Apparently so many ideas for the "refurb" of the kids area sprung up Universal is developing new rides for a potential third park for Universal Orlando.
And I can't seem to find anyone else but video game reporters reporting on this.
Thoughts?
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Oh no, not again...
Let's talk about how Universal is better than Disney instead..
Agreed with everything Robert said, minus the length of the wait for Nintendoland to open
Let me walk this back for a moment...
While I stand by my assertion that Nintendo will not be building what the average TPI reader would consider a "third theme park" at the Universal Orlando Resort, it is possible that Universal could do something with Nintendo that would change the game for buying tickets at the resort.
Think of how Universal used the Hogwarts Express to encourageforce visitors to upgrade to park-to-park tickets in order to ride. Nintendo offers immense possibilities for creating experiences that Universal could offer as upsells to a traditional theme park ticket. In this sense, certain Nintendo-themed experiences could be packaged to become a "third gate" within the resort from a ticketing perspective, though that would really stretch the definition of what fans would consider a "theme park."
I do not know that this will happen, but given what people are hearing now, I'm trying to work backward through the game of Telephone to determine what insiders at Universal are actually saying. I continue to believe that Nintendo will be a land within USF, but what will be in the land and how they will be packaged within the parks' ticket structure aren't yet things I know.
Legoland California already does this. There's a general admission price plus add-on for the Sea Life aquarium and the water park that was recently expanded with Chima water park. You cannot attend them separately since there is no separate gate, but you can avoid them if you don't want to pay. Perhaps Nintendo will be a separate fee after paying the general admission. There needs to be enough experiences to make it worthwhile. While I spent 4 hours minimum at the water park, the aquarium was an one hour walk through that wasn't worth it.
Edit: Now that I heard the speculation, no wonder Disney Quest is closing. How embarrassing to keep that opened. Yes, another Disney versus Universal cage fight.
Here's the rumors in all the gory details. Maybe there will be a third park. Universal is rumored to be buying the land.
http://www.slashfilm.com/universal-video-game-theme-park/
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Nintendo will be a new "theme park" the way that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was a new "Harry Potter theme park." There's no space for a third gate at Universal Orlando now. And everything I've heard suggests that Nintendo will be a land within USF, not a separate park.
Once again, people who don't cover theme parks on a regular basis are doing a poor job of covering theme parks.
(And FWIW, I think that this announcement will rival Disney's Avatar announcement for jumping the gun before plans were ready to build.)