Next International Resort [Universal Studios Great Britain]

ThemeParkPriest

ThemeParkPriest

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
With Universal Beijing about to open, it is fun to think about where the next big theme park resort will spring up! Certainly a lot of individual projects on the Imagineering Forum have been put forward as to what a Disney resort would look like in other countries around the world (e.g. South Korea, Canada, Sweden, etc.). This thread will consider those options (as well as others). Criterion will be established and explained so that an objective-as-possible rating can be determined for each location.

Below are several criteria that will be used in the rankings. Can you think of others?

Popularity of IPs in country
Whether initial discussions have taken place to build a top-tier resort
Population within an hour
Land available
Travel time to Airport
Distance from other top-tier theme park
Country’s GDP
Political situation
Willingness of Government to Negotiate
Weather

Edit: added bottom two criteria
 
Last edited:
Miru

Miru

Well-Known Member
Potential for fun aesthetics?
Companies to work together with to design and maintain the resort?
Contracts concerning IP use?
 
Last edited:
mharrington

mharrington

Well-Known Member
ThemeParkPriest said:
With Universal Beijing about to open, it is fun to think about where the next big theme park resort will spring up! Certainly a lot of individual projects on the Imagineering Forum have been put forward as to what a Disney resort would look like in other countries around the world (e.g. South Korea, Canada, Sweden, etc.). This thread will consider those options (as well as others). Criterion will be established and explained so that an objective-as-possible rating can be determined for each location.

Below are several criteria that will be used in the rankings. Can you think of others?

Popularity of IPs in country
Whether initial discussions have taken place to build a top-tier resort
Population within an hour
Land available
Travel time to Airport
Distance from other top-tier theme park
Country’s GDP
Political situation
Click to expand...
I would like to add the presence of Disney already in whatever country you're going with (e.g., the release of Disney films). For example, here's a list of the release dates of the Golden Age films in Japan and France, which of course have Disney parks in them:

1) SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS
-May 4, 1938 (France)
-September 24, 1950 (Japan)

2) PINOCCHIO
-May 22, 1946 (France)
-May 17, 1952 (Japan)

3) FANTASIA
-November 1, 1946 (France)
-September 23, 1955 (Japan)

4) DUMBO
-October 9, 1947 (France)
-March 12, 1954 (Japan)

5) BAMBI
-April 28, 1948 (France)
-May 26, 1951 (Japan)

Anyway, the preexistence of Disney films in a country is a big factor for me in selecting a location.
 
ThemeParkPriest

ThemeParkPriest

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
mharrington said:
I would like to add the presence of Disney already in whatever country you're going with (e.g., the release of Disney films).
Click to expand...

That is what I was sort of going with in “Popularity of IPs in the country.” Mostly I am thinking of Disney or Universal properties.

Twilight_Roxas said:
Canada
Mexico
Spain
Dubai/Abu Dhabi
Gold Coast/Sydney Australia
New Zealand
Germany
Russia
South Korea
Taiwan
Click to expand...
Are those ones you are interested in or places where a Disney park has been discussed?
 
J

J4546

Well-Known Member
If disney builds another major park thats in a totally new location I could see India getting one. Disney just bought Fox, which includes Star media based out of india. Star and Hotstar have something like 800 millions subscribers to their service with most of them being in india. Putting a park in western India, close to Mumbai, location wise its right between HK and Paris. You could get a massive draw of people from India and Pakistan. And Dubai/UAE is a quick flight away.
 
ThemeParkPriest

ThemeParkPriest

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Here is the current listing of international Disney and Universal theme parks:

Tokyo Disneyland (1983)
Disneyland Paris (1992)
Universal Studios Japan (March 2001, Osaka)
Tokyo DisneySea (September 2001)
Walt Disney Studios Paris (2002)
Hong Kong Disneyland (2005)
Universal Studios Singapore (2008)
Shanghai Disneyland (2016)
Universal Studios Beijing (September 20, 2021)
 
ThemeParkPriest

ThemeParkPriest

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Although Disney has finished every resort it has started, some of the Opening Days were disastrous (like at Disneyland Paris when Michael Eisner left the stage after being pelted with tomatoes). Universal, on the other hand, seems to be a bit trigger-happy when it comes to building new parks. Still listed on its future theme parks section on Wikipedia is Universal Studios Moscow. Although this indoor park was thought to originally open in 2022, the lack of buzz makes it seem like it might be dead in the water. Universal has green-lit several projects only to cancel them later:

Universal Studios Dubailand, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Broke ground 2008, no construction since 2009)
Universal Studios Germany, Krefeld (near Cologne), Germany
Universal Studios South Korea, Hwaseong (near Seoul), South Korea

Universal Studios also bought a park near Barcelona Spain that operated under a name like “Universal’s Port Aventura” from 1999-2004 until it was sold off.
 
ThemeParkPriest

ThemeParkPriest

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Twilight_Roxas said:
There’s also three international Warner Bros theme parks.

Warner Bros Movie World (Australia)
Parque Warner (Spain)
Warner Bros World (Abu Dhabi)
Click to expand...

I know I really like the Warner Bros World in Abu Dhabi. Do you think those parks, though, are on the same level as Universal and Disney resorts? To me, it seems like they at least need more hotels and other resort amenities to be on the same level.

Also, I’m adding weather and the willingness of the government to negotiate with (somewhat hard to determine in advance) as criteria.
 
ThemeParkPriest

ThemeParkPriest

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Robert Nyles of “Theme Park Insider” did some research to come up with three possible locations for the next Disney resort—Chongqing (in southwest China), Beijing, and Seoul. Factors that he considered included population data, income data, growth patterns, and the sites of current Disney and competing theme parks. The late Harrison “Buzz” Price used similar criteria to help Walt Disney select Anaheim and Orlando for Disneyland and Walt Disney World. For more information, check out his posts:
www.themeparkinsider.com

Disney CEO calls construction of new theme parks 'inevitable'

www.themeparkinsider.com

The book “Building Magic: Disney’s Overseas Theme Parks” by William Silvester talks about how the international Disney parks came to fruition. The book also discusses some possible locations for future Disney resorts, especially based on publicity. First I will list here locations that were basically rumors (with year of rumor) and did not have much merit:
Philippines (2016)—hoax
Brazil (Curitiba, 2010)—rumor
Zimbabwe (Victoria Falls)—rumor

And now the locations that did receive greater consideration, especially in the research for Euro Disney:
Spain (Alicante and Barcelona)
Great Britain—biggest plot was 300 acres
Italy—mountainous
Germany—but Germans prefer to vacation elsewhere
Australia (Disney Wharf at Sydney Harbor, 2007)
India (2014)
South Korea (2005)—mostly leverage for Shanghai and Hong Kong
 
ThemeParkPriest

ThemeParkPriest

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Climate
Having a pleasant climate can be very helpful for the long term success of a theme park. Ideally a theme park would not have many very hot days, cold days, or heavy rain days. The STC Climate Index (see https://globalresidenceindex.com/hnwi-index/climate-index/) gives 190 cities worldwide a score between 1.00 and 0.00 (a score of 1.00 means a very pleasurable climate). The city with the best climate is Dakhla, Morrocco with a score of 0.96. The city with the worst climate is Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; it scored 0.02. Listed below are cities either with a top theme park or potentially in consideration for one:
Los Angeles—0.93
Mexico City—0.88
Barcelona—0.76
Sydney—0.74
Sao Paulo—0.73
Buenos Aires—0.72
Rome—0.71
Bangalore—0.66
Vienna—0.65
Rio de Janeiro—0.56
Paris—0.55
Dubai—0.54
Geneva—0.54
Beijing—0.53
Amsterdam—0.52
Seoul—0.50
Shanghai—0.49
Hong Kong—0.49
Tokyo—0.48
London—0.48
Chongqing, China—0.48
Toronto—0.46
Berlin—0.46
Taipei—0.45
Stockholm—0.37
Singapore—0.20
 
Last edited:
ThemeParkPriest

ThemeParkPriest

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
GDP Per Capita
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a measure of how strong an economy is. GDP per capita gives a measure of how wealthy an individual citizen is in that country. The World Bank gives the most recent GDP per capita (in US dollar) for the world’s countries (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?most_recent_value_desc=true). The country with the highest GDP per capita is Monaco with $190,500. Burundi has the lowest GDP per capita at $271. Places like Switzerland, Netherlands, and Australia are all in good financial positions to support a theme park resort. India, on the contrary, has such a low GDP per capita that most citizens would not be able to go to the resort (even if the tickets and lodging were significantly less). This doesn’t rule out building a resort in India as with the high population there are still many people who would still be able to make use of such a resort.

CityCountryGDP PC
GenevaSwitzerland86600
Los AngelesUSA63500
OrlandoUSA63500
SingaporeSingapore59800
AmsterdamNetherlands 52300
StockholmSweden51900
SydneyAustralia51800
ViennaAustria48100
Hong KongChina46300
BerlinGermany45700
TorontoCanada43200
DubaiUAE43100
LondonUnited Kingdom40300
TokyoJapan40100
ParisFrance38600
RomeItaly31700
SeoulSouth Korea31500
AlicanteSpain27100
BarcelonaSpain27100
TaipeiTaiwan25900
ChongqingChina10500
BeijingChina10500
ShanghaiChina10500
BeijingChina10500
Buenos AiresArgentina8400
Mexico CityMexico8300
Rio de JaneiroBrazil6800
Sao PaoloBrazil6800
BangaloreIndia1900
 
Last edited:
ThemeParkPriest

ThemeParkPriest

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Distance to Another Top-Tier Park
Increasing distance to another top-tier park is generally seen as a desirable criterion when deciding where to build a park. A park that is close to other top-tier parks might find that the market is too saturated, especially if there is a circumstance that makes people less likely to go to the parks (such as a downturn in the economy or an epidemic). However, it should be noted that there are some locations (like Orlando) where there is sort of a synergy with competing parks. Points for this criterion will be awarded for miles up to 1000 that it would be from other parks; additional parks will be awarded for the far away locations. The distance in miles to the nearest top-tier park are shown below. As can be seen, there isn’t any park near South America, whereas some potential places in Europe or Asia might find competition too close.

CityCountryOther Park
Buenos AiresArgentina4615
Rio de JaneiroBrazil4369
Sao PaoloBrazil4277
SydneyAustralia3914
DubaiUAE3634
BangaloreIndia1970
Mexico CityMexico1283
TorontoCanada1053
StockholmSweden959
ChongqingChina895
AlicanteSpain739
RomeItaly688
ViennaAustria642
BerlinGermany546
BarcelonaSpain516
SeoulSouth Korea515
TaipeiTaiwan424
AmsterdamNetherlands 267
GenevaSwitzerland255
LondonUnited Kingdom214
Los AngelesUSA0
OrlandoUSA0
SingaporeSingapore0
Hong KongChina0
TokyoJapan0
ParisFrance0
BeijingChina0
ShanghaiChina0
 
Last edited:
ThemeParkPriest

ThemeParkPriest

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Population
There are tools on the internet for determining the approximate population of an area. I used Free Map Tools (https://www.freemaptools.com/find-population.htm). The radius (for the area) can be changed; I selected a 100-mile radius. Those who are in about 100 miles of a theme park could do a day trip (or a 1-night trip) to the park, so it gives some idea of how many people are the potential “regular” visitors. As seen in the table below, the area around Hong Kong has 51.7 million people. Dubai and Stockholm have a little over 2 million people, so they might not be super high on Disney or Universal’s short list. Please note that Chongqing, China was difficult to search for, so an approximation was made from its Wikipedia page.

CityCountryPopulation
Hong KongChina51.661
BeijingChina41.294
ShanghaiChina37.682
SeoulSouth Korea33.471
Mexico CityMexico33.161
BangaloreIndia27.928
LondonUnited Kingdom26
Sao PaoloBrazil24.749
ChongqingChina22.251
AmsterdamNetherlands20.164
Los AngelesUSA18.494
ParisFrance17.246
TokyoJapan16.832
Rio de JaneiroBrazil14.862
TaipeiTaiwan14.228
TorontoCanada10.63
GenevaSwitzerland9.962
SingaporeSingapore8.364
RomeItaly7.561
OrlandoUSA7.318
BarcelonaSpain6.633
BerlinGermany5.811
SydneyAustralia5.174
ViennaAustria4.655
Buenos AiresArgentina4.351
AlicanteSpain2.985
StockholmSweden2.382
DubaiUAE2.226
 
Last edited:

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom