New Fantasyland known about around mid 2009, announced in mid 2009 and opened in winter 2012 (keeping in mind that SDMT was not on the drawing board till late 2010 and opened in mid 2014)... 3-4 years for each phase.
WWoHP was known about around mid 2006 (and was in development for years prior), announced in early 2007 and opened in mid 2010... 4 years.
Diagon Alley was on the drawing board in 2011, announced in early 2012 and opened in mid 2014 (impressively fast schedule) but still 3 years.
Transformers was built in a year, again kudos to Universal for their schedule there, though it was the third iteration of the exact same ride and Universal literally announced that it was being "fast tracked" so it was to be expected.
Kong was well underway in early 2013 (announced 18 months later) and opened in mid 2016. 3 years.
The Jimmy Fallon ride is going to take two years (but that's to install a motion platform and screen in a box)- just like it took Disney 2 years to add a motion platform and the screen in a box to EPCOT, or Toy Story Mania which also took 2 years).
Frozen Ever After was an overlay with some track modification that took two years, just as Seuss Trolley Train Ride took 2 years.
I guess it's pointless to argue with people that can't comprehend permitting, construction scheduling, and budgeting (or choose to ignore them). Wasting extra money to speed up a supposedly "slow" pace doesn't matter for a place that has people planning their trips years in advance. I know it gets everyone here in a tizzy, but it's really not a problem for anyone else. Universal was in a position a few years back when they needed to rapidly expand their capacity and they got two attractions built in a quick manner, leading people to conclude that this was the new norm. It's back to a 3-5 year timeline for major projects- and don't insult your own intelligence by claiming that a theater in a box is "quick" at 18-24 months from either company.
And before I hear anything about how Universal is now "blowing Disney away" with attendance gains due to all of their expansion, Magic Kingdom alone has outpaced either of Universal's parks since Harry Potter was in the works. In fact, Magic Kingdom has almost the same net attendance gain as BOTH of the Universal parks. Since 2004, USF has gained 2.8 million guests, IOA has gained 2.4 million and Magic Kingdom has gained 5 million (it's always convenient to look at 2007 after Universal was done cratering for years which massively skews the attendance "gains" at Uni when in reality it was just making up for the massive losses in years prior).
