Potential New Universal UK Park

[Bowser]

Further to this, Universal currently only has the USA themepark rights east of the Missisippi, so they can't even use Marvel at their Hollywood park. Islands of Adventure is the only Universal park to have Marvel characters, I think even Japan has closed Spider-Man.

Spiderman in Japan only closed last weekend.

Also IMG has Marvel rides in Dubai and only opened in 2016, well after the Disney purchase, so not impossible that Disney are willing to licence it out in other countries, though i agree unlikely.

 

[James]

This park would likely be in competition with Disneyland Paris, so I think it would be unlikely to see a Marvel ride in the UK.

 

[Benjsh]

Riddle me this:

At the existing Universal parks they have Marvel rides.

At Disneyland Paris they have Marvel rides.

On the Disney channel in the UK they have Marvel.

At a UK Universal park... ???

Rain.

 

[benpicko]

Rain.

I know it's a joke but just for the sake of discussion, it's really not that different:

 

[Dannyski]

Damn that some sexy climate data

 

[Bowser]

Top graph work tbf.

Anyway, if Universal can open a park in Singapore with their weather i think they can handle Bedford.

 

[Relife]

I think the weather in the UK is massively over exaggerated, certainly in the main season anyway.

It good to see Universal saving middle earth/ Lord.of the Rings for the UK

 

[James]

Rain won’t be an issue. Cold weather might, but Universal can plan ahead for this and build more indoor attractions if they aim for a 365 park.

 

[rob666]

I think the weather in the UK is massively over exaggerated, certainly in the main season anyway.

It good to see Universal saving middle earth/ Lord.of the Rings for the UK

You obviously haven't been working outside much then!
Rain records broken in many areas, triple the usual rain in many areas, and not a single dry week in the north since last July.
They will need lots of big sheds for the rainy alternative...something lacking at the Towers.

 

[Benzin]

Certainly never rains in Florida.

Besides most Universal rides are indoors.

Feel like this topic will have a lot of dull moments until things actually happen.

 

[Bowser]

Article on BBC today:

Universal Studios UK: Is a theme park coming to Stewartby?

What might a major new theme park mean for a Bedfordshire village and its 1,200 inhabitants?

www.bbc.co.uk

Doesn't really contain any new information but has some interviews and graphs.

This was the most interesting imo:

 

[rob666]

Alton is only sixty acres bigger than Thorpe?
Well I never, would have said double.

 

[Craig]

Alton is only sixty acres bigger than Thorpe?
Well I never, would have said double.

It's a weird one that's cropped up before, but Thorpe's figure covers the whole quarry area on which the park is built, so the lakes as well which is probably a good 40% of the area too. As a usable theme park area, it is much smaller.

It'll be similar for a Universal park too I guess. There'll be a good chunk of land which will be reserved for future development or used for back of house stuff (I'm almost certain they'll build some employee accommodation and it'll be MUCH bigger than that at Thorpe or Towers as well). There'll also be a massive chunk which will no doubt be used as an environmental buffer to please the neighbours as well.

 

[Relife]

I spotted that article this morning and it's an absolute nothing burger.

The most we can hope for this year is the outcome of the feasibility study hopefully by the end of ,2024. If it's positive I would expect a planning applications in 2025 or 2026 which is quite some time off. Loads of negotiations need to happen before this and I expect the chatter around the park to die down for a bit especially when current parks start thier main seasons.

 

[rob666]

It's a weird one that's cropped up before, but Thorpe's figure covers the whole quarry area on which the park is built, so the lakes as well which is probably a good 40% of the area too. As a usable theme park area, it is much smaller.

It'll be similar for a Universal park too I guess. There'll be a good chunk of land which will be reserved for future development or used for back of house stuff (I'm almost certain they'll build some employee accommodation and it'll be MUCH bigger than that at Thorpe or Towers as well). There'll also be a massive chunk which will no doubt be used as an environmental buffer to please the neighbours as well.

And I suppose they don't count the bottom third of the gardens that are now outside the fence.

 

[Craig]

And I suppose they don't count the bottom third of the gardens that are now outside the fence.

I'd assume not, I think the key thing is that the figures for all those parks feature a large amount of unusable space - and unfortunately the article doesn't make that clear. Be that the gardens at Towers, the lakes at Thorpe or in the case of Paris, just masses of land reserved for future development or for construction of whole new settlements in the form of Val d'Europe. Disney have a LOT of land which can be used, but not a lot that is used at present.

I spotted that article this morning and it's an absolute nothing burger.

To us perhaps, but not necessarily to those who are not usually interested in the development of theme parks so it's sometimes good to point out mainstream media coverage the attraction is gaining. In any case, it does make a a few good points - mainly that there's mixed views to developments such as this in the local community but also the potential state funding that might have to be thrown in for infrastructure (as had happened for DLP) off the back of any investment by Universal - that may prove difficult in the current climate. Sure, in the long run it might prove a positive for the UK - but then so would the likes of HS2 which is now a shadow of its former self thanks to political pressure. Spending public money, especially linked to private projects is a hard sell when the benefits of it could be pretty long term.

Also of note is the quote from Jon Tankard, a council member for Leavesden regarding the Warner Bros Studios expansions. There were concerns over the amount of traffic and impact on infrastructure - the exact thing that will likely be the biggest hurdle for Universal, which are far more difficult to overcome vs a time slotted attraction like the Harry Potter Studio Tour.

 

[Matt N]

Also of note is the quote from Jon Tankard, a council member for Leavesden regarding the Warner Bros Studios expansions. There were concerns over the amount of traffic and impact on infrastructure - the exact thing that will likely be the biggest hurdle for Universal, which are far more difficult to overcome vs a time slotted attraction like the Harry Potter Studio Tour.

It is worth noting, however, that Tankard seemed surprisingly positive about the matter, saying that the traffic mostly came straight off the M25 into the attraction rather than causing any disruption for residents of Leavesden and Abbots Langley.

The site that Universal have chosen is located right next to the A421, a large dual carriageway, and not a million miles away from the M1. With this in mind, I think it would be quite easy for Universal traffic to be diverted away from the villages of Stewartby and Kempston Hardwick. Admittedly, it’s a fair bit further from the M1 than Warner Bros is from the M25, but it’s a similar sort of set up; with WB, visitors exit the M25, travel along the A41 and find themselves pretty much there, and with Universal, visitors could exit the M1, travel along the A421 and find themselves pretty much there. Yes, the scale would likely be different, but the principle is similar. If sufficient investment is put into local infrastructure, then I don’t see that Universal couldn’t be the same.

Universal are experienced in the game of building new theme parks, and I imagine that they would be forthcoming in proposing infrastructure improvements and directing traffic away from nearby settlements as much as possible.

 

[Craig]

It is worth noting, however, that Tankard seemed surprisingly positive about the matter, saying that the traffic mostly came straight off the M25 into the attraction rather than causing any disruption for residents of Leavesden and Abbots Langley.

The site that Universal have chosen is located right next to the A421, a large dual carriageway, and not a million miles away from the M1. With this in mind, I think it would be quite easy for Universal traffic to be diverted away from the villages of Stewartby and Kempston Hardwick.

Yup he was positive, but only on the basis of the Studio Tour rather than a theme park. As mentioned, the Studio Tour operates as a time slotted attraction so guests arrive at different times throughout the day. A theme park is a totally different beast, with the vast majority of guests arriving for a single opening time, and leaving around the same time when the park closes. The point I'm making is that if the studio tour faced pressure despite the staggered arrival times of guests - one should expect stronger opposition and concerns for the Universal project.

Yes, there's a large dual carriageway, but as others have mentioned it's already particularly busy. I wouldn't consider it easy to manage that level of traffic flow arriving and leaving at the same time. Europa-Park for example is right by the motorway, and now has a dedicated bypass into the park with switchable lanes according to peak arrival and departure. Despite this, it still suffers from queues snaking right to the motorway and queues to get in, especially on peak days. In the UK, look at large events that take place near to motorways that cause traffic issues thanks to mass arrivals - Boomtown, Leeds Festival, the British GP and Download as prime examples. Now I'd expect Universal UK to eventually settle down to much lower attendances than some of those festivals - but the point I'm making is that big roads don't necessarily equal an ability to deal with mass arrivals and departures when they're all eventually funnelled into one big entrance.

I'm not saying the whole project is not going to happen solely on this basis, but it's also going to be one of the biggest things to overcome in terms of opposition and a factor as to whether Universal go ahead with the project. Sure the company has deep pockets, but at the same time I would suspect that they will want some sort of public funding to cover some of the infrastructure improvements required. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that, they're going to be forking out for tax and bringing economic benefit to the country after all. Whether that's forthcoming in terms of direct funding for the improvements or some sort of tax break who knows, but it's whether whatever government we end up with is happy for that to happen and whether that's an easy sell to the general public.

 

[Benzin]

Download was an absolute mess last year. Took about 4 hours to get from the A42 junction to the actual festival (we also stopped off for food to be fair, but had already been driving for 2 hours).

Daily operation attraction shouldn't have such issues. But still a lot to sort. Especially given how crap we are building any decent infrastructure.

 

[Craig]

Yup my view is it's all sortable. But I think the key point I'm trying to make is stuff like this can take time. That either pushes the 2030 date back, or worst case Universal walk.

My view is still the former, but I think it's just important to be prepared for hurdles along the way. It's how they'll be overcome that interests me at this stage.