A Spirited Perfect Ten

[Mike C]

So, now that UNI has revealed some of the land they have contracts for near the convention center. The question is how much do they have locked up around Wet and Wild. Are they gonna try to takeover the corridor along Universal Blvd to expand their resort?

Likely a good chunk of it, the indoor skydiving simulator,IFly, just over I-4 from Universal, is moving toward the convention center. (and Ifly owns the land it is currently on, which implies it is being sold soon) There's a Walgreens and a small shopping center on other sides of that, and the old Skull Kingdom site on the other side of Universal Blvd has been a vacant lot for years now. It's a bit more complicated around sand Lake road, west side is where Wyndham and the Idrive 360 complex is, east side still belongs to Lockheed, but easement agreements exist.

I'll say again the monorail line from MK to Epcot is longer than the distance between the current parks and the Sand Lake complex, and Wet n' wild area is right in the middle. It should be obvious from all this where it's going.

Universal is under contract to buy the sand lake complex entirely. If you are unfamiliar with buying real estate, the term “under contract” means that a binding agreement exists between a buyer and a seller involving property. The buyer and the seller are in agreement with the terms in the contract. When a property is under contract, the seller may not enter into contract with any other buyer. This is because the buyer is under obligation to purchase to property from the seller.

 

[Mike S]

Likely a good chunk of it, the indoor skydiving simulator,IFly, just over I-4 from Universal, is moving toward the convention center. (and Ifly owns the land it is currently on, which implies it is being sold soon) There's a Walgreens and a small shopping center on other sides of that, and the old Skull Kingdom site on the other side of Universal Blvd has been a vacant lot for years now. It's a bit more complicated around sand Lake road, west side is where Wyndham and the Idrive 360 complex is, east side still belongs to Lockheed, but easement agreements exist.

I'll say again the monorail line from MK to Epcot is longer than the distance between the current parks and the Sand Lake complex, and Wet n' wild area is right in the middle. It should be obvious from all this where it's going.

Universal is under contract to buy the sand lake complex entirely. If you are unfamiliar with buying real estate, the term “under contract” means that a binding agreement exists between a buyer and a seller involving property. The buyer and the seller are in agreement with the terms in the contract. When a property is under contract, the seller may not enter into contract with any other buyer. This is because the buyer is under obligation to purchase to property from the seller.

Any idea how long could it be until the actual buy happens?

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Any idea how long could it be until the actual buy happens?

Could happen as early as today, but could take s long as 2 weeks.

 

[raymusiccity]

yikes, I wonder how much money lost with the selling and now repurchasing.
They sure need land now?

Of course they need land. Google map Universal, and you'll see how land locked they are. (High school track can be seen right behind Potter land castle.)

 

[Mike S]

Could happen as early as today, but could take s long as 2 weeks.

And then the actual announcement of what the land is for years later I'm guessing.

 

[Mike S]

I sure hope this is still accurate.

What some have already said but only brushed over is that Universal is planning a third gate. I'm not talking about the waterpark, although that is looking to be quite spectacular in terms of waterparks and may be the first waterpark/theme park hybrid. No I'm talking about a no-holds-barred, DisneySea quality level third gate theme park. Trust me I don't use the term "DisneySea quality" lightly. Right now the resources are planned to allow that level of quality and detail. Yes I'm fully expecting that the final execution will not be as spectacular as it looks to be now by the time it goes through final budget/schedule/construction blunders, but if we end up with a full park on the level of Diagon for example, the gap between Disney and Universal will be significantly reduced.

Also, what if this park is on a similar timeline that IoA was? A second Universal park was announced in 1993 but I don't think any details were given. Construction started in '97 and then completed in '99. If that same timeline was applied now that would put the opening in 2021 which, at least in my mind, would be pretty realistic.

 

[Mike C]

I sure hope this is still accurate.

It is.

 

[WildcatDen]

Cup of a carpenter?

First, I do not think they give it to you I a cup. I think it is injected into the eggs while in a dish of some kind and then re-placed into the Uterus. Still, I applaud the decision. The world is short on Carpenters, Karen included. . .

 

[JediMasterMatt]

I think the opposite: if Uni builds a third gate (on top of a new/better water park), it basically becomes a very viable week long resort destination for most people. There's becomes less reason to stay in between WDW and Uni and more reason to just pick one for a trip and spend all your time there. Maybe for foreign guests with longer vacations, I-Drive might make some sense, but for most domestic guests, it would force the decision of which resort to visit.

Doing the 1 or 2 day add on for Uni onto WDW based vacation becomes less sensible the more Uni builds.

Orlando's "war" isn't about where you spend your days. The real war is over who you are sleeping with at night. It's been that way since Disney's rapid on property hotel expansions. It's in this attribute that any change in the dynamic to the Mouse House will ever be felt. The Florida project is all about keeping those hotel occupancy rates high at WDW. All the news over a Universal 3rd gate being used with the long gestating land purchase isn't any issue with Disney. It's the new hotels and resorts on Universal's property that are the real threat.

The commodity at stake in Orlando's theme park wars is TIME. The battle over where you spend your time when not at the parks is most lucrative. Keeping a guest on your property by filling a room is guaranteed money that earns compound interest at a known rate. Where you go during the day is gravy to Disney. If those rooms at WDW stop being filled... then the battle really begins. The tug and pull of what guest do with their time in Orlando is the real battle. When you lay your head down on a pillow at night has so much to do with where you are likely to spend money before you go to bed and when you wake up.

Disney should be concerned as their business model could come under serious threat if people start sleeping down the road instead of on property. Even now, you are foolish NOT to spend a night at a Universal Deluxe resort if you plan on spending two days at their parks. Unlimited Express and early entry on check-in and check-out days along with early entry at reasonable (compared to Disney Resort prices) rates is unbeatable.

 

[Cesar R M]

Uh. Avatar isnt open yet. It was three cities ago for me since it was announced.

You can blame Bob for taking so long.

At least we might get an announcement of an announcement of a possible opening soon.

I move faster than the mouse

is there anything that moves slower than the mouse building in "phases" ?

 

[Smiddimizer]

Orlando's "war" isn't about where you spend your days. The real war is over who you are sleeping with at night. It's been that way since Disney's rapid on property hotel expansions. It's in this attribute that any change in the dynamic to the Mouse House will ever be felt. The Florida project is all about keeping those hotel occupancy rates high at WDW. All the news over a Universal 3rd gate being used with the long gestating land purchase isn't any issue with Disney. It's the new hotels and resorts on Universal's property that are the real threat.

The commodity at stake in Orlando's theme park wars is TIME. The battle over where you spend your time when not at the parks is most lucrative. Keeping a guest on your property by filling a room is guaranteed money that earns compound interest at a known rate. Where you go during the day is gravy to Disney. If those rooms at WDW stop being filled... then the battle really begins. The tug and pull of what guest do with their time in Orlando is the real battle. When you lay your head down on a pillow at night has so much to do with where you are likely to spend money before you go to bed and when you wake up.

Disney should be concerned as their business model could come under serious threat if people start sleeping down the road instead of on property. Even now, you are foolish NOT to spend a night at a Universal Deluxe resort if you plan on spending two days at their parks. Unlimited Express and early entry on check-in and check-out days along with early entry at reasonable (compared to Disney Resort prices) rates is unbeatable.

What if I choose to sleep in a van down by the river?

 

[Cesar R M]

I been very obsessed with anything related to Shanghai Disney Resort lately. I'm still waiting for more announcements in the future. Mainly since I'm excited to see the new parade debuting once the resort opens. This old concept art shows the Mickey unit from Tokyo Disneyland's Jubilation parade being reused. But this was back in 2011 during the early stages of the construction of the park and before more stuff got announced. I did enjoy checking out the official Shanghai Disney website.

I wonder how much green will be cut for the "fireworks" show.

 

[ChrisFL]

The real war is over who you are sleeping with at night.

Whoa, leave South Orange Blossom Trail out of this

 

[Nmoody1]

I wonder how much green will be cut for the "fireworks" show.

I wouldn't bet on there being a huge fireworks show... There are roads and the maglev line behind fantasyland (not directly behind, thibk poly distance from MK) so maybe fireworks fallout could be an issue, plus, ironically local people were up in arms about pollution from fireworks - funny considering! From the concept art it looks like the nightime show will be a castle based version of a fantasmic type show... I don't think we will be enjoying a typical disney fireworks ending to a regular day

 

[Nmoody1]

I wonder how much green will be cut for the "fireworks" show.

Oh I just realised that you meant green cut in the park - ie the MK hub and how glorious it used to be!!

You'd hope they had factored this into plans! :/

 

[Garfield]

Any idea how long could it be until the actual buy happens?

Depends on where they are in the process. Commercial/land sales are a different and much more intensive process than residential sales. The process can be as long as a year or even more, so without knowing when the actual agreement was signed and what steps have been taken up to this point, it's hard to tell.

 

[ford91exploder]

In other news ESPN pulled Navy QB Keenan Reynolds from Heisman voting because he was 'doing too well',

Is it any wonder ESPN's ratings are going down. Imagine a Heisman trophy winner who can actually do calculus and can read and write at college level. ESPN's soft racism of low expectations of college athletes of color is showing. Guess they don't want a Heisman winner who can perform intellectually at a college level as well as play ball at a college level.

TWDC never ceases to disgust me these days on many levels.

 

[ford91exploder]

You can blame Bob for taking so long.

At least we might get an announcement of an announcement of a possible opening soon.



is there anything that moves slower than the mouse building in "phases" ?

Just perhaps the movement of the continents...

 

[Disneyhead'71]

What if I choose to sleep in a van down by the river?

$54/night.

 

[Andrew C]

In other news ESPN pulled Navy QB Keenan Reynolds from Heisman voting because he was 'doing too well',

Is it any wonder ESPN's ratings are going down. Imagine a Heisman trophy winner who can actually do calculus and can read and write at college level. ESPN's soft racism of low expectations of college athletes of color is showing. Guess they don't want a Heisman winner who can perform intellectually at a college level as well as play ball at a college level.

TWDC never ceases to disgust me these days on many levels.

Not quite...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...eynolds-was-removed-from-heisman-voting-page/

Although, you could still make the argument I guess that ESPN's response is BS.