Epic Universe Expansion Speculation

[Parkscope Joe]

A little over 30,000sqft.

Conveniently, the space where the second Potter attraction building was supposed to be is just about dead on 150,000sqft.

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Very interesting. Very very.

 

[Tobias]

Well then! Would definitely be nice if this is an expansion, MoM does need something on that side of the land with it being an awkward dead end at the moment.

 

[LPCaptainDeath]

Very interesting. Very very.

 

[Mad Dog]

Well, Epic does need a quick expansion to help relieve their capacity issues. May as well be Potter as anything else.
I realize many hardcore fans here are tired of Potter, but the facts are that the general public loves Potter, regardless
of any controversial social issues. For the GP, you can never have too much Potter.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Excited for Alicia's carnival idea to come to fruition and it's all the flats we're asking for lol

 

[mccgavin]

Potter would make sense as a first expansion. Ministry is the only land with just one ride, and unlike some of the other expansion plots, it could be added without having to expand the guests areas within the park.

 

[TheUniC6]

If the plot is 150K square feet, you could fit a decent sized dark ride there.

I wonder if they might pull from the Potter reboot series for the attraction.

 

[RFRees]

Planting my flag: it's a Potter broomstick ride. (Not VR.)

 

[AustinT]

Feels like this is certainly that 2nd Potter ride. Paris needs another attraction pretty bad, but I think some others on the other side of the park are needed too.
With how much bad weather just cripples this park sometimes, I was thinking how sweet a fully indoor Luigi's Mansion land with a dark ride, a flat, and a dining location would be. But not if it comes at the expense of a Zelda land. How much room was over there near SNW? Enough for an indoor Luigi's land plus space for Zelda?

 

[mccgavin]

Planting my flag: it's a Potter broomstick ride. (Not VR.)

I agree. I think it's pretty likely that this ride could be themed to the 1920s Quidditch World Cup. Signage within the land already indicates the Quidditch World Cup is currently happening within Paris, and the potential entrance to this ride would be near Bar Moonshine, which is themed with the pendants of international Quidditch teams. Besides the one scene in Forbidden Journey, Quidditch also just feels like the one remaining major component of Harry Potter that has not yet been explored within an attraction.

 

[GAcoaster]

I had heard Nintendo/Luigi’s Mansion was coming first, but maybe the decided Potter needs it more?

Also, apparently the Mexican/Italian restaurants opening may be postponed temporarily.

 

[Jones14]

I had heard Nintendo/Luigi’s Mansion was coming first, but maybe the decided Potter needs it more?

Also, apparently the Mexican/Italian restaurants opening may be postponed temporarily.

I could see them wanting to avoid drawing more crowds to Nintendo for the time being, while Potter has vast open spaces that could benefit from more foot traffic.

 

[Mad Dog]

I could see them wanting to avoid drawing more crowds to Nintendo for the time being, while Potter has vast open spaces that could benefit from more foot traffic.

Good point.....and..... That side of Potter, that originally was to have an opening day attraction, cries out for an attraction.

 

[Magic-Man]

Out of all the lands, Potter? Really? I'm normally not going to complain about a new ride, but we already have six Potter rides across the resort. This will be the fifth Harry Potter expansion alone! Monsters is right there. Nintendo is right there. Celestial Park is right there. They deserve more attractions instead.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Out of all the lands, Potter? Really? I'm normally not going to complain about a new ride, but we already have six Potter rides across the resort. This will be the fifth Harry Potter expansion alone! Monsters is right there. Nintendo is right there. Celestial Park is right there. They deserve more attractions instead.

I agree, and throw in JKR being the mold queen, it's all kinda gross. Here's why I think it could be the first expansion:

• There's already work done on the design of the building and infrastructure for it on-site from the OG VR attraction. Much easier to pick that right up with a new concept than do all that work new for a new area.
• Only land with one ride. A second would balance out Ministry, which has the longest waits in the park.
• As others have said Potter is still very popular with more stuff coming out.

I agree. I think it's pretty likely that this ride could be themed to the 1920s Quidditch World Cup. Signage within the land already indicates the Quidditch World Cup is currently happening within Paris, and the potential entrance to this ride would be near Bar Moonshine, which is themed with the pendants of international Quidditch teams. Besides the one scene in Forbidden Journey, Quidditch also just feels like the one remaining major component of Harry Potter that has not yet been explored within an attraction.

I really like this idea and I'll add on I hope it's an indoor attraction with a low or no height requirement.

 

[RFRees]

Out of all the lands, Potter? Really? I'm normally not going to complain about a new ride, but we already have six Potter rides across the resort. This will be the fifth Harry Potter expansion alone! Monsters is right there. Nintendo is right there. Celestial Park is right there. They deserve more attractions instead.

We all see your point, but:

• Potter was the only land to have had a cancelled attraction at Epic (that we 'know' of). *See notes.
• It's possible that Creative got somewhat far along in drawing up plans for that second ride before it was cancelled, and that it could be retooled into something that fits. Less work might need to get done on this compared to other projects which may need to start from scratch (example: Creature From Black Lagoon, which might have been a "we'll work on it after Epic opens" kind of project which may have had very little to no work done on it).
• It's the only land which only has one ride.
• Ministry often gets absurd wait times and added capacity in that specific area could help.
• It's possible they made contracts with WB / JK regarding land use, the number of attractions, and timeline to open those attractions.

*Notes:

Spoiler

• Potter area was rumored to have a Ministry of Magic: Paris attraction. This may have been a VR broomstick attraction themed to Fantastic Beasts (based on leaked concept art). We aren't aware of how far along this concept was (or how many versions were considered) until it was cancelled.
• This is the only attraction (that we know of) which we could consider cancelled at Epic.
• This isn't including any attraction we think Creative *might* have at least partially considered but maybe decided against it or leave as an expansion, like Creature From The Black Lagoon.
• I'm also not including the Monsters show (based on leaked concept), as that attraction was replaced 1:1 with Curse of The Werewolf.
• I'm also not including cancelled or postponed restaurants or other non-rides or shows.

I really like this idea and I'll add on I hope it's an indoor attraction with a low or no height requirement.

I agree, I don't think we need another Hulk (54", 8-10 years old avg). But, Tron is 48" (5 year old avg) and Flight of Passage is 44" (4 years old avg), either of these would work well with this concept.

3-4 year old kids can ride Battle at Ministry (height requirement 40"), and the show has no height requirement, so they have that range covered already.

 

[fryoj]

I had said in the Wicked discussion, a FoP type broom ride would work and be a ride that doesn't exist at UOR, but it easily works for Potter as well. FoP and navi combined are a 900k sq ft building, so it works for the area the permit shows.

 

[RGMick77]

I keep saying that the two most logical places to expand are Potter and Nintendo, because they already have the space set aside for it, and the licensing makes them lots of money.

While I do think a Broomstick ride is definitely a possibility, I wonder if they need something quicker than that. The park is struggling with capacity.

Do people feel nostalgic for Poseidon’s Fury yet? That was a unique attraction.

 

[GAcoaster]

Since Universal’s contract seems to require one new Potter attraction per year company wide, maybe they decided Epic needed it more than any other park right now?

 

[mccgavin]

Since Universal’s contract seems to require one new Potter attraction per year company wide, maybe they decided Epic needed it more than any other park right now?

I can't imagine that is true. Even when considering the international parks, there hasn't been anything close to one new attraction a year.