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Universal GB - Archived Pre Announcement Discussion

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With WB I can sort of understand why the Studios tour has been open for over a decade and is still insanely popular. They've added things over the years as well. Plus I imagine once the TV show gets underway that'll be loads more props and sets they can add to the collection for people to come and visit.

Sad they never listened to my suggestion to build a RollerCoaster when I visited.
 
DLP Imagineering Staff Member moves to Universal Great Britain Project

It’s being reported that Disneyland Paris Imagineer Björn Heerwagen has left Disneyland Paris.

During his career at Disneyland Paris Heerwagen worked as a Technical Director in the Disney Village and the Buffalo Bills Wild West Show, then switch over to Walt Disney Imagineering in the Walt Disney Studios Park working on Crush’s Coaster, Cars Quatre Roues Rallye and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror... (Article Continues in Link Above)
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Universal GB definitely hasn’t stalled in their pinching Senior Staff from Disneyland Paris!! Sounds like there’s more certainty around this project than Comcast has publicly stated so far!

Edit for Clarification - Not direct confirmation, Sources around this article suggest they’ve left for Universal GB. Apologies for confusion…
 
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Further to the previous post, I'll add some food for thought on the Bjorn situation, as this has cropped up a second time on the forum and multiple times on social media.

Universal relies heavily on a team with significant experience working in-house for major projects. That's not to say they wouldn't hire ex-imagineers (Steve Tatham did over 15 years at WDI before moving over to Universal, and Christian Hope was approached to be the SVP of Creative for Epic, having contributed significantly to DLP. Kevin Blakeney came onto Epic to do the v2 masterplan of Dark Universe, but he also has re-master planned Frontierland at Disneyland California experience on his CV).

There certainly isn't a record I can recall, however, where Universal has taken someone straight from Disney and assigned them to a major project without any form of Universal experience under their belt. Universal Creative, as does the management structure, operates so radically differently from WDI.

Bjorn is very hardwired outside of Disney into the TEA. It wouldn't surprise me if he ended up at an outsourced experience design firm with a penchant for taking ex-imagineers and Universal creatives (two of whom named above now hold significant roles in one).

I'm expecting to see someone come off the Epic and move into the UK project when the time is right.
 
www.looopings.nl

Kung Fu Panda verdwijnt na negen jaar uit Gardaland

Het Italiaanse pretpark Gardaland neemt na negen jaar afscheid van Kung Fu Panda en zijn vrienden. In 2016 opende een themagebied rond het bekende...
www.looopings.nl www.looopings.nl

Possibly unrelated but Gardaland are losing the Kung Fu Panda licensing after 9 years. Interesting time to do so seeing as a film only came out in the summer.

Possibly a case of Universal getting the rights in place for a Dreamworks area at the UK park.
 
It was raised by a Bedford MP in the House of Commons a few days ago, and had the following reply from the relevant minister.
Bryant said he “cannot enter into the precise details of the negotiations, but they are going well, and I am hopeful that this will be absolutely transformational for the British tourism industry if we manage to pull it off”.
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Sounds like it’s still ticking along in the background. I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets automatic approval from HMG.
 
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From the article:
"according to people familiar with the matter, who asked for anonymity discussing plans that haven’t been finalized... ...Other projects poised to be signed off after being delayed are... ...and a Universal Studios theme park north of the capital, the people said."
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I would take this with quite the pinch of salt. It's not even "government sources', or "departmental sources".
Matt N said:
It’s certainly promising if the Chancellor is willing to publicly announce the park!
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It's important to note that the article doesn't state that Rachel Reeves is to announce the proposed Universal development. It states that it's "poised to be signed off after being delayed". The only projects which are rumoured to be announced, in a rumoured speech, are aviation expansion.
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
It's important to note that the article doesn't state that Rachel Reeves is to announce the proposed Universal development. It states that it's "poised to be signed off after being delayed". The only projects which are rumoured to be announced, in a rumoured speech, are aviation expansion.
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It doesn't really say that at all, it says the aviation proposals are part of a wider push to advance planning proposals, and that some or all of the planning decisions are to be announced:
The aviation proposals are part of a wider push within government to advance long-delayed planning decisions and infrastructure projects in a bid to stimulate growth. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves is considering announcing some or all of the decisions in a speech about growth
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Which doesn't necessarily include the Universal decision but if the speech is about the wider push for advancing planning decisions, Universal is certainly a big one that people would celebrate. Bloomberg is focusing on the aviation decisions because Bloomberg is interested in business news and an expansion of Heathrow would be far bigger news than a theme park, or expansions of smaller airports which are also footnotes in the article.
 
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She’ll announce it but will universal also announce they’re giving the official green light their side? That’s still technically not something they’ve done due to these negotiations etc.

Future capacity for Luton is good seeing as it’s just up the road.
 
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