So Universal Great Britain has been given the go ahead and I’d like to weigh my thoughts in on this one as I think there’s a lot to discuss!
Personally, I’m not as excited as others are, at least at the minute, as I have a small suspension that we’re not going to get Islands of Adventure like everyone will probably want. I’d much prefer a unique park with unique attractions and reasons to visit here rather than doing what Disney have done with Disneyland Paris.
In Paris, they reuse a lot of their rides, which is fine for the most part, but I’ve heard a lot of people don’t find any of the Paris attractions better than their US counterparts. I do like Paris’ Space Mountain with the Star Wars overlay as I think it fits it. The outer building and Jules Verne aesthetic doesn’t fit it as well, but the ride is good. Big Thunder isn’t as good as Magic Kingdoms and our Avengers Campus and Star Wars areas are very tiny in comparison to the US ones.
What I’m trying to say here is that I’d like Universal Great Britain to be worth visiting, not just for Brits but also for international guests too. Come to Universal Great Britain to see the uniquely themed rides and get a sense of Britain and not an Americanised view, if that makes sense? We’ve already got Orlando if we want to see that.
We’re British and we like different things to the Americans, and I’d like to see a lot more British IPs alongside the better selling American ones. I know we’ll see Jurassic World and more (maybe) Harry Potter, but it would be great to see some more British oriented franchises too! Shaun of the Dead/Hot Fuzz, Rush and Johnny English could all work in some way and are all under the Universal umbrella.
Then there’s all our folklore they can tap into. Robin Hood, Beowulf and King Arthur could all have something themed to them, maybe even look into local legends around the Bedford area to add to the UKs own Dark Universe?
Finally, what’s to stop Universal from talking to Sony or Microsoft and bringing some game franchises to this park? The UK has a decent history of game development, Tomb Raider was developed here, and so was much of Rares offerings on the N64. The GTA series, Batman Arkham series, Worms, Sniper Elite, Time Splitters, Little Big Planet, Forza Horizon, much of the Burnout series and of course Planet Coaster too! Now I know they’re would have to be a lot of deals made as many of those are under different umbrellas these days, but imagine some of those being brought to a new area!
I think the biggest issue that Universal will bring with it is the obliteration of some of the UK parks that are struggling already. I can see Blackpool Pleasure Beach just about managing as it’s far enough away and offers different things to Universal. Flamingo Land will certainly have trouble and I can also see Alton Towers and possibly Drayton Manor having issues, at least during the opening few years of the new park.
It is horrible to think that some parks will die out, but the UKs theme park scene is all over the place at the minute and thinning it out to allow new growth might be a good thing? It might be a terrible thing too, but something does need to change.
Merlin will have to pull their finger out to be able to keep Towers competitive when compared with Universal, which I’m going to see as a huge positive. If Alton Towers and Merlin have to start trying again, then it can only improve Alton Towers surely?
I feel that the London based Merlin parks will suffer a little, but not enough to panic them as Legoland is Legoland, Chessington is seeing a lot of investment already and has newer IPs attached to it too. Thorpe Park should manage fine as well as they are thrill seeker focused and I think that will work on their favour.
I’m not saying that Universal won’t offer thrilling rides and attractions but all of Thorpe’s line up is designed for an older audience. Universal will target everyone, just like Alton Towers does now, so Thorpe should be fine. Maybe?
I think I’ll get a bit more excited for it when we start getting ideas of what IPs we’ll see, what manufacturers are being brought in and what rides well be seeing. Universal has the chance to properly upset the apple cart and through in some truly epic attractions and experiences. I mean can you imagine if they bring a giga coaster with them?
I can’t see that happening, but it would slap Hyperia down a notch. A multi launch coaster much like Taron or Velocicoaster? Icon would certainly look tame by comparison. Then there’s the dark rides we could get too. Gangsta Granny, Tomb Blaster and Thorpe Parks Ghost Train could all be made to look ancient by comparison to some of the newer dark ride systems out there.
I think what I’m trying to say is that I’m more excited for the huge change that might come about as Universal starts building and finally opens. I hope that our current parks start to invest and tidy themselves up so they can remain relevant. I’m sure the British public will turn their backs on parks that have rides breaking down all the time, look untidy, over charge and have crap food offerings!
Portaventura World is worth mentioning here as it was once part of the Universal group, but it was sold off in 2004 to become the park we know today. Apparently the parent company of universal was keen on cutbacks at the time, so Portaventura was sold. I wouldn’t have thought the same thing will happen here though, but I thought it was worth mentioning!
I don’t want to come across as negative, there is a lot that will come out of this, the good and the bad. I’ll definitely get more invested as details come down the line and we know more than a concept image!
I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on this though!
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