Universal bought the land for $27.5 million and the sale closed late last week.
This acquisition brings the expansion site up to 576 acres, ranging from the Beachline Expressway extending now all the way north to Sand Lake Road. Not all of the property lies within a single parcel, but the new 101-acre site does connect with the main 340-acre parcel within Universal's southern expansion properties. That gives Universal more than 440 acres to play with for a new theme park, hotels, or whatever else Universal chooses to do with the land.
Universal recently filed for a permit to develop 2,451 parking spaces on another of its parcels, the one nearest the convention center. Universal's application said that the lot would be used for temporary "overflow" parking, rather than being part of any permanent future use for the land.
The former owner of much of the land Universal now owns, a Georgia developer named Stan Thomas, is suing in an attempt to prevent the land's development, claiming that private restrictions against theme park development on the property placed back when Universal originally owned the land and sold it to Thomas still remain in force. Thomas' company lost the land in foreclosure in the 2000s.
Universal does not have much room left for expansion without replacing something else on its current site, now that it is developing a sixth on-site hotel with the Aventura tower now under construction and two more hotels under development on the old Wet n' Wild site.
Universal has announced that it will bring the Super Nintendo World land now under construction at Universal Studios Japan to Orlando, though it has not said where in the resort that land would be built. Universal also now owns the domestic theme park rights to the full catalog of Dreamworks Animation characters, following owner Comcast's acquisition of that studio. So Universal has plenty of IP to fill a new park, should it wish to use these franchises for expansion rather than replacing current attractions in Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure.
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Any chance anyone more skilled and knowledgeable than I can make a aerial map showing what the old and new land Universal now owns is to make it easier to comprehend what they have?
Disney can put things on cruise control in California and watch Galaxy's Edge cause backups up and down the I-5.
How long would it take to finalize design, build, and open a park on land once it is acquired? I am thinking *at least* five to six years for something of Universal quality.
On the surface it really looks like showmanship but how much would their respective technology advance without competition and new revenue flowing in? Disney was out of money half way into building Epcot. Without those new attractions from both, you don't have that constant flow of money. They each help each other draw and someone coming a long distance with a limited budget and few prospects of returning frequently is still going to visit both.
Disney in Florida however, needs to borrow a page from Universal in Florida and from their Disney counter parts in CA.
Disneyland constantly refurbishes and adds new things to existing rides and when the technology is no longer prohibitive, they add old ideas or stuff left on the drawing board into the rides. (Like the new projection mapped opening Mara scene and affect in Indiana Jones the the head in the hatbox in HM) They also make a constant effort to upgrade lighting and sound systems.
As for line queue management and wait times, Universal and Disney CA are far more accurate. When you ride something you want to determine if the wait time is worth it. My last visit to Florida was filled with wait times at Disney that posted 25 minutes when the real wait time was 90. At Universal the wait time was in 5 minutes of what was posted or in an app.
Returning to the subject, whatever Universal builds, I think they will apply the same attention to detail that they put into the Potter IPs.
It's cool to see some of the comments people posted knowing you feel the same way about things. I appreciated the lack of attention that was called out on Epcot and DHS.
The two blocks of land are separate but not by a lot. Could be joined by a gondola or monorail ... just need to pay for right-of-way.
I'm betting Uni has some more tricks up their sleeves and it's going to be amazing to see!
(Thank you 1000x for all the cool attractions and thrills and not just giving us a bunch of Starbucks)
I'm sure the new theme park on the other plot will also have a Nintendo expansion like Potter is divided over 2 parks and Disney sprinkles rides from 1 ip over different parks. The Nintendo IP has many different universes that would fit a theme and spread the fans.
I expect Universal to create the same buble at the new plot like they did on their current resort. Both resorts are very close and probably closer than some hotels at WDW to their parks.
I hope Uni will integrate their hotels into the rim of the parks. Rightly themed they expand the theming, save space, gives awesome views of the park and leaves space on the non park side to work on nice vista's.
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