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Potential New Universal UK Park

Relife said:
I suspect the project may be a bit further along than the press release suggests. Dropping 270 million on land is a bit more that scoping out an area.
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As pointed out before, Universal have spent $271 million on land acquisition according to their SEC report, however there is no proof this is on one single parcel of land.

Taken from the ParkStop article:
According to an SEC report released after Comcast’s third quarter in October 2023, the company disclosed that $271 million were spent, “associated with the acquisition of land for potential theme park expansion opportunities.” We do not know for certain that this financial disclosure is related to a park in Great Britain, but the timing of it is curious.
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So it could be one plot of land for expansion, or it could be say 5 different plots all over Europe including Bedford for all we know. Or it could be none and it's unrelated, it's all speculation.

Just think it's important not to confuse the facts with speculation for the moment.
 
havaska said:
Agreed. It’s too much money to ‘gamble’ with.
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They are surely intending to use this land however it's a bit of land that has been passed around a few times I believe as it's in a great spot they could easily flip it and probably make profit if something happened to change their minds (I.e planning permission hurdles).

But their purchase definitely shows intent.
 
It is also worth baring in mind that land in this area is prime for distribution facilities etc., so I am sure that if Comcast chose not to go ahead with this they would be able to sell the land themselves and not lose out too much. Comcast can afford to take a bit of a hit anyway, certainly makes sense to acquire land before any beans are split so they can get it at a fair price.

I feel this will all come down to how their consultations with local and national stakeholders go over the coming months. If they get the feeling that they're likely to be allowed to go ahead with their plans on this site, and market conditions are favourable, then I see no reason why they would not press ahead. On the other side of the coin, they may find out that there are so many hoops to jump through that it is not worth their time and effort, especially if shareholders want it open by a certain year for example.
 
It'll be interesting to see where this goes, as they do have a good chunk of land to do a lot of stuff here, albeit nothing of the scale of its Orlando Counterpart. I'd be interesting to see how the park will be recieved by the British General Public (if it gets built that is.). I remember watching British Theme Park archives Bubbbleworks documentary, and at 5:11, John Wardley brought up a point, stating that while the American rides and parks are great in their own home grounds, he believes they wouldn't work in the UK as well as they would in the US. I'll leave a link below if anyone want sto check his statement out in its entirety, as he explains it a lot batter than I ever could. Weather you agree with him or not, its still a very good watch.


From: https://youtu.be/4aEe-T-kqxI?si=X975TS4T_-RIdRRI
 
Trooper Looper said:
It'll be interesting to see where this goes. I'd be interesting to see how the park will be recieved by the British General Public (if it gets built that is.). I remember watching British Theme Park archives Bubbbleworks documentary, and at 5:11, John Wardley brought up a point, stating that while the American rides and parks are great in their own home grounds, he believes they wouldn't work in the UK as well as they would in the US. I'll leave a link below if anyone want sto check his statement out in its entirety, as he explains it a lot batter than I ever could.


From: https://youtu.be/4aEe-T-kqxI?si=X975TS4T_-RIdRRI
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That is only the case if we assume that a duplicate of the American parks is brought here without any kind of integration into the UK culture. I’d like to think that Universal would have learned from the mistakes of Disneyland Paris in this regard and done some work to integrate a park into the British culture rather than just bringing the product over from America and hoping it works.

One of the key reasons for Disneyland Paris’ initial failure was said to be because the people of France were not on board with it and Disney did not make enough concessions to French culture. Therefore, I imagine Universal would not want to make the same mistake.
 
Bowser said:
I love that the Bedford Independent has the scoop on this.
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It does make a nice change for a local media outlet, and one that is seemingly not owned by Reach plc, picked up on this and did some good old fashioned journalism by going to Universal and actually getting a great response. I do wonder if the mayor of Bedford Borough gave them a nudge, so that they too could be at the centre of the universe!

For those who have not read the article, this is the official map that Universal provided showing the land that they have:

Universal-Studios-purchased-land-in-Kempston-Hardwick.jpg


A penny for the thoughts of those who live in the few properties on Manor Road bang in the middle of the site!
 
500 acres is a lot of land. It doesn't look that big on the graphic that was shared in the Bedford Independent article, but it is HUGE.

For perspective, with some clever planning, you could fit Universal Studios Florida, Universal Islands of Adventure, City Walk, a few hotels, as well as infrastructure (e.g. parking, junctions, rail station, etc.) on that land.

The land they've bought is bigger than every other property they own bar Orlando and Beijing, and there is theoretically expansion space to the South and West.

I'm keeping my expectations in check though. If this goes ahead, and it's a big if, I'm expecting one park, two hotels, and a small City Walk. Basically whatever Beijing opened with but with a few different rides and IPs.
 
For those wondering, this is the full statement from Comcast:

“We recently acquired land in Bedford and are at the early stages of exploring its feasibility for a potential park and resort at this site. It will be many months before we are ready to make a decision to proceed and we look forward to engaging with all relevant stakeholders and the local community.”

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

  • While we do own the land in Bedford, it will be many months before we are ready to make a decision regarding whether to proceed.
  • We are still very early in planning this potential project and determining feasibility. We have not determined the creative content.

WHY UK
  • We are always looking at new locations around the world, including in Europe and the UK is an attractive place for a potential project. The UK has a large population, creative industries, strong tourism, and transportation infrastructure with close proximity to other parts of Europe.

WHY BEDFORD
  • Bedford has excellent transportation connectivity to London and Europe with more than half of the UK population within two hours, including just 45 minutes outside of London. In addition, it is near Luton airport.
  • As demonstrated by our other developments around the world, we take a proactive approach to working with local communities and stakeholders when pursuing potential projects
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I know it’s been said before but I love how in two weeks a plan has appeared for a new theme park that is already 100 x more credible than a decade of people banging on about London resort.

The statement from Comcast does suggest this is in no way a done deal though, i suspect they have only just started the feasibility studies, i know they have purchased the land but its better to buy the land, do feasibility and then if its a no go sell it on.
 
Feasibility studies are no guarantee of an end product. Purchasing the land to 'scope it out' so to speak is more common than not when it comes to individuals trying to ascertain whether or not a theme park or any form of resort can be achieved (whether this be done as secretively as possible or within the public eye). If Universal deem it not feasible, which is entirely possible, they can look to sell the land back.
 
Rob said:
A penny for the thoughts of those who live in the few properties on Manor Road bang in the middle of the site!
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None for sale (currently).

Will be an absolute nightmare for them presumably although depending on where the entrance ends up being likely most people won't drive that way. The train station is up the road though.
 
Out of interest are there any examples of companies with *'credible' proposals purchasing land for a theme park and then selling it without the park going ahead that anyone is aware of? Appreciate that there are likely a few but I just wondered how common to help ascertain how likely that is to happen.

*Note that the word 'credible' excludes the London Resort.
 
Josh555 said:
Out of interest are there any examples of companies with *'credible' proposals purchasing land for a theme park and then selling it without the park going ahead that anyone is aware of? Appreciate that there are likely a few but I just wondered how common to help ascertain how likely that is to happen.

*Note that the word 'credible' excludes the London Resort.
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Battersea Power Station.
www.vice.com

How Battersea Power Station Almost Became London's Very Own Alton Towers

"The Battersea" would have been the nuttiest theme park in the UK, with a high-speed bullet train taking punters from Victoria station straight to its gates.
www.vice.com www.vice.com
 
For size comparison, here's Disneyland Paris's two parks compared with just the upper section of land:
1702996383417.png
And here's Islands of Adventure and Universal Orlando:
1702996025915.png

It's really not an insignificant portion of land, and both of the above park examples fit in the section above Manor Road, so there's still a lot of room for hotels etc.
 

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