Universal Makes a Major Announcement !!
In some great news that is sure to be yet ANOTHER game changer, sources report that Universal Orlando has been granted a massive expansion budget. An estimated 1.5 Billion dollars has been allocated to spend on capital investments over the next 10 years at the Florida site. That’s approximately the amount of money that Disney recently spent on the renovation of California Adventure (including Cars Land and Little Mermaid).
The spending began with the fast tracking of a Transformers ride which is now scheduled to open before July 2013. At roughly 40 million, the attraction will easily be the major new attraction in Orlando for the Summer of 2013 and will be marketed as the high energy alternative to what is perceived as a lackluster summer offering from Disney.
The winning ticket however is the massive Harry Potter expansion taking place at the former Jaws location. The expansion will tie Universals two parks together with a Hogwarts train system, include a major E-Ticket Gringotts Bank roller coaster, and numerous other family rides and attractions, shops and dining and is estimated to be a total price of around 600 million.
That still leaves another 850 million to spend. Think of it. A resort that is doing amazing against Disney already will see a Disney California Adventure sized investment being poured into it. This is the theme park equivalent of a dream come true for Universal, and a nightmare for the Mouse down the street.
When compared to Disney World’s lovely but attraction deficient Fantasyland expansion Universal Orlando is obviously feeling very confident, this is why so many new projects have recently been green-lit. Rumors have already surfaced about a possible new Seuss attraction based on the Grinch, a new E-Ticket attractions for Jurassic Park, and a rumored replacement for E.T. themed to all of Spielberg's greatest movie moments has been on the drawing board for a few years now. I am thinking that we may see a replacement for Terminator T2/3D, and would think that down the road a little further Universal will want to cut the cord and re-theme the entire Marvel Super Hero Island
Universal obviously sees a HUGE opportunity and they aren’t going to waste their chance to steal the spotlight from Mickey. Disney on the other hand is still standing firm on the Avatar Land expansion to Animal Kingdom. Delays from Cameron and other issues which are stalling the project places Universal in the drivers seat. The Potterverse will be dominating the theme park industry, before Avatar can even take shape, and with a series of additional projects planned and under way Universal will be dealing some mighty hard blows to Mickey and company for many years to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment