Next International Resort [Universal Studios Great Britain]

[tcool123]

I would love to see one in space someday. I guess that wouldn't count for international though, it would be galactic.

Funnily enough I know there was a competition where we actually did do this! We created a futuristic park found in space set over a century from now; perhaps @spacemt354 might remember where it came from?

 

[spacemt354]

Funnily enough I know there was a competition where we actually did do this! We created a futuristic park found in space set over a century from now; perhaps @spacemt354 might remember where it came from?

2016 Year End Event - Eisner's Game: An Imagineering Competition

Coming Early December... THIS IS THE YEAR END EVENT Backstory To: The Sweet 16 Welcome Imagineers. You have been selected as the best (armchair) Imagineers of 2016. Therefore, as left in a document by former CEO Michael Eisner, please comply with the following: As soon as the science...

forums.wdwmagic.com

Eisner's Game hosted by @kmbmw777 comes to mind!

 

[ThemeParkPriest]

2016 Year End Event - Eisner's Game: An Imagineering Competition

Coming Early December... THIS IS THE YEAR END EVENT Backstory To: The Sweet 16 Welcome Imagineers. You have been selected as the best (armchair) Imagineers of 2016. Therefore, as left in a document by former CEO Michael Eisner, please comply with the following: As soon as the science...

forums.wdwmagic.com

Eisner's Game hosted by @kmbmw777 comes to mind!

Probably this post: https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads...-imagineering-competition.921721/post-7512209
Wow there were about 60 people who played in that game!

 

[DisneyManOne]

Initial Rankings for Locations
Below is the summary table for this project so far.

	Percentage	20	10	15	10	10	20	15	100
City	Country	Pop	GDP PC	Other Park	Talks	IPpc	Weather	Business	Total
Hong Kong	Hong Kong	20.0	5.3	0.0	10	10.0	9.8	12.8	67.9
Los Angeles	USA	7.4	7.3	0.0	10	6.0	18.6	12.6	62.0
Sydney	Australia	2.1	6.0	11.9	8	6.1	14.8	12.2	61.0
Dubai	UAE	0.9	5.0	11.5	10	3.4	10.8	12.1	53.6
Mexico City	Mexico	13.3	1.0	7.9	0	1.6	17.6	10.9	52.2
Beijing	China	16.5	1.2	0.0	10	1.1	10.6	11.7	51.1
Shanghai	China	15.1	1.2	0.0	10	1.1	9.8	11.7	48.9
Seoul	South Korea	13.4	3.6	0.8	2	5.3	10	12.6	47.7
Sao Paolo	Brazil	9.9	0.8	12.4	0	1.0	14.6	8.9	47.6
Orlando	USA	2.9	7.3	0.0	10	6.0	8.6	12.6	47.5
Bangalore	India	11.2	0.2	8.9	3	0.1	13.2	10.7	47.2
Paris	France	6.9	4.5	0.0	10	2.5	11	11.5	46.3
Barcelona	Spain	2.7	3.1	0.8	10	1.8	15.2	11.7	45.3
London	United Kingdom	10.4	4.7	0.3	3	4.4	9.6	12.5	44.9
Toronto	Canada	4.3	5.0	7.6	0	6.0	9.2	11.9	44.0
Chongqing	China	8.9	1.2	1.3	10	1.1	9.6	11.7	43.9
Tokyo	Japan	6.7	4.6	0.0	10	1.1	9.6	11.7	43.8
Singapore	Singapore	3.3	6.9	0.0	10	6.0	4	12.9	43.2
Berlin	Germany	2.3	5.3	0.8	10	2.0	9.2	12.0	41.6
Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	5.9	0.8	12.6	0	1.0	11.2	8.9	40.4
Alicante	Spain	1.2	3.1	1.1	8	1.8	13.4	11.7	40.3
Buenos Aires	Argentina	1.7	1.0	12.9	0	1.0	14.4	8.9	39.9
Geneva	Switzerland	4.0	10.0	0.4	0	2.6	10.8	11.5	39.2
Amsterdam	Netherlands	8.1	6.0	0.4	0	2.3	10.4	11.4	38.6
Rome	Italy	3.0	3.7	1.0	3	1.5	14.2	10.9	37.3
Vienna	Austria	1.9	5.6	1.0	0	2.3	13	11.8	35.5
Taipei	Taiwan	5.7	3.0	0.6	0	3.1	9	12.1	33.6
Stockholm	Sweden	1.0	6.0	1.4	0	3.1	7.4	12.3	31.2

Best locations of parks: 1. Hong Kong (67.9), 2. Los Angeles (62.0), 3. Sydney (61.0), 4. Dubai (53.6), 5. Mexico City (52.2)

Best locations of parks (without a current park): 1. Sydney (61.0), 2. Dubai (53.6), 3. Mexico City (52.2), 4. Seoul (47.7), 5. Sao Paolo (47.6)

I do recall a few rounds of The Sorcerer's Apprentice featuring projects that were set near or around these places. One was in Rio (although the resort was called Disneyland Brazil); and one was in Mumbai (and BTW, that concept was incredible!). And of course, an Australian-set Disneyland has been floated in various forms on these forums.

 

[ThemeParkPriest]

Next up: Evaluation of American Heartland Theme Park coming to Vinita, Oklahoma.

 

[ThemeParkPriest]

American Heartland Theme Park (Vinita, Oklahoma)
American Heartland Theme Park is set to open in 2026 to the tune of $2 billion (see https://www.oklahoman.com/story/new...sion-entertainment-gene-bicknell/70465387007/). It will be 125 acres (so similar in size to the Magic Kingdom or Disneyland) and located near Vinita, Oklahoma, which is in the northeast part of the state. The current population of Vinita is 5743, although that number will increase significantly by the time the park opens. In addition to the theme park, the resort will include a water park, a hotel, and a RV Park. Mansion Entertainment Company out of Branson, Missouri is the developer. Gene Bicknell is the financier of the park; he had run hundreds of Pizza Hut franchises around the world. There are at least 20 former Disney employees working on the project.

I researched and analyzed the new theme park based on what I have done for other potential locations in this project of mine. The overall location rating of 59.4 suggests that Vinita will be a relatively good location for a theme park (accepting for things like a limited workforce and proximity to a major airport). Being 1169 miles from the closest top tier theme parks in Orlando gives the park a high probability of not having to compete seriously with Disney and Universal theme parks (note: the small Universal park opening in Frisco, TX was not counted as a top tier theme park for this analysis). The weather score of 73 makes it comparable to San Francisco and Frisco, TX, worse than Los Angeles, but better than Orlando. The population of 2.6 million people within 100 miles (with Tulsa being the largest city) puts it behind most locations that would be considered for a major theme park (except for places like Dubai and Stockholm).

 

[MickeyMouse10]

Great location, I'm sure a lot of people will visit it on road trips. I just hope it is more Disney though and less Six Flags.

 

[ThemeParkPriest]

Small update: my latest blog post summarizes my location analysis and lists the features of the park:

https://themeparkpriest.weebly.com/blog/analysis-of-american-heartland

 

[ThemeParkPriest]

Bedford/London, England (Universal Studios)
There was confirmation from Universal Studios this week that a big piece of land in the town of Bedford (northwest of London) was recently purchased. The population finding tool doesn't seem to be working properly, so for now I'll just keep using the population within 100 miles of London. The location score for such a theme park went up from 46.2 to 51.5 mostly due to the fact that discussions with the government have occurred. A small part of that increase is due to the fact that Bedford is further away from Paris (the next closest tier-1 theme park) than London.

 

[MickeyMouse10]

Yeah, I just heard about it today. I can't believe it, hopefully it will happen. It would give another option for English speaking areas overseas.

DSNY and Theme Park Stop have videos on it I just watched. They mentioned Lord of the Rings, 007 and Paddington Bear as possible options. Which is pretty exciting news. I always said 007 would have actually been a better option than Jason Bourne, for a stunt show.

 

[Evilgidgit]

As a Brit, it is very exciting that we could get a Universal resort in the UK, but I'm also taking the news with a large grain of salt. Even if Universal has bought land and been consulting with the locals in Bedford, there is still every possibility it will never get off the ground. I spent a decade waiting for progress on the London Resort project, but that was DOA from the start, never really went anywhere, no plans were unveiled, and it was ultimately scrapped by a lack of investment, interest, and the land it was going to be built on was home to a very rare species of spider. If even five people moan, then the chances of the resort happening will plummet.

 

[Goofy Ninja]

Disney better be careful, because the U.K. is a very loyal fanbase. They don't want to allow them to get hooked early on Universal. Because they'll be bringing their kids to those parks instead of theirs.

 

[ThemeParkPriest]

As a Brit, it is very exciting that we could get a Universal resort in the UK, but I'm also taking the news with a large grain of salt. Even if Universal has bought land and been consulting with the locals in Bedford, there is still every possibility it will never get off the ground. I spent a decade waiting for progress on the London Resort project, but that was DOA from the start, never really went anywhere, no plans were unveiled, and it was ultimately scrapped by a lack of investment, interest, and the land it was going to be built on was home to a very rare species of spider. If even five people moan, then the chances of the resort happening will plummet.

Yeah I hear the London Project was canceled, in part, due to finding some sort of endangered jumping spider. The podcasts I’ve listened to seem to think that British project planning is a lot more involved than in the US.

 

[Miru]

Disney better be careful, because the U.K. is a very loyal fanbase. They don't want to allow them to get hooked early on Universal. Because they'll be bringing their kids to those parks instead of theirs.

Furthermore, UK cultural values view theme & amusement parks very differently from American values and to an extent other parts of Europe. Poseidon Entertainment clarifies as such.