[🌎 Universal GB] General Discussion

[Bowser]

Yeah what i meant by that point above is the Universal GB park will definitely start out small and grow over time. Similarly to Epic, I think you will see a decent starting off point with a very obvious expansion pads ready to go for the following decade / two decades.

The issue i found with Epic is because there's not a huge quantity of E ticket style rides yet.....the queues can get ridiculous for the rides everyone most wants to do and obviously they haven't been helped by the persistent breakdowns which have been excessive so far to say the least.

One thing I'd hope they learn from is throughput mistakes. We probably won't get a Super Nintendo World at Universal GB but if we do, they really need to have a rethink about capacity. Both Mario kart and Minecart Madness are not particularly great at getting people through the queues and quite frankly both attractions are frankly underwhelming and not worth the queues they get either. I haven't heard a single person yet rave about either attraction which speaks volumes.

If we go on the artist rendering as what will be there for opening combined with some enthusiast guesswork it's reasonable to think the initial E Ticket rides may be:

- BTTF coaster
- Jurassic Park dark ride
- Jurassic Park coaster
- LOTR dark ride

Then perhaps a step below you'll have the Waterworld/007 show, Minions and Paddington.

I don't know what Mario Kart's throughput is? My two experiences at USJ they were churning through people with the double station but it still rarely went below an advertised 2 hour wait. A ride with peripherals is always going to struggle somewhat in that regard so hopefully that's something they avoid.

That being said, with so few initial attractions having people in long queues will probably be both inevitable and beneficial.

I think one of the best things about Nintendo World is how entertaining the actual land itself is so hopefully that's something they replicate with whatever brands they end up using.

 

[Benjsh]

If we go on the artist rendering as what will be there for opening combined with some enthusiast guesswork it's reasonable to think the initial E Ticket rides may be:

- BTTF coaster
- Jurassic Park dark ride
- Jurassic Park coaster
- LOTR dark ride

Then perhaps a step below you'll have the Waterworld/007 show, Minions and Paddington.

I don't know what Mario Kart's throughput is? My two experiences at USJ they were churning through people with the double station but it still rarely went below an advertised 2 hour wait. A ride with peripherals is always going to struggle somewhat in that regard so hopefully that's something they avoid.

That being said, with so few initial attractions having people in long queues will probably be both inevitable and beneficial.

I think one of the best things about Nintendo World is how entertaining the actual land itself is so hopefully that's something they replicate with whatever brands they end up using.

Yeah you cant knock the immersion. SNW looks amazing and there's lot of stuff to look at and do. I just didn't particularly enjoy either of the main attractions really. Wouldn't be in a rush to re-ride either of them.

As we most likely wont be getting Potter here, I did think would they possibly think about having SNW version 2.0 here in England but I dont think they will. They wont want to replicate too much of Florida as UK tourists is a massive market for them. Jurassic and Minions is probably going to be enough replication as it is.

If they manage to do LOTR then I will be the happiest man alive. Interestingly I was talking to a few thoosies at Epic Universe who had been multiple times and they seem very confident that after the phase 2 additions of what we think will be Luigi's Mansion in SNW and a new Potter ride.... LOTR will be the first expansion pad at Epic.

 

[xtpower]

Yeah you cant knock the immersion. SNW looks amazing and there's lot of stuff to look at and do. I just didn't particularly enjoy either of the main attractions really. Wouldn't be in a rush to re-ride either of them.

As we most likely wont be getting Potter here, I did think would they possibly think about having SNW version 2.0 here in England but I dont think they will. They wont want to replicate too much of Florida as UK tourists is a massive market for them. Jurassic and Minions is probably going to be enough replication as it is.

If they manage to do LOTR then I will be the happiest man alive. Interestingly I was talking to a few thoosies at Epic Universe who had been multiple times and they seem very confident that after the phase 2 additions of what we think will be Luigi's Mansion in SNW and a new Potter ride.... LOTR will be the first expansion pad at Epic.

LOTR has been rumoured for so long that it's almost considered a given by the Americans that it's coming to one of their Florida Parks. Honestly if we're the one's getting LOTR, they'll do Zelda over in Florida to avoid cannibalising Americans coming over here for LOTR.

One thing that has annoyed me is the entitlement from some of the Thoosies over there, they just cannot believe that we would get a major IP in our brand new Park before it's been installed in a Florida Park first. But if Universal wants UGB to hold it's own globally (without the tourist trap that is HP), then we'd need an anchor IP that you won't see in other Universal Parks - LOTR is literally made for that spot, it's a British IP, no other Park has it and it's a major global IP.

 

[Benjsh]

LOTR has been rumoured for so long that it's almost considered a given by the Americans that it's coming to one of their Florida Parks. Honestly if we're the one's getting LOTR, they'll do Zelda over in Florida to avoid cannibalising Americans coming over here for LOTR.

One thing that has annoyed me is the entitlement from some of the Thoosies over there, they just cannot believe that we would get a major IP in our brand new Park before it's been installed in a Florida Park first. But if Universal wants UGB to hold it's own globally (without the tourist trap that is HP), then we'd need an anchor IP that you won't see in other Universal Parks - LOTR is literally made for that spot, it's a British IP, no other Park has it and it's a major global IP.

I think Zelda is now looking most likely for IOA where the Lost Continent attraction sits SBNO. Would be an interesting move to add Nintendo to both IOA and Epic but they did it with Potter so anything is possible I guess.

I'm totally with you on American entitlement btw. They do think the world evolves around them in most walks of life. But when you consider roughly 8 out of every 10 Americans have never left the country once in their lives, then it tells you all you need to know. I guess Universal and Disney are US companies though so naturally they will think that way a bit too.

I think the one thing that massively helps the UK's position with LOTR is the Tolkien estate are said to be incredibly proud of the British countryside and it's huge influence it had on their father's work. This is why I think it's the perfect Potter alternative that ticks all boxes. It keeps the Tolkien estate happy, it doesn't stop UK tourists going to Florida and it also probably makes a few Americans think about a trip to the UK where they probably wouldn't do just for a BTTF coaster alone.

 

[xtpower]

I think Zelda is now looking most likely for IOA where the Lost Continent attraction sits SBNO. Would be an interesting move to add Nintendo to both IOA and Epic but they did it with Potter so anything is possible I guess.

I'm totally with you on American entitlement btw. They do think the world evolves around them in most walks of life. But when you consider roughly 8 out of every 10 Americans have never left the country once in their lives, then it tells you all you need to know. I guess Universal and Disney are US companies though so naturally they will think that way a bit too.

I think the one thing that massively helps the UK's position with LOTR is the Tolkien estate are said to be incredibly proud of the British countryside and it's huge influence it had on their father's work. This is why I think it's the perfect Potter alternative that ticks all boxes. It keeps the Tolkien estate happy, it doesn't stop UK tourists going to Florida and it also probably makes a few Americans think about a trip to the UK where they probably wouldn't do just for a BTTF coaster alone.

There's a podcast that Theme Parkstop did after our concept art dropped that showed to me that we need a marquee IP to get American Thoosies to come over. During the podcast they talked about what our Park would need to get them to specifically come over the pond for the Park alone. The general consensus was that outside of BTTF (and no confirmation of LOTR) there was little reason to come over unless they were coming to do other stuff.

So yea I think we need LOTR, not just for the other reasons we've listed but purely because we need something earth-shattering to shock the thoosies over there into making the trip.

I'm sure the BTTF Coaster and Hill valley would snag a few but LOTR would be such a shock that those, 'it's coming to Epic/IOA first' people might actually want to come here instead of thinking it's not worth the trip cos they've got better over there.

*edit* Had another thought about the podcast, it came from some of the biggest Universal fans, that follow and dig out details on the smallest changes. The fact that such huge Universal fans wouldn't feel compelled to come over with what was shown, proves how insular it is over there and how spoiled they are with the 3 Universal Parks.

 

[Bowser]

There's a podcast that Theme Parkstop did after our concept art dropped that showed to me that we need a marquee IP to get American Thoosies to come over. During the podcast they talked about what our Park would need to get them to specifically come over the pond for the Park alone. The general consensus was that outside of BTTF (and no confirmation of LOTR) there was little reason to come over unless they were coming to do other stuff.

I don't think they need to do anything to get Americans to come over. There are over 500m Europeans within a few hours of the park. Does Disneyland Paris market itself to Americans? I'd imagine the only concern is cannibalising their existing market of Europeans who go to the US and even that is probably overplayed as they are quite different destinations.

Obviously having a combination of familiar and unique attractions would still be very beneficial.

One thing that has annoyed me is the entitlement from some of the Thoosies over there, they just cannot believe that we would get a major IP in our brand new Park before it's been installed in a Florida Park first.

There's already precedent for this with Super Nintendo World in Japan. I think you can reasonably compare that being a Japanese franchise with LOTR being a British franchise

 

[Blackrock]

I have faith that the Shrek area is LoTR, I can’t seem them building the same land (even with different rides) across both sides of the pond so I think it’ll be for the British park at least for a fare while before anything transpires over there.

Like others have said there’s been rumours about universal acquiring the rights for years, long before UGB was even being discussed by universal themselves, maybe everything’s just lining up perfectly.

 

[Benjsh]

I have faith that the Shrek area is LoTR, I can’t seem them building the same land (even with different rides) across both sides of the pond so I think it’ll be for the British park at least for a fare while before anything transpires over there.

Like others have said there’s been rumours about universal acquiring the rights for years, long before UGB was even being discussed by universal themselves, maybe everything’s just lining up perfectly.

I seriously hope so. Would make me so so happy.

We've had the Mario bands at Epic, Wands at Potter lands.....so could we have interactive rings for Lord of the Rings? Would be so cool.