What we know, and what we think we know...

[Brian G.]

Wasn't the rumor a couple months back or so that they were looking at the land across the street on Kirkman?

 

[BJCool]

I think the thought process behind more land is simple:

You can't plan for more parks/hotels/etc down the line if you run out of land to expand on anyways.

 

[Vyrus]

A 3rd gate really won't be a possibility UNTIL they can get BOTH IOA and USF in the top 10 in attendance in the world, until that happens, both of these parks will get a lot of TLC over the next few years.

However once the new hotel is built, that is a lot of land just across the street that could easily house a water park, whether its a completely new park or is the Wet N Wild land lease expires and they bring those slides over and add a lot of theming to them, but WonderSea Island should happen, its just a matter of WHEN not IF.

As far as IOA, Toon Lagoon theater definitely must be addressed as well as FFL, those 2 to me seem to be the next priority once they finish with TF, Potter, and Springfield.

Also, I think the land purchasing would be more offices, and behind the scenes reasons in order to free up more land on the main plot of land currently, just IMHO.

 

[TheMackMachine]

T2 costs a lot to run with the actors.

I hate how true that is. At least the one in Orlando won't be replaced, unless they find a better brand.

 

[BJCool]

Wasn't the rumor a couple months back or so that they were looking at the land across the street on Kirkman?

I believe so, yes. :thumbs:

 

[Hockeyman55]

That's a lot of hotels and business they would have to buy out to make it work in that area.

 

[maxairmike]

If you are really interested in figuring out land purchase options, I would encourage you to start using the Orange County Property Appraiser website and the fabulous map tool. You will see a lot of parcels marked as Universal City Property Management, but Universal no longer owns that particular development "company." It was bought by a real estate management/development firm called Fourth Quarter Properties (with a number of different numbers tacked to the end of the name), which I've heard has been under some water lately. Perhaps someone here would be interested in helping out with the legwork on figuring some things out? Tracking down land deals and the pasts/future prospects of real estate developments can be a real test in patience and narrow searching. Its something I get a lot of fun out of, but its also time-consuming and sometimes difficult. Figuring out just how deep Fourth Quarter is could provide a clue as to whether any of that land could be viable options.

Obviously the Major Blvd. properties are of most importance, but their fates/present conditions are pretty well known at the moment.

 

[DK745]

I believe so, yes. :thumbs:

I hope they would find a way to make it still easily walkable. That's one nice thing about both parks being next to each other.

 

[Hockeyman55]

^ teleportation. Beam me up Scotty

[/url] TSDSTTR PA062 by Mike Sperduto, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

[jtsalien]

I really think Universal is smart enough to learn from Disney's mistakes. We're a long way away from them needing more land for guest use. But I could seem them needing more backstage space for various employee use.

 

[JungleSkip]

We're a long way away from them needing more land for guest use.

I disagree. The plot of land next to Cabana Bay/Royal Pacific isn't all that big compared to parks like Typhoon Lagoon/Aquatica/Blizzard Beach. More land would be nice for a water park

 

[maxairmike]

In that case, Major Blvd. makes a lot of sense in terms of moving offices that don't need to be in/next to the park, but is there really that much space that could be cleared by doing that? The only other large employee only backstage use of land is the parking lot. They would have to have some kind of transportation system for employees, and it would likely cost a fair bit compared to just maintaining the lot they already have. The sound stages will pretty much all stay as is unless they decide they want to completely eliminate production in Orlando. They could move the pyro bunker area to Major Blvd. which would clear out a large chunk of land inside the current park proper as well.

Because I enjoy this stuff, I'm working on building an Excel workbook of property purchase opportunities, which will include all the southern and back half lots, since the north border lots along Vineland are fairly newer construction and generally successful chains. Double Tree would most likely stay in any development in that area in some way, shape, or form. I've currently got everything that is labeled as Universal City Property Management III LLC done, and next up is all Fourth Quarter Properties lots adjacent to UCPM III lots, then Major Blvd. followed by empty lots owned by others surrounding the previous lots. This could take a while...

 

[jtsalien]

I disagree. The plot of land next to Cabana Bay/Royal Pacific isn't all that big compared to parks like Typhoon Lagoon/Aquatica/Blizzard Beach. More land would be nice for a water park

Well I guess I wasn't specific about that. I'd LOVE a water park. But a legit third gate isn't a good move in the near future, IMO.

 

[JungleSkip]

Well I guess I wasn't specific about that. I'd LOVE a water park. But a legit third gate isn't a good move in the near future, IMO.

Oh, I don't think a third gate is in the plans.

 

[doc brown]

i just read on otp news something is going on in jp they took a pic and it looked like a crane

 

[BJCool]

i just read on otp news something is going on in jp they took a pic and it looked like a crane

Hatetofly noticed that a crane was over by Jurassic Park a few days ago.

From @Orlando_United

It's probably just being staged here but a large crane has shown up behind Jurassic Parks River Adventure at Islands of Adventure

Also, here's OTPN's Facebook post about it:

Do you see something unusual in this photo? More will be coming tomorrow...

 

[doc brown]

man if they started something in jp also at this time it would be crazy :jaw:

 

[Hatetofly]

Before anyone gets excited it's in an area cranes have been used before to physically move ride vehicles and large prop pieces. Not saying it won't be something good, it's just I'm thinking Suess is the area to watch after HHN.

 

[BJCool]

I was under the assumption it was just being stored there because behind Thunder Falls is a vacant backstage lot.

 

[Hatetofly]

They store ride vehicles and other attraction pieces back there for repair and refurb. I've seen the crane used to unload Dudley logs off of flat bed trucks back there before. Again all speculation at this point though. Not to mention its hard to get anything past me :look: