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Universal GB - Archived Pre Announcement Discussion

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I'd imagine Thorpe Park potentially being one of the the least affected out of the existing UK parks for Universal as it would fill in a similar gap to Six Flags and is very central.
Chessington has it's niche with a family orientated Busch Gardens type park.

I'd be more concerned about Alton Towers. It really needs to up it's game and one thing it really does need to improve is Public Transport links. It hasn't got a regular shuttle bus like Thorpe Park does and I can imagine people (especially international tourists) choosing Universal over Alton Towers as a result of this factor.
 
One thing I just picked up on in today's BBC piece:

"It's going to create thousands of jobs, both during the construction period and after we open, when we'll have about 8,000 people working for the park full-time."
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According to a quick Google search, 8,000 full-time employees is comparable to approximately:
  • 28,000 full-time employees in Orlando
  • 9,000 full-time employees in Beijing
  • 2,900 full-time employees in Osaka
Obviously, the Orlando resort has multiple parks, hotels, and amenities - and is also where the management, marketing, finance teams etc. are based.

For me, this is the biggest clue so far (other than common sense) that we can expect year-round opening.
 
Relife said:
Dr Who is a declining franchise that's currently bankrolled by Disney so I can't see that happening. I actually think there is a chance the BBC could sell the rights to Disney
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I don't think it's fair to say that Dr Who is declining at a time when its budget has been doubled by Disney getting involved. It wasn't failing to get made by the BBC, the budget has just been doubled by Disney getting involved and contributing the same as the BBC are.
 
Relife said:
I'm not sure what could be done with the IP that hasn't already been done one of the other parks
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I don’t think they need to do anything particularly different. Plenty of people in Europe will have either never experienced it or only some of the rides and plenty will be happy to go back.

The existing continents already have multiple iterations so the fact it exists elsewhere doesn’t seem to be a deterrent and you have the added boost of it being “home”.
 
Viewing figures for Dr Who show otherwise. For the show to survive they had to get Disney involved and as such I think it's far less likely that it will end up at Universal GB.

Still hoping for a Middle Earth/ Lord of the Rings themed area but as soon as this gets the green light I think we need a separate thread on what areas we would like to see
 
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Relife said:
Viewing figures for Dr Who show otherwise. For the show to survive they had to get Disney involved and as such I think it's far less likely that it will end up at Universal GB.
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The Disney element is a barrier, 100%.

But I don't think "the series is dying" is relevant, without even exploring how true or not that statement is.

Is the performance of The Rings of Power the only reason you could imagine a Middle Earth area being successful? Are the viewing figures of Ashoka the only indicator of whether Galaxy's Edge was a smart investment?

What are the current viewing figures for the latest media from the Frozen, The Twilight Zone, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, How to Train Your Dragon, Batman, etc. universes? Have they been better in the past? If so, by your logic, any attractions based on these properties are a bad idea.

Wanting to go on a well themed, exciting adventure with a pop culture character that has existed in public consciousness for people's entire lives, doesn't diminish because of numbers on a spreadsheet saying viewership is currently down.
 
IPs are a difficult one to predict 10 or so years out, because you don't know what will be in the cultural zeitgeist. It's why a lot of regional parks change IPs so often, even Universal have had this headache recently, when Fantastic Beasts was cancelled as a film franchise midway through the construction of the Fantastic Beasts land at Epic Universe, to the degree that they've changed plans for its e-ticket attraction and made it themed around the main Harry Potter IP.

With JK Rowling's public transphobic spats with the Scottish Government at the moment, Universal will be cautious of using Harry Potter in the UK, regardless of if they can obtain the rights. There's plenty of franchises that they could obtain instead that are equally as compelling as Harry Potter, and I'd argue James Bond, Paddington and Lord of the Rings will bring the same franchising and merchandise opportunities for Universal as Harry Potter. These IPs also have longevity in a way that Harry Potter hasn't, they're that old that they are no longer tied to the brand of one person because their authors are long gone, with the rights presumably owned by family trusts.

They'll undoubtedly be a second-phase of Universal GB within the first 10 years of the park opening where they can bring new, fresher IPs in the park and who knows, maybe they'll introduce an original themed land...
 
Ryan said:
The Disney element is a barrier, 100%.

But I don't think "the series is dying" is relevant, without even exploring how true or not that statement is.

Is the performance of The Rings of Power the only reason you could imagine a Middle Earth area being successful? Are the viewing figures of Ashoka the only indicator of whether Galaxy's Edge was a smart investment?

What are the current viewing figures for the latest media from the Frozen, The Twilight Zone, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, How to Train Your Dragon, Batman, etc. universes? Have they been better in the past? If so, by your logic, any attractions based on these properties are a bad idea.

Wanting to go on a well themed, exciting adventure with a pop culture character that has existed in public consciousness for people's entire lives, doesn't diminish because of numbers on a spreadsheet saying viewership is currently down.
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Is Disney a barrier when Disney don't own the rights? Bad Wolf and BBC Studios own the rights, Disney cofinance to get international distribution rights
 
benpicko said:
Is Disney a barrier when Disney don't own the rights? Bad Wolf and BBC Studios own the rights, Disney cofinance to get international distribution rights
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Disney have some control over TWD at Thorpe because they brought Fox (the then international distributors) the same year X was rethemed. Meaning that any changes go through the distributor (Disney) as well as the production company (AMC), and I believe the rights for the comic are also owned by a separate company?
 
IP wise I'm of the mind that the big marquee one has to be LOTR and I mean the movies LOTR, not whatever abomination Rings of Power is. Firstly because there is no LOTR themed area out there outside of the tourist traps in New Zealand, it is a fresh IP in the them park world. Secondly because it is still a huge deal even 20 odd years after release and I think the UK Park needs a headline zone to stand out from the others. 5-10 years ago Potter would've sufficed, but every Universal Park (except USS) has a Potter zone now and JK's public spats have tainted it's public image a little. Perhaps if the new TV show reboot is a huge deal they can do a new zone themed specifically around that.

Then to accompany LOTR you need the usual favourites, SNW, Jurassic Park/World, a Dreamworks zone and something British like Paddington. I'm also thinking that going the nostalgia route and putting in a Back to the Future, Ghostbusters or Jaws attraction would be a great idea too. They can't go and overload with British theming, especially not with London 45 mins away via train, us Brits love our movies, we'll be more enthusiastic if it's got our favourites instead of it just being 'hey look it's all british stuff'.
 
I expect that a decent proportion of attractions will be different to those found in Universal's US parks, to avoid cannibalising the market.

Yes, there are many without access to the US parks - but around 1 million Brits visit Orlando each year. Universal will want to avoid losing even a small percentage of those tourists to Disney, purely because they've already ridden a Velocicoaster or Forbidden Journey clone in Bedford.

I think we're likely to see plenty of attractions developed solely for the UK, or for Beijing or Singapore. Especially because those attractions are generally more indoor and weather-proof.
 
Do not understand the obsession over a LOTR area.

Guess with Universal's focus on immersion one could be good, but would the Tolkein estate be happy with something? Depends on their view of Rings of Power which wasn't very good if you were a big fan of the series.
 
Benzin said:
Do not understand the obsession over a LOTR area.

Guess with Universal's focus on immersion one could be good, but would the Tolkein estate be happy with something? Depends on their view of Rings of Power which wasn't very good if you were a big fan of the series.
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The Theme Park rights for LOTR have already been bought by a group named Embracer and honestly the Tolkien estate lost all credibility after they allowed Rings of Power to happen.
 
xtpower said:
The Theme Park rights for LOTR have already been bought by a group named Embracer and honestly the Tolkien estate lost all credibility after they allowed Rings of Power to happen.
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The rumour was that Universal have the theme park rights, not Embracer.

I'd be interested to see what iteration of Nintendo we get. I think a Mario Kart theme would be great or possibly something Pokémon related.
 
Is it just me who doesn't really want UK IPs? I like the idea of a LOTR and Bond areas, but when I think of Universal, I think of their classic IPs like Jaws, Back to the Future, ET, Classic Monsters, Jurassic Park etc. It's probably because as well that I don't like Doctor Who full stop and don't care for Paddington that much. If they happen, I won't be mad, but my preference would be similar stuff we already have at the other 5 resorts
 
Ted said:
Is it just me who doesn't really want UK IPs? I like the idea of a LOTR and Bond areas, but when I think of Universal, I think of their classic IPs like Jaws, Back to the Future, ET, Classic Monsters, Jurassic Park etc. It's probably because as well that I don't like Doctor Who full stop and don't care for Paddington that much. If they happen, I won't be mad, but my preference would be similar stuff we already have at the other 5 resorts
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I'm the exact same, I don't want a British Zone, that's how Disneyland California Adventure messed up by making it a huge California based park and then realising people don't go to Disneyland to be reminded of the place they live.
 
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