It's a really interesting concept as a mini sized park (about 1/3 the size of a normal Universal theme park) and directed pretty much solely towards young children. I think it'll work well there and certainly different than their current offerings in Orlando and Hollywood.

BaylorHistory said:

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It's a really interesting concept as a mini sized park (about 1/3 the size of a normal Universal theme park) and directed pretty much solely towards young children. I think it'll work well there and certainly different than their current offerings in Orlando and Hollywood.

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It is an interesting concept. However I'm not sure about it. One I thought all theme parks are family and kid oriented are they not? So that is a strange description unless they are trying to say this will be a universal version of the Disney Magic Kingdom/Disneyland park concept.

Also the size. I thought I had read about room to expand in one article. But 100 acres for a theme park resort hotel and I assume parking lot but a parking garage may be used to save space is pretty cramped. For comparison the Magic Kingdom at WDW and the two universal parks in Orlando are about 100 acres a piece. 100 acres for an entire resort doesnt sound very ambitious. They arent going to have a Universal City Walk (Universal's version of Downtown Disney) with this? But I dont know what the true plans are long term. Maybe this is phase one and they have more land they arent usiing right now that they arent disclosing yet. What has been revealed though seems a little underwhelming. I just hope this is as first class as their Orlando and Hollywood (which actually is also quite small to be honest) offerings.

One other thing that is different than Disney's approach. They are building a new theme park at the Orlando resort right now. It is odd to announce another one to be built simultaneously at a third US location. But they did.... more power to them.

PartyBear said:

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BaylorHistory said:

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It's a really interesting concept as a mini sized park (about 1/3 the size of a normal Universal theme park) and directed pretty much solely towards young children. I think it'll work well there and certainly different than their current offerings in Orlando and Hollywood.

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It is an interesting concept. However I'm not sure about it. One I thought all theme parks are family and kid oriented are they not? So that is a strange description unless they are trying to say this will be a universal version of the Disney Magic Kingdom/Disneyland park concept.

Also the size. I thought I had read about room to expand in one article. But 100 acres for a theme park resort hotel and I assume parking lot but a parking garage may be used to save space is pretty cramped. For comparison the Magic Kingdom at WDW and the two universal parks in Orlando are about 100 acres a piece. 100 acres for an entire resort doesnt sound very ambitious. They arent going to have a Universal City Walk (Universal's version of Downtown Disney) with this? But I dont know what the true plans are long term. Maybe this is phase one and they have more land they arent usiing right now that they arent disclosing yet. What has been revealed though seems a little underwhelming. I just hope this is as first class as their Orlando and Hollywood (which actually is also quite small to be honest) offerings.

One other thing that is different than Disney's approach. They are building a new theme park at the Orlando resort right now. It is odd to announce another one to be built simultaneously at a third US location. But they did.... more power to them.

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Universal as a brand is known as a teen/adult park and has relatively few options for younger kids. This isn't a direct assault on WDW, but rather looking at how successful similar ventures (Sesame Place & Legoland) have done and planning to get into that field and seeing how the regionalization of a small park works for Universal's brand. They're also opening a Hollywood Horror Nights year-round attraction in Vegas so that's the extension of their adult brand in a regional way.



Looking at the renderings you can see lands based on Shrek, Jurassic World/Park (Camp Cretaceous), Trolls, and Madagascar. Park renderings this early are almost never entirely accurate, but you can see which direction their IPs are going for this thing.

Is that the resort hotel also serving as the park entrance? I'm asking because I thought there was a similar plan for the new park in Orlando.

Look I just want this to be as first class as the other ones in the US and abroad. I'll also be honest my kids are grown so I'm not going until the grand kids are old enough to appreciate it and can take them, of course, the grand opening is not likely going to occur until another 5-6 years I would think. But I do think it is cool they are doing it and again just hope it is up to par with all the other ones. And I did wonder if this will cause Disney to come into Texas (not necessarily DFW area) in a a big way in a few years. Other than Europe, there is usually not one without the other. But again it is usually Universal responding to a Disney first strike..

PartyBear said:

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Look I just want this to be as first class as the other ones in the US and abroad. I'll also be honest my kids are grown so I'm not going until the grand kids are old enough to appreciate it and can take them, of course, the grand opening is not likely going to occur until another 5-6 years I would think. But I do think it is cool they are doing it and again just hope it is up to par with all the other ones.

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I'm in the exact same situation. I'm also looking at the 5-6 years before that becomes a reality for me.

Having said that, after seeing their attention to detail at "Harry Potter World" in Orlando, I have no doubt that they will bring it when it comes to Frisco.

Lastly, with the Metroplex weather being dicey from Jan thru March, I kinda wish they put this near the SA area.

PartyBear said:

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Is that the resort hotel also serving as the park entrance? I'm asking because I thought there was a similar plan for the new park in Orlando.

Look I just want this to be as first class as the other ones in the US and abroad. I'll also be honest my kids are grown so I'm not going until the grand kids are old enough to appreciate it and can take them, of course, the grand opening is not likely going to occur until another 5-6 years I would think. But I do think it is cool they are doing it and again just hope it is up to par with all the other ones. And I did wonder if this will cause Disney to come into Texas (not necessarily DFW area) in a a big way in a few years. Other than Europe, there is usually not one without the other. But again it is usually Universal responding to a Disney first strike..

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Yup that's the hotel. I really have a hard time imagining Universal putting their name on something that doesn't meet their current standard. Most of the industry expects it to be well done.

On the Disney thing, I highly doubt it. I'm a WDW fan first and the company hasn't really been setting the industry afire the way they used to in the past. Budget cuts have hurt standards, but the parks are making a ton of money and bringing in the crowds so the company doesn't seem to care much. In the last 10-15 years it has been Universal leading with Disney responding especially as Universal has proven that attaching well known IPs to attractions brings in massive crowds. They did it in a major way with Harry Potter first and Disney was quick to respond with Avatar and Star Wars. I'm personally a fan of new stories at theme parks but the crowds show that familiar faces bring in the dough.

They have the option to expand on another 50 acres with a second hotel and more themed parts of the park should the park be successful which i would imagine it will be. My good friend works on a construction company that partners with universal who told me about this last week. The total acres for the entire project will be around 145-150 with two hotels once they are in the final phase.

This property is now available, so I'm pretty sure they're coming to Lubbock next.,

Lubbock's Joyland Amusement Park will not return in 2023 (lubbockonline.com)

Well…..that still doesn't seem like enough land. I think they will regret that. I thought they learned that in Florida when they have kept having to buy adjacent land to the original universal studios park in order to develop into a Disney like resort destination. Surely they have the foresight to realize over time they are going to want to do that in Texas. I would think they would want to start out with 400-500 acres even if they do actually think they only want to develop 100 acres of it just for some sort of seclusion if the resort.

It'll be a disaster for the first few months. Then it'll turn ghetto and no one will want to go. Just watch.

Briles said:

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Then it'll turn ghetto and no one will want to go. Just watch.

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Why?

Briles said:

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It'll be a disaster for the first few months. Then it'll turn ghetto and no one will want to go. Just watch.

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Have you seen price point for Universal?

BerenstainBear said:

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If Waco could get a Bass Pro Shop on the river to give the dads somewhere to go when the moms are at Magnolia, we could basically be adult Disney.

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Waco could reinvigorate the "Reservation" for dads interested in a little 'horizontal refreshment'.

BerenstainBear said:

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If Waco could get a Bass Pro Shop on the river to give the dads somewhere to go when the moms are at Magnolia, we could basically be adult Disney.

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Waco already has a dads Disney. It's called Balcones.

Ugh. More people. More traffic. Higher property taxes. Do. Not. Want.

The Universal execution of the Harry Potter IP in Orlando is absolutely amazing.

You couple that with the massive popularity of Minions/Despicable Me and Shrek/Puss in Boots and there is a ton of room for DreamWorks/Universal to grab market share from Disney in the kids space.

Disney is still uber-successful with the Marvel IP (although there are a lot of holes in the armor right now) but they have lost a lot of ground in the under 13 crowd. Frozen (2013) and Moana (2016) feel like a long time ago.

BearlyHeardFrom said:

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Ugh. More people. More traffic.

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Well you can always move down here to Waco with us. Traffic is fine now that 35 is "done" and we have only 1 person for every 30 in the metroplex.

hill02 said:

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The Universal execution of the Harry Potter IP in Orlando is absolutely amazing.

You couple that with the massive popularity of Minions/Despicable Me and Shrek/Puss in Boots and there is a ton of room for DreamWorks/Universal to grab market share from Disney in the kids space.

Disney is still uber-successful with the Marvel IP (although there are a lot of holes in the armor right now) but they have lost a lot of ground in the under 13 crowd. Frozen (2013) and Moana (2016) feel like a long time ago.

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I'm not criticizing Universal for their execution in the US and abroad in the theme park and resort arena. Over the past 30 or so years they have upped the game to be up there in the neighborhood of Disney (I admit to a Disney bias because I grew up going to their parks). So more objectively it can be argued they are pretty equal in quality I suppose.

What I am more critical of is their goal to go small. Someone here said there is a phase two to the project but when that is complete the entire project will only be 150 acres. That is a little smaller than Legend's Crossing in Waco for perspective and that goal to go small also has me worried they are going go cheap in the park and it not be up to the standards of Orlando. Are any of the signature attractions of Universal parks around the world even going to be at this one at least initially? Back to the size. I dont exactly understand how they expect people to come stay at their resort hotel for even a couple of days to visit a park that can initially be no bigger than 50 acres I imagine. That all said I'm sure they have been planning it all out for probably at least a couple of years before they made it all official the other day.

That all makes sense.

The theme parks have to see what the cruise ships have done and taken notice. Galveston was once an afterthought for them that they sent their 2nd rate boats to.

Now all the major lines have a presence (at least seasonally) and RC just built a brand new port to accommodate their largest ships.

Having a presence in the middle of the country in a large and growing population center could be HUGE for them.

BaylorHistory said:

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PartyBear said:

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BaylorHistory said:

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It's a really interesting concept as a mini sized park (about 1/3 the size of a normal Universal theme park) and directed pretty much solely towards young children. I think it'll work well there and certainly different than their current offerings in Orlando and Hollywood.

---

It is an interesting concept. However I'm not sure about it. One I thought all theme parks are family and kid oriented are they not? So that is a strange description unless they are trying to say this will be a universal version of the Disney Magic Kingdom/Disneyland park concept.

Also the size. I thought I had read about room to expand in one article. But 100 acres for a theme park resort hotel and I assume parking lot but a parking garage may be used to save space is pretty cramped. For comparison the Magic Kingdom at WDW and the two universal parks in Orlando are about 100 acres a piece. 100 acres for an entire resort doesnt sound very ambitious. They arent going to have a Universal City Walk (Universal's version of Downtown Disney) with this? But I dont know what the true plans are long term. Maybe this is phase one and they have more land they arent usiing right now that they arent disclosing yet. What has been revealed though seems a little underwhelming. I just hope this is as first class as their Orlando and Hollywood (which actually is also quite small to be honest) offerings.

One other thing that is different than Disney's approach. They are building a new theme park at the Orlando resort right now. It is odd to announce another one to be built simultaneously at a third US location. But they did.... more power to them.

---

Universal as a brand is known as a teen/adult park and has relatively few options for younger kids. This isn't a direct assault on WDW, but rather looking at how successful similar ventures (Sesame Place & Legoland) have done and planning to get into that field and seeing how the regionalization of a small park works for Universal's brand. They're also opening a Hollywood Horror Nights year-round attraction in Vegas so that's the extension of their adult brand in a regional way.



Looking at the renderings you can see lands based on Shrek, Jurassic World/Park (Camp Cretaceous), Trolls, and Madagascar. Park renderings this early are almost never entirely accurate, but you can see which direction their IPs are going for this thing.

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Took the wife and the oldest child to Universal in Florida last year.

They do a great job.

Redbrickbear said:

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BaylorHistory said:

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PartyBear said:

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BaylorHistory said:

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It's a really interesting concept as a mini sized park (about 1/3 the size of a normal Universal theme park) and directed pretty much solely towards young children. I think it'll work well there and certainly different than their current offerings in Orlando and Hollywood.

---

It is an interesting concept. However I'm not sure about it. One I thought all theme parks are family and kid oriented are they not? So that is a strange description unless they are trying to say this will be a universal version of the Disney Magic Kingdom/Disneyland park concept.

Also the size. I thought I had read about room to expand in one article. But 100 acres for a theme park resort hotel and I assume parking lot but a parking garage may be used to save space is pretty cramped. For comparison the Magic Kingdom at WDW and the two universal parks in Orlando are about 100 acres a piece. 100 acres for an entire resort doesnt sound very ambitious. They arent going to have a Universal City Walk (Universal's version of Downtown Disney) with this? But I dont know what the true plans are long term. Maybe this is phase one and they have more land they arent usiing right now that they arent disclosing yet. What has been revealed though seems a little underwhelming. I just hope this is as first class as their Orlando and Hollywood (which actually is also quite small to be honest) offerings.

One other thing that is different than Disney's approach. They are building a new theme park at the Orlando resort right now. It is odd to announce another one to be built simultaneously at a third US location. But they did.... more power to them.

---

Universal as a brand is known as a teen/adult park and has relatively few options for younger kids. This isn't a direct assault on WDW, but rather looking at how successful similar ventures (Sesame Place & Legoland) have done and planning to get into that field and seeing how the regionalization of a small park works for Universal's brand. They're also opening a Hollywood Horror Nights year-round attraction in Vegas so that's the extension of their adult brand in a regional way.



Looking at the renderings you can see lands based on Shrek, Jurassic World/Park (Camp Cretaceous), Trolls, and Madagascar. Park renderings this early are almost never entirely accurate, but you can see which direction their IPs are going for this thing.

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Took the wife and the oldest child to Universal in Florida last year.

They do a great job.

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I'm a theme park luddite so I prefer things that inspire hope like Horizons (RIP) over these newfangled high thrill attractions, but man you are right. Their theming is generally top notch and rides like Hagrid's Magical Creatures or The Mummy are just plain fun. They've had some duds lately like Kong and Fast and the Furious, but there is little doubt in my mind that this place will be a new standard for themed attractions in Texas. I'm excited to take the little ones in the family if/when it ever opens.

My complete guess here is that what Universal is trying to say is that this will be their answer to the Disney Magic Kingdom/Disneyland park concept. A series of dark rides and shows based on children's IPs to which Universal owns the rights. I'm surprised that Dr Suess area of Island of Adventure isn't cloned in this draw up.

Don't let the headlines fool you.

Frisco Disney=Ethridge Backyard Playground (if you're nice to Brian you might qualify for an all-day pass, Especially rights to private bathroom and beer privileges)

I don't understand the economics of this place ... my guess is theme parks make most of their margins on F&B, and little kids are not going to consume that much. Also, they get tired and don't last very long so will not buy multiple meals. Not sure what kind of "destination" is a theme park for littles - are you going to be able to charge $100 / ticket for a kid to walk around "Shrek Land?"

But I also thought Dancing With the Stars would flop.

Harrison Bergeron said:

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I don't understand the economics of this place ... my guess is theme parks make most of their margins on F&B, and little kids are not going to consume that much. Also, they get tired and don't last very long so will not buy multiple meals. Not sure what kind of "destination" is a theme park for littles - are you going to be able to charge $100 / ticket for a kid to walk around "Shrek Land?"

But I also thought Dancing With the Stars would flop.

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Never underestimate parent's ability to spend unhealthy sums of money in order for someone else to entertain their children.

I think he does have a point though. I had come to see this as a Universal brand of Disney's Disneyland park (called Magic Kingdom at WDW). Those are geared toward the same age group but do it in ways that interest
adults and teens (kids of all ages) as well even though still geared toward young children.

Then I saw the other day more details announced about this Universal Texas park and the announcement was no dark rides no firework shows and the hours will be 10-6 on weekdays and 10-7 on weekends. It will also only start out as a 30 acre park. I would question whether Disney would even be able to pull off a park that was just a series of different themed versions of the Dumbo ride, tea cups and autopia and no dark rides (even the slow ones) that would be interesting to other ages.

After I heard that announcement I was wondering why this isn't just a 4th gate in Orlando as a little park for people with little kids to spend a few hours at. Maybe they did a poor job elaborating what the new park will be like. It was the Mayor of Frisco describing it, not Universal representatives in the article I should note.

PartyBear said:

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After I heard that announcement I was wondering why this isn't just a 4th gate in Orlando as a little park for people with little kids to spend a few hours at. Maybe they did a poor job elaborating what the new park will be like. It was the Mayor of Frisco describing it, not Universal representatives in the article I should note.

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There are only so many days that one can have off from work. That's one of the big reasons that Disney hasn't had a 5th gate yet as with UO, IoA, SeaWorld, Aquatica, Volcano Bay, and now Epic there are too many parks for days for people to go to on one vacation and tickets are always cheaper as you add days making that 4th day at the "kids' park" really cheap compared to a standalone day in Texas.

Personally I think WDW could handle another gate, but Universal trying to compete with the MK with a 30 acre kid's park would be no bueno. The new Texas park has the benefit of having no direct competition with 10s of millions of people being a day's drive or less away. I think it'll be a success, but I'm sad about the lack of dark rides.

Harrison Bergeron said:

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my guess is theme parks make most of their margins on F&B

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That hotel will probably earn them quite the pretty penny. The $$$ per room at WDW is insane compared to rooms of similar quality elsewhere. Universal also charges a pretty high amount for their rooms. This won't be the equivalent of a full resort like those so it won't be as expensive, but costs will obviously be much lower too.