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Universal Orlando Resort to Epic Universe Transportation News & Speculation

Has anyone driven Sand Lake Road recently to see how close to done that widening project is?

I don't know how accurate this is, but the Orange County ProjectTrak website currently lists it with an estimated completion date of July 29th, with the Kirkman extension construction then estimated to start on July 31st and conclude in December 2023.
 
Is the Brightline line confirmed to not be building a station on the convention centre?

I remember there was talk about it back before covid but not sure where that went.
 
They're still in negotiations, but rumors have it that the negotiations are not going well for Universal. There's news about this if you search Google
 


Obviously, you can't dig underground in Florida but this shows where this technology is at.

In10 or 20 years, who knows how far self-driving cars will go and how that will influence the resort.
 
I think people overvalue how much the train will really benefit either theme park destination.
I mean, any direct transport from the airport to WDW or near UOR will be a benefit.

I do think WDW is getting a bit carried away in ending Magical Express, although that may have been a mutual decision.
 
I mean, any direct transport from the airport to WDW or near UOR will be a benefit.

I do think WDW is getting a bit carried away in ending Magical Express, although that may have been a mutual decision.
I think the thing is, will it be faster and cheaper than an Uber straight to your hotel? My guess is no.
 


Obviously, you can't dig underground in Florida but this shows where this technology is at.

In10 or 20 years, who knows how far self-driving cars will go and how that will influence the resort.


I'm not familiar enough with Orlando's traffic system but a dedicated roadway or lanes to/from the airport and Universal Orlando combined with autonomous vehicles/shuttles would enable this kind of experience. It seems that light rail is too expensive to implement although that would be the best method. Then, they could use electric vehicles, power the charging stations with solar, and demonstrate a commitment to green transportation methods.
 
I think people overvalue how much the train will really benefit either theme park destination.
If you gave me the option of an 8 hour car ride with kids, stopping every 100-150 miles for a bathroom break, or a 10 hour train ride with freedom of movement. I'm taking the train all day.

But to your point, we are still taking the vacation and spending the money regardless, but a train would help us arrive in a much better mood.
 
It would be very funny if Universal would start offering a complimentary (electric bus) shuttle service to and from the airport witch actual Hogwarts like windows that take you on an fun ride...that would be magical and would give them a leg or 2 up from Disney (not that they need it imho).
 
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Obviously, you can't dig underground in Florida but this shows where this technology is at.

In10 or 20 years, who knows how far self-driving cars will go and how that will influence the resort.


Without autonomous driving, this is just dumb. And if they get the autonomous part working, then it's basically an underground, trackless, Personal Rapid Transit system. So I'm not very optimistic about such a system that can't be tunneled because then you are basically just talking about PRT, which we know hasn't worked well.

I'm not familiar enough with Orlando's traffic system but a dedicated roadway or lanes to/from the airport and Universal Orlando combined with autonomous vehicles/shuttles would enable this kind of experience. It seems that light rail is too expensive to implement although that would be the best method. Then, they could use electric vehicles, power the charging stations with solar, and demonstrate a commitment to green transportation methods.

If you can find the space to get a fully separated right of way between MCO and UOR you might as well just put rails down rather than trying to use autonomous buses.

I'm sure that a much better express bus system between the airport and the I-drive area could be done, but other than that I don't think there are any cheap solutions. And putting aside theme park politics and focusing on the relative locations, its hard to justify spending $1 billion on a MCO-WDW line and $1 billion on a MCO-Idrive line if you can just build a MCO-Idrive-WDW line for $2 billion and avoid needing transfers from other destinations.
 


Obviously, you can't dig underground in Florida but this shows where this technology is at.

In10 or 20 years, who knows how far self-driving cars will go and how that will influence the resort.

Bad example. The only reason this was built was because they managed to undercut the other bids for a transit system by making infrastructure that has an abysmal capacity.
I mean, any direct transport from the airport to WDW or near UOR will be a benefit.

I do think WDW is getting a bit carried away in ending Magical Express, although that may have been a mutual decision.
It was not a mutual decision.
 
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