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Potential New Universal UK Park

owenstreet7 said:
Any Doctor Who based dark ride would need to be screen based so they can update any sequences with The Doctor soon after their regeneration if focusing on the current doctor.

If using popular doctors, they may be able to get away with using someone like David Tennant but everyone has their preferences with Doctors so may not be able to please everyone.
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A potential Doctor Who ride wouldn’t need to be entirely screen based. It could just have a pre-show with a video at the start and then another one right at the end of the ride.

But I do wonder if with the bi-generation thing that was established in 60th special allows David Tennant to effectively be the “face” of Doctor Who and any rides going forward rather than them being limited to just using whoever the current Doctor is seeing as Twelve is out there alongside the current incarnation.
 
benpicko said:
I think the one thing that would stop football being a theme at a Universal park is, well, the theming. It's not really something that could sustain a massive magically themed ride.
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Ahem

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benpicko said:
I think the one thing that would stop football being a theme at a Universal park is, well, the theming. It's not really something that could sustain a massive magically themed ride.
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Never underestimate how the various footballing bodies can add outrageous levels of pageantry and pomposity to almost anything. Just watch a Champions League draw for a masterclass in bombastic frills.
 
Matt N said:
I reckon a 2025 construction start is slightly optimistic myself. Bear in mind that even after Universal gives the project the green light, they still need to submit a full planning application to the government and have their proposal go through appropriate scrutiny.

I know that that project had a litany of other issues, but bear in mind that the team behind the ill-fated London Resort project were forecasting that it would take 18 months from the submission of their full planning application to get approval of the planning application by the government, and that even had the gold-plated NSIP status to fastrack it through the planning process. I’m unsure if Universal have been granted NSIP status, even if the proposal is being viewed by the UK government rather than Bedford Borough Council.

If Universal’s proposal was to take a similar 18 months to gain planning approval, we’d be looking at early to mid 2026 for a planning approval if they submitted a full planning application towards the end of 2024.

Given that Universal wouldn’t be starting construction straight away (they’d need to hire construction workers, order supplies, and do all that good logistical stuff after the planning approval), I reckon we’d be looking at more like late 2026 or possibly even 2027 for a construction start and an opening somewhere in the ballpark of the early 2030s.

And that’s if everything goes wonderfully to plan; as we’ve seen with the London Resort’s planning application and numerous other large infrastructure projects in the UK (such as HS2), it only takes a few heavily dissatisfied people to throw a massive spanner in the works. We could see currently hidden opponents emerging from the woodwork when it comes to the scrutiny and seriousness of an official planning application.
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Do you think planning applications will reveal everything or will Universal be able to keep lots under wraps?

I imagine a large outdoor rollercoaster would need to be shown whereas an indoor "mall" with multiple dark rides wouldn't be required to specifiy?
 
Bowser said:
Ahem

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I know that exists but I'm more saying that I don't think that's up to the standards of what people would want from Universal
 
Bowser said:
Ahem

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A couple of other parks have been inspired by football as well in recent years. PortAventura opened a La Liga themed area as well with a restaurant and game area and doesn’t Europa Park have its Arena Of Football? Obviously those examples are quite small in scale.
 
BSwiss said:
we could see something involving Football.
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I really can't imagine that, because:
1, It isn't a solid theme, harry potter has amazing places with wonderous places with magic, where as football is a stadium / football pitch, something which most people have closer than a 1 hour drive, in addition what is the story of any of the rides, is it that you are a world famous football player it could work but I feel like it would just end up being tacky.
2, would a football audience come to see a football land? I don't think many would, because you can see the real deal in a stadium somewhere in the country, It is the reason fantasy themes work well, because you can go to the land and experience the towns/mountains etc of the theme.

xtpower said:
The limits of their football involvement will probably be a EPL themed restaurant and bar in the Citywalk. They won't dedicate actual space in the theme park to something of that sort.
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This would be my guess, I recall on citywalk they have/had a sports bar thing
 
If they took on a football team for the theme of this theoretical football area, would people that didn’t support that team go?
 
Harry potter is a must I would say.
Doctor who sounds like a runner
Drawing off what we are seeing at epic universe the classic monsters is a wonderful idea

Football land sounds excruciatingly painful to me, I'd rather stick a fork in my eye.

I fail to understand what could be considered an exciting attraction in this area. A dark ride maybe? certainly one I would happily miss.
 
The_bup said:
If they took on a football team for the theme of this theoretical football area, would people that didn’t support that team go?
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A ride just loosely themed to the Premier League itself could definitely work. It sounds a bit daft but don’t forget that there’s a hyper at Kennywood (Steel Curtain) that is loosely themed to a NFL team.

With the theming of these things a lot of it can be about buzzwords, branding, and creating an atmosphere. Don’t forget that the Premier League is the most watched league in the world, I was just reading a stat that says it gets 643m viewers per game and has a worldwide television audience of 3.2 billion people, that’s absolutely massive.

For a theme park an area with a plaza containing a sports bar or restaurant, a loosely themed coaster named something like The Premier, and maybe a flying theatre ride taking you around the world swooping over stadiums and towns isn’t necessarily a ridiculous idea.
 
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I just can't see a Dr Who land happening. If they have a backlot or studios type area then maybe an individual ride? There are so many easier options and I think they will play it safe with IPs at opening.

It's crazy contrasting Universal GB with Disneyland Paris. The French still kind of resent the park even though it's been turned around. I'd hope all the positivity from locals and authorities encourage Universal
 
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