So happy that Universal decided to build this park solely because it means I get to watch Theme Park Stop walk me through another entire construction timeline again!!
Universal is building around the globe like crazy, at a stunning pace. And Disney is patting itself on the back for reskinning decades-old rides and opening Communicore. 😂
@davidslaton I think the locals would most welcome it,not much else going on in Bedford. All depends on the infrastructures they build & not crazy traffic for the locals to deal with.
Love seeing all these technical details, it gives the project a lot of credibility. Also reassuring to see just how far along Universal is with the feasibility study and how there don't seem to be any backup options, makes me feel they are pretty committed to this project. Thanks for another great video and to USGB Updates for being the boots on the ground!
I’ve been following universal Great Britain channel for a while now. As a local resident, he gives a lot of very good insight. He’s also got a soothing voice. It’s relaxing to watch and listen even as we’re receiving updates. I’m so glad you credited him! ❤
Cannot wait for this, it's gonna change the UK theme park industry if it comes to fruition, it's only around 2 hours from me which is closer than Alton Towers
Slightly further for me but I’d make the trip regularly. Alton towers is getting tired now too, Most of the uk parks are. Can you imagine a UK Halloween Horror Nights, now that would be spectacular
@@w3ndi973Ultimately, I would hope that any Universal development in the UK would actually indirectly improve the pre-existing theme parks like Thorpe Park and Alton Towers, due to competition. 😊
@@WaccyBI still hope to visit the UK for the first time, this would be a wonderful occasion to do it, especially since at my previous job a lot of visitors from the UK would always tell me how pleased people in the UK apparently get that Americans enjoy coming all the way out there to meet them and see their beautiful country. 😊
I am SOOOO excited for this! I was holding out hope for the London Project, as the UK really needs a new Theme Park to challenge Merlin and get interest back in our parks, but having Universal come here would be amazing! I've already looked at house prices in the local area lol. Hopefully this gets the go-ahead and we get an incredible new park.
It will be very interesting when Universal officially announces this resort, what Disney does at the Paris resort. Their lack of response towards Epic Universe has been laughable. The size of this resort is similar to Islands of Adventure, which makes what type of attractions and lands they would put even more interesting. Also, the ~370-foot max height of built structures is very interesting. I can see three things that may be that tall; a hotel, an icon, or Hogwarts castle. I have to imagine this will include a premier hotel and maybe one large moderate hotel. The infrastructure improvements being proposed and the fact most of Great Britain is within a three-hour drive may facilitate not as many hotels when the resort first opens. I gotta imagine a summer 2027 announcement and a summer 2030 opening, IF major land reclamation brings by the end of this year.
Disney doesn’t need to respond to epic universe. They have double the park gates that universal does. Disney is still bigger and still draws a lot more foot traffic. Every year.
Won't be Hogwarts castle. Its not going to have Harry potter attractions due to Warner already having harry potter experience nearby, and also wanting to keep the Orlando and London parks different enough from each other so that public interested to attend both. One of the castles from lord of the rings could be nearly that hight thou.
Local councillors and MPs now realising that they can head over to Orlando or Japan for a genuine business trip to "assess the quality of the proposal". I live about 90 minutes slow drive away from this location, and am totally stoked about this park. It's something the UK needs, and it'll shake up Legoland, Alton Towers, Paultons - those are okay places, but they do look rather tired. This really will revitalise the UK theme parks.
6:53 Wow, 40% by rail!? Imagine if Florida and the United States as a whole actually prioritized this method of travel over vehicles. At least Florida is attempting to move in that direction very very slowly.
I75 and the Turnpike are always incredibly stressful and I'm sure I'm not the only person in North Florida who would absolutely visit the parks more if the trip there and back wasn't so excruciating
Universal is trying to bring Brightline/SunRail over near Epic Universe. It won't run directly to Epic Universe but it would be close so you could technically go from the airport to Epic Universe without a car. I assume Universal would bus you from the train station to one of their hotels if you choose to stay in one.
As a British person who hates flying and holidays in general, I am incredibly excited to see Universal Studios Great Britain advancing in development. The UK’s theme park market has been so lacking compared to mainland Europe who have Efteling, Europa Park and of course Disneyland Paris which have all gone unchallenged for too long.
I live in Bedford, this is going to be great for the town as its got a great location , it just needs some more money to develop the area. Very exciting.
@@rickflair3228 100% because I'd presume there'd be more demand for housing locally? I mean this would be the biggest theme park in the UK. Though I'm not an expert haha, so could be wrong
@@mimii694 yeah would make sense right they are also building new train stations around the area to accommodate for it so that should help too, i live about 5 mins away from the location but if it becomes too busy we may have to move so hopefully the price of the house atleast gone up by then haha
Damn I feel like the people in Bedford won some sort of lottery of where Universal was going to build their park. I am happy that it will be relatively close to where I live, at least not 700$ for a plane ticket for a visit to Universal!
I'm staying quietly optimistic about this one! Fingers crossed Universal make a statement pretty soon after the public consultations so we can all start getting properly hyped! I live in Birmingham so only an hour and a half away and with how long the project will take to complete my kids will be the perfect age to vist once it's all done!
🤞🤞🤞 My Dream Universal Park in the UK: Hollywood, Jurassic World, Hogsmeade, Nintendo World, Universal Monsters + BTTF, ET & Jaws jammed in there somewhere! I don't ask for much 😅
Nothing is certain until it's official from Universal. If they don't get the funding from Comcast then it's a no go even if everyone else is on-board with the project.
hey alicia! been watching your videos for a while now! i remember you reporting on the mario kart rumors, covering hagrids and velocicoaster and ever since it’s honestly been one of my dreams to go to islands of adventure specifically! and last week i did! i went with my girlfriend to all the disney parks and islands of adventure! will continue to keep watching and let’s see how universal great britain turns out!
We have a few parks in the UK but nothing like or as invested in as the US parks. So pleased this is seriously being considered. Although relying on the rail network would need more consideration as the UK rail network has been heavily underinvested in, is old, tired and unreliable. Even our roads require major investment now so if this injection helps, it’s got to be a good thing, plus we’d get a new theme park 😉 A water park probably wouldn’t work for England, we just don’t get decent weather for long enough to make it viable, unless they make it an indoor one available for all year use. Now that would be good, an indoor volcano bay! For the first time I’d be able to say I’ve got an annual pass for universal, 😅and despite living hundreds of miles away…. I’d make bloody good use of it
I’ll be staying on updates on Universal Great Britain Updates and I even subscribe to the other universal Great Britain channels. Overall keep up the good work Alicia
I would find it absolutely hilarious if they did NOT build a Harry Potter themed world at Universal GB. Like "What do you need a Potter world for? You already live in it! Let's have four acres devoted to the Fast and the Furious. International audiences love that stuff."
Disney legit thought that when they built the Magic Kingdom. The park opened without Pirates of the Carribean because they thought people would see all the actual pirate stuff in Florida instead. Everyone who visited the Magic Kingdom then proceeded to complain that it lacked the pirate ride. 😅
I wouldn't get too excited about the "Mixed Use" section. Mixed Use, especially in European usage, usually refers to housing mixed with non-housing options. Of course zones like "Entertainment" are included, but I think any possible future theme park area would have to be labeled as such when they start putting this out to the locals. Now this can also mean another CityWalk, with hotels, shops and restaurants, but that would be labeled as RDE. The first thing I saw when I looked at the map, though, was housing. There's no reason to have TWO train stations for just a theme park, especially when the current station IS RIGHT NEXT TO BOTH THESE AREAS! Then there's the Restoration Area. That's not for visitors; that's for locals. So I imagine the plan is to build a hotel at the southern edge - with a back entrance to the park, which could also be used by the East Gateway arrivals - and a lovely little SuburbWalk north of it: shops and dining with apartments on top, here and there some entertainment venues (pubs). It's pretty genius, actually, as they would have a permanent pool of people to patronize their establishments, a problem when building in an area that isn't right next to a large city. They might have bought the whole parcel with a promise to sell the rest to the city so the city can build a suburb here. There has to be some reason Bedford is so on board with everything. Usually locals are all out fighting stuff like this (see Frisco). As for a future park, I'm sure those talks have happened behind the scenes. Methinks they have been given the future option of expanding either west or southwest (maybe in exchange for that Mixed Use parcel???). This would explain why the map has changed to include those Mixed Use zones. It would also explain why the RDE area is only found at the West Gateway Zone, when the obvious placement would have been between the Mixed Use and Theme Park areas, next to the already-existing Kempston Hardwick train station. Any future park would naturally be built next to a Transportation Hub and near the CityWalk. This means expansion will be either westward or southwestward. Possible westward expansion would explain why they bought that little nub next to all the farmland but have not given any plans for zoning it. The little tip of the RDE area linking to it is a major hint as to what it probably will be. I wouldn't expect a park here, probably more of a hotel zone with other CityWalk Entertainment, like mini golf, escape rooms, indoor water park, what have you. And pubs. Things that will interest the locals. Southwest is more interesting, as all the stuff at the West Gateway has suddenly changed to more Mixed Use areas. The area south of here is barren and probably will be forever as there's a highway on one side, with a power station and a waste management company bordering it. I think both are involved in turning waste into fuel/power, so I think this may be a landfill. Doesn't exactly scream "Future Suburb!" Not sure how this works for future use as something other than a landfill, but it looks like they are scraping away the top of it - it's a very tall plateau that doesn't appear to be used for current waste - so maybe there's a window for when this area can be used for something else. It is currently much less of a mound near the railroad tracks. (Oddly - or maybe not - the waste management company was spun off from Vivendi, the company that used to own Universal.) "A minimum of 8.5 million visitors a year" is an insane opening prediction. That's Universal Studios Hollywood numbers. The most-popular park in the UK right now, Legoland Windsor, doesn't even get 2.5 million. Though these numbers undoubtedly are based on CityWalk and not the actual park, it's still probably way over what they will actually get. It does make me wonder if a waterpark is in their opening plans. Indoor waterparks are becoming more and more popular in Europe thanks to their year-round nature - Manchester is building a massive one for 250,000 pounds - so a themed Universal indoor waterpark could probably pull in a million visitors. Putting this in the south of the Mixed Use area makes a lot of sense. I'm all of a sudden weirdly excited by this. I have been planning a trip to Alton Towers after they finish with Nemesis, but I may have to postpone it a few years...
There are already two train stations without the theme park. The Wixam side station was already promised and the west side is just being moved a few yards down the track. They aren't going to build housing right next to a theme park, imagine the noise complaints. Mixed-use in British planning usually means the class use is undetermined.
The two rail stations are on two separate rail lines one North to South, the other East to West and one station is already there and the other already planned regardless of Universal. I had it confirmed to me today at the public consultation that the mixed use will likely be a couple of warehouses for equipment storage and other ventures such as cinema, indoor waterpark, local community football centre etc.
I'm from the UK and I can't wait for this to happen. We need more indoor rides in this country with our shocking weather. I just hope we don't get the same rides as Florida.
Other than the dining location names there wasn’t any new information for the hotels we haven’t already covered. The new names and renderings will be included in our next Epic update is all.
Are we looking at the same construction at Stella nova & terra luna similar to that at dockside/surfside, as I found these hotels good but no soundproofing making the noise transfer in the rooms very bad!!!
I think Universal UK will be a test run for the european market. I expect that they are aiming to establish themself as the prime themepark of the uk before they are building a themepark in mainland europe. The Uk was often the testground for american companies before they expand into the mainland european market. I think that Universal will have different strategy than Disney for europe. Instead trying to make a huge resort in paris, they will build multiple smaller ones spread throughout europe.
I doubt it - the UK one will be very accessible for Europe, so there’s not really a need for a continental park in addition (it would only cannibalise attendance)
@@DavidKnowles0 yes Portaventura but I’m not sure to be honest. It would be like Disney having two parks in Europe, it would cannibalise the Paris resort. The US has two resorts but the distance between them is over 2000 miles.
I would love to see some kind of attraction centered around James Bond. Something like the Great Movie Ride or Spider-Man or Eigth Voyage of Sinbad but with James fighting a whole bunch of famous villains.
It's fun brainstorming ideas: This is Universal's opportunity for their first LOTR land. An escape from Gringotts style ride (or something akin to Volcano: the Blast Coaster) that's you helping Frodo & Sam escape from Mount Doom that ends w you soaring w the eagles? Also, put a hotel inside Hogwarts & have 4 wings of rooms themed after each House?
Don’t ask me how, but I’ve recently found out that Universal are working on their first dedicated cruise ship, apparently in conjunction with Royal Caribbean. It’s codenamed Orion.
Makes since. They own DreamWorks and DreamWorks has already done a partnership with Royal Caribbean. So with the budget, Universal could very easily buy their own ship, and theme it around DreamWorka, Ilumination, and other Universal properties.
Universal should hire you as their official hype girl. For the first time in my life i became a patreon member because your videos bring me joy and excitement, so i would love to support you/
this comment is off-topic i know what the mr. krabs animatronic first seen last year at an expo of some kind is for: a brand new spongebob ride in las vegas. mr. krabs is seen near the ticket machine for the ride, saying random stuff quite similarly to mr. potato head in toy story midway mania at disneyland and disney world
Flinched a little at them giving themselves a height restriction and then dis the maths, thats the height of our new tallest coaster Hyperia +60% ... this is going to massively shake up Merlin!
There is a theme park in the UK called Fantasy Island it has got an indoor space and it's very well-themed with good rides too including a Forbidden Journey clone but the theme is a mixture of dragons and wizards and a trackless shooting dark ride with custom content with screens and physical set pieces
It's a former brickworks that was demolished and is surrounded by large distribution warehouses. No reason for anyone to be precious about the land (which already has planning permission for a business park and light industrial uses).
Some have sold, some were holding out for more money lol. One dude said he wanted a million. I'm not sure that's going to happen, they're going to build the park regardless so if they don't want to live in a theme park more or less they might as well move out and buy a much nicer house with the no doubt substantially above market value offer Universal have made.
@ThemeParkStop Do you also have information about a possible take over by Universal of PortAventura in Spain, there have been sightings of Universal execs visiting and trademarks being put in place for rollercoasters by Comcast
They have also trademarked those names in a dozen other regions, it helps to protect their branding around the world. There have been no filings, disclosures or financial information at all about a possible sale of PAW to Comcast. Once there is, I’ll be sure to report on it!
Will be interesting to see how Universal plan on dealing with the poor UK weather.. After all, most brits holiday to Orlando not just for the theme parks but to also get some decent sun!
They could easily theme this park on some of Roald Dahls famous books. E.g. Willy Wonka, The Witches, Fantastic Mr Fox, The BFG, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, 007, Gremlins,Matilda, James & the Giant Peach. Etc.
Expected 8.5M guests... how did they get to that number? The most popular Theme Park in Britain is Alton Towers which got 2.3M visitors last year. Thats almost 4x the attendance!
The fact This is closer to London where most foreign tourists travel every year to it's likely they'll have a lot more visitors. Connecting a train journey from one of the main London train stations to Bedford and just before it is the Wixams train station. Getting nearer to 8.5 million guests for this proposed theme park isn't in the realms of impossibility.
I would suspect Universal wouldnt build a water park in the UK for the obvious weather related issues-our summers are hot but brief, amd our winters long and wet. Unless it was an indoor water park, which could be interesting
Huge mistake. Legoland Windsor, the UK's most-visited park in 2023, had just 2.42 million visitors that year. Not a single one of the 25 most-visited theme parks in 2023 is in the UK.
tbh, I have more faith in Universal to be able to build stuff in a reasonable amount of time, and I'm pretty sure the "parks and experiences" separation was just a way to *reduce* the amount of red tape
So they're only planning one full theme park? I was hoping they would have room for a full second gate in the future. Maybe they will purchase that giant piece of land to the left of the core parcel of land.
@alexbaker7722 That northern portion is too small and narrow for a full second theme park. They restricted 1/3 of it to nature restoration area along the water. They then planned a major access road on the other left, leaving a very narrow awkward stretch of land available for mixed use development. Most likely it's going to be hotels and maybe an indoor water park or something, not a full second gate theme park.
@@isunlloaoll I agree it may not be an ideal shape, but there is still plenty of room up there. I'm not saying they will definitely use it for a second gate, but it's entirely plausible.
I doubt it will happen, BUT The Wizarding World SHOULD be a part of this park. It is the most popular land worldwide and it comes from the UK - it only makes sense!
Thank you to Theme Park Worldwide for sharing the presentations from Saturday 13th’s public consultation: ua-cam.com/video/EU6WKlS-diY/v-deo.htmlsi=-sMuQvkZ6lOhkoiB
For this place to be truly successful, it needs to be totally indoors. It's too cold and rainy most of the year there for an outdoor park. And forget about an outdoor water park. That definitely needs to be totally enclosed.
They can do something similar to what their did with Universal Beijing which has a lot of attractions inside buildings with some attractions outside such as their coasters. And some were a mix of both.
What types of attractions would fit this park best?
Doctor Who
All Jurassic, all the time, please
Jurassic park, hogwarts , and Lord of the rings and they should bring back jaws and BTTF
007 if they can lock in the rights.
I believe disney now has control of the doctor@@VelocicoasterFanboy
So happy that Universal decided to build this park solely because it means I get to watch Theme Park Stop walk me through another entire construction timeline again!!
Alicia sounds hot
@@NickIggler1969 😐
@@CobbleBompster what? Are you gay
Alicia reminding everyone that she broke the news of this whole thing at the beginning of the video is such a deservedly boss move 👑
Universal's momentum right now is insane. I hope this gets the green light!!
Universal is building around the globe like crazy, at a stunning pace. And Disney is patting itself on the back for reskinning decades-old rides and opening Communicore. 😂
Living about 5 minutes away from all this - its a perfect site for Universal.
Interesting. Are the people talking about it yet? Would everyone be excited about this?
So lucky to live so close to, not jealous at all 😂
@davidslaton I think the locals would most welcome it,not much else going on in Bedford.
All depends on the infrastructures they build & not crazy traffic for the locals to deal with.
Love seeing all these technical details, it gives the project a lot of credibility. Also reassuring to see just how far along Universal is with the feasibility study and how there don't seem to be any backup options, makes me feel they are pretty committed to this project.
Thanks for another great video and to USGB Updates for being the boots on the ground!
I’ve been following universal Great Britain channel for a while now. As a local resident, he gives a lot of very good insight. He’s also got a soothing voice. It’s relaxing to watch and listen even as we’re receiving updates. I’m so glad you credited him! ❤
Theme Park Stop on point yet again.
Still find it crazy that a major theme park is gonna be less than an hour from where I live.
ENJOY IT!
When my mum said Bedford was near her work I was like huh?! U mean it's close?! 😭
No same! I'm so excited. I have plans to move out the UK before it's done but I'd still be able to visit from my parent's house.
Cannot wait for this, it's gonna change the UK theme park industry if it comes to fruition, it's only around 2 hours from me which is closer than Alton Towers
And just a bit closer than Universal Orlando.
Slightly further for me but I’d make the trip regularly. Alton towers is getting tired now too, Most of the uk parks are. Can you imagine a UK Halloween Horror Nights, now that would be spectacular
@w3ndi973 that would be amazing, with some sort of jack the rippers scare zone
@@w3ndi973Ultimately, I would hope that any Universal development in the UK would actually indirectly improve the pre-existing theme parks like Thorpe Park and Alton Towers, due to competition. 😊
With the amount of accents I hear from the British Isles at the Orlando parks, this is a great move
We’d still probably do the US parks too, you get better weather 😂
Hopefully we will get to hear a lot of US accents here in the UK for a change
@@WaccyBI still hope to visit the UK for the first time, this would be a wonderful occasion to do it, especially since at my previous job a lot of visitors from the UK would always tell me how pleased people in the UK apparently get that Americans enjoy coming all the way out there to meet them and see their beautiful country. 😊
Once again, these are very exciting times to be a theme park fan! Can't wait to keep following along with Theme Park Stop
So excited for all your future updates on this project! You’re so skilled at breaking down these documents in a really engaging way 🙌
Thank you! I’m so excited!!
How do you do it? Updates for UK, Epic Universe, Podcasts and a new baby???? You're a champ Stella! ❤❤❤
Thank you! It has been challenging, but the show must go on!
@@ThemeParkStop you'll never really know how much we appreciate your hard work and dedication, but we do.
Give it a few years and the baby will be analysing permit applications like a pro 😂
@@Zveebo i expect to see hats that match Mom's. 😁
Whoa hold on Alicia Stella is a mom now? Awesome!
Awesome update , thank you. As a local resident we are completly buzzing over here. Even thou nothing confirmed. wow jusy wow
Sure is exciting! I hope it grows into a lovely resort similar to Orlando.
Having walked across the site yesterday it is huge and that's only the southern land. They started doing archaeological digging from what I could see
At the presentation they said they have options to buy more land. I suspected the plans will change a lot in the next few months and year's.
I am SOOOO excited for this! I was holding out hope for the London Project, as the UK really needs a new Theme Park to challenge Merlin and get interest back in our parks, but having Universal come here would be amazing! I've already looked at house prices in the local area lol. Hopefully this gets the go-ahead and we get an incredible new park.
Posting this video while Disneyland Paris is hosting an event announcing new stuff is unintentionally very funny, lol
Was that where they revealed that they were changing the name of Walt Disney studious to Disney adventure world
Sooo awesome! Thorpe Park and Alton Towers there is a new kid in town
It will be very interesting when Universal officially announces this resort, what Disney does at the Paris resort. Their lack of response towards Epic Universe has been laughable. The size of this resort is similar to Islands of Adventure, which makes what type of attractions and lands they would put even more interesting. Also, the ~370-foot max height of built structures is very interesting. I can see three things that may be that tall; a hotel, an icon, or Hogwarts castle. I have to imagine this will include a premier hotel and maybe one large moderate hotel. The infrastructure improvements being proposed and the fact most of Great Britain is within a three-hour drive may facilitate not as many hotels when the resort first opens. I gotta imagine a summer 2027 announcement and a summer 2030 opening, IF major land reclamation brings by the end of this year.
Disney doesn’t need to respond to epic universe. They have double the park gates that universal does. Disney is still bigger and still draws a lot more foot traffic.
Every year.
Won't be Hogwarts castle. Its not going to have Harry potter attractions due to Warner already having harry potter experience nearby, and also wanting to keep the Orlando and London parks different enough from each other so that public interested to attend both. One of the castles from lord of the rings could be nearly that hight thou.
what I find wild is that 370 ft is MORE than twice the height of Hogwarts at Universal. Even Shanghai's Cinderella castle in under 200' !
Local councillors and MPs now realising that they can head over to Orlando or Japan for a genuine business trip to "assess the quality of the proposal".
I live about 90 minutes slow drive away from this location, and am totally stoked about this park. It's something the UK needs, and it'll shake up Legoland, Alton Towers, Paultons - those are okay places, but they do look rather tired. This really will revitalise the UK theme parks.
It's what Europe needs in general
6:53 Wow, 40% by rail!? Imagine if Florida and the United States as a whole actually prioritized this method of travel over vehicles. At least Florida is attempting to move in that direction very very slowly.
I75 and the Turnpike are always incredibly stressful and I'm sure I'm not the only person in North Florida who would absolutely visit the parks more if the trip there and back wasn't so excruciating
Universal is trying to bring Brightline/SunRail over near Epic Universe. It won't run directly to Epic Universe but it would be close so you could technically go from the airport to Epic Universe without a car. I assume Universal would bus you from the train station to one of their hotels if you choose to stay in one.
As a British person who hates flying and holidays in general, I am incredibly excited to see Universal Studios Great Britain advancing in development. The UK’s theme park market has been so lacking compared to mainland Europe who have Efteling, Europa Park and of course Disneyland Paris which have all gone unchallenged for too long.
Finally, an update on this. Thank you.
I live in Bedford, this is going to be great for the town as its got a great location , it just needs some more money to develop the area. Very exciting.
This is excellent work once again, thank you 🙏
Gonna need Bioreconstruct to move to Bedford for this one 😅
youtube.com/@ProjectUniversalUK?si=Bi28BcpMh9WUbTdU
do ya think house prices around bedford area will go up because of this ?
@@rickflair3228 100% because I'd presume there'd be more demand for housing locally? I mean this would be the biggest theme park in the UK. Though I'm not an expert haha, so could be wrong
@@mimii694 yeah would make sense right they are also building new train stations around the area to accommodate for it so that should help too, i live about 5 mins away from the location but if it becomes too busy we may have to move so hopefully the price of the house atleast gone up by then haha
I love that UK theme park includes planned train stations. In the US, you're lucky if the park have a bus route.
Great video, great news and great music!
Thanks!
Damn I feel like the people in Bedford won some sort of lottery of where Universal was going to build their park. I am happy that it will be relatively close to where I live, at least not 700$ for a plane ticket for a visit to Universal!
I'm staying quietly optimistic about this one! Fingers crossed Universal make a statement pretty soon after the public consultations so we can all start getting properly hyped!
I live in Birmingham so only an hour and a half away and with how long the project will take to complete my kids will be the perfect age to vist once it's all done!
So excited for all the updates you post! Thanks! 🎉
Do I plan on going to Great Britain? No. Is there a new Theme Park Stop update that I will still watch to the end? Yep!
Why wouldn’t you go?
@@daledonaldson3672 oh, I would love to go! Maybe someday when I have the funds!
@@floridafamilyfun1597you should! London is one of the best cities in the world! It is a top class
Thorpe Park will be a ghost town 😄so hope this goes ahead,great for the area👍🏻
I doubt it very much. It won't have the thrill rides. Plenty of cake to go round😅
Oh we’ve been waiting for this! ❤
🤞🤞🤞 My Dream Universal Park in the UK: Hollywood, Jurassic World, Hogsmeade, Nintendo World, Universal Monsters + BTTF, ET & Jaws jammed in there somewhere! I don't ask for much 😅
This is sounding like it’s actually going to happen and would be a huge win for universal
Nothing is certain until it's official from Universal. If they don't get the funding from Comcast then it's a no go even if everyone else is on-board with the project.
1 Word Outstanding
hey alicia! been watching your videos for a while now! i remember you reporting on the mario kart rumors, covering hagrids and velocicoaster and ever since it’s honestly been one of my dreams to go to islands of adventure specifically! and last week i did! i went with my girlfriend to all the disney parks and islands of adventure! will continue to keep watching and let’s see how universal great britain turns out!
It will be universal Bedford resort in Bedfordshire in Great Britain
So excited for this, its going to teach uk theme parks how its done. And no jetlag for us in the UK.
Great news update Alicia
We have a few parks in the UK but nothing like or as invested in as the US parks. So pleased this is seriously being considered. Although relying on the rail network would need more consideration as the UK rail network has been heavily underinvested in, is old, tired and unreliable. Even our roads require major investment now so if this injection helps, it’s got to be a good thing, plus we’d get a new theme park 😉
A water park probably wouldn’t work for England, we just don’t get decent weather for long enough to make it viable, unless they make it an indoor one available for all year use. Now that would be good, an indoor volcano bay!
For the first time I’d be able to say I’ve got an annual pass for universal, 😅and despite living hundreds of miles away…. I’d make bloody good use of it
It could be an entirely indoors water park. Imagine huge domes like the eden project.
Here we go,again this will keep us watching another 5 years of updates
I can't wait for this!
It will be Disneyland in Kent in Great Britain
An area themed on British Children’s Books, such as Wind and the Willows and Beatrix Potter.
I’ll be staying on updates on Universal Great Britain Updates and I even subscribe to the other universal Great Britain channels.
Overall keep up the good work Alicia
I would find it absolutely hilarious if they did NOT build a Harry Potter themed world at Universal GB. Like "What do you need a Potter world for? You already live in it! Let's have four acres devoted to the Fast and the Furious. International audiences love that stuff."
Disney legit thought that when they built the Magic Kingdom. The park opened without Pirates of the Carribean because they thought people would see all the actual pirate stuff in Florida instead. Everyone who visited the Magic Kingdom then proceeded to complain that it lacked the pirate ride. 😅
It’s so close to Warner Bro studies where the Harry Potter set is. A Harry Potter world would make a lot of sense
I wouldn't get too excited about the "Mixed Use" section. Mixed Use, especially in European usage, usually refers to housing mixed with non-housing options. Of course zones like "Entertainment" are included, but I think any possible future theme park area would have to be labeled as such when they start putting this out to the locals. Now this can also mean another CityWalk, with hotels, shops and restaurants, but that would be labeled as RDE. The first thing I saw when I looked at the map, though, was housing. There's no reason to have TWO train stations for just a theme park, especially when the current station IS RIGHT NEXT TO BOTH THESE AREAS! Then there's the Restoration Area. That's not for visitors; that's for locals. So I imagine the plan is to build a hotel at the southern edge - with a back entrance to the park, which could also be used by the East Gateway arrivals - and a lovely little SuburbWalk north of it: shops and dining with apartments on top, here and there some entertainment venues (pubs). It's pretty genius, actually, as they would have a permanent pool of people to patronize their establishments, a problem when building in an area that isn't right next to a large city. They might have bought the whole parcel with a promise to sell the rest to the city so the city can build a suburb here. There has to be some reason Bedford is so on board with everything. Usually locals are all out fighting stuff like this (see Frisco).
As for a future park, I'm sure those talks have happened behind the scenes. Methinks they have been given the future option of expanding either west or southwest (maybe in exchange for that Mixed Use parcel???). This would explain why the map has changed to include those Mixed Use zones. It would also explain why the RDE area is only found at the West Gateway Zone, when the obvious placement would have been between the Mixed Use and Theme Park areas, next to the already-existing Kempston Hardwick train station. Any future park would naturally be built next to a Transportation Hub and near the CityWalk. This means expansion will be either westward or southwestward. Possible westward expansion would explain why they bought that little nub next to all the farmland but have not given any plans for zoning it. The little tip of the RDE area linking to it is a major hint as to what it probably will be. I wouldn't expect a park here, probably more of a hotel zone with other CityWalk Entertainment, like mini golf, escape rooms, indoor water park, what have you. And pubs. Things that will interest the locals.
Southwest is more interesting, as all the stuff at the West Gateway has suddenly changed to more Mixed Use areas. The area south of here is barren and probably will be forever as there's a highway on one side, with a power station and a waste management company bordering it. I think both are involved in turning waste into fuel/power, so I think this may be a landfill. Doesn't exactly scream "Future Suburb!" Not sure how this works for future use as something other than a landfill, but it looks like they are scraping away the top of it - it's a very tall plateau that doesn't appear to be used for current waste - so maybe there's a window for when this area can be used for something else. It is currently much less of a mound near the railroad tracks. (Oddly - or maybe not - the waste management company was spun off from Vivendi, the company that used to own Universal.)
"A minimum of 8.5 million visitors a year" is an insane opening prediction. That's Universal Studios Hollywood numbers. The most-popular park in the UK right now, Legoland Windsor, doesn't even get 2.5 million. Though these numbers undoubtedly are based on CityWalk and not the actual park, it's still probably way over what they will actually get. It does make me wonder if a waterpark is in their opening plans. Indoor waterparks are becoming more and more popular in Europe thanks to their year-round nature - Manchester is building a massive one for 250,000 pounds - so a themed Universal indoor waterpark could probably pull in a million visitors. Putting this in the south of the Mixed Use area makes a lot of sense.
I'm all of a sudden weirdly excited by this. I have been planning a trip to Alton Towers after they finish with Nemesis, but I may have to postpone it a few years...
There are already two train stations without the theme park. The Wixam side station was already promised and the west side is just being moved a few yards down the track. They aren't going to build housing right next to a theme park, imagine the noise complaints. Mixed-use in British planning usually means the class use is undetermined.
The two rail stations are on two separate rail lines one North to South, the other East to West and one station is already there and the other already planned regardless of Universal. I had it confirmed to me today at the public consultation that the mixed use will likely be a couple of warehouses for equipment storage and other ventures such as cinema, indoor waterpark, local community football centre etc.
@@redstar5858I wouldn't be surprised if they end up buying the existing warehouses.
I will follow the channel
I'm from the UK and I can't wait for this to happen. We need more indoor rides in this country with our shocking weather. I just hope we don't get the same rides as Florida.
Is Universal still thinking about re-acquiring that park in Spain and weren't they considering building a park in Germany as well?
Wow. I thought for sure that the next video in the works would be about the two new hotels for Epic Universe that were announced yesterday.
Other than the dining location names there wasn’t any new information for the hotels we haven’t already covered. The new names and renderings will be included in our next Epic update is all.
Are we looking at the same construction at Stella nova & terra luna similar to that at dockside/surfside, as I found these hotels good but no soundproofing making the noise transfer in the rooms very bad!!!
I think Universal UK will be a test run for the european market. I expect that they are aiming to establish themself as the prime themepark of the uk before they are building a themepark in mainland europe. The Uk was often the testground for american companies before they expand into the mainland european market. I think that Universal will have different strategy than Disney for europe. Instead trying to make a huge resort in paris, they will build multiple smaller ones spread throughout europe.
I very much doubt they will create multiple resorts throughout Europe
I doubt it - the UK one will be very accessible for Europe, so there’s not really a need for a continental park in addition (it would only cannibalise attendance)
Just as Paris is the only Disney in Europe, this will be the only Universal in Europe too I think.
@@86wellacreWasn't there a rumour that they are interested in a theme park that close down in Spain. Europe can support two parks.
@@DavidKnowles0 yes Portaventura but I’m not sure to be honest. It would be like Disney having two parks in Europe, it would cannibalise the Paris resort. The US has two resorts but the distance between them is over 2000 miles.
Hey Alicia. We need your sleuthing skills! When do you think we'll hear about the June deadline decision?
Great Britain would be an AWESOME spot for a Zelda Land.
If they're gonna do a Nintedo world and don't want to repeat IPs, Zelda, Kirby and Metroid would be cool.
If they build Lord of the rings area, we will come
I would love to see some kind of attraction centered around James Bond. Something like the Great Movie Ride or Spider-Man or Eigth Voyage of Sinbad but with James fighting a whole bunch of famous villains.
It's fun brainstorming ideas: This is Universal's opportunity for their first LOTR land. An escape from Gringotts style ride (or something akin to Volcano: the Blast Coaster) that's you helping Frodo & Sam escape from Mount Doom that ends w you soaring w the eagles? Also, put a hotel inside Hogwarts & have 4 wings of rooms themed after each House?
Don’t ask me how, but I’ve recently found out that Universal are working on their first dedicated cruise ship, apparently in conjunction with Royal Caribbean. It’s codenamed Orion.
Makes since. They own DreamWorks and DreamWorks has already done a partnership with Royal Caribbean. So with the budget, Universal could very easily buy their own ship, and theme it around DreamWorka, Ilumination, and other Universal properties.
From what I’ve been told the project is already quite far into development, and an announcement will be made prior or just after D23.
Hope all those in the UK purchased a house or some property. That value is about to go up!
I've just received my 'Update from Universal Destinations and Experiences' email with attached letter!
Universal should hire you as their official hype girl. For the first time in my life i became a patreon member because your videos bring me joy and excitement, so i would love to support you/
Thank you so very much, that means a lot! You just know I love talking about these things!!
im so pumped man, i live in bedford and it is so dead here so this will be sick
I think they internally have already committed to this project, but just don't say it publicly yet.
Does this area also have the ability for future expansions? Doesnt seem like there is much around the area
this comment is off-topic
i know what the mr. krabs animatronic first seen last year at an expo of some kind is for: a brand new spongebob ride in las vegas. mr. krabs is seen near the ticket machine for the ride, saying random stuff quite similarly to mr. potato head in toy story midway mania at disneyland and disney world
Flinched a little at them giving themselves a height restriction and then dis the maths, thats the height of our new tallest coaster Hyperia +60% ... this is going to massively shake up Merlin!
Will have to get a bioconstruct clone in the UK😊
youtube.com/@ProjectUniversalUK?si=Bi28BcpMh9WUbTdU
The town of Wootton right there next to the plot. Tolkien synergy intensifies.
There is a theme park in the UK called Fantasy Island it has got an indoor space and it's very well-themed with good rides too including a Forbidden Journey clone but the theme is a mixture of dragons and wizards and a trackless shooting dark ride with custom content with screens and physical set pieces
The owners of this park were inspired by Universal
Honestly that land looks a mess and they'd be wrong not to let Universal make a park there. It would be extremely popular.
It's a former brickworks that was demolished and is surrounded by large distribution warehouses. No reason for anyone to be precious about the land (which already has planning permission for a business park and light industrial uses).
There's a row of houses on Manor Road that seem to be within the boundary; have Comcast bought these as well?
Rumours are that they have put in offers. They can always apply for a compulsive purchase order.
Some have sold, some were holding out for more money lol. One dude said he wanted a million. I'm not sure that's going to happen, they're going to build the park regardless so if they don't want to live in a theme park more or less they might as well move out and buy a much nicer house with the no doubt substantially above market value offer Universal have made.
I live 6 miles from this site 🎉😅
@ThemeParkStop Do you also have information about a possible take over by Universal of PortAventura in Spain, there have been sightings of Universal execs visiting and trademarks being put in place for rollercoasters by Comcast
They have also trademarked those names in a dozen other regions, it helps to protect their branding around the world. There have been no filings, disclosures or financial information at all about a possible sale of PAW to Comcast. Once there is, I’ll be sure to report on it!
One thing's for sure: J.K. Rowling's gonna have a BLAST in putting together her area for THIS gorgeous new resort! 😊
WB apparently have theme park rights for Wizarding World in the UK, so Universal GB won't have a Harry Potter land.
Will be interesting to see how Universal plan on dealing with the poor UK weather.. After all, most brits holiday to Orlando not just for the theme parks but to also get some decent sun!
OK, but the UK gets millions of foreign tourists a year still without Florida sun so it's just something else to do while you're there.
Its time for a Toronto Universal Theme Park.
While I think it's cool that we might be getting some unique UK based attractions, I kind of hope they don't over focus on that.
I hope they have an emphasis on British IP’s. In particular Lord of the Rings!
They could easily theme this park on some of Roald Dahls famous books. E.g. Willy Wonka, The Witches, Fantastic Mr Fox, The BFG, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, 007, Gremlins,Matilda, James & the Giant Peach. Etc.
Universal is so open with this stuff, Disney would never 😂
Expected 8.5M guests... how did they get to that number? The most popular Theme Park in Britain is Alton Towers which got 2.3M visitors last year. Thats almost 4x the attendance!
The fact This is closer to London where most foreign tourists travel every year to it's likely they'll have a lot more visitors. Connecting a train journey from one of the main London train stations to Bedford and just before it is the Wixams train station. Getting nearer to 8.5 million guests for this proposed theme park isn't in the realms of impossibility.
I believe that is in line with Disneyland Paris’ annual attendance.
This is playing in a whole different league than Alton Towers, my friend!
@@ThemeParkStop universal studios is not and never will be Disneyland
@@leewhite82Nor should it be. Universal’s demographic skews different from Disney.
Looks like universal is building a British churro stand.
I would suspect Universal wouldnt build a water park in the UK for the obvious weather related issues-our summers are hot but brief, amd our winters long and wet.
Unless it was an indoor water park, which could be interesting
Huge mistake. Legoland Windsor, the UK's most-visited park in 2023, had just 2.42 million visitors that year. Not a single one of the 25 most-visited theme parks in 2023 is in the UK.
tbh, I have more faith in Universal to be able to build stuff in a reasonable amount of time, and I'm pretty sure the "parks and experiences" separation was just a way to *reduce* the amount of red tape
So they're only planning one full theme park? I was hoping they would have room for a full second gate in the future. Maybe they will purchase that giant piece of land to the left of the core parcel of land.
The existing mixed use land to the north could easily be used for a second gate in the future.
I think they take lessons from Disney. Disney second park in paris had also a troublesome history and is considered the worst disney park.
@alexbaker7722 That northern portion is too small and narrow for a full second theme park. They restricted 1/3 of it to nature restoration area along the water. They then planned a major access road on the other left, leaving a very narrow awkward stretch of land available for mixed use development. Most likely it's going to be hotels and maybe an indoor water park or something, not a full second gate theme park.
@@isunlloaoll I agree it may not be an ideal shape, but there is still plenty of room up there. I'm not saying they will definitely use it for a second gate, but it's entirely plausible.
All being well I’m sure they would build a second gate in the future. There may be options nearby to purchase other land too.
Can they please come to Australia
This is the uk so expect many many delays we don’t do things simply here
I doubt it will happen, BUT The Wizarding World SHOULD be a part of this park. It is the most popular land worldwide and it comes from the UK - it only makes sense!
for new years
Surpised they never considered the impact on Luton airport
How do people still go to Disney? I don't understand it
How is it possible they can have structures as tall as 377 feet??! 🤣 That sounds crazy, I wonder what it would be
The turrets of a castle maybe?
Hotel
Although a 377 feet tall roller coaster why not!
Thank you to Theme Park Worldwide for sharing the presentations from Saturday 13th’s public consultation: ua-cam.com/video/EU6WKlS-diY/v-deo.htmlsi=-sMuQvkZ6lOhkoiB
Yes, thanks so much!! What’s amazing is because turnout was so high they did multiple presentations in a row to accommodate everyone!
For this place to be truly successful, it needs to be totally indoors. It's too cold and rainy most of the year there for an outdoor park. And forget about an outdoor water park. That definitely needs to be totally enclosed.
They can do something similar to what their did with Universal Beijing which has a lot of attractions inside buildings with some attractions outside such as their coasters. And some were a mix of both.
The weather is no worse than Paris, our winters are actually better than Paris.
People way overstate the weather issue.