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Universal Orlando (Studios/IOA/Epic Universe) : General Discussion

So, some potentially very big Universal news.

It has been revealed by a couple of Orange County commissioners that Universal have contracts in place to buy 474 acres of land. How big is 474 acres I hear you ask? Very big! For comparision the main Universal Orlando Resort area is about 541 acres with IOA taking up 101 acres and Universal Studios 108 acres. So basically it is a lot of land, more than enough for a third park and new resort area.

Where is this land? Well it's actually a fair distance from the current land locked Universal Orlando Resort area. Funnily enough it is land that Universal previously owned but sold off during finacial difficulties towards the start of the century. Orlando United provide a decent diagram showing where abouts the land is located:

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Universal are not commenting on reports at present. Of course they could decide not to go through with this but seeing as ever since they set up shop in Orlando their aim has been to compete with and better Disney, this is the next logical step.

:)
 
Yeah, it's part of the huge 1800 acres they sold off in 2003, for just a measly $70m. The idea of Universal selling off 1800 acres for such a small sum nowadays is laughable, what a difference 12 years has made to their fortunes.

Obviously it is not possible to buy back all the land, as a lot of it has now been developed. I'm sure they will also have to pay far far more than $70m just to get back these 474 acres. Imagine what we could have been seeing by now if they had never sold any of it!

Interestingly the road linking the two Universal sites is already called "Universal Boulevard", a throw back to the fact that this road was always intended to link up two resort areas since a very long time ago.
 
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Sku said:
Interestingly the road linking the two Universal sites is already called "Universal Boulevard", a throw back to the fact that this road was always intended to link up two resort areas since a very long time ago.
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That's a good point that hadn't quite clicked we me!

It is indeed amazing how quickly things can change, I think it is safe to say that Harry Potter has well and truly transformed Universal's fortunes. The amount of investments they have planned for the next few years is staggering.

This also part explains why Universal were so against the Skyplex project. If a park is built here as part of a resort expansion Skyplex is going to be almost slap bang in the middle of it and the original resort area.

:)
 
An article on Growth Spotter shows the breakdown of the 474 acres. Its a bit of a mix mash so they'll have to negotiate to buy the land in between. If they can I can see a Citywalk 2, multiple hotels and a new park.

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What ever kind of park would they go for though? Pretty much every concept is covered in Orlando.

Maybe a mahoosive zoo?
 
No doubt one full of IPs that are almost certain to pull in guests. Nintendo is going in to Universal Studios in the near future but no doubt it could be incorporated into a new park, more Harry Potter related stuff is possible and the talk about Lord of the Rings doesn't ever go away.

There is a lot of hope that with new land and a new park that Universal may be able to bring back some classic old IPs like Jaws that they have had to remove from Universal Studios due to lack of space.

:)
 
What could they do to link the parks if they put another Harry Potter extension into this new area? Some insane dragon-flight style contraption taking off from Hogwarts, perhaps the new area could be the Ministry of Magic which would fit in with events in Order of the Phoenix... :p
 
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Image courtesy of Wonder World Web

Some fresh off the plant new track ready to be sent on it's way to Universal to rebuild 'The Hulk'. Soon enough we should be able to see whether or not it returns as the same ride! :)
 
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Thank flaming nora! Also looks like the photo of the green support that was going around a few weeks ago is not for Hulk as I spy grey supports in the background.
DiogoJ42 said:
This makes it a new credit then. :p
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Debatable! :p If it's a new layout then I agree. However it is the same layout with mostly new track (lift/station/break track still seems to be in place) then it's just an extremely extensive re-track and effecitvely still the same ride. It's clearly going to have a different feel though, not least because B&M have changed somewhat since 1999. I hope the track has been made to be as loud as it possibly can be though as it was initially, the epic B&M roar is part of IOA.

:)
 
The roar also works as part of the theming and off-ride experience more than anything.
 
My money is on for the layout to stay the same, there's lots of photos showing the footers being redone (and some made taller IIRC)
 
There are very strong rumours that when Hulk does re-open it will no longer have it's signature B&M roar. This is possibly down to the noise being very audible from hotels on that side of the park (Cabana Bay is that way as is the new Saphire Falls opening next year).

It's sounding like the second 'back' half of the ride is being made to be as quiet as possible and the first 'front' half of the ride over the lake will have some but less of a roar.

:)
 
Screamscape are showing that they're moving and resetting the footers as well! Discussion on CF about whether this means they've just worked out a better positioning to reduce stresses, or if it means the ride type is changing?

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Or they are adding audio/lights to the train so they need to bulk up the footers a bit. I remember seeing a post on OU which mentioned that they had been managing the track for a while as there were tiny stress cracks in it.
 
There were obviously some fairly major problems with the ride for them to completely remove and replace it, had it just been small issues then they'd have just worked with what they had rather than buy what is essentially a totally new coaster.

In re-building the ride they won't want the same problems to occur again another 15 years down the line; this time it will be built to last. It seems strange saying something like this about a B&M!

:)
 
Does anyone know if B&M are supporting US for the costs? I would imagine so surely? Would their alleged 'warranty' be valid?
 
I guess it depends on whether or not it failed or if they're just replacing it?
 
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