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[šŸŒŽ Universal GB] Planning, Transport and Infrastructure

Bowser said:
The operating hours listed in the application are 07:00-23:00 7 days a week including bank holidays and up to 02:00 for special events including Halloween up to 60 days a year.
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I think itā€™s no earlier than 7am, and no later than 11pm on normal operating days. Thatā€˜s the envelope within which Universal will operate the park, rather than the set opening and closing time. Iā€™d say thereā€™s zero chance of opening that early and closing that late outside of peak season.
 
rob@rar said:
I think itā€™s no earlier than 7am, and no later than 11pm on normal operating days. Thatā€˜s the envelope within which Universal will operate the park, rather than the set opening and closing time. Iā€™d say thereā€™s zero chance of opening that early and closing that late outside of peak season.
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Oh of course. I imagine a lot of things in the application are maximums and with the expectation of push back and compromise.

Exciting nonetheless and will be an interesting comparison point when prices eventually emerge and youā€™re essentially getting double the hours of most of the existing UK parks.
 
Bowser said:
Exciting nonetheless and will be an interesting comparison point when prices eventually emerge and youā€™re essentially getting double the hours of most of the existing UK parks.
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I think we will get some days with longer hours, but I would expect the core hours of the park might be 10am to 6pm as it is in Florida outside of peak periods.
 
Bowser said:
Oh of course. I imagine a lot of things in the application are maximums and with the expectation of push back and compromise.
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The entire planning application is a set of design principles which describe maximums (height, volume, etc) of the buildings across the site, with no reference to actual buildings which will be constructe. The government is being asked to approve those design principles rather than an actual site plan. its a remarkable negotiation by Universal to get that degree of freedom in their planning permission.
 
Blackrock said:
Well it makes sense otherwise theyā€™d be submitting a planning application for every single thing they want to build within the next ten years after the park has opened
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I agree it makes sense (especially from the perspective of a theme park fan), but is this normal for a large scale development? I get the feeling that this is extremely unusual. Take a look, for example, at plans submitted by Chessington for development at their park (via Attraction Source.com). Entirely different level of detail in their planning application.
 
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JT01 said:
Hearing that the UK is going to get a park that could stay open till 2am on special occasions and peak seasons to be possibly open till 11pm is such a pinch me moment for the stale UK industry lol
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Completely agree. Theme parks of Disney or Universal's quality are even better after dark. Can't wait!
 
JT01 said:
Hearing that the UK is going to get a park that could stay open till 2am on special occasions and peak seasons to be possibly open till 11pm is such a pinch me moment for the stale UK industry lol
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I would imagine that this covers their general licensable activity. It'll be for the sale and service of alcohol in the hotels, bars, restaurants and general entertainment activities, not necessarily rides running around the park.
 
BenTechy66 said:
Looks like the spike on the BTTF coaster (presumably the tallest element in the park) could be up to 115 meters (378ft) if these documents are to be believed!
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Indeed, and Universal have said in the planning documents that "The reason for proposing structures up to this maximum height is to allow the proposed theme park to compete with other attractions in Europe".

www.bbc.co.uk

Universal UK could feature Europe's tallest rides - BBC News

New plans show the theme park firm wants to compete with attractions across Europe.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
I would imagine that this covers their general licensable activity. It'll be for the sale and service of alcohol in the hotels, bars, restaurants and general entertainment activities, not necessarily rides running around the park.
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Although the planning documents specifically state these times are in respect of opening hours for the theme park. No guarantee that the park will stay open this late for special events, but Iā€™d guess Universal are covering all possibilities with this planning application. Iā€™ve never been to a Halloween Horror Night - how late do they stay open until?
 
Benzin said:
2am is well past my bedtime though.

Would be interesting to see how the UK market would take to a Halloween event lasting that late into the night.
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From what I gather the current ā€œlateā€ night offerings at Merlin parks are already the most popular theme park events of the year.

Obviously Blackpool has a history of beyond midnight closures and I believe at one point Thorpe Park hosted very late nights so itā€™s not without precedent here, albeit a long time ago.

As long as the transport is available I canā€™t see a reason why uptake wouldnā€™t be high, itā€™s not like Brits have an aversion to staying up!
 
Yeah, lets remember the days of pay per ride on the Big One at one in the morning.
Those were the days.
We now get half a dozen nights of ten o clock, or nine if the fireworks are on.
 
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