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Potential New Universal UK Park

The_bup said:
Personally, money doesn’t immediately make great dark rides. The kung fu panda one is so s l o w. Needs much better pacing. And effects. Dark rides are telling an exiting story through sets and effects. Like the Jurassic park one. I don’t even think the show building for that one is huge either.
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I have to slightly disagree there.

The type of Dark Ride you are describing are specifically the showstopper variety. Jurassic World (Beijing), Rise of the Resistance, ect.
But I'd argue a well rounded Park needs rides like Small World. Rides with a lot to discover, rather than pulling all focus to a single story.

I'd argue this is why Islands of Adventure is a much better rounded Park than Universal Studios next door. It has filler attractions that round out the day, but the studios is just blockbuster rides.

Kung-fu Panda is a bit confused as it seems to be aiming to be both. Batavia at Europa is a much better example, there is an overarching story but its not the focus except for at the start and end.
 
JT01 said:
get off peoples backs for being excited! this is probably the biggest news to come the UK theme park industry in decades
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Why be excited about something which you think won’t happen? People have raised very legitimate concerns about the viability of this project, together with the obvious fact that the planned Universal resort in Essex in the 90s never materialised.

Of course, if you think it will happen, then nobody is saying you’re wrong, there’s just plenty of reasons why people are entitled to be sceptical and they wish to voice their reservations on here. Forums are supposed to be all about discussion. If you want everyone on here to be saying “OMG this is amazing I’m so happy”, this would mean that many people would be glossing over their concerns regarding this project.
 
Construction industry will be absolutely DESPERATE for something like this. Especially with the current mess as a result of HS2's cancellation. Pretty much put everyone in a panic and full on concern about big projects just getting cancelled midway through.

Plenty of concerns, but comparing this to the apparent failure of building something in the 90s, where a number of this forum weren't even born, ignores the massive differences within those 30 years.

At the moment though it's all blue sky. Universal will keep cards close to the chest as much as possible until they decide to pursue this or not. There's certainly demand, and sensibility within their decisions thus far. Especially in comparison to London Resort's mob, which was following the failure of Paramount Spain.

No point anyone declaring it will/won't happen. Not until the spades are in or the for sale signs are up. Its a miserable world atm, so a bit of hope is very appreciated.


havaska said:
I can't see a Kung Fu Panda ride being built in the UK park; it makes sense in China due to its setting.
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Building Potter lands in America and Japan don't make sense either. There's a Kung Fu Panda ride in one of the Dubai parks.
 
Can we avoid turning this topic into an argument about people's opinions on the project? Everyone is entitled to them, whether they're pessimistic or optimistic about it happening. Simply posting to have a go about someone's opinion does nothing to progress discussion about the park - thanks.

On the subject of specific rides and IPs, we've got to remember we're looking at nearly 7 years at an absolute minimum for this to open. Technology and the popularity of older IPs can change and evolve significantly over that time. Not to mention there'll be plenty of new stuff in the pipeline too and changes to who owns what as well. Only last night was it reported that Warner Bros are looking to merge with Paramount. Admittedly there's not many big hitters left to buy, but I don't think we can just think "Florida, Beijing etc has this" and assume there'll be similar cropping up in a potential UK park.

There's a lot of franchises that will likely be coming to the end of their commercial success as well, so there's certainly a potential for a lot of new stuff to be cropping up too. As much as Kung Fu Panda has a new film that's (eventually) due to come out next year, it'll have been 8 years since the last one and the TV spin off was mediocre on the reviews front. I guess it depends how the 4th instalment does, but could you see it being such a big thing come the start of the next decade?
 
Enter Valhalla said:
Why be excited about something which you think won’t happen? People have raised very legitimate concerns about the viability of this project, together with the obvious fact that the planned Universal resort in Essex in the 90s never materialised.
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The Essex resort never materialised due to a combination of environmental concerns on the particular site (the park was to be built on the Rainham Marshes, an area of high biodiversity) and the fact that they were competing with a site in Paris and the French government were more forthcoming with government subsidy than the British government. Universal later scrapped the project entirely after Disneyland Paris failed in 1992.

This site does not (on the surface, at least) have the same sort of environmental concerns associated with it, and while Bedford could be competing with other countries and other sites, we don’t know that it is for certain either.

You could use previously proposed and failed UK projects as a reason why this might not happen, and I can understand a degree of scepticism on these grounds. However, I’d argue that the fact that so many projects have been proposed publicly and gotten to the stage of very serious consideration in the past is a sign that there is sufficient demand and feasibility for such a park in the UK for the big companies to deem such a proposal worthwhile to plough time and money into to a degree. If there wasn’t demand for a big park of this type in the UK, I’d argue that we would never have even seen projects like Universal’s Essex resort and The London Resort reach the public conscious and meet the scrutiny of local government, residents and such.

Surely if a UK resort was plainly unfeasible in terms of things like demand, market conditions and such, these companies would have left the idea in the boardroom and not wasted their time ploughing money into the investigations and consultations and concept art and such?
 
After seeing the leaked concept art for a Wallace & Grommit/ Shaun the Sheep land a few years back (I think for the London Resort?), I would absolutely love an Aardman Animations attraction. It's so quintessentially British. Not sure it has much appeal outside of the UK though, and not sure if Universal would want a non-Uni IP?
 
McCarthyB said:
After seeing the leaked concept art for a Wallace & Grommit/ Shaun the Sheep land a few years back (I think for the London Resort?), I would absolutely love an Aardman Animations attraction. It's so quintessentially British. Not sure it has much appeal outside of the UK though, and not sure if Universal would want a non-Uni IP?
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Not owning the IP outright has never previously stopped Universal theming attractions.

The Simpsons
Nickelodeon
Superman
Hulk
Harry Potter
Spider-Man
Shrek & other DreamWorks properties

I could go on.

As long as they have geese somewhere, I'll be happy. 🪿
 
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With regards to a potential Kung Fu Panda area isn’t it a case that in the UK the rights to Dreamworks franchises are currently held by Merlin (as seen in Shrek’s Adventure in London which IIRC has a small Kung Fu Panda area at the end of it)?

Obviously worldwide rights and licensing issues are complicated, just because a park has a certain set of IPs in one location it’s not a given that they could replicate that elsewhere if they wanted to in a different territory when there are existing contracts and deals in place. I wonder how long Merlin have the Shrek’s Adventure license for anyway and whether that would still be the case in 2030?
 
Relife said:
I'm not sure the King Fu Panda IP is all that big in the UK but surely Minions is a must.
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No. There is no location in the known multiverse in which “Minions” is a must.

There are certain things people expect from a Universal park: The old classics like ET, Jaws, Jurassic Park, King Kong, Maybe even Back to the Future, and these days, Harry Potter.
But never Minions.
No one is flying to another continent just for Minions.

It’s all well and good saying they will adapt to the local culture, but people want what they know. Don’t forget, when Magic Kingdom opened without PotC there were complaints, and they had to scrap their plans for a western themed boat ride and replace it with Pirates.
.... On the flip side, DLP failed to adapt enough. But that’s the French for you. I think people in this country are far more accepting of American culture. For better or worse. But that’s a whole other debate. ;)
 
DiogoJ42 said:
No. There is no location in the known multiverse in which “Minions” is a must.

There are certain things people expect from a Universal park: The old classics like ET, Jaws, Jurassic Park, King Kong, Maybe even Back to the Future, and these days, Harry Potter.
But never Minions.
No one is flying to another continent just for Minions.

It’s all well and good saying they will adapt to the local culture, but people want what they know. Don’t forget, when Magic Kingdom opened without PotC there were complaints, and they had to scrap their plans for a western themed boat ride and replace it with Pirates.
.... On the flip side, DLP failed to adapt enough. But that’s the French for you. I think people in this country are far more accepting of American culture. For better or worse. But that’s a whole other debate. ;)
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Sorry but Minions is absolutely a must just because of how incredibly popular it is with children. Both films grossed around a billion dollars, kids love it
 
ThemeParkAddict said:
I'm biblically terrible at guessing which IP's are popular enough and which aren't but I don't know if Minions is popular enough to be a 'must' in the UK.
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Minions are massively popular characters with children, if you’ve got young kids then you’ll know that Minions are right up there with the likes of Peppa Pig and Frozen in terms of both popularity and of how they’ve entered the wider pop culture and transcended just the movies and original media. Crucially though, a lot of adults are fans of the Minion characters and that’s the really important part, they have very wide appeal.

Personally when it comes to looking at IPs that Universal could use in a park here I’d love to see some that would feel very at home in a British setting. Paddington seems like it would be a very natural fit, you could just imagine a dark ride that took you through the streets of London for example or a royal palace. Bond as well seems like it would be a fantastic franchise to use if they could. But really though Middle Earth would be absolute spectacular.

There’s actually an interesting article on Wikipedia about the representation and influence of England on Tolkien’s Middle Earth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England_in_Middle-earth
 
Minions may be a must for the capitalist vultures that expect a return on investment, but what I believe @DiogoJ42 is saying is that, for the sake of humanity and sanity and all that is good with the world, Minions is never a must or the answer to anything... Other than "What's an IP that could be classed as a living hell on earth?"

It may make business sense, but please, won't someone think of the goslings? They may like their yellow crack, but crack isn't good for anyone.

As for Middle Earth? Good luck in convincing the Tolkien estate. They're awfully protective.
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
Minions may be a must for the capitalist vultures that expect a return on investment, but what I believe @DiogoJ42 is saying is that, for the sake of humanity and sanity and all that is good with the world, Minions is never a must or the answer to anything... Other than "What's an IP that could be classed as a living hell on earth?"

It may make business sense, but please, won't someone think of the goslings? They may like their yellow crack, but crack isn't good for anyone.

As for Middle Earth? Good luck in convincing the Tolkien estate. They're awfully protective.
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Universal is already rumoured to have theme park rights to Lord of the Rings. The Tolkien family were very protective of the IP but that's gone out the window when Tolkien's son Christopher died. Money seems o talk these days. It would be a huge draw for international visitors if we get it.
 
I wouldn't have an issue with a minions area if it's all rides I'm too big for anyway similarly I've been to Alton towers way too many times to count yet I've yet to put myself into getting the octonauts cred.

I will say minions would be quite a valued IP but it's one of those things I think a lot of parents would rather be stuck on hell on earth than be in 'minions land' or something like that for 4 hours atleast if I was a parent I'd have that opinion.
 
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