While we are proud of our track record here at Theme Park Insider in breaking and confirming unannounced news about new theme park attractions, we also know that many fans won't really believe a new ride or show is coming until the park makes it official with an announcement. (FYI: Here is our 10-step process to help you better judge theme park rumors.)
Disney came through big for its fans last month at the D23 Expo in Anaheim, confirming that it will be bringing a slew of new attractions to its theme parks in Orlando, Anaheim, and elsewhere around the world. While that reveal allowed us to move many Disney projects from the "rumor" pile to "confirmed," theme park fans are a still waiting for a similar dump of new attraction confirmations from Disney's biggest rival.
Here's what we know, officially, is coming to Universal's theme parks around the world:
And we know that Universal is in the process of developing:
While the Beijing park is now supposed to open in 2020, the latest from the construction site shows that Universal and its development partner have a long way to go to hit that deadline. Three years out from Shanghai Disneyland's opening date, we heard a lot more from inside Disney about mobilizing creative and planning personnel to that project than we've heard at this point from Universal with Beijing. Whatever the status of the project, Universal's hype machine has yet to fire up for it.
As for PR misfires, remember Universal's Secret Life of Pets attraction announcement? Last summer, CEO Steve Burke told Wall Street analysts that the company would build attractions based on Illumination Entertainment movie, but since then it's been the secret life of crickets. No follow-up announcements on locations or dates, and a suspicious lack of rumors about the project, too.
Universal also announced that it would bring Super Nintendo World to its parks in Orlando and Hollywood, but there's been no follow up with dates on those projects, either. Nor has Universal said what it plans to do with the 400-some acres it has bought near the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.
Universal officials over the past few years have played along with coy non-denials of suggestions that it will expand its Wizarding World of Harry Potter lands and develop new attraction based on its recently acquired DreamWorks Animation franchises. But that's all they've offered, and there's zilch serious chatter in the development community about any such projects at this point. (No one seems to be working on, or planning to work on, the much-rumored demolition of the Fear Factor theater at Universal Studios Florida, for example.) So is anything else coming to Universal?
There is some wisdom in not announcing projects too early. Universal discovered in the late 2000s that attendance tanks when fans decide to postpone their trips until the next big thing opens (for example, in that case, the original Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal's Islands of Adventure in 2010). Some analysts suspect that Disney might already be seeing softening attendance as fans await the opening of the Star Wars Galaxy's Edge lands in 2019. The whole point of hype is to grow your business — not cannibalize it. So why spill before you feel it provides a business advantage to reveal your plans?
But the last thing that Universal should want is for theme park fans to ignore Universal Orlando as they start saving for Walt Disney World trips in 2019, 2020, and beyond. As theme park vacations become more expensive — and many fans need longer to save and plan for their trips — at some point, parks need to give those fans a reason to start saving... or they will lose those fans to competing destinations.
Universal has spoiled its fans (and created many new ones) by flooding its parks with new attractions over the past eight years. But that's the thing. Now, we're spoiled. We want more. We want to know, officially... what's coming next to Universal's theme parks?
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Universal lacks good franchises. The Fast and Furious is as good as any Disney property, but Monsters fell flat when The Mummy tanked. The other franchises are mostly horror movies. Whatever happened to Steven Spielberg's franchises? Faded away. Didn't age well. Only Jurassic Park has some life. E.T. is barely hanging on in Orlando.
Universal should either merge with Warner Bros or just focus on family friendly franchises to win the theme park battle.
They can't. While they hold the theme park rights, it's a very slippery slope with Universal and their Marvel license. Honestly, Universal is best to see what Disney is willing to pay to get the license on the east coast back, and use that money to redo that part of IOA. Trying to leverage Spiderman might do more harm than good since that franchise is in a bit of limbo seeing as Marvel managed to wave their magic wand for Sony/Columbia for Homecoming, but the future of the web-crawler is very much in doubt.
Jurassic Park has a lot of life (Jurassic World is the #4 worldwide grossing movie of ALL TIME behind Avatar, Titanic, and Force Awakens) with another sequel due next summer (Fallen Kingdom).
Universal has appeared to have made some huge missteps in trying to reboot their Classic Monsters franchises as Tom Cruise's Mummy was one of the biggest disappointments of this year, causing ripples through all the parallel productions in their "Dark Universe" plan.
I think the future lies with their Nintendo and Harry Potter Licenses, but I feel that they've provided enough of a timeline of what's to come to keep me enthusiastic to make return visits. They have firm plans for the next 2 years, which is all Disney has really revealed, so expecting Universal to make any more detailed announcements for 2020 and beyond would be premature. I'm holding out hope that the 2020-21 announcement will be Nintendo, and that they're deliberately holding that development close to the vest because they're still working on the ride technologies to pull off a super-ambitious land.
This leads me back to the question of what is Universal up to. Since Universal purchased there new plot of land, things have been very quiet with the exception of extremely obvious things out of market and those items that were already ready to start construction on.
So why the silence?
Because they are planning on building not one but two parks...and that takes a ton of effort just getting the infrastructure in place. And Universal is not going to make the same errors of Disney in the past and will actually be developing 2 full day parks, instead of these half parks that pretend like we don't notice the dragon on the logo but can't find a dragon in the park.
So, again, why the silence?
It is because Universal doesn't want anyone to know what is going on until they are ready to drop the first shovels into the ground and get started. Universal's greatest fear is that Disney is going to turn around and steal their thunder by announcing a fifth park in Florida...built along the lines of Islands of Adventures and aiming at the tween/adult market. Universal hopes to be far enough down the path that they don't have to share the spotlight with Disney and at the same time discourage Disney from opening that additional park if it won't be ready until long after Universal's two new parks have opened and established themselves.
So this offers up the question of what do think we know about the new Universal parks...
Dreamworks, Lord of the Rings/Hobbit, LionsGate, Potter/Fantastic Beasts, Nintendo/Pokemon, and they could cheaply bring back Back to the Future and Ghostbusters...my guess would also be that they are eagerly awaiting what Ready Player One looks like, because quite a few of the properties used in that movie would be cheap to license and make a cohesive land. It would also appear that Start Trek, DC, TMNT, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Wizard of Oz, and James Bond could be licensed for a song. Knowing Universal, they are also prone to taking poor movies and making great attraction out of them...
I would think otherwise. MSHI is a big chunk of IOA and selling the rights off to Disney would have to cost them a ton of $$$$$. I think Universal would benefit more from making more attractions...Like an Iron Man ride that has been spreading around for a while.
I do like where you're going with trying to explain the silence (my guess is that they still sting after getting upstaged by Eisner with MGM), but what you're suggesting is a level of investment that couldn'y be flying under the radar all this time. I do think the LOTR franchise is ripe for the picking, and perhaps once that's in place, something big might happen (HP flew under the radar for quite a while before Universal dropped the bombshell on the HP agreement). However, adding two full-day theme parks at the drop of a hat seems not only infeasible, but counter-productive.
This may then stir Disney into a fifth park...??
At this time "Lord of the Rings/Hobbit" theme park rights are not licensed.
At this time "Lionsgate" has announced a license/partnership for Lionsgate Movie World, at South Korea's Jeju Shinhwa World. This compliments the Motiongate Dubai theme park license.
The DC domestic theme park rights are licensed to Six Flags. A WB Movie World exists, via license, in Queensland, Australia.
Wizard of OZ: Walt Disney, in 1954, bought 11 of the "Oz" novels and in 1958 the 12th, but the MGM version is most remembered despite Walt Disney Pictures repeated efforts.
James Bond theme park rights are also licensed internationally.
One of the nice things about Universal's Orlando setup is that it is more like the Disneyland Resort with everything in walking distance - very convenient and simple for the onsite vacationer or even for the park-to-park visitor who is just staying for a day. If they try to add two more parks down the road, and a slew of hotels in the surrounding area, without adding the transportation infrastructure and "private roads" like Disney World already has in place.... I gotta be honest, even if Universal did remove the $55 upcharge for the Hogwart's Train, I still wouldn't visit. It would be a nightmare.
I always loved the House of Horrors. It may have been my most fun in any theme park. I doubt they would go to the trouble again, but that was a blast. I do not understand how the studio that invented the horror genre does not have some semblance of a spook house, but I suppose one could argue that Forbidden Journey is an amazingly expensive spook house. I had hoped Crimson Peak would have made tons of money, and that could have been an attraction, but alas.
I will say I do not think they have to counter Disney. They do their thing, and Disney does theirs. I like them both, but I love that Universal does not have the crowds or long lines since I can use the Express Pass. If they keep the status quo, I will be fine with that.
The Nintendo deal opens up a lot of possibilities, but I dunno if there's anything beyond Mario, Pokemon and maybe Zelda that would be big enough to make a land of. I mean, a Metroid land would be awesome but I don't think that's too likely.
I'm surprised they haven't announced a Jurassic Park area overhaul considering how big Jurassic World was. Instead, they added a King Kong ride to the Jurassic Park area when Jurassic Park is "Theirs" and made so much money. Weird
Universal had already committed itself to Kong: Skull Island attraction before Jurassic World was released. JW was never going to bomb at the box office but no one expected it to be such as blockbuster. If they knew, well, who knows?
RE: Anton M
Unless the AT&T/Time Warner Merger completely falls apart, don't expect Comcast to be interested anytime soon.
Getting government approval to buy time warner would be very difficult for Comcast.
People seem to forget that even when Six Flags was in bankruptcy protection, they still made sure to make their annual payments to Time Warner to retain the theme park rights to DC/Looney Tunes.
RE: Jeff Elliot
Star Trek (paramount pictures), and James Bond (Sony) are doing well as movie franchises so their theme park rights are not going to come cheap.
"I'm thinking Disney is in panic mode because they are scared to death about what Universal is working on." I agree which is why Universal is keeping its cards close to its chest.
Disney knows that something big is planned for Universal's SITE B. If nothing happens there by 2021, they other obvious option for universal is to open Super Nintendo World by 2021 in Orlando to steal some thunder from WDW 50th anniversary.
People seem to underestimate the family friendly theme park value that Dreamworks animation brings to the table for Universal otherwise they would not have paid 3.8 billion for it.
Now all they have to do is acquire the theme park rights for Sanrio Characters (Hello Kitty and Company) =)
In California, I strongly suspect Nintendo will be the biggest component of the Lower Lot expansion, with one or two additional attractions as well (hopefully a Dreamworks ride on the site cleared for Secret Life of Pets). In the Upper Lot, the next major project will probably be a clone of whatever replaces Dragon Challenge. Beyond that, who knows? With the Olympics coming to Los Angeles in 2028, I definitely think there's going to be some massive changes to the park over the next decade.
I do agree that they are not ready for a third gate because they still have to figure out how to connect their current parks to SITE B as they lack right of way along I-Drive.
Perhaps they are waiting for Seaworld's stock price to crater and acquire it on the cheap.
As for not wanting to go head to head with Disney? I disagree.
Why would they want to expand their hotel room inventory and acquire more land if they did not want to compete more directly with Disney??
We all know what new attractions they are bringing to Orlando in 2018 and 2019 but not 2020/21.
I do not see the third park opening until after 2021 but I do see Nintendo kidzone by then.
They might not be able to steal the thunder from WDW in 2021 but they also won't sit idly by. They will respond with something by then.
DVC is a subscription. An investment. It's members have skin in the game. The announcements regarding new WDW attractions will draw more members into DVC's ranks. By offering ticket deals and other benefits, Disney will be able to keep thousands of those members on WDW property.
Perhaps Universal Orlando will announce more details about the IOA Potter thing in the near future. Maybe they are waiting until they manage to get Volcano Bay fully operational. But regardless, Disney's (very big) WDW wave is cresting and DVC is likely to magnify its impact in Central Florida. Nothing comparable seems to be happening down the road.
From another perspective, the largest conference in my industry, Pittcon, is going to be at the Orlando Convention Center next year. I looked at the offical hotel map yesterday and they metioned Universal and Sea World (not Disney). Perhaps Universal is building up their convention base to try and stick it to Disney.
Of course, Seaworld is the loser in all of this
Attraction announcements don't draw more members to DVC. I would argue that DVC membership has reached critical mass, and that the additional rooms that have been/are being added are to address complaints and concerns from existing DVC owners and not necessarily to woo new members. A few of the DVC owners that I know have been frustrated recently over the costs of taking annual trips to WDW (and other Disney properties), and the lack of availability without planning a year or more in advance. Disney does not push DVC nearly as hard as they used to because of the multitude of complaints about booking restrictions and availability issues. Disney has been advertising the new towers and DVC resort wings to current owners to satisfy their concerns that DVC ownership is no longer valuable. While DVC members have "skin in the game", it's important that they be kept happy, and continuing to increase the number of DVC members at a rate faster than new rooms are added to the resort, which is what they've done over the past 3-5 years, is counter to that basic need. While Disney has been investing significant capital in expanding DVC offerings, those investments have not necessarily been to significantly increase the DVC membership base.
The idea of A, B, C, D, and E ticket attractions has fallen by the wayside in the scramble for IP supremacy. Parks are building one cornerstone attraction expecting gift shops, wand waving windows, and an hourly stage show to satisfy guests' hunger. While it works for a while, the returning guests need other stuff to do. Disney tried to do this with Pandora by creating essentially 3 "attractions" (FOP, Navi'i River Journey, and Valley of Mo'ora walk through). While the boat ride and walking tour are nice, it's not enough to balance the overwhelming crowds for FOP. The same goes over at USF where wand waving, gift shops, hourly stage show, and upcharge train ride have to balance against Gringott's. What you end up with are a bunch of guests milling around looking for something to do while the real "fans" check the place out and stand in line for the one big ride. Similarly, if you have an entire park full of just headliners, some of those headliners, that may have huge price tags associated with rights and/or development, take a back seat to the newest attraction.
Parks get crucified all the time for adding lightly themed, off-the-shelf spinners and flat rides along with rotating movies and kiddie coasters, but a successful park needs to have balance. For every blockbuster attraction, you need to have a stable of lesser rides and attractions to keep guests coming back and to keep daily wait times manageable. If a park can't build all of the needed attractions in a single phase, they should let guests know more is on the way. Disney said so when they announced the plans for Pandora, but nothing has been announced in terms of more coming to DAK from Cameron's world. Universal has more coming for the WWoHP, but they appear to be shifting to the all E-ticket approach, which may end up costing them in the end.
The 50th anniversary of WDW will likely be a monster success.
We can play armchair designers and post our blue-sky concepts for Universal to our hearts' desire. But while Disney's pushing dirt and pouring concrete, Universal is ... well, (as the article kind of asserts) we're not exactly sure what they will do that's of the same scale.
But hey, in the Orlando market even sitting in a distant second place assures a company of having a reasonably successful business model.
(Chuckle)
Did you miss something? They've firmly announced Aventura to open in 2018. They have firmly announced Fast and Furious to open in 2018. The have firmly announced the removal of Dragon Challenge at the end of the month to be replaced by a new HP attraction in 2019. The firmly announced plans to build 2 new resort hotels on the W&W property. That's 2 year's worth of development, about the same lead time that Disney announced at D23. I don't know why Universal has to "get on the ball". Their plate is pretty full for the next 2 years. Maybe in a the coming months they'll be ready to tease Nintendo or other developments beyond 2019, but why jump the gun when Disney is only firm through 2019?
"get on the ball"- You say that as if Adventura isnt coming, their new hotels replacing WnW, HP Coaster, 4th theme park (It will happen..) with CW 2.0, more hotels included, MoM ride, Nintendo Land, F&F, VB expansion.
I don't get why some like to be oblivious to Universal's development,
But I also would like to see the Illumination and Dreamworks animation ip's getting a representation in the parks. Universal is underutilized Despicable Me and the could be done a lot with How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Foo Panda and the other properties that get a reboot are continuation. Lots of good stuff to look forward to.
Well, membership can't decrease since even those who signed up in 1991 don't start phasing out until 2041.
I agree that Disney dropped a lot on people's plates at D23, and there's likely another wave of announcements coming soon to cover the resort through 2022. However, Universal is not short on projects, and with half as many parks to develop (currently), they only need half as many individual projects to match what Disney has in the pipeline. Certainly announcing a new theme park (the first truly new theme park in Orlando since IOA - Legoland was a rework of Cypress Gardens and Volcano Bay is still a water park in my view) would steal a lot of Disney's current thunder, and might be the only way Universal could combat Disney's WDW50 plans.
Did you miss the title and tone of the article? This whole point here is to imagine what might be next for Universal. Or, were you just doing your normal Disney Fanboy humping?
We already know that Nintendo Land, a new Harry Potter attraction, Fast and the Furious, and some new hotels are in the works. Disney can announce AS MANY attractions as they want, but Universal will continue to make BETTER attractions.
Can I just ask what attraction won the Theme Park Insider best new attraction award this year? Remind me... was it 'Flight of Passage' by any chance?
Disney AND Universal have produced strong new attractions. Universal may have had the edge for a while but it appears that that situation is evolving.
If you go by internet "best of" lists and don't think for yourself, you are sorely missing out in life. I've eaten at restaurants that I loved that were not well rated on yelp, and I've watched great movies that were not well received on Rotten Tomatoes.
After regarding that part of my post DB Cooper asks: "Did you miss the title and tone of the article? This whole point here is to imagine what might be next for Universal. Or, were you just doing your normal Disney Fanboy humping?"
I Respond: First of all my quote wasn't referencing the article it was referring to the "discussion" related to the article.
However, let's take a look at the last line in the article: "We want to know, officially... what's coming next to Universal's theme parks?"
I am not sure how your assertion that the "whole point here is to imagine what might be next for Universal" has any credibility when Mr. Niles uses the word "officially."
Throughout this thread the TPI All Stars toss out a number of great intellectual properties that could do very well in themed entertainment: Lord of the Rings, Pokemon, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, Star Trek, Willy Wonka, the Wizard of Oz, James Bond, G.I. Joe, My Little Pony, Zelda, Metroid, etc.
But postulating on what could be a winner for Universal is not in step with the question Mr. Niles poses in his article ("We want to know, officially... what's coming next to Universal's theme parks?").
So -- speaking "officially" -- it sure seems like I did pick up on the point of the article.
While TH is bashing postulating, why don't we criticize Disney for not putting dates on Guardians and Ratatoille at EPCOT, and Tron and the live theater in MK. Heck, Disney didn't even give any hints at a ride system for Guardians or what type of live show will be staged in the new MK theater. So, while we're being "official" here, let's not apply a double standard. Both resorts have outlined firm plans through 2019 with some announced developments in the years beyond along with rumored additions like "EPCOT is getting...a new nighttime show" that is conspicuously absent from any "official" Disney release along with the "signature" moniker TH is espousing to the Coronado Springs renovation and DVC Rivera resort. Maybe TH is using this forum to "officially" announce that he's going to put his "signature" on papers giving Disney direct access to his bank accounts.
Mr. Meyer writes: "The point of the "officially" was a way to prod Universal to formally announce a timeline beyond 2019 (through 2019 has already been formalized and announced), and initiate a discussion of what might be next."
I Respond: And how is that meant to draw out hypothetical concepts in thread posts? DB Cooper said that the point of the article was to (his words) "imagine what might be next for Universal." And incidently, your position really doesn't change my assessment of the thread -- that hypothetical Universal concepts are being presented alongside WDW projects that are all currently under contract and/or construction.
Mr. Meyer writes: "While TH is bashing postulating ..."
I Respond: Where exactly did I "bash" postulating? In my last post I indicated that the concepts posters have advanced all have potential. I am saying the article discusses projects that have been announced in one degree or another. Postulate to your heart's content.
Mr. Meyer writes: "...why don't we criticize Disney for not putting dates on Guardians and Ratatoille at EPCOT, and Tron and the live theater in MK."
I Respond: Who do you mean by "we?" And I don't know why either Disney or Universal shouldd be criticized for announcing a concept without including an opening date? Is that really worthy of critcism?
Mr. Meyer writes: "EPCOT is getting...a new nighttime show" that is conspicuously absent from any "official" Disney release ..."
I Respond: My mistake. I had thought it had been announced. But stay tuned. ;o)
Mr. Meyer writes "… along with the "signature" moniker TH is espousing to the Coronado Springs renovation and DVC Rivera resort. Maybe TH is using this forum to "officially" announce that he's going to put his "signature" on papers giving Disney direct access to his bank accounts.
I Respond: No. It's actually the company's typical nomenclature for its resorts. The Caribbean’s official name was 'Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort.' The Corando's official name is 'Disney's Coronado Springs Resort.' The Contemporary's official name is 'Disney's Contemporary resort. The use of the name "Disney's" is why I used the phrase. Nothing to do with my checking account.
I mean if you take a look at this thread, it was Mr. Meyer who responded to my post on DVC. He could have just ignored it, but chose not to.
Additionally, when I made a direct response to DB Cooper (who was challenging another one of my posts), Mr. Meyer elected to jump into the fray and address what I had written. Not sure why he felt so compelled to toss DB Cooper a lifeline.
Ah well.
(Chuckle)
Show me where Disney refers to any of it's resorts as "signature" resorts. I've never seen All Stars or Pop Century or even Grand Floridian accompanied by the term "signature" ("Disney's" yes, but "signature", no). You've created your own class of Disney resort TH. Perhaps you should ask Mr. Iger for a kickback or an extra employer contribution to your 401k for your fantastical marketing mumbo jumbo. Let's be clear, Coronado Springs, ahem, Disney's Coronado Springs Resort, has been in desperate need of a full refurb for some time (they did a room modernization 10 years ago), and is the last of the moderates to get a serious update. The resort is the primary on-site convention hotel, and adding the tower will help to accommodate the demand and address the predominant criticism of the sprawling resort (it's too sprawling). Rivera is another DVC resort that will be deliberately undersold (like Boulder Ridge and Copper Creek) to address the availability issues across the entire WDW DVC resort portfolio.
I'm not angry, just frequently perturbed with your hyperbole and spin. Everything the Mouse does is not coated in pixie dust, nor is it all part of some master plan leading to WDW50. If I wanted to listen to a Disney marketing pitch, I'd sit through a DVC presentation. I'm merely pointing out the snake oil when I see it so those less educated to your charms are not drawn like moths to the flame.
In terms of the original topic. Let's just leave it at this...Both park operators have announced firm additions through 2019. Disney has announced some additional developments beyond, but have not been firm with details or expected completion dates. Universal has laid out their plans through 2019, and have made announcements that more is coming in the years beyond, but similarly have left specifics and completion dates deliberately nebulous. Disney's beyond 2019 projects certainly seem more definitive, but as they've shown over the past decade plus, the theme park behemoth needs a lot more lead time to complete projects than the younger, nimbler Universal. So really what Robert is suggesting here is that Universal should act more like Disney, when in reality they've been able to compete head to head with Disney because of their quick turnaround projects and constant flow of new attractions over the past decade. Disney was on cruise control after DL50 and their "park sharing" initiative until the recession followed by Universal's Expecto Patronum to Mickey's backside poked the bear. Now Universal needs to step up their game even further, while still keeping the edge that got them to the place they are today as a worthy competitor to the undisputed king of the theme park kingdom.
Can I just ask what attraction won the Theme Park Insider best new attraction award this year? Remind me... was it 'Flight of Passage' by any chance?
Disney AND Universal have produced strong new attractions. Universal may have had the edge for a while but it appears that that situation is evolving.
All in fun TH, and the spirit of intellectual debate. Maybe we can meet up for a brew at "The Springs" when I'm down there in October.
However, this thread is about Universal and what they are doing next -
and nothing they have "officially" in the pipeline is compelling to me. More and more, all Universal does is tear down attractions I once loved and replace them with IPs for which I simply do not care. I know I am in the minority, and I am comfortable with that fact, but Harry Potter, Fast and Furious, and pretty much all of the Dreamworks properties are "meh" to me. And the only thing Nintendo has ever done that moves the needle for the Rao Family is Zelda, which probably is not getting an attraction in the new land. So Universal can build and build, but until they build something that compels me and mine, I am not paying the Disney-style prices Universal charges to visit their parks. I only have one "Orlando Vacation" budget, and it cannot be squandered on parks filled with IPs that are not "in my wheelhouse" - no matter how great the attractions themselves may be.
I think a well designed theme park land/attraction can supersede the IP it's based upon. Avatar appears to be proving that, and the long-standing popularity of WWoHP has further proved that. Just because you don't care for an IP doesn't mean park designers can't create an exciting, engaging attraction.
And for the record, I really like Avatar and do find it to be a compelling IP. I am anxious for more movies (if they ever come out!). Furthermore, the new Pandora land, which I visited last week, is brilliant, and Flight of Passage has replaced Spider-Man as my all time favorite non-roller coaster attraction. Neither here nor there, but I am not ashamed to say I am indeed an Avatar fan!
I read elsewhere that Nintendo World will consist of Mario, Donkey kong, and Zelda themed areas all within the one land. I think Universal knows this is their next big thing, and if WWHP is any clue, my guess is they're sparing no expense with Nintendo and it'll be bigger than most people anticipate.
Universal Studios Orlando and IOA are in the SAME POSITION as WDW's Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, turning half-day parks into full-day parks.
Universal Studios Orlando and IOA are also in the SAME POSITION as WDW's Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, lack of 'E' Ticket rides.
Universal Studios Orlando and IOA are also in the SAME POSITION as WDW's Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, still suffering with poorly received and out-dated attractions.
BOTTOM LINE...
Universal Studios Orlando and IOA are in the SAME POSITION as WDW's Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, spending BILLIONS to fix previous years of not investing in their parks.
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And poor Sea World once again finds itself crushed by the two big juggernauts.