Universal Great Britain

[rob@rar]

Quick question for @Alicia, does Theme Park Stop ever interview theme park creatives? Jason Surrell would be a good person to interview now that he has left Universal Creative. I’m sure he’d not talk about the new UK park in any detail, but he’d be fascinating to hear share his experience of designing a new theme park from the blank canvass to opening day.

 

[Alicia]

Quick question for @Alicia, does Theme Park Stop ever interview theme park creatives?

If they agree to, I’d love to.

EDIT: But yea, industry folks only ever talk about past projects, and never unopened things unless it’s part of a press tour to promote said thing ahead of opening.

 

[rob@rar]

If they agree to, I’d love to.

EDIT: But yea, industry folks only ever talk about past projects, and never unopened things unless it’s part of a press tour to promote said thing ahead of opening.

He seems to be very open to doing podcasts/Youtube pieces (I’m currently listening to the podcast he did with Lou Mongello a few days ago, obviously with a focus on his Imagineering experiences).

I’m sure that he’d not want or be able to provide any spoilers about USGB, but I think he was the Executive Creative Director for Universal Beijing, centrally involved with Epic Universe, the new Halloween Horror in Vegas, and I think he led the creative work on USGB done so far until he left Universal Creative a couple of months ago. So I’d love to hear him talk about the opportunities, the restrictions, and the process for designing a new Universal park from scratch. It could be generic questions about new parks and backwards looking rather than specific, but the whole process seems utterly mind-boggling to me, so I’m sure he’d be fascinating.

 

[ProjectUniversal]

Disney acquired the international distribution rights to Doctor Who, so cant see it happening.

They can keep it. Dr Who lost it's appeal years ago when Matt Smith left.

 

[Elijah Abrams]

Though with the no Orlando clones mandate, its possible the Minions get a fully fledged dark ride that can do the IP justice.

Maybe a dark ride where you try to find and catch minions on the loose in Gru's town and neighborhood?

 

[yepthatguy]

Maybe a dark ride where you try to find and catch minions on the loose in Gru's town and neighborhood?

I’m still really struggling to imagine quite how they are going to deal with the weather here. It’s not extreme by any measure but it can go from lovely and pleasant to just plain miserable at different times of the year…

I saw someone on YouTube mention retractable roofs… although I don’t know if it was a joke or wind up haha.

 

[rob@rar]

I think Bedford has the same climate as Paris. I’ve visited DLP in all four seasons and generally never been too badly affected by the weather there. That park doesn’t have too many adjustments for poor weather. I visited Tokyo Disneyland in the winter and it snowed - it was quite magical. Key is to wear appropriate clothing I guess. I’ve lost more time to torrential downpours from the summer storms in Orlando than other parks I’ve visited.

I really hope they don’t stick an ugly roof over the top of an entire land, like Tokyo’s covered Main Street which I thought was grim. They can make sure that all queues are undercover and the majority of the rides are probably going to be indoors on any case, so that deals with most issues. They could also have some covered routes for navigating around the park, like DLP has. Beyond that make sure there are plenty of reasonably priced lockers at the park entrance where you can store some extra clothing layers if the forecast is changeable. Beyond that, I don’t think it’s a big issue.

 

[yepthatguy]

I think if it was an issue to Universal they wouldn’t be doing it.

Like I say, I just can’t imagine what it will look like, it’s kind of exciting and confusing at the same time.

 

[UPSguy]

Im fascinated by the "no orlando clone mandate" for this park. That would be like Disney telling DLP nothing from WDW could be built there. I suppose Universal doesn't really have trademark rides like MK does in a sense that everyone recognizes them/expects them at a Universal Park, like Haunted Mansion, Pirates, BTM, Space Mountain, Peter Pan, IASW for castle parks. Maybe Revenge of the Mummy and Forbidden Journey??

 

[Alicia]

I’m still really struggling to imagine quite how they are going to deal with the weather here. It’s not extreme by any measure but it can go from lovely and pleasant to just plain miserable at different times of the year…

I saw someone on YouTube mention retractable roofs… although I don’t know if it was a joke or wind up haha.

It rains every day for like 5 months of the year in Florida. And we’re the lightning capital of the world. And feature fun sub tropical winds.

Not that it’s a competition, but somehow people think Florida is great for “the weather” but I just don’t see it lol

 

[JT01]

It rains every day for like 5 months of the year in Florida. And we’re the lightning capital of the world. And feature fun sub tropical winds.

Not that it’s a competition, but somehow people think Florida is great for “the weather” but I just don’t see it lol

Yes but imagine fine drizzle, so fine you can't see it but it soaks you, its 4°C and windy, grey skies , wana trade? lol

 

[GAcoaster]

I assume that they will have more selection of indoor stuff-- looking at something like the HP area in Epic and it really wouldn't take much to add a roof over all of that and make it climate controlled and weather proof as well as creating a perpetual twilight sky. They could do things like that for portions of or even entire lands.

 

[xtpower]

Uh, when did the British weather become so bad that outdoor areas need weather proofing? It just feels completely needless, the British weather is fine, yea sure we have a lot of cloudy days and plenty of drizzle but it's nothing that you need to specifically build for outside of making a few extra rides have indoor queues, or be indoors entirely. There's absolutely no need to stick a roof over the outdoor areas, even during the winter months it's not so bad to require such drastic measures.

 

[Alicia]

Yes but imagine fine drizzle, so fine you can't see it but it soaks you, its 4°C and windy, grey skies , wana trade? lol

You’re describing swimming in Titanic wreckage water but through the air, so, no thank you.

 

[rob@rar]

Not that it’s a competition, but somehow people think Florida is great for “the weather” but I just don’t see it lol

We've only visited Orlando during August as we're tied to school holidays, and I've always taken the view that at that time of year the weather is to be endured rather than enjoyed.

 

[rob@rar]

One of the companies bought by Comcast from the Cloud Wing group to acquire the land at Bedford is SC Collection Limited. This is now fully owned by Comcast, with company directors Page Thompson (Head of Universal New Ventures) plus two of Universal's UK-based senior staff. SC Collection has just reported that in December 2024 nearly £141M was injected in to the company (presumably by Comcast) through the creation of an additional share.

 

[xtpower]

So, am I right in thinking that a cash injection of that level for that company means more land acquisition is coming?

 

[rob@rar]

So, am I right in thinking that a cash injection of that level for that company means more land acquisition is coming?

I don't think it's possible to tell what the funds will be used for. Could be for forthcoming groundworks, could be phased payments of the original land purchase, could be anything associated with the next phase of development.

I don't think Universal will be buying more land, beyond what they already have. If they felt they wanted more space they could have purchased another large parcel south of what they did buy (also from Cloud Wing, I think). But they didn't buy it, and that land has now been purchased by a housing developer.

 

[Dinosaurus]

Comcast didn’t own the land that’s in the plans as the West Gateway Zone, which was the land they had an option to acquire. Perhaps this could be for that?

 

[yepthatguy]

One of the companies bought by Comcast from the Cloud Wing group to acquire the land at Bedford is SC Collection Limited. This is now fully owned by Comcast, with company directors Page Thompson (Head of Universal New Ventures) plus two of Universal's UK-based senior staff. SC Collection has just reported that in December 2024 nearly £141M was injected in to the company (presumably by Comcast) through the creation of an additional share.

Hi Rob, good find but the link isn’t working for me, it shows a message “access denied request has expired”. Do you have another link at all?