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Universal Great Britain - Speculation & Rumors

  • Thread starter Thread starter Viator
  • Start date Start date Nov 27, 2023
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BBPH

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  • Tuesday at 5:06 PM
  • #4,301
The job postings should be enough to confirm they’ve haven’t finished designing the park.
 
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rob@rar

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  • Tuesday at 5:11 PM
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Perhap
xtpower said:
I really think you're doing Universal a huge disservice here by implying they are going down the 'Merlin path'. Universal has a reputation for pairing their Coasters with immersive theming and storytelling. I don't see that changing here and this is certainly not some marketing exercise like Merlin. Universal's brand power is such that they have zero need to be chasing stat records to bring in the common punter.

I think the main issue lies in the vagueness of the concept art and how early we got it in their design process. I am fully confident that the BTTF ride will be just as immersive and with the storytelling of a Hagrid's or Velocicoaster.

As for the scale of the ride elements, I put that purely down to Universal wanting to genuinely hit 88mph and them future-proofing the limits of their rides incase they go down that road again. That green Coaster seems indicative of the normal Universal coaster and as such BTTF is probably unique because of that 88mph requirement.
Click to expand...
Perhaps you're right; I'd certainly like my unease to be unrealised. As you say, it's still quite early in the design process, and concept art can be deliberately vague, so we'll see how things emerge as we get closer to opening day. But the widespread belief that the BTTF coaster must hit an actual 88mph and Universal applying for a height limit of 115m is what prompts my concern. That's significantly faster than Velocicoaster, and more than twice the height. Twice as tall as Velocicoaster! I'd have been much happier to see a decent size coaster weaving in and out of a massive show building, which would allow for fully immersive story-telling. Instead the concept art suggests a massively tall outdoor coaster, perhaps with a couple of vertical spikes, and an indoor load/unload. Very Merlin, perhaps; not very Universal, perhaps.

But I fully accept that it's too soon for any definitive commentary on what Universal will be doing in that part of the park.
 
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xtpower

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  • Tuesday at 5:33 PM
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rob@rar said:
Perhap

Perhaps you're right; I'd certainly like my unease to be unrealised. As you say, it's still quite early in the design process, and concept art can be deliberately vague, so we'll see how things emerge as we get closer to opening day. But the widespread belief that the BTTF coaster must hit an actual 88mph and Universal applying for a height limit of 115m is what prompts my concern. That's significantly faster than Velocicoaster, and more than twice the height. Twice as tall as Velocicoaster! I'd have been much happier to see a decent size coaster weaving in and out of a massive show building, which would allow for fully immersive story-telling. Instead the concept art suggests a massively tall outdoor coaster, perhaps with a couple of vertical spikes, and an indoor load/unload. Very Merlin, perhaps; not very Universal, perhaps.

But I fully accept that it's too soon for any definitive commentary on what Universal will be doing in that part of the park.
Click to expand...

I think the 88mph is purely because let's be honest if you do a BTTF Coaster then everyone will expect it to do 88mph. The fact they went with a spike over a top-hat is positive, it'll be less extreme and allows them to hit that vaunted 88mph and then have all the coaster elements you want from a World Class Universal offering. With a spike you can also use trim brakes to make the rest of the coaster more palatable for the regular visitor while still having a legit 88mph launch.

It's also not at all Merlin, Merlin would've done a top hat, airtime hill and brake run like they did with Stealth.
 
Alicia

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  • Tuesday at 8:24 PM
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Taps the sign
Alicia said:
I think the park will be better than the art makes it look…

…I bet some of those first rides are going to really surprise us.

Just keep in mind, Universal concept art often hides things to throw us off the scent.
Click to expand...
 
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Viator

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  • Tuesday at 9:23 PM
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Throwing out a thought on Alicia’s map: UK getting a Bond stunt show on the scale of WaterWorld feels more sensical than it getting a show on the scale of Bourne.

Also think Lights, Cameras, Action continuing to be a fixture of the new Universal parks makes it more sensical for the Hollywood area in comparison to Bond. With Singapore and Beijing getting versions of the experience starring Steven Spielberg and a director of the region, there is logic to doing the same for UK, especially with someone like a Christopher Nolan.
 
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TheUniC6

TheUniC6

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  • Tuesday at 9:40 PM
  • #4,306
Viator said:
Throwing out a thought on Alicia’s map: UK getting a Bond stunt show on the scale of WaterWorld feels more sensical than it getting a show on the scale of Bourne.

Also think Lights, Cameras, Action continuing to be a fixture of the new Universal parks makes it more sensical for the Hollywood area in comparison to Bond. With Singapore and Beijing getting versions of the experience starring Steven Spielberg and a director of the region, there is logic to doing the same for UK, especially with someone like a Christopher Nolan.
Click to expand...
The weather in the UK is not really suitable year round for an outdoor show like waterworld. But this Bond one sounds intriguing. Pair it with the tech aspects of the Bourne spectacular at USF and you would have a winner.
 
EllieB

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  • Wednesday at 2:40 AM
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Seeing as it's a round arena, I'd love to see a dragon training show instead of Waterworld, to capitalise on the success of How to Train Your Dragon (which is a British IP of course). Actors and animatronics in the arena, drones flying overhead. Authentic Berkian weather in the sky, lol!
 
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rob@rar

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  • Wednesday at 2:56 AM
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EllieB said:
Seeing as it's a round arena, I'd love to see a dragon training show instead of Waterworld, to capitalise on the success of How to Train Your Dragon (which is a British IP of course). Actors and animatronics in the arena, drones flying overhead. Authentic Berkian weather in the sky, lol!
Click to expand...
I'd like that. I'm not a big fan of stunt shows, so I'd much rather have something more of a theatrical experience. Saw the Waterworld Show in LA many years ago, and thought it was pretty dull, even back then. Surely Universal can do something newer and better, rather than trot out another version of a cheesy stunt show based on a movie that sank without much of a trace more than 35 years before Bedford is due to open?
 
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GAcoaster

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  • Wednesday at 4:56 AM
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BBPH said:
The job postings should be enough to confirm they’ve haven’t finished designing the park.
Click to expand...
They may have the overall design pretty well set, there are still so many individual projects and details that get designed AFTER the initial concept is in place.
 
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Chessy

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I have a feeling that vaguely filled in area with the Shrek tavern is going to be an area unique to this park. Considering how vague the concept already is. Definitely an IP along the lines of fantasy and mystery…:eyes:
 
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  • Wednesday at 1:05 PM
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GAcoaster said:
They may have the overall design pretty well set, there are still so many individual projects and details that get designed AFTER the initial concept is in place.
Click to expand...
From posts on LinkedIn from recently retired Universl Creative folk, I think the broad design phase of the park has been going on for at least a couple of years, maybe more. Obviously this is high level design setting the broad picture for the park, but I think plenty of that work is already done. For sure there’s a huge amount of work to be done on the details, and they are busy recruiting lots of senior people to the UK project on the design side of things. But from a drone’s perspective I’d not be surprised if the actual park looks similar to the original artwork, other than the right hand side of the park which I can’t believe will be a Shrek land.
 
EllieB

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  • Wednesday at 3:34 PM
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Chessy said:
I have a feeling that vaguely filled in area with the Shrek tavern is going to be an area unique to this park. Considering how vague the concept already is. Definitely an IP along the lines of fantasy and mystery…:eyes:
Click to expand...
I'm also expecting this to be the big surprise of the park. I've long assumed the park would have a Shrek area because the franchise is so popular here, but the level of secrecy makes me more inclined to think it'll be something bigger, like LotR.
 
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Chessy

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EllieB said:
I'm also expecting this to be the big surprise of the park. I've long assumed the park would have a Shrek area because the franchise is so popular here, but the level of secrecy makes me more inclined to think it'll be something bigger, like LotR.
Click to expand...
That’s what I was thinking unless they have something else up their sleeve.
 
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masekwm

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  • Yesterday at 4:06 PM
  • #4,314
I attended a meeting earlier tonight of the Stewartby and Kempston Hardwick Parish Council



at this point another resident confirms their house has been sold.
 
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xtpower

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  • Yesterday at 4:42 PM
  • #4,315
A fair few concerns are legit, noise, light and traffic are issues people deserve answers to. Noise and light I think will be remedied by the way Universal builds their Park but traffic will be contentious until the plans for road infrastructure drops.

Some residents were wanting the council to support them with the potential house sales and feel 'betrayed' even though they clearly stated the council has nothing to do with private commercial matters like house sales. Another wanted the council to take 'local feedback' and give Universal their 'real feelings' - that's what the public consultations are for, the one in April 2024 and the one currently going on.

Interestingly the actual construction times will be 7-7 Monday to Friday and Saturday mornings. The A421 junction will go 'both ways' and J13 will get remodelling. The EWR station move is down to EWR and not Universal.
 
yepthatguy

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  • Yesterday at 4:43 PM
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I didn’t hear anyone say they went to the Consultation events back in April 2024.

I find that quite interesting, as at least 2 people asked why no one from Universal was there this evening.
 
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Dinosaurus

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  • Yesterday at 4:54 PM
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The Parish Council didn’t seem to have all the information to quell locals’ concerns. They now think there will be 44% more traffic and 55,000 people invading every single day.
 
rob@rar

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  • Yesterday at 5:19 PM
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The majority of questions and comments from the public at that meeting (and from the parish councillors to a certain extent) showed they hadn’t read any of the planning documents that Universal submitted to the government. Difficult to make any valid criticism of what is proposed when you’ve not read what is actually proposed. The government is currently consulting on the proposals, but they aren’t going to be persuaded by a naked NIMBY argument. So the best hope for local residents is to make a reasoned argument against some of the factors which will cause the most disruption, in the hope that when the government approves this planning application it places some restrictions on the aspects which locals find most troubling. I’m not sure that tonight’s parish council meeting made much progress towards making a reasoned criticism of Universal’s plans.
 
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xtpower

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  • Yesterday at 5:34 PM
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rob@rar said:
The majority of questions and comments from the public at that meeting (and from the parish councillors to a certain extent) showed they hadn’t read any of the planning documents that Universal submitted to the government. Difficult to make any valid criticism of what is proposed when you’ve not read what is actually proposed. The government is currently consulting on the proposals, but they aren’t going to be persuaded by a naked NIMBY argument. So the best hope for local residents is to make a reasoned argument against some of the factors which will cause the most disruption, in the hope that when the government approves this planning application it places some restrictions on the aspects which locals find most troubling. I’m not sure that tonight’s parish council meeting made much progress towards making a reasoned criticism of Universal’s plans.
Click to expand...

Council at one point asked anyone that had read all the documents to step forward, no-one did.

Honestly the fact people went into this without even giving the documents a good go over first is eye-opening. This is a project that will change your community in massive ways and you didn't even bother to take the time to see what exactly is being planned and how it relates to you and your area?
 
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masekwm

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  • Yesterday at 5:46 PM
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Dinosaurus said:
The Parish Council didn’t seem to have all the information to quell locals’ concerns. They now think there will be 44% more traffic and 55,000 people invading every single day.
Click to expand...

Yes, sadly that was something I tried to help them along with.

"Construction traffic will come through the village"

The entrance to the village:

1753393540017.png

55,000 people strolling about aimlessly when they either came in car, or via rail or coach.
 
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