Universal Great Britain - Speculation & Rumors

[xtpower]

Walk With Me Tim? If so, I found his content got boring real quick.

Yea, walk with me Tim. His videos are alright in small doses, the worst Hotel ones especially.

But he feels alot like the main type of Brits who'd do Universal and he's always liked good theming. He's a better barometer than the Coaster maniacs who'll ignore the fact a ride is basically in a parking lot if it's exciting enough.

For me I love Coasters (who doesn't) but I've always felt that a Coaster without great theming is just missing something intrinsic. The feeling when you're drawn in by the theming from the moment you enter the ride queue and it continues through the duration of the queue and ride is something special.

 

[Rokweiler]

Na, Walk with me Tim is definitely not the ‘main type of Brit who would do Universal’
He went to Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach and was fawning over it. Yes the wooden coaster has history and is very cool, but his bar is set very low.

 

[jarmor]

Really?
Paramount - zero connection with Potter
Universal - well known connection to Potter from anyone who has ever visited the US parks or knows someone who has been

Ok, it sounded good in my head lol. The point I was trying to make was I feel it is a little unfair to expect a potter section just because it is universal. I am trying to look at this from the GP's standpoint. I am not sure where universal is going with this park but I look at it as a regional park that could pull some international clientele. SO, I see more locals visiting and patronizing. As a local, I would not want to go to this park if it included things I can do at another place and probably better. Unless you can create totally new potter environments and experiences then don't even bother. Are brits really hammering for more potter?

 

[xtpower]

Na, Walk with me Tim is definitely not the ‘main type of Brit who would do Universal’
He went to Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach and was fawning over it. Yes the wooden coaster has history and is very cool, but his bar is set very low.

Yes, which is what your average Brit will also think. The average visitor to Universal won't be some Coaster enthusiast or theming afficionado, they'll be your regular joe family. The types who find tame coasters as a ton of fun. I have no idea why you think a park that can draw 5m+ visitors a year will be mainly populated with people who expect only the best of the best.

 

[Freak]

Ain’t no way they’re gonna keep Potter from this park. Like at the very least five the Brits a clone of Hogsmede. You can argue that withholding Potter from USGB would help incentivize them to fly across the pond…but c’mon. Not having Potter in its home country would be a sacrilegious travesty to the highest degree.

Yeah, without pivoting the discussion, it was planned as a family coaster for the park and then eventually became the Puss in Boots ride that is there now, since that appealed more to children.

I think if they tackle projects in that way— give a unique experience to an IP already represented in Universal Parks—it would make me (an LA local who hasn’t even been to USO yet) want to hop on a plane and check out the park.

I believe Kung Fu Panda was also a possibility for that. I’ll dig around for the concept art for that and edit this post. Which would also be an interesting project to revive for this park.

Here’s a piece of concept art for it. I think it was around 2012?

*Edited to include Kung Fu Panda concept art*

That concept art for a King Fu Panda coaster looks dope! Hopefully they’ll use it for one of the US parks someday. Preferably USH. The park needs a highly themed family coaster.

 

[JoeMcSqueezy]

I dunno. I’ve always felt you could get away without WW if you included Lord of the Rings, since they kinda fill the same niche of being “The big, epic Fantasy Setting Land” in a Park. But, given that this Park is supposedly focusing on new Attractions, LOTR is something new and it’s hard to look at unexplored ground for a WW Land that hasn’t already been done in one of the Orlando Resorts

 

[xtpower]

I dunno. I’ve always felt you could get away without WW if you included Lord of the Rings, since they kinda fill the same niche of being “The big, epic Fantasy Setting Land” in a Park. But, given that this Park is supposedly focusing on new Attractions, LOTR is something new and it’s hard to look at unexplored ground for a WW Land that hasn’t already been done in one of the Orlando Resorts

Honestly considering the size and impact of both IP's it's hard to say would be filling a niche, they are larger than a mere niche. For me, I want both because I'm greedy and love both IP's. But given a choice I'd go LOTR, you could practically theme a whole Park on LOTR alone - Mordor, The Shire, Rivendell, Isengard etc etc.

 

[Devohn]

Brand new here, just caught up with the discussion surrounding Potter in UGB.

I agree that it would feel very wrong to miss out on Potter here but most of the suggestions I've seen on here wouldn't work in the UK. Mainly because of two things, there's either an authentic set version an hour down the M1, or the keen fans would have already visited the Orlando attractions (and I believe would continue to if we didn't have a clone here).

My suggestion as a Brit and massive football fan(soccer for you lot across the pond) is make use of the target demographic (Europe and UK) and have a Quidditch World Cup ride.
Maybe you get asked where you're from before the ride, similar to E.T, and it will change the start of the ride to show your country playing in the match... before the death eaters attack. (Think the beginning of Goblet of Fire.)

If I'm not mistaken, the film begins with them travelling by Portkey from the Weasley's House, so maybe the area would be themed to Ottery St Catchpole, the village where the Weasley's and Lovegood's live.

This would also give scope for a Flying car ride/indoor rollercoaster as that would start from The Burrow. This would be a great way to show the journey up to Hogwarts as it would start down south and maybe interact with the Hogwarts express as it heads up to Scotland. It could make use of the whomping willow animatronic from forbidden journey and give us a taste of Hogwarts without directly including it in the land.

This post kinda got out of hand as my imagination went a bit off the rails as I was writing it, but this should hopefully serve as a proof that there is more to be done with the Potter franchise yet.

 

[Mike S]

I dunno. I’ve always felt you could get away without WW if you included Lord of the Rings, since they kinda fill the same niche of being “The big, epic Fantasy Setting Land” in a Park. But, given that this Park is supposedly focusing on new Attractions, LOTR is something new and it’s hard to look at unexplored ground for a WW Land that hasn’t already been done in one of the Orlando Resorts

I mean, the original Hogsmeade is going to have Hyrule right next door soon enough. I don’t think they care.

 

[Ludus]

I have to agree, not having Potter at this park would be treason of the highest degree.

 

[Chessy]

I guess with the Potter thing it’s not just for Brits. There will be international guests who can’t make it to the US or Asia, who would be quite happy to experience it.

Just a Random thought, why not build the biggest version of Hogwarts yet.

 

[Chessy]

Just throwing out some potential unexplored locations for the WW. Whether they would be good for attractions I don't know.

• Forbidden Forest
• Malfoy Manor
• Azkaban
• Ministry of Magic (I know this will be at Epic as an attraction tie in)
• The Burrow
• Wizarding NYC

As for LOTR I know scope is endless as to which lands you could build upon. My shout would go for The Shire, Rivendell and Mordor.

 

[bedfordmassive]

The populations around a park are really interesting - to me at least. Here's the population density within x km of Disneyland Paris, US Orlando, and proposed US GB. All three have very different profiles for local populations.

• The proposed GB location rises sharply with distance beyond 50km as London and Birmingham come into contention, which explains the 2 hour travel stats (50% of population).
• Paris is on the doorstep of DLP but falls behind the proposed USGB location at around 70km and ends up with many fewer within 2 hours (though the toll road system in France means you can cover distance v fast if you pay).
• Orlando has a good population very close but a very small population outside of the immediate environs.
  

Public transport also interesting - this is for trains but bus stops have the same pattern:


This might be of zero interest, but for me it helps to understand the logic of the location - small population within 30 mins door to door with proposed GB site, but enormous within 60-90 minutes.

There is likely a probability distribution that I could use to weight probability of visit based on distance - if anyone knows of a data source for that I'd be keen to work it into calculations. Data source I have is limited to 100km, but taking this as the maximum radius 22-24 million is the most you can get within 100km in the UK, and to get that you can build a park anywhere in a triangle defined by Oxford, Bedford, and London. London-based parks will fall behind at >100km as you're entering the channel and not yet reaching Birmingham, so it becomes an arc between Oxford and Bedford that have maximal population catchment at 120km. Major options in this are Oxford, Milton Keynes, and Bedford - Bedford has best airport and train connections of those plus probably cheapest most plentiful land.

Interestingly, I can't find any other area in Europe with a population approaching 22m within a 100km radius (100km probably being about 90 minutes drive allowing time to get to a major road). Most major population centres in Germany and France seem to top out around 15-16m in a 100km radius, thought I've just been randomly selecting areas of highest population density (just found building near Eindhoven gets you 20m as you get both Amsterdam and Dusseldorf).

 

[LukiLu]

That is such a fun tool to play with. Using F12 I adjusted the radius to 150 km. It's probably the maximum people are willing to drive for a day trip and the larger the area gets the longer it takes to calculate. Anyway, here's what a 150 km radius looks like (also included USH and PAW for funsies):



Edit: Location within 150 km of Bedford is more than twice (!) compared to DLP, and four and a half times that around PAW.

Public transport also interesting - this is for trains but bus stops have the same pattern:
View attachment 20368

So the main takeaway here is America's lack of proper passenger rail.

 

[tommyhawkins]

and all those Marmalade sandwiches which could give Butterbeer some competition

I would LOVE a line up of Potter, Jurassic, LOTR, Paddington, Minions & a Bond stunt show.


I think you are understimating the blow back from no Potter in a UK Universal park.

Not putting Potter in this park would be a HUGE mistake IMO. That said, it doesn't appear to be in that leaked concept art which makes me worry.

If Potter is the be all and end all that you are making it out to be, then Orlando would lose the 1 million Brits who visit every year. Because why travel 4000 miles to visit a place with perfect weather when I can go to Bedford

whats the blow back from that decision? It's not conjecture that they decided not to cannibalise the Florida parks. Orlando has its own unique attractions worth travelling West to visit, UK has the opportunity to build its own set of unique attractions worthy of Americans travelling East for.

 

[Ludus]

Anyway, here's what a 150 km radius looks like (also included USH and PAW for funsies):

Certain individuals when you mention PAW:

 

[bedfordmassive]

That is such a fun tool to play with. Using F12 I adjusted the radius to 150 km. It's probably the maximum people are willing to drive for a day trip and the larger the area gets the longer it takes to calculate. Anyway, here's what a 150 km radius looks like (also included USH and PAW for funsies):

View attachment 20369

Edit: Location within 150 km of Bedford is more than twice (!) compared to DLP, and four and a half times that around PAW.


So the main takeaway here is America's lack of proper passenger rail.

Awesome! Didn't think of F12.

It's interesting - when I went to school we had to memorise the population density of people per km2 in all major countries. I still remember USA at 26 compared to UK at 260 (with Scotland dragging us down). That graph really hammers it home - USA has so much empty space.

 

[jarmor]

It's like there is absolutely no potter at all in Britain and universal will be the potter savior lol. . .

 

[xtpower]

If Potter is the be all and end all that you are making it out to be, then Orlando would lose the 1 million Brits who visit every year. Because why travel 4000 miles to visit a place with perfect weather when I can go to Bedford

whats the blow back from that decision? It's not conjecture that they decided not to cannibalise the Florida parks. Orlando has its own unique attractions worth travelling West to visit, UK has the opportunity to build its own set of unique attractions worthy of Americans travelling East for.

I just want to say your point about Orlando losing 1mill Brits just doesn't hold up to scrutiny (yes I know you exaggerated but i like debating ). Simply because for a Brit it's a very different thing from taking a daytrip to Bedford than it is going on a full-blown holiday to Orlando. UGB could never truly cannibalise visitors from UOR simply because people aren't going to Orlando exclusively for Potter (well most people, the Potter stans definitely are), they're going for multiple things which the UK could never offer even if UGB was a carbon copy of IOA.

I do think though that the discourse that not having Potter will have a severe blowback, simply because I have confidence that Universal will make sure UGB opens with an IP on the level of Potter (they could even open with it) that will draw the Brits in droves. Whether it's LOTR, SNW or something completely new, it'll be a big enough deal to negate any Potter blowback.

What I think is happening is alot of Brits are very excited they might get WW in the UK (to the level of Hogwarts Castle/Hogsmeade) and the idea of it not happening has people fretting and worrying. Sure there's the Studio Tour, but honestly it pales in comparison to the IOA WW, just for the sheer impact and awe it inspires.

In my own opinion I'm of the mind that the best route they can go is pairing that big IP with Potter, that would definitely make a statement. Now whether they go HC/HM or some other location in the WW I have no idea but I think having a properly themed WW area and another huge IP is the best way forward. But that's just me.

 

[Disneyhead]

How about "TWWOHP: Azkaban" with "Sirius Black and the Escape From Azkaban" as the main attraction?

We don't have that here in the states.