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Potential New Universal UK Park

Craig

Craig

TS Administrator
The potential for a new theme park in the UK has already created a lot of discussion, so to try and minimise repeat posts and keep discussion constructive, we've created this post to round things up. Thanks to @Plastic Person for starting the initial topic, you'll find their original post after this one.

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🌎 What we know so far​

To help you know what's been posted already, we're also summarising the key factual information below. This isn't going to be like the Nemesis timeline with a blow by blow account, it's just going through the key points of what we know so far. It'll be updated by the team on a regular basis.

[November 2023]​

  • Initial rumours surface - Inside Universal's forums discuss initial rumours of Universal looking to open a full size park in the UK
  • Domain names registered - Multiple domain name variants have been registered by Comcast including UniversalStudiosUK, UniversalStudiosBritain and UniversalStudiosGreatBritain

[December 2023]​

  • Land purchase in Bedfordshire - Orlando ParkStop release an article and a video reporting Comcast purchased a developer named Cloud Wing UK Ltd. Cloud Wing own a large parcel of land in Bedfordshire - the former Kempston Brickworks. Coupled with the initial rumours, this indicates the site is a potential location for a future park.
  • Leaked Concept Art revealed - @TMainStreetNews on X reveals some leaked concept art. It's at least 11 months old, but the location in the concept art is found to be near Milton Keynes, just under 10 miles from the land that Comcast/Universal now own.
  • Universal Spokesperson confirms land purchase and potential park - The Bedford Independent publishes an article confirming Universal Destinations & Experiences have purchased the land in Bedfordshire. They confirm they're at the early stages of feasibility and it'll be "many months" before they are ready to make a decision as to whether or not they'll proceed and are "very early in planning this potential project".

[April 2024]​

  • Public engagement period launched - The project's official website has been updated, with Universal publishing an information pack for the park including proposed building and structure height limits, along with what land will be allocated to different sections of the resort. They also announced in person events on the 13th and 16th April
 

Universal Great Britain

As thanks to Tomfoolery, I believe we might have enough to base a speculation and rumor thread for the sake of this from the stuff they have since claimed on. Via the "Universal Re-Acquiring PortAventura" thread--Tomfoolery has claimed that of NBCUniversal and Comcast planning and developing a...
forums.insideuniversal.net forums.insideuniversal.net

Even more intriguing and unexpected, several of the more reliable insiders on, er, Universal Insider are implying that the resorts arm are already present in the UK with a holding company under the banner of NVUL and have potentially even already purchased land for a new park. o_O
 
It's happening

Universal_london_resort_logo_2016_by_unitedworldmedia_ddzulii.png
 
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Post from Tomfoolery on the Inside Universal forum in relation to the UK park rumour..

Still very early for specifics, current projected opening by the end of the decade. IP mix also not 100%, don’t want to mislead with things that can change, but a full fledge big budget park with unique attractions to standout from orlando. Not a kids park,
Click to expand...

Edit: sorry just read the above link properly and see this is covered. But still, this particular post is very interesting.
 
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Very interesting. Can't think where they may be planning, and if they are planning why has nothing already been submitted.

The end of the decade, for a project like this isn't that far away.

Unless of course they are looking and London Resort?
 
The plot thickens… because according to a different IU thread (https://forums.insideuniversal.net/threads/universal-acquires-271m-of-land.16150/#post-1022496), Comcast’s accounts also expressly mention that at some point during the 9 months to 30th September 2023, Universal made a $271million land purchase related to “the acquisition of land for future theme park expansion opportunities”…

This is not thought to be related to the already-announced Texas theme park, as that was announced back in January and it was said at the time that the land had been purchased prior to the announcement.

Now I’m not saying that that is necessarily land in the UK by any stretch… but it certainly seems like Universal is strategising something if they’ve made a new holding company and bought $271m worth of land!
 
Even in the off chance that Universal managed to get past our extremely rigid planning processes, does this country need yet another cultural export from America? As if our coffee shops being colonised by tax dodging Starbucks wasn’t enough….

When it comes to building major infrastructure for an entire theme park, I wouldn’t get your hopes up too much either. Best case outcome is that it would be built on the cheap, like most buildings, infrastructure and housing are these days. And for a good theme park, you need serious infrastructure for dark rides, landscaping, themed props, good quality catering facilities, park entrances/buildings etc.
Costly cross border supply chains hampering the construction industry, a lack of government subsidisation due to their self inflicted debt, and as mentioned before our ridiculously bureaucratic planning system all play in to why it would never be built to a good standard.

The UK theme park industry is doomed, no matter what perspective you look at it from.
 
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I think there is scope for a new ground up theme park in the UK as long as it's placed in the right area. Why can't we have a new park in the UK when many other European countries have them?

Planning laws are a pain in the arse in the UK but plenty of companies seem to find their way around them. It about time Merlin got some new competition.
 
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Josh555 said:
Is the guy who broke this news reliable or is it just yet more tomfoolery?

Mods if you want to ban me for that joke, I’ll understand.
Click to expand...
The folks on there say that he’s been very reliable in the past, and other reliable insiders are apparently saying similar things, for what it’s worth.
 
I’ve always wondered, if the UK really was a viable place to have a mega world class resort like this, why haven’t Merlin attempted it - are they really that cheap and lazy to not take advantage of that? EDIT to add: I don’t even necessarily mean to Disney and Universal level, you can’t compete with their access to IPs. But even just to a Europa Park level. Some rusty shipping containers as a hotel at your flagship London park will never cut it.

They seem to have hit a ceiling in terms of guest numbers at the parks they currently have here. So makes me think they have enough knowledge to know it’s not viable. And if they thought it was but couldn’t be arsed to do it, surely they’d know that sooner or later, someone will take the opportunity to realise it?

I can’t see a mega Universal park like this being viable just with UK visitors, it would have to attract visitors from all over Europe, as Disneyland Paris does. Which means realistically it will need to be near London. Easy forget Heathrow is the 2nd busiest airport in the world, and the you have another 4 London airports on top of that, and a high speed train to the continent.

Very very interesting, if it does happen it’s really going to have a big effect on the Surrey parks! And no doubt the Southerners that do make it up to Alton Towers will have a much more enticing park on their doorstep.
 
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I’m not sure that Merlin have anywhere near the expertise to attempt something on the scale of Universal.

They had 15 million to spend on a dark ride and came up with Ghost Train, I dread to think what we’d get if they tried to build something on the scale of Universal
 
Expertise can be bought and hired in though, and Merlin could have a lot of cash if Blackstone/Lego injected it into it. I’d hope Ghost Train was just an unfortunate anomaly, if there were such a thing as “theme park studies”, that would be a great thesis to write on that!
 
Will just post what I posted on the London Resort thread (and expand a bit)

I don't know if I'm the only one who thinks this but I've a feeling that a Disney/Universal style resort in a massive overpopulated and touristic city like London would be quite successful. Thorpe and Chessington gets quite crowdy and they are medium-sized parks and not that famous at all (like nobody knows Thorpe, Chessington or Legoland Windsor here in Spain if I ask around... even to people that had visited London multiple times... but everybody knows Disneyland Paris or the Universal parks at North America)

A resort in London based on IPs and promoted as one of the main touristic attractions in the city (the way Disneyland Paris is) is a guaranteed money printer I think.

Here I see two options for Universal: Either rescuing the London Resort project (the plans are already in place so might be easier that way) or building it near around the Harry Potter Studio Tour to create a kind of complex (HPST doesn't have to be related to that but it would be a similar scenario as US Singapore where right outside the park gate there are other unrelated attractions)
 
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Matt N said:
The plot thickens… because according to a different IU thread (https://forums.insideuniversal.net/threads/universal-acquires-271m-of-land.16150/#post-1022496), Comcast’s accounts also expressly mention that at some point during the 9 months to 30th September 2023, Universal made a $271million land purchase related to “the acquisition of land for future theme park expansion opportunities”…

This is not thought to be related to the already-announced Texas theme park, as that was announced back in January and it was said at the time that the land had been purchased prior to the announcement.

Now I’m not saying that that is necessarily land in the UK by any stretch… but it certainly seems like Universal is strategising something if they’ve made a new holding company and bought $271m worth of land!
Click to expand...
That seems interesting. A Universal in the UK would be brilliant, but I still doubt that it would happen.
 
If Universal are really interested, there’s a far better chance of this happening. One of the problems the London Resort has had are its lack of a clear funding source which means that there’s little political momentum behind it. I’d wager that with Comcast resources, there would be a far stronger momentum and political support for such a project.
 
If I were Comcast, nothing about the current financial or political landscape in the UK would float my boat, but the possibility of a Wizarding World of Harry Potter in London is surely too good for any investor to miss? Even at the risk of cannibalising a large market for Orlando visitors? Either way, people can’t get enough Butterbeer, and Merlin don’t have the recipe.
 
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