News Round Up 2019

[BaymaxFan78]

Assuming they have the funding in place and there's no severe recession..how long would a park like this take to build from start to finish ?

probably 4-5 years, depending on the budget.

 

[Spaceguy55]

Any aerials from the site yet...so we can start watching...

 

[rteetz]

Any aerials from the site yet...so we can start watching...

Several.

 

[rteetz]

News

Disney Television Takes Over Hulu Original Scripted Content Team

 

[rteetz]

News

D23 Reveals Gold Member Offers and Perks for D23 Expo 2019

 

[rteetz]

News

“Pup Academy” From Air Bud Entertainment Coming to Disney Channel This August

 

[OSUZorba]

I definitely agree that the name is an interesting choice, but I'm sure we'll all get used to it over the next few years. The artwork looks pretty incredible!

Really, everyone will drop the first Universal's and it'll just be "Epic Universe" which is cool. UEU is also a decent acronym. The Smart thing about sticking Universe in there is that even when people drop Universal, everyone will still instantly realize it is universal.

 

[rteetz]

News

https://blogmickey.com/2019/08/hong...representing-disney-princesses-are-installed/

 

[Firebird060]

The groundwork is well under way but thats completely different then laying the foundations and putting anything up. Other than some track pieces sitting on site, there isnt anything major that is underway. We also dont have a concrete time frame for the bus lane addition to the road running between the universal properties. Universal is playing there cards very close to their chest. The question is will they lay the park out first, with electrical conduits, plumbing and ground water management first and then build it all at once or in phases.

They could just build the infrastructure as they go as well, but that means each land will have to go up one at a time with a slight increase in time to allow for the tie ins to the existing infrastructure. I see this unlikely though because they have torn up alot of land to do it one land a time. I suspect they are going to lay it all out first and go with a tiered approach for each land to allow them to not need to bring in alot of out of state contractors but this comes with a risk as well as benefit. If they do one at a time they arent opening a full park right away, which means they are pushing out the build over a longer period. Which may or may not work in their favor with hype, they could run into the issue that Disneys Hollywood Studios did when have the park was closed. Not many people wanted to go to a half day park. Also it gives Disney more than enough time to come back with a counter punch if they want to. Second negative thing is, that if they do go with a teir level opening approach, they have a higher risk of either being in the middle of construction or opening lands up durring the next recession that might happen. That will constrain budgets and call for changes to what is being built, Disney learned that well enough Universal might not want to risk that. The good thing about a structured build is that it will spread the cost out over alot of quarters for that very possibility. If this is the case I could see universal not mentioning all the rides for each land right away as they have to axe them if a recession does happen. Ideally though we all would like to see Universal opt to build the whole park all at once. It means a much larger investment upfront and more than likely higher labor costs but it would make the hype all that more real for people.

I think it will be important to see how Universal handles this project. This is a completely different project then adding a water park near your already established parks. Universal is right in saying this is Epic, I think this will be something that we should watch very closely. We know Disney will as well, but I feel the speed of how the park is built will tell us alot.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Really, everyone will drop the first Universal's and it'll just be "Epic Universe" which is cool. UEU is also a decent acronym. The Smart thing about sticking Universe in there is that even when people drop Universal, everyone will still instantly realize it is universal.

Technically Islands of Adventure is Universal's Islands of Adventure---when is the last time you heard that over just Islands of Adventure? Now with Studios I do still hear Universal Studios but not Universal Studios Florida. Universal's Volcano Bay is simply Volcano Bay and Universal CityWalk is simply CityWalk.

I'm more thinking like you people will end up simplifying it with the new theme park.

 

[rteetz]

Other than some track pieces sitting on site, there isnt anything major that is underway

Thats for Jurassic World anyways.

 

[OSUZorba]

However, even ignoring using the word Universal twice - the name alone "Epic Universe" is pretty terrible. It doesn't really SAY anything about the park.

What exactly is an Epcot? Even when it was EPCOT, it was never a city or a prototype of a city.

 

[Spotpkt]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1156932013573726208

Based on that image it looks like 1.1-1.3 square miles in size. Obviously, we don't know how much of that is park, hotels, entertainment, etc...

 

[TheMaxRebo]

What exactly is an Epcot? Even when it was EPCOT, it was never a city or a prototype of a city.

Well, that is an unusual case as the Epcot that got built is nothing like what Walt envisioned when he came up with EPCOT

But yeah, at the end of the day I don't think the name of the park will have a lot to do with the ultimate success of the park

 

[TheMaxRebo]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1156963318944411648

 

[Phicinfan]

I don't like to be a hater. A brand new theme park in Florida for the first time this century is a wonderful thing and if it's truly revolutionary (pardon me for doubting this) than all the better to force Disney to up they're game.

However, even ignoring using the word Universal twice - the name alone "Epic Universe" is pretty terrible. It doesn't really SAY anything about the park. Let's ignore Disney's name but "Universal Studios" tells you it will set up sort of like a film studio, and "Islands of Adventure" says there will be separate themed "islands" that will be full or excitement. What the heck does "Epic Universe" tell me? It's Epic, and it represents the entire Universe? Epic is such a "of the now" word, it just doesn't feel like it will hold up well. (It's like calling a theme park ride "Rise of the..." something ....oh wait.) I'm supposing JK Rowling wouldn't let them call it "Fantastic Worlds" which to me was an infinitely superior title.

I also think it was weird to announce the theme park, but not even announce around when it was opening. (2021? 2023? 3002?) It makes it the type of announcement you see all the time that never comes to fruition - "Coming Soon! New Sears location!" I can see them holding back the IP being too early to confirm these things - but just presenting a vague name with no other information just makes it feel very underwhelming of an announcement.

Didn't I see a line where they said - A universe is bigger than a world so taking a straight shot at Disney? I thought I read that....

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

As a parks super fan, the announcement today did nothing for me. I already knew they were building a new park. So meh. So happy one of their big announcements was the starting wage for employees. I guess that's to win political correctness points or whatever. We can't announce a flagship Nintendo land, but our employees will be receiving these starting wages.

Back to waiting for the rest of the hhn houses and scare zones to be announced.

 

[fatmanatee]

Didn't I see a line where they said - A universe is bigger than a world so taking a straight shot at Disney? I thought I read that....

They did say that. And to be fair... the space is really big. Whether it's good or not is a different story.

 

[umichigan10]

As a parks super fan, the announcement today did nothing for me. I already knew they were building a new park. So meh. So happy one of their big announcements was the starting wage for employees. I guess that's to win political correctness points or whatever. We can't announce a flagship Nintendo land, but our employees will be receiving these starting wages.

Back to waiting for the rest of the hhn houses and scare zones to be announced.

Disney said they’re gonna be gradually moving their employees up to 15/hour right? So maybe Uni is trying to establish that they’re following suit in order to establish that they won’t be a “lesser” place to work wage wise

 

[Dubb]

As a parks super fan, the announcement today did nothing for me. I already knew they were building a new park. So meh. So happy one of their big announcements was the starting wage for employees. I guess that's to win political correctness points or whatever. We can't announce a flagship Nintendo land, but our employees will be receiving these starting wages.

Back to waiting for the rest of the hhn houses and scare zones to be announced.

Aren't you a ray of sunshine.