chance of them finding something that a competent survey hasn’t already found is low and the process isn’t as bad as you make out.

Also solar panels don’t need planning permission in almost all cases.

And also, since the government has taken on the planning consent process, it’s likely that the usual procedures will be expedited.

 

[Garyjames220]

when is construction meant to begin?

 

[Sir_Cliff]

That seems the slightly more likely feature to me. But UK guests won’t make or break Florida per se. It’s such a strong product in Florida comparatively, I’m getting more HKDL energy out of this project; it might bumble along for a while.

UK guests will still go to Florida for all the reasons they want to go to Florida

Same reason they go to WDW despite DLP being a lot closer (and with more than what Universal UK will be)

My instinct on this project is exactly the above. The main risk is probably more along the lines of a Hong Kong Disneyland scenario where Universal underestimates the local market's familiarity with their other parks (which is considerable in the UK) and the disappointment that might be sparked if people perceive it as a lesser version missing many of the big attractions from the other parks (e.g. Harry Potter). The early press coverage suggesting this will rival Disneyland Paris which is a whole resort complex seems to be setting this up for disappointment.

Maybe I am underestimating the scale of this park, though...

 

[BrianLo]

Maybe I am underestimating the scale of this park, though...

I don’t think so. I agree that somehow implying this is twice the size of Disneyland Paris is completely the wrong messaging. Disneyland Paris is still a destination resort, this is going to be a locals park, by and large.

HHN should by contract be very popular.

 

[nickys]

I don’t think so. I agree that somehow implying this is twice the size of Disneyland Paris is completely the wrong messaging. Disneyland Paris is still a destination resort, this is going to be a locals park, by and large.

HHN should by contract be very popular.

You don’t think Europeans will be excited by a Universal theme park? I’m interested to hear why.

 

[Garyjames220]

I wonder when construction will start

All seems very slow moving considering the plans were announced two years ago in December 2023

 

[lazyboy97o]

You don’t think Europeans will be excited by a Universal theme park? I’m interested to hear why.

He’s not saying people won’t be excited. But this isn’t following in the footsteps of Universal Studios Beijing and Epic Universe. It’s supposed to be a smaller, cheaper park.

I wonder when construction will start

All seems very slow moving considering the plans were announced two years ago in December 2023

They still need to design the thing. They announced early because they couldn’t keep it under wraps with England’s planning process.

 

[BrianLo]

You don’t think Europeans will be excited by a Universal theme park? I’m interested to hear why.

Not completely unpopular. I don’t think it will be perceived as a true destination resort. Or we are a number of decades away from that. Even Paris has arguably struggled to get there.

On the other hand it will be carried by a solid local populace base and day guests.

Being Universal Beijing-lite, not being in the EU and 4-6 months of the year of sub par British country side weather are all headwinds this resort must contend with.

Paris Disneyland at least has always had the luxury of being a strong castle park than Magic Kingdom. I’m not completely trying to poo-poo this resort, but if the newest Orlando benchmark for the company is Epic, I think people will feel some disappointment here.