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Potential New Universal UK Park

Yeah I'm all for a world class Theme Park resort coming to UK but I'd rather have it 30 mins away from me rather than 5 mins.

The people local to that area aren't going to be happy with an attraction that could get 20,000 guests a day 365 days a year. I wouldn't be.

It's definitely still very possible it could all get mothballed
 
I dream of the day someone would knock on my door and say they intended to build an airtime hill over my house. I'd even let them put one of the coaster supports through the middle of my bedroom as long as they insulated it.

Unless it's Gerstlauer who came knocking of course. My bed isn't used to any form of sudden vibrations these days.
 
ScottishChris said:
It won't finish off any of these parks, it probably will barely affect them.. I think you are missing a very major motivator here:
Lightwater Valley - £20
Pleasurewood Hills - £19
Drayton Mannor - £30
Chessington - £35

Universal will likely be closer to £100+ per person. They are not operating in the same leagues and Universal will be a resort park, whereas most of our current parks are day parks at best. Nobody in their right mind would stop going to Lightwater Valley at a cost of £20 per person and make a direct switch to Universal. It is like saying supermarkets like Iceland will fail because a Waitrose opens in the same town.

As stated previously, the places affected will be the likes of Europa, DLP etc. The places that you save for, and plan a full trip around. In the UK, Towers could be affected, but let’s be honest - they are in different leagues.
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I don’t think there is any evidence that it will be £100, Disneyland Paris is the better comparison maybe and that’s currently from £73 depending on the date. Yes I expect it to be more expensive than the current UK parks, but its still got to be realistic compared to other similar parks.


Matt N said:
The 1-day tickets to Universals in America are priced to incentivise longer trips; the tickets with more days on them, such as the 14-day 3 Park Explorer Ticket at Universal Orlando, are £339 per adult (10+) and £329 per child aged 3-9 in 2024: https://ukstore.universalorlando.com/park-tickets

This works out vastly, vastly cheaper per day. And that’s before you consider that those tickets are probably pricier due to them letting you into multiple parks; the 14-day tickets now give you unlimited entry into both theme parks and Volcano Bay for 14 days.

I’d imagine that any Universal offering in Britain would probably be similar, with multi-day tickets working out cheaper on a per-day basis.

Another thing to bear in mind in terms of Universal vs Merlin pricing is that the Merlin parks, particularly the parks in the South, are filled with a considerable army of frugal passholders, who buy MAPs for £100 or so each at the start of the season, take a packed lunch and go and get their money’s worth at the Merlin attractions every weekend. You can bet your bottom dollar that Universal’s annual passes will not be nearly as cheap as those sold by Merlin, which would likely price out many of the people who buy MAPs or similar.
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They won’t be selling more than two day tickets for the single park in the UK, so again compare to DLP not Florida. As you say the Florida pricing is about encouraging multi day visits, but with only one park Universal UK won’t get people coming for more than two days.
 
benpicko said:
The price isn't going to be £100 per person, surely -- Universal know their markets and they know that our wages are nowhere near American wages any more.
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Look at the AT gate price. I know it's a DFS sale style price that probably no one has ever paid but I could conceivably see a £85-90 gate price if Universal offered more than AT does.

I walked past London Dungeon the other day and that had a gate price of £37 for an adult for an hour-long walkthrough too.
 
We have to remember this is still 6/7 years away from potentially opening. I bet the on the gate price at a Merlin park will be 75/80quid by 2031. Obviously with the offers you'd never pay that but that will be the going rate I'd imagine.

£100 sounds extortionate but I don't think it will be too far away from reality. £88/90 would be my guess.
 
benpicko said:
The price isn't going to be £100 per person, surely -- Universal know their markets and they know that our wages are nowhere near American wages any more.
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Are these the American wages that require most people to work multiple jobs or rely heavily on the tipping culture?

Doubtful it'll be £100 for a day ticket alone though. USH equates to about £85 and that's with the added context of "working studio" in a high tourism area.
 
Benzin said:
Are these the American wages that require most people to work multiple jobs or rely heavily on the tipping culture?

Doubtful it'll be £100 for a day ticket alone though. USH equates to about £85 and that's with the added context of "working studio" in a high tourism area.
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The average American salary is much higher than ours, even adjusted for purchasing power and cost of living (including healthcare) -- you're right though that at the lower end it's worse.
 
dave___ said:
Look at the AT gate price. I know it's a DFS sale style price that probably no one has ever paid but I could conceivably see a £85-90 gate price if Universal offered more than AT does.
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Even Disneyland Paris has variable pricing, an undated ticket (so sort of the gate price) is £97, but pick a dated ticket and it could be as low as £52 in November.
 
Benjsh said:
Yeah I'm all for a world class Theme Park resort coming to UK but I'd rather have it 30 mins away from me rather than 5 mins.

The people local to that area aren't going to be happy with an attraction that could get 20,000 guests a day 365 days a year. I wouldn't be.

It's definitely still very possible it could all get mothballed
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I agree, but then this is going to be the case wherever a new large development is built. The majority of those very local to it who are not likely to directly benefit will be opposed and want it built elsewhere, and wherever elsewhere is, there will be local people who do not want it built there!

It was interesting looking through the new document. I agree with some of the other points made regarding they may have underestimated the number of guests who will travel by car. A total of 35% arriving by private car does seem very low. Maybe Universal executives have not experienced how awful our rail network can be at times? Traffic will be a problem, but then again, traffic in the UK as a whole is generally a problem. Perhaps the inevitable £20-30+ parking charges will put people off driving.

Excited to see how this does go forward from here. Clearly a decision has not yet been made, but so far so good.
 
Relife said:
Has the decision not been made though? I suspect it has but it's not being announced until they have consulted the locals. Far too much going on for it to be speculative.
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It's definitely looking more likely than not I'd say but it could easily fall apart over any particular hurdle. That's planning for you. It comes with so much red tape.
 
It's a tad concerning the amount of people releasing 'click bait' video's, blogs and such about this project. Clearly a number of 'enthusiasts' don't actually understand what is proposed, what is currently happening and the process this needs to go through. Someone was posting pictures of a digger and a tipper on the proposed site proclaiming "construction underway".

Another issue I have with these people on the internet that know nothing but talk like they do is they are setting an expectation that we will be getting the full Universal 'Florida style' product. Of course that isn't true. If it happens, I am sure it will be more along the lines of the Singapore Universal park... to start anyway.

Benjsh said:
It's definitely looking more likely than not I'd say but it could easily fall apart over any particular hurdle. That's planning for you. It comes with so much red tape.
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The following statement in the letter to residents makes me believe the Government will be bending over backwards to grease the wheels to get this moving... I doubt Universal will need to do too much to get what they want. They might even get some cash from the notorious Levelling Up fund to get the project moving.
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What's interesting is they estimate that at least 40% of all visitors would travel by train.

Quite an optimistic target I'd say due to the reliability of our trains and more so the price.
I won't be travelling from Manchester by train I can guarantee it. It would be far cheaper for me to drive.
 
Benjsh said:
What's interesting is they estimate that at least 40% of all visitors would travel by train.

Quite an optimistic target I'd say due to the reliability of our trains and more so the price.
I won't be travelling from Manchester by train I can guarantee it. It would be far cheaper for me to drive.
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I guess what we don’t have sight of is the forecast for domestic vs international visitation.

A key benefit them choosing this location is its proximity and access to Luton Airport and London with the connections to other airports and the Eurostar.

They could well be projecting a chunk of international visitors who would be more likely to arrive via public transport.

As a guide, only around 50% of visitors to DLP are French.
 
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