Universal Orlando - Nintendo Theme Park

[johnnyDdisney]

Hey guys,

I wanted to ask you all for your opinion/thoughts on this. With Universal planning to open a new water park in 2017, Volcano Bay, what do you think their plans are for Wet N' Wild? Compared to all the other Orlando water parks, it seems like this one is the least visited and I think attendance will continue to drop once Volcano Bay is built. Do you think there is any possibility of them tearing down Wet N' Wild and then using that land to build a third theme park...such as Nintendo World. I don't feel there is really a need for Universal to have two water parks. And they could easily make a separate theme park with attractions based on the Nintendo franchises - Mario Bros, Zelda, Donkey Kong, Pokémon, etc.

To be honest, I ultimately think they will just build a Nintendo land in either Islands or the Studios. They've had tremendous success doing that already with Harry Potter. But in the upcoming years, if they can add another resort (Saphire Falls), a brand new water park (Volcano Bay), a new headliner attraction (Skull Island King Kong), continue to update CityWalk with new restaurants and shops, AND add a potential 3rd theme park, that would really take it up another notch and make Universal Orlando a true vacation destination in itself, in my opinion.

Interested to hear what everyone thinks. Thanks!


John

 

[RMulieri]

For many of us, it is already a vacation destination
I think Nintendo will go in the studios and I am not sure what will be done with wet and wild

 

[CyndiLooWho]

I'm pretty sure that I've read that they will no longer operate WnW as a water park once Volcano Bay is operating. I think they even plan to move some of the newer slides and attractions from WnW to VB closer to the grand opening.

And while I'm sure they will do something with the land WnW currently occupies, I don't think Nintendo alone would work that well as a theme park. My kids love that stuff, but I think it needs to be mixed in with the other UO stuff, and I know they have space near MIB to expand into.

 

[damo]

I've read that Wet 'n Wild will be demolished and that site will eventually be used for more resort hotels. Most insiders seem to say that the Nintendo addition will be going into kidzone.

 

[johde]

I don't see the Wet and Wild area becoming a 3rd gate. Right now, they only have 51 acres and it's not all continuous.

(Image originally from Orlando United via Parkscope)

By Comparison, USF and IOA are each around 85 acres, and DCA the smallest Disney Park was 55 acres before Carsland. As CindiWoo mentioned, I could see more resorts go onto those plots. Or, I could even see some employee parking and park administration moving to that plot freeing up land in the "core" area for more expansion. If you notice, when Universal built their new Employee parking garage, they built it at the back of the lot. You'd need to find a "themed" way to get to the land. But bulldozing the parking lot and administrative building in this area for new attractions and busing employees from the then former WnW lot would seem better from a guest perspective than having something off by itself.