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Universal GB - Archived Post Announcement Discussion

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ACX96 said:
They claim they have sources but I don't know whether these are actual sources or just someone speculating like the rest of us. If LOTR is in the park then the only space I see it going is between Jurassic and Shrek with the green coaster. The waterfalls on the buildings there remind me of Rivendell from the Hobbit.

That being said, I really doubt LOTR. It doesn't have a mainstream appeal that many are interested in. It would clash with the fantasy theme of Wizzarding world. I know many are saying it won't come because of the studio tour but I think the studio tour is restricted as to what it can do. It's essentially a museum that can never change, once you've seen it once you've seen it all.

I think Universal will hold out until an expansion, let the tour fade away a little to the point where WB will give up the licence to generate more interest in the Studio Tour.
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1. Rivendell from the Hobbit? Rivendell plays a part in both LOTR and The Hobbit but I'd say it's far more integral in LOTR as it's where the council of Elrond takes place. Arguably the most significant moment in the entire lore.

2. Doesn't have mainstream appeal? Are you sure about that? It's one of the most loved stories ever told and the fact it swept 17 Oscars compared to ZERO for Harry Potter tells you everything you need to know. We wouldn't have a Harry Potter but for LOTR. You can tell JK Rowling was massively influenced by it.

3. It won't clash with the Wizarding World because there isn't going to be one here in the UK. They won't want to stop people travelling to Florida and as for the Studios tour not being around for too much longer.....I think you're very much mistaken there. It's one of the busiest tourist attractions in the UK with up 2.5m visitors a year and it's rumoured they are looking at building new attractions there soon too. It's going nowhere.

Absolutely under no illusions that we might not get a Lord of the Rings area but I'm fairly certain we won't be getting Potter now with everything we have read and heard.
 
I'm confused.

Can someone confirm that this has nothing to do with the supposed 'Universal' or other theme park planned to be built in Kent but had lots of opposition from environmentalists, failed at getting planning permission due to rare spider species on the site and the rich guy funding it all running out of money.

One has nothing to do with the other, right?
 
scottb1990 said:
I'm confused.

Can someone confirm that this has nothing to do with the supposed 'Universal' or other theme park planned to be built in Kent but had lots of opposition from environmentalists, failed at getting planning permission due to rare spider species on the site and the rich guy funding it all running out of money.

One has nothing to do with the other, right?
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Yup. It has absolutely nothing to do with the shitshow down in Kent.
 
JP dark ride yes, but the coaster from Beijing not so much.

I'm not that bothered about a BTTF or LOTR area either. Rather have those than Wicked though.

Bond show/attraction being akin to the Bourne show at Orlando is more likely than being in the giant amphitheatre.

Will be sad if we don't get a Dark Universe equivalent. One thing I've thought from the pics of it is that those areas fail to work in the bright skies of Florida.
 
Just a thought but if the Stunt show is Bond and we have a LOTR area next door - it would be great if they themed the outside of the Bond show like a volcano with an evil lair inside. It'd mean it wouldn't look out of place in the vicinity of LOTR and even Jurassic World.
 
Given the Warner Bros. rights, I don't think it’s any surprise that HP won’t be part of the initial park, although I wouldn't rule it out for future phases.

I'm not particularly bothered about what IPs we get. It will be nice to see a park of such high quality in the UK.

Regarding the UK parks, I doubt they will be affected much beyond the first year Universal opens. Merlin is very much aimed at the domestic market and will continue that way. Further push of MAP, new rides every year, will be business as usual. The only thing I hope is that entertainment in Universal pushes Merlin to change this part of their parks, although I'm doubtful.

I can't wait to see this progress. One thing to note that I haven't seen any discussion around. The announcement states construction will begin in 2026. That seems rather optimistic. There will no doubt be some opposition. I wonder how many loopholes Universal has been given.

Love Amanda Thompson's response. I imagine her response was more along the lines of Universal 🤬🤬🤬 ice show 🤬🤬 NEW MACHINE 🤬🤬🤬. Poor person who had to rewrite that to sound sincere.
 
Traditionally Universal hasn't paid a lot of attention to young children, largely leaving that segment to Disney. But with the kids park they're building in Texas, they obviously have been thinking more about that market. If this does end up having a Minions Land, a Shrek Land and a Paddington Bear Land, this probably will end up being a much more child friendly park than the other Universal parks (aside from the one in Texas which is aimed exclusively at children). I think that might actually work out better for them in the long run.
 
xtpower said:
Yea it is by far the weakest in the concept art, it's incredibly vague and has zero detail. Whereas the Jurassic World one is properly detailed. So it looks like they're deliberately obscuring what seems like the LOTR zone.
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If it is LoTR the area looks quite small, you’d have thought they’d want to place it in a slightly bigger area than what’s on the concept art.
 
ACX96 said:
They claim they have sources but I don't know whether these are actual sources or just someone speculating like the rest of us. If LOTR is in the park then the only space I see it going is between Jurassic and Shrek with the green coaster. The waterfalls on the buildings there remind me of Rivendell from the Hobbit.

That being said, I really doubt LOTR. It doesn't have a mainstream appeal that many are interested in. It would clash with the fantasy theme of Wizzarding world. I know many are saying it won't come because of the studio tour but I think the studio tour is restricted as to what it can do. It's essentially a museum that can never change, once you've seen it once you've seen it all.

I think Universal will hold out until an expansion, let the tour fade away a little to the point where WB will give up the licence to generate more interest in the Studio Tour.
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You’d like to think the BBC would have legit sources and they wouldn’t just be some random from the web.

The studio tour is constantly fully booked and prints money and they’re expanding it. It’s not going to be fading away anytime soon.
 
KolonelKlink said:

From: https://x.com/attractionsc/status/1910247596892864681?s=46&t=OuG-53CJRHzzDVEPmDXGSg
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They just don’t get it…

They don’t need IPs, they need to be their own thing. Cater for the British audience with home grown IPs. In their own way. What they do best.

I think they had a model in TCAAM and Nemesis Reborn in particular, events, merch, actors, rides, marketing. All tied in to their own universe. But it seems they’ve dropped it already.

They need to look after their parks.

They need to show people higher prices also mean better quality.

They need to stop nickel and diming people with the 241s, MAP, Car parking fees, game stalls everywhere, worse food, oversold paid fast pass, low capacity, staff/event cuts

Concentrate on running what you have well, get the rides open on time with all the effects working, on time, all the time.

Fascinating hearing about Bond, LOTR and Paddington this morning.

I would think Bond would be the stunt show at the back of the park, and maybe the coaster? Sure the planning docs will clear that up this year at some point
 
Blackrock said:
You’d like to think the BBC would have legit sources and they wouldn’t just be some random from the web.

The studio tour is constantly fully booked and prints money and they’re expanding it. It’s not going to be fading away anytime soon.
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And the studio tours about to get another decades worth of sets, props, and costumes they can put on display.
 
Craig said:
Definitely not. As @LHN2024 says:
  • They submit a draft SDO application
  • The clock then starts on a 30 day statutory consultation period where both statutory consultees (like the council) and the general public can respond to it. Some statutory consultees have had view of this prior to submission under NDA, but the 30 days still has to take place regardless.
  • Off the back of that, a final report is then written off the back of that consultation period (that will take some time)
  • It then goes off to the Secretary of State for review and a decision (again more time)
  • Then it goes before Parliament for approval (this needs to be scheduled into the business of both houses for multiple readings including debate - again more time I'm afraid!)
  • The SDO is then granted
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A very large majority of Statutory Instruments are tabled under a Negative Procedure and are not timetabled for any debate at all, in either Commons or Lords. When they are tabled by the relevant government Minister they are assumed to become law immediately, and will only be revoked if a Motion in the Commons or Lords votes the SI down. No timetabling is made for such a Motion, so it would need a concerted opposition to the SI in order for that to happen. I'd guess there will be no such opposition given the warm welcome from the government and the main opposition parties, so Angela Raynor (who will be the relevant Secretary of State to lay the SI) uses the Negative procedure it will be approved immediately without any debate. As far as I can tell, all recent Special Development Orders have been created via Negative Procedure Statutory Instruments, and that's what I expect to happen in this case.

There will be a statutory consultation, which I think will focus mostly on the environmental impact statement submitted as part of Universal's planning application. I don't think there will be a public consultation on the plans at all. I think Universal and the government could move pretty quickly to get the planning applicator submitted and approved. The fact that yesterday's announcement involved the PM, the Chancellor, various Ministers, events at No.10, local visits to the site, widespread media, senior Execs from Comcast and Universal, publication of the first artwork, etc, suggests to me that everybody considers the planning permission process to be a done deal, just tying up a few legal niceties. There's no way that level of political capital would be expended on all of the hoopla yesterday if anyone thought there was still the possibility of this thing falling at the last hurdle because they couldn't find agreement on the planning application.
 
Blackrock said:
You’d like to think the BBC would have legit sources and they wouldn’t just be some random from the web.

The studio tour is constantly fully booked and prints money and they’re expanding it. It’s not going to be fading away anytime soon.
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When the BBC write “the BBC has learned” it means it’s an exclusive / they’re breaking the news and it’s from a legitimate source. They wouldn’t publish it if they weren’t 100% sure. I learned this from my wife who is a press officer and regularly deals with the Beeb.
 
I have even heard some early rumours about them potenitally looking at adding some sort of dark ride attraction to the Studios Tour. Would make sense given we often see this done at other similar scale attractions such as Cadbury's World.

I honestly don't see that attraction going anywhere or even slowing down for a long long time. Potter is timeless really.

Universal will replace it with something else mega I'm sure.
 
Bowser said:
This is a mad take. The books and films are incredibly popular, some of the most successful of all time. The franchise has numerous notable spin offs, be it figures, video games, Lego etc. And of course there’s an upcoming film.

It’s far more popular than some of the other franchises not being questioned.
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It has it's hardcore fans, but it's not got mainstream appeal. The films are too long to allow a casual audience and the amazon series hasn't done much good
Benjsh said:
2. Doesn't have mainstream appeal? Are you sure about that? It's one of the most loved stories ever told and the fact it swept 17 Oscars compared to ZERO for Harry Potter tells you everything you need to know. We wouldn't have a Harry Potter but for LOTR. You can tell JK Rowling was massively influenced by it.

3. It won't clash with the Wizarding World because there isn't going to be one here in the UK. They won't want to stop people travelling to Florida and as for the Studios tour not being around for too much longer.....I think you're very much mistaken there. It's one of the busiest tourist attractions in the UK with up 2.5m visitors a year and it's rumoured they are looking at building new attractions there soon too. It's going nowhere.

Absolutely under no illusions that we might not get a Lord of the Rings area but I'm fairly certain we won't be getting Potter now with everything we have read and heard.
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2. Yes. I am. See above. Again, it's not appealing to a casual audience. I'm quite aware of it's popularity amongst it's fans but it's not as commercial as Harry Potter has been. Harry Potter has taken ideas of fantasy without being too heavy on it which has allowed it to be palatable for casual audiences. LOTR being a significant foundation to the fantasy world of dwarves, elves etc has given it a reputation of being for geeks. (Now I mean no offense by this, I consider myself a geek) but it's on the same lines as D&D. Large enthusiasts group for them, but do families casually play it?
Personally, I cannot get into it and everyone I know is the same. Star Wars, Harry Potter and Marvel is as far as fantasy as casual audiences go.

3. Nobody goes to Orlando just for Harry Potter. Not having Harry Potter in the UK would be a big mistake for Universal and it wouldn't take away UOR much like Disneyland Paris hasn't taken away from WDW. I think most could appreciate both existing. Rides in a WW themed land and then wanting to see the genuine sets/props at the Studios. The expansions have been good but necessary and they can't keep this up forever as a simple walk through attraction. By the time the parks open WBS will be 18 years old. If it takes another 10 for an expansion I can see it being entirely feasible for WB to licence it.

The source on the BBC article said it wasn't happening now but they didn't rule it out for the future
 
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