[🌎 Universal GB] General Discussion

[Craig]

General Discussion​

Welcome to Universal GB General Discussion! This is likely to be the fastest moving topic of them all, so please take note of the below. This will help keep the topic flowing as best as possible.

As well as general discussion, news and updates about the resort, this the place to speculate on potential ride areas, IPs and attractions. We have two other topics where more specific discussion can take place:

[ Universal GB] Planning, Transport and Infrastructure​

Detailed discussion on the planning process along with talk about road, rail and infrastructure changes that need to take place to allow the resort to open.

[Universal GB] Impact on the UK Market​

Discuss the impact to the wider UK leisure industry here.

Read before you post​

There’s a lot of excitement for the resort, and with speculation comes the inevitable repeat discussion points being made. To try and reduce this, catch up on what you've missed before posting. At the very least we’d encourage you to read the last few pages so you’re up to date. It’ll prevent old discussion points being brought up again, particularly if you’re posting something like news articles or images.

If you’ve not been here for a while, we’d also recommend checking out the project timeline topic (coming soon) to review the latest major updates.

Constructively add to discussion​

There’s been a lot of discussion on potential areas, rides and IPs over the months this project has been progressing. While it’s great to talk about your favourite existing Universal attractions or the use of potential IPs, please ensure that such discussion is constructive. For example “I’d love to see a Jurassic Park ride” doesn’t really contribute to the topic. But, talking about the potential of a Jurassic Park ride and for example referring to potential ride types, new movies coming out making an IP more realistic and how a concept image could hint at such a ride is much better and generates debate and discussion.

Adding links to a video or website?​

If you're adding links to a video or a website, please ensure the following otherwise your post may be removed:

• That the information that's included in the video or article is new to discussion and doesn't just cover what's already been discussed
• That you summarise what's interesting within it to further discussion here on TowersStreet
• That you add your own viewpoints in addition to posting the article/video

We do of course also have our TowersStreet Discord, where you can rant and rave about the project to your heart’s content

Like everything on the forum, posts should also adhere to our Member Expectations too, and as always please give a member of the team a shout if you have any questions.

 

[Bowser]

Has it actually been stated what the park will be called yet?

Most of the parks are named after the city of their location but i imagine they'll be opting for the USJ route and going with Universal Studios UK or GB as opposed to Universal Studios Bedford?

 

[Ludus]

Has it actually been stated what the park will be called yet?

Most of the parks are named after the city of their location but i imagine they'll be opting for the USJ route and going with Universal Studios UK or GB as opposed to Universal Studios Bedford?

The most common theory is Universal United Kingdom.
It won't be Universal Studios UK because it will be abbreviated to USUK which might not go down too well with marketing.

 

[DiogoJ42]

Like a budget airline, they will call it "London", and we all know it.

 

[Bowser]

Like a budget airline, they will call it "London", and we all know it.

Fly direct to London Luton and visit Universal Studios London! Or only 2 hours from London Southend.

 

[Matt N]

I personally hope it’s called Universal Studios Great Britain.

Not for any particular reason, I just think it sounds the nicest and rolls off the tongue the best, out of the potential names!

 

[tech]

Like a budget airline, they will call it "London", and we all know it.

Having consulted the official tourist map of the UK, I’d be inclined to agree.

 

[Bowser]

And so the backlash has begun:

We live by Universal theme park site - it's HORRENDOUS & will ruin our lives

RESIDENTS of a village by the site of the UK’s first Universal theme park claim it’s going to be horrendous and ruin their quiet way of life. The quiet village of Stewartby, Bedford …

www.thesun.co.uk

Obviously nobody wants to click that link so the highlight is in the headline:

 

[Matt N]

And so the backlash has begun:

We live by Universal theme park site - it's HORRENDOUS & will ruin our lives

RESIDENTS of a village by the site of the UK’s first Universal theme park claim it’s going to be horrendous and ruin their quiet way of life. The quiet village of Stewartby, Bedford …

www.thesun.co.uk

Obviously nobody wants to click that link so the highlight is in the headline:

I saw a Telegraph opinion piece earlier that was written in a way that suggested that the entire county of Bedfordshire was to be flattened in favour of Universal… lots of people in the Facebook comments put the writer in their place, reminding them that the park was taking over a disused brickworks!

 

[tech]

I saw a Telegraph opinion piece earlier that was written in a way that suggested that the entire county of Bedfordshire was to be flattened in favour of Universal… lots of people in the Facebook comments put the writer in their place, reminding them that the park was taking over a disused brickworks!

I saw that too. Wasn’t the headline some nonsense clickbait like “Enjoy Bedford while you still can!!!11” or something?

I didn’t click it

 

[Matt N]

I saw that too. Wasn’t the headline some nonsense clickbait like “Enjoy Bedford while you still can!!!11” or something?

I didn’t click it

Yes, it was something like that. The whole tone of it strongly implied that the entire county of Bedfordshire was being demolished in favour of Universal!

 

[Skyscraper]

And so the backlash has begun:

We live by Universal theme park site - it's HORRENDOUS & will ruin our lives

RESIDENTS of a village by the site of the UK’s first Universal theme park claim it’s going to be horrendous and ruin their quiet way of life. The quiet village of Stewartby, Bedford …

www.thesun.co.uk

Obviously nobody wants to click that link so the highlight is in the headline:

There is no "backlash" at all; 92% of locals are in support of the project. It's just the news outlets desperate for clicks.

 

[Benzin]

The places I've seen negative articles on are:

Daily Mail
The Sun
Telegraph

Enough said.

Even the BBC article didn't have anyone being negative.

 

[rob@rar]

The places I've seen negative articles on are:

Daily Mail
The Sun
Telegraph

All three of which have had articles being very positive about Universal’s proposal over the last 12 months. Where there is no conflict they create some. Pay no heed (or money) to these people.

 

[Matt N]

To be fair, that Sun article is far less negative than you’d expect given the title.

One person in it expresses concerns, but they also have one person excited for it in there and they then go on to talk excitedly about park details. So it’s hardly showcasing crippling backlash to the project!

 

[Craig]

It doesn’t need to show crippling backlash, merely have a headline that hints at it. Take a pretty positive reaction to something happening in the country, find the odd person who’s vaguely against it. Create a daft headline throwing in Harry Potter coaster to make it even more attractive. People click to try and read the article amongst a sea of ads = profit. No different to the “Everyone is saying this about last night’s TV programme” and it’s a couple of username-bunch-of-numbers whinging about it on X.

Be prepared for lots of this, especially from those tabloids that love to create an article consisting of nothing. It’s clearly going to be the new “UK’s Disneyland” rubbish that was pedalled out every couple of months during London Resort. Very much best ignored, otherwise we’ll quickly be inundated with them if every single one was posted in here .

 

[Excalibur]

Thinking about this further, I’m not sure if the other Universal Parks do but could see a parade at long last in the UK? And maybe even a night time show daily? Whether it be drones, water fountains or even projection mapping to close the end of the day/evening?

 

[James]

I'm sure we'll see lots of entertainment, which will be wonderful. It will be a great time for performers wanting to enter the industry.

I'm curious as to how late they would open the park, especially in the summer months. If you do a nightly fireworks/light/drone show, come the summer months, you would need to be at least looking at a 10pm closure. I appreciate we're way off these things being considered, but it's all the fun to discuss and ponder on all aspects at the moment.

 

[Matt N]

Thinking about this further, I’m not sure if the other Universal Parks do but could see a parade at long last in the UK? And maybe even a night time show daily? Whether it be drones, water fountains or even projection mapping to close the end of the day/evening?

I would think there will almost definitely be a parade and/or a night time show. The park in Orlando has a night time show, and at one stage or another, they did have a daily parade (I’m unsure if they still do?).

At very least, I imagine Universal will throw copious seasonal events like Mardi Gras, Halloween Horror Nights and Christmas that would bring parades, if that’s your cup of tea!

 

[Benjsh]

I don't get the parade thing personally. It's all a bit naff for me.

However it's a great time to go get a few lighter queues so have no issues with them having one.