Universal Kids Resort - Frisco, Texas

[Parkscope Joe]

I mean at least he travelled there to review it instead of sitting behind a keyboard mocking others opinions

It's like movie reviews, I'm looking for reviewers I trust. As pointed out above, Posideon cashed in those trust chips a long time ago for attention. I have others I can find their opinions on.

 

[Jake S]

I'm not familiar with their work, but I think it was generally fair criticism. It was interesting to see what changes were made in the few weeks between my visit and his; though it appears the loading / unloading procedure for Shrek is still a disaster. I have no idea why they didn't just install a separate unload console so you could both load and unload guests at the same time. Sitting in the baking sun after riding a very bad ride does it no favors.

 

[Diservations]

I'm not familiar with their work, but I think it was generally fair criticism. It was interesting to see what changes were made in the few weeks between my visit and his; though it appears the loading / unloading procedure for Shrek is still a disaster. I have no idea why they didn't just install a separate unload console so you could both load and unload guests at the same time. Sitting in the baking sun after riding a very bad ride does it no favors.

Shrek's ops are way better since previews. The only time we've had to wait in the sun has been when the ride was down. I don't ride very often, so take that with a grain of salt.

Shrek and Cretaceous Coaster both need canopies when returning to the station.

 

[rhino4evr]

Sure you don’t need me to pile on , but the place looks like a total dump to me. Regardless who “it’s for”.

 

[Andysol]

So not for him.
Calling it a financial failure when Universal was still throttling attendance is a choice. So is reviewing a ride he didn't actually ride.

I watched it and I thought it was fair. Most things can be fixed.
But I disagree with him calling it a financial failure. That’s beyond silly considering most days are sold out to where you can only buy the tickets at the gate.

Sure, they’re throttling sales; but obviously demand is higher than supply currently. Until we get evidence how it could be a financial failure it’s silly to assume it.

Hmm, the lack of a base color is still kinda throwing things imo. The decals are considerably better, no doubt; but the still-visible weathered concrete retains the strange industrial look that this area has.

I have to imagine this Minion water feature and the now-defunct W&WO feature shown below are made of similar concrete components, and the latter just has a much more appealing look to me (without necessarily breaking the bank.)

This looks vastly better. It’s indefensible that they didn’t paint/epoxy everything before they opened the ride outside of the ride just not being ready. If it’s like this next year, then it’s definitely indefensible.

Paint would probably require them to shut the ride down for a day or two, something that can't happen right now. Our weather absolutely sucks.

I wonder if they'll paint during the offseason and reapply the vinyl.

I doubt they do it on the one you just sent. But hopefully we see any unpainted concrete painted this offseason and hopefully they do something with the water so it doesn’t look like brown water on concrete (as well as add that fountain we’re dreaming of).

Like it or not, minions is the centerpiece. So it should look the best. It’s significantly better but it could actually be a centerpiece with a full offseason of makeover.


Something else I’d like to see if the cardboard cutouts being removed. Poseidon made a great point about the park looking “flat”. 3D figures à la minions for trolls and SpongeBob photo op entrance areas would go a long way.

 

[Andysol]

Seeing our first $49.99 ticket days- lowest so far.

October 19/20/26/27 (Mondays and Tuesdays last two weeks of October).

The webpage still says “from $54.99/day” on the ticketing page before selecting dates.

For contrast- Columbus Day weekend is $74.99/day.

 

[Jake S]

Annual passes are back on sale, too.

 

[Andysol]

Annual passes are back on sale, too.

That’s been for the past couple of weeks, I believe.

The biggest metric of success will be how fast (or not) they announce the inevitable water park expansion.

Rousing success? They’ll start construction immediately and fast track it for next summer.
Expected success? They’ll be patient and we’ll start to see construction around this time next year.
Under expectations? No movement whatsoever.

That will be the tell tale sign. If we don’t hear anything in the next 12 months; I’ll be a bit worried.

 

[MAC]

That’s been for the past couple of weeks, I believe.

The biggest metric of success will be how fast (or not) they announce the inevitable water park expansion.

Rousing success? They’ll start construction immediately and fast track it for next summer.
Expected success? They’ll be patient and we’ll start to see construction around this time next year.
Under expectations? No movement whatsoever.

That will be the tell tale sign. If we don’t hear anything in the next 12 months; I’ll be a bit worried.

Would they be able to build a water park from scratch in less than a year?

 

[Andysol]

Would they be able to build a water park from scratch in less than a year?

I’d think so. It isn’t volcano bay.

Hawaiian falls are the local water parks that I’d think it would be similar scale too (with even smaller structures). The original garland one took 4 months, and their newest ones that are a little nicer like in Mansfield took 9 months.

So I’d think a year for universal should be manageable considering they’ll likely have elevated food services and restrooms, but smaller slide structures.

Unless they went for a year round move and did an indoor one to compete with something like great wolf. Then it would be a longer construction timeline, I would think. Great wolf lodges take 16-24 months to construct (but include hotels- which are the longest part of that).

As much as I’d love a larger Runamukka Bay like in VB; I have very low expectations for their water park; so I hope they surprise me.

 

[pumpkinbot343]

At the very least, it shows Poseidon Entertainment isn’t just a Disney basher/Universal shill… maybe.

 

[Andysol]

Wanted to add some more information after researching the water park costs in our area.

Hawaiian Waters (2 owned by Premier) and Hawaiian Falls (3 owned by Ripley's) are the best indicators of what will be similar to the Universal expansion. They are "Micro water parks" that range between 9-14 acres and cost $5-15 million 15-20 years ago. So with inflation and increased construction costs, that number would be more like $10-30 million today. They are also city owned and leased back so they surrender 6-8% of their revenue back to the city. So that's a pretty fair construction cost as land isn't being bought in those costs.

They generally have tall towers and slide complexes with lazy rivers, etc. Pricing is $25/28 per person or $40 for an annual pass and are open ~80 days a year. All summer, just weekends once school starts, then closing end of September.

-----

Universal has much less area to work with for their largest expansion plot located behind Trolls and the north parking lot on the northwest side of the property.


During the initial zoning and site plans, the proposed area was a little over 5 acres. Obviously the original site plan has changed, and overhead google measurements place it closer to just under 7 acres.



Note the 2 Parking lots on the left. Orange would be the water park area. The green is a current walkway that would allow in-park entrance from between trolls and Shrek to enter the water park area. Blue could be a walking path from hotel to the water park entrance.

Not sure what the budget for a ~6-7 acre water park would be- but it couldn't possibly be more than $50m. Likely not even half that at $25m considering the size, lack of lazy river (or minimally sized one) and lack of large slide structures. And if tickets were $15 more for water park access, that would be 1.66 million in sales to pay for the construction @ $25m. According to the original release from the city zoning- The park is set to accommodate 7,000 visitors on weekdays and up to 14,000 on weekends, with a peak capacity reaching 20,000. So a conservative estimate would be 3m people.

Which shows just how profitable water parks are and why they are almost always the first expansion at any regional park.
It more than pays for itself within the first year of operation.

Let's get those shovels in the ground, guys.