There's nowhere to put another Marvel attraction unless you remove the Toon theater and have Marvel annex that area, and even then I'm not sure that's enough space for an E-ticket.I think IOA is subjectively in running for the best park in Orlando, so doesn’t need massive swaths of investment unlike the studios. But there is quite a bit more room than you allude to. There’s room for a marvel E-ticket, a Seuss landing expansion (possibly more with back stage, but without removing really anything). Both Toon Lagoon (Rip Saw Falls / theatre) with somewhat pressing need for a land retheme and the entirety of lost continent. That’s before they really even have to pull a Disneyland and create more space. All of the above from my knowledge has been bandied about in the last decade or so internally.
There's space next to Cat in the Hat that could be considered an expansion pad, basically the only one left, but I've just about given up hope of them actually using it for that purpose.
I know Toon Lagoon has a lot of haters, but it's not getting rethemed any time soon. It's just not. They've been predicting it for years, only for nothing to happen. Frankly it doesn't even need a retheme. No, it's not the most culturally relevant theme for a land, but it's also not "MUST RETHEME IMMEDIATELY" material. Universal doesn't seem to care much about their themes being considered "outdated" either, given the fact that a brand new park will have an entire section dedicated to black & white monster movies, and you better believe people will be saying the exact same things about that land, no matter how good it is. Replace the Toon theater with a Rocky & Bullwinkle ride, like they should've done a long time ago, and maybe make some much-needed upgrades to Ripsaw Falls' onride theming, and the land is good to go for the foreseeable future IMO.
I will be sad to lose Lost Continent's theming, but with Poseidon being all that's left, it needs to go soon. Will it actually? With so much on their plate elsewhere, also doubtful. Especially with the predicament of them likely wanting to keep Mythos. I'm sure they'll get around to it eventually, but not as soon as anyone wants or predicts.
Creating more space at IOA would be very difficult, and essentially impossible anywhere but north of Hogsmeade. Disneyland ran out of space initially because it had a train going around it, which they worked around (or under, to be more accurate.) IOA is nearly surrounded by a service road, with external roads just on the other side of that. So there's literally nowhere for the park to expand on most sides. Even expanding the park north of Hogsmeade would require removing a number of backstage services... and possibly a gas station (which Universal doesn't own.) Unless someone works at Universal and has an intimate knowledge of that particular backstage area and what it's used for, I don't think we can begin to guess at how likely they are to move things around for park expansion. And then there's the cherry on top, the Hogwarts Express cuts right through the area in question. No moving that.
So yeah, people underestimate how much a new park was needed. It's possible the new backstage area at Epic will clear up some space at the current parks, but I'd guess nothing too substantial given the actual layout of things. And even then, that's a consequence of a new park going there.
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