Universal Great Britain

[yepthatguy]

£5K for one trip. My point is that you can have a very nice holiday for a lot less than the £9K you suggest. Certainly not cheap, and for many families still an unachievable luxury even if they cut every expense to the bone. For other families the cost is less of an issue, so for them there’s plenty of opportunity to boost the budget to the equivalent of a King’s Ransom.

How did you manage to do it for so little Rob?

I’ve stayed at a villa before and it was great, but it was with another family so by sharing the space it made it cheaper than a hotel. I’ve not really seen nay 2 bed villas before so without sharing it seems just as pricy but with more privacy and a private pool of course lol.

Did you just not spend as much in the parks on food and drink?

I concede on hire car costs, I have seen small budget cars for just over £500 it’s just the luggage aspect from the airport.

I suppose even for UK customers there will still be costs for anyone who can’t drive there and back in a day. That could could be a few hundred pounds too, average Premier Inn prices are about £100 a room a night, but can go very high in peak season.

 

[rob@rar]

How did you manage to do it for so little Rob?

I’ve stayed at a villa before and it was great, but it was with another family so by sharing the space it made it cheaper than a hotel. I’ve not really seen nay 2 bed villas before so without sharing it seems just as pricy but with more privacy and a private pool of course lol.

Did you just not spend as much in the parks on food and drink?

I concede on hire car costs, I have seen small budget cars for just over £500 it’s just the luggage aspect from the airport.

I suppose even for UK customers there will still be costs for anyone who can’t drive there and back in a day. That could could be a few hundred pounds too, average Premier Inn prices are about £100 a room a night, but can go very high in peak season.

One of the advantages of a condo or a villa is that you have a full kitchen (and loads of space) so you don’t need to eat out for every single meal. I’ve just checked for August this year and a 3-bed condo around £700 per week, flights per person from £725 with 1 change or £829 direct, car hire £510, 14-day tickets for Universal and Disney £982 per person. If you budget sensibly for food and forgo souvenirs you’re a long way under the £9K suggested earlier, and that’s in the school holidays. For me, I live a short bus ride from Heathrow so incidental costs on travel and parking are near zero. I’ve not accounted for theme park parking, which adds a chunk of money.

 

[rob@rar]

Yeah and I get that but I don’t buy the idea that people who can afford that would stop going to Orlando if this park becomes an option that’s of a similar calibre.

People go for Disney as well, people that have the money want to just get out of the country, some people do it for the prestige and some just do it because they can I guess.

So are those people this parks main market in the first place? If they’re not and there’s millions of people living here who never will go to Orlando then I’m hoping this park becomes a resort with a huge offering over the next few decades. Why have one crown jewel in Orlando and North America when you could have two, the other being in the UK and Europe.

I agree, if families can afford it and they are in to theme parks, they’ll go to Orlando, theme park capital of the world. The presence of Universal in Bedford and Disney near Paris isn’t going to change that for families who have the budget for Florida’s finest. I never suggested otherwise, I simply suggested that you can do a decent Orlando holiday for less than £9K. In fact, having a wonderful experience in Bedford might convince some families to miss out on a couple of summer holidays in order to save for that trip of a lifetime to Orlando (something I’m doing in 2024 and 2025 for a holiday in 2026 [to a different destination]), when prior to their experience with Universal they might have discounted Orlando as being too expensive.

 

[yepthatguy]

One of the advantages of a condo or a villa is that you have a full kitchen (and loads of space) so you don’t need to eat out for every single meal. I’ve just checked for August this year and a 3-bed condo around £700 per week, flights per person from £725 with 1 change or £829 direct, car hire £510, 14-day tickets for Universal and Disney £982 per person. If you budget sensibly for food and forgo souvenirs you’re a long way under the £9K suggested earlier, and that’s in the school holidays. For me, I live a short bus ride from Heathrow so incidental costs on travel and parking are near zero. I’ve not accounted for theme park parking, which adds a chunk of money.

Thanks that’s a good insight.

That comes to around £7300 total for 3 people flying direct.

But it does include Disney. Without that and doing just universal parks it’d be around £5900, which isn’t bad really.

It’s just the spending money, even taking just over £2000 spending money, would take it to £8000.

Still not my estimated £9000 of course, but getting close. It’s just very expensive for such a long trip I guess. I thought about going for 10 days before, but think I’ll hate coming home on day 10 lol.

 

[Altonsky]

I agree, if families can afford it and they are in to theme parks, they’ll go to Orlando, theme park capital of the world. The presence of Universal in Bedford and Disney near Paris isn’t going to change that for families who have the budget for Florida’s finest. I never suggested otherwise, I simply suggested that you can do a decent Orlando holiday for less than £9K. In fact, having a wonderful experience in Bedford might convince some families to miss out on a couple of summer holidays in order to save for that trip of a lifetime to Orlando (something I’m doing in 2024 and 2025 for a holiday in 2026 [to a different destination]), when prior to their experience with Universal they might have discounted Orlando as being too expensive.

Sorry I didn’t mean to make it sound as if I said you suggested it. I was talking more broadly about what universal may think considering they don’t want to copy attractions from Orlando.

 

[rob@rar]

Thanks that’s a good insight.

That comes to around £7300 total for 3 people flying direct.

Just to point out my original figure was for a couple, not three people.

 

[EllieB]

It’s just very expensive for such a long trip I guess. I thought about going for 10 days before, but think I’ll hate coming home on day 10 lol.

We did a 10 day trip once and I'd never do it again, you do not want to come home on day 10 and afterwards it seems like such a lot of money and effort to have cut costs on those extra few days. Especially when the flights are such a big chunk of the cost.

 

[rob@rar]

Sorry I didn’t mean to make it sound as if I said you suggested it. I was talking more broadly about what universal may think considering they don’t want to copy attractions from Orlando.

I like the idea of no Orlando clones in Bedford, but I don’t think that necessarily means Bedford attractions will be lower quality. They can be equally good, just different.

 

[rob@rar]

It’s just the spending money, even taking just over £2000 spending money, would take it to £8000.

£2K spending money seems a huge amount to me, I’d not be able to use the word “just” in that sentence. I don’t think we miss out too much by having lower discretionary spending, but we don’t indulge in park souvenirs and we restrict food in the park to occasional treats rather than most meals.

 

[TYX]

As a Brit, even when this park is built and open, Florida still holds a special place for me and would absolutely visit again, alongside this park.

I think you will find that most Brits will save money up for 2-3 years for a Florida trip due to most visiting for around 14 days and also bundling Disney World into that also, whereas your domestic US tourist would most likely visit for less than a week - that is mainly behind the higher price for Brits and also the flights across the atlantic.

However, Universal GB, with the right mix of familiarity and new experiences still has the potential to attract UK domestic footfall several times a year on top of this. With our climate and weather, many Brits still see Florida as a once in a couple of years due to its amazing weather.

 

[yepthatguy]

£2K spending money seems a huge amount to me, I’d not be able to use the word “just” in that sentence. I don’t think we miss out too much by having lower discretionary spending, but we don’t indulge in park souvenirs and we restrict food in the park to occasional treats rather than most meals.

I agree shopping at say Walmart for some great food that can be cooked at an apartment or bbqd at a villa with a pool would be a saving on eating out literally every night for 2 weeks.

I just based £2100 on 3 people at £50 per person per day for food, drink, and parking (parking which is paid once between 3 people as it’s per car).

Like I mentioned earlier, maybe even less than a 3rd of the overall outlay is going into Universals pockets, especially if not staying on universal property. Wouldn’t they make more than that 3rd from repeat Uk customers visiting the new UK park?

 

[TYX]

I agree shopping at say Walmart for some great food that can be cooked at an apartment or bbqd at a villa with a pool would be a saving on eating out literally every night for 2 weeks.

I just based £2100 on 3 people at £50 per person per day for food, drink, and parking (parking which is paid once between 3 people as it’s per car).

Like I mentioned earlier, maybe even less than a 3rd of the overall outlay is going into Universals pockets, especially if not staying on universal property. Wouldn’t they make more than that 3rd from repeat Uk customers visiting the new UK park?

The tipping culture in the US is also a pretty big outlay to pay and can be quite a big culture shock for anyone from the UK when eating out.

 

[rob@rar]

Like I mentioned earlier, maybe even less than a 3rd of the overall outlay is going into Universals pockets, especially if not staying on universal property. Wouldn’t they make more than that 3rd from repeat Uk customers visiting the new UK park?

I think Brits (and other Europeans) visiting USGB will, on balance, make it more likely that those people will visit Orlando rather than less likely, especially if USGB is as high quality as we all want it to be. My first theme park experience was visiting DLP in 1996. Enjoyed it way more than I expected (I was there under sufferance) and two years later we visited Orlando for the first time. Without that visit to Paris we’d never have gone to Orlando. DLP was my gateway drug! The best possible advert for visiting a Universal theme park is to actually visit a Universal theme park. So making USGB awesome, Epic even, is a win-win for Universal.

 

[Chessy]

We’ve booked 4 adults for September 2026 to Orlando.

Virgin Atlantic premium (2 large cases), standard hotel on I-Drive, large car. It’s around 10K or about 2.5K per person. I believe if you book a virgin holiday and it’s advertised cheaper the following year, you can contact them and claim the difference back.

Obviously this is not including park tickets and spending money. We went in 22 and 23 but we will only go usually every 3 years or so.

Universal GB will be much welcome as it will present different experiences too. But we’ll still go to Orlando for multiple experiences and parks.

 

[xtpower]

Just to divert away from you big spenders talking about Orlando trips . This Shelby Honea news sounds very exciting. Velocicoaster is the apex of themed Coaster and Pandora/GE are both top tier themed areas, so feels like we're in safe hands.

 

[tommyhawkins]

this might reassure some of you. or not......i dunno

 

[quinnmac000]

If this park really gets a new attraction every two years....this is going to be the most stacked park in Universal's arsenal

 

[MangoDance]

this might reassure some of you. or not......i dunno

That list made me realise just how over-powered Islands of Adventure is - what a ride line-up!

But putting LOTR boat ride on it for the UK is dangerous levels of stretching given zero evidence for either a boat ride or a lord of the rings area on the current layout. I think the talk of new attractions every two years makes a big difference, if that's official then it's no longer a matter of those big empty spaces just being big empty spaces, it's a matter of simply building a true world class resort in stages. I don't think we'll have to wait long to find out, I would imagine planning might even include things not intended for 2031.

 

[Altonsky]

That list made me realise just how over-powered Islands of Adventure is - what a ride line-up!

But putting LOTR boat ride on it for the UK is dangerous levels of stretching given zero evidence for either a boat ride or a lord of the rings area on the current layout. I think the talk of new attractions every two years makes a big difference, if that's official then it's no longer a matter of those big empty spaces just being big empty spaces, it's a matter of simply building a true world class resort in stages. I don't think we'll have to wait long to find out, I would imagine planning might even include things not intended for 2031.

I guess that depends on what planning they’ll be given.

Maybe they’ll be given certain planning conditions where they’re can effectively build whatever they want as long as it doesn’t exceed certain conditions such as heigh, noise and all of that.

Alton towers has certain areas like this within their park. If Universal also has something similar then it’s entirely possible we won’t know what they’re building at certain points because they won’t have to submit planning for each and every attraction

 

[rob@rar]

this might reassure some of you. or not......i dunno

I like your speculation for what might be USGB's opening roster and I think it's a reasonable suggestion of what we might find in 2031, but it's definitely stepping beyond a straightforward interpretation of the artwork that Universal published a few days ago. The artwork is vague and Universal know that it will be examined obsessively so their choice of imagery will be deliberate, regardless of whether it's a faithful representation of opening day or whether there is a bit of conscious mis-direction intended to mask a big reveal closer to the date. So on that basis, the artwork gives a reasonable interpretation of opening day roster along these lines:

Lands:
Entrance/Hollywood
Jurassic World
Minions Land
Shrek Land
Back to the Future
Paddington
Waterworld

E-Tickets:
Jurassic World Adventure
Jurassic World Coaster
BTTF Coaster

D-Tickets:
Minion Mayhem
Shrek dark ride?

C-Tickets:
Minions Loop-dee Loop
Paddington dark ride?

B-Tickets:
Minions Super Swirly
Paddington Outdoor Flat Ride x2
Shrek indoor flat ride(s)?

A-Tickets:
Raptor Encounter
Camp Cretaceous

Stunt show:
Waterworld

I think that describes a park which feels a bit lightweight compared to other Universal parks, and unbalanced in the sense that it leans too heavily towards rides and attraction more suitable for younger children rather than teenagers and adults. I think both those concerns are addressed in your speculation, but I don't think it is unreasonable criticism of Universal from those of us who are commenting based on what Universal themselves have released in that artwork. Anything else is either inside-info or a small leap of faith. I don't think that speculating beyond the artwork is unreasonable knowing Universal's track record and what appears to be their level of commitment, financial and otherwise, to this new venture, nevertheless it is a leap of faith.