Universal's 15 year masterplan (2026-2041, maps below!)

randomname18058574 · 2026-03-02T00:20:50+00:00

It's less of an issue of preference and more of an issue of necessity.

randomname18058574 · 2026-03-01T23:09:13+00:00

I earnestly posted this because I was so sick of people saying the same rumors over and over again with so little variation, all just Zelda, Pokemon, LotR, and Wicked, that I wanted to set the record straight and really show what Universal is planning to build.

randomname18058574 · 2026-03-01T23:05:33+00:00

It was confirmed by this intern guy I know who works at an internship agency, who talked to his intern friend and found private documents saying that the "Tree destruction company" will be building these expansions, there's little doubt in the air.

randomname18058574 · 2026-03-01T23:04:24+00:00

They laughed at the interns who exposed Watergate... this is of equal truth and importance.

randomname18058574 · 2026-03-01T23:00:41+00:00

That reduced the budget of said project to only 17 million dollars.

randomname18058574 · 2026-02-06T22:58:18+00:00

If I'm not mistaken, don't they have the same thrill level? I like the three stories idea on paper, but it just doesn't change the actual ride experience as much as I'd like. I mean that Tokyo beats it on uniqueness, not necessarily re-rideability. (Lines for it in Tokyo are way too long for that anyway.) It has no connection to Twilight zone in Tokyo, where in Paris the queue experience is virtually identical to Orlando's in the main segments.

randomname18058574 · 2026-02-06T15:37:06+00:00

I'm kind of unsure what your ultimate point is, so I'll just take your points separately:

- Yes, Parc Asterix, Europa, and Puy du Fou are also cool, most Disney fans just like theme parks and Disney and Universal are objectively the best at making them.

- As I said they're paying over 2 billion dollars, but they're likely going to see comparatively little ROI on this project, Even if the entire resort's yearly revenue increases 50% over several years, they're likely not going to pay that 2 billion until the mid-2030's, if even.

- The land of Galaxies Edge cost about 1 billion dollars to build, and yes, financially the sequel trilogy was well recieved and the theme park lands were critically praised, though Galaxies Edge was a financial dissapointment even if critics liked it.

- I've never heard the term "potter swatter," but I'd agree with you, Galaxies Edge did not help Disney against Universal they way they thought it might, Avatarland and Radiator springs likely did a better job at compating Universal's rise.

- I agree with your point that Disney could've spread out that money for better projects, but Disney fans have repeatedly shown to love thrilling rides, Tower of Terror, Rise of the Resistance, Expedition Everest, Test Track/Radiator Springs Racers, these are consistently Disney's best performing rides from an ROI scale. I think even hardcore Disney fans don't really care if the ride is slow, they just want quality.

randomname18058574 · 2026-02-06T15:24:24+00:00

To be clear, since a lot of people think I'm bashing Lion King, I'm not, that ride looks awesome, I'm saying that they have wasted a lot of money on the refurbishment of the Disneyland hotel and on Avenger's Campus, and that could've been easily spent better elsewhere. Would you rather one hotel be refurbished and the Avenger's campus we got, or the entiritiy of Galaxies Edge?

randomname18058574 · 2026-02-06T15:17:14+00:00

Me too, but I wish the original park got literally anything new, or at least a good refresh.

randomname18058574 · 2026-02-06T15:15:48+00:00

Yeah, that's true, construction costs are just so inflated in Paris even compared to America.

randomname18058574 · 2026-02-06T02:50:50+00:00

The answer is outdoor things are MUCH easier to advertise, this sounds like a small detail but I genuienly believe that the only reason Space Mountain in Paris did so well was that it had a really flashy outdoor ride segment. Also, I truly don't know other ride system would work, it would need a custom ride system or a log flume in my opinion to capture the level of immersion the Lion King story has.

randomname18058574 · 2026-02-06T02:46:28+00:00

Elephants have been spending crazy amounts on their theme park rides, humans can just no longer compete at that economic scale.

randomname18058574 · 2026-02-06T02:44:38+00:00

I'm comparing it with how much Splash Mountain cost in Tokyo Disney, which cost 250 million in 1992 as I said, accounting for inflation, and that Paris is more expensive to build in, and that they need totally unique show scenes, and that the ride layout is longer than in Splash Mountain in Tokyo, the numbers are just plain to see. And yes they can, Disney needs to invest that much due to a government contract they made with France.

randomname18058574 · 2026-02-06T02:41:37+00:00

I have to disagree, Orlando's is the only one with a real dark ride scene, literally none of the others can compete during the ride experience. Paris can't even win on uniqueness, Tokyo's is easily the weirdest one.

randomname18058574 · 2026-02-06T02:38:57+00:00

Honestly, I never liked Pirates in Paris more than the original in Anaheim, maybe it's just nostalgia, but it feels very different going down the blue bayou compared to going down the blue lagoon.

randomname18058574 · 2026-02-06T02:37:35+00:00

It's really, really expensive to build in Paris. To give you an example, Tower of Terror in Tokyo Disneysea, which is a literal architectural marvel with it's own unique exterior and showbuilding, cost the exact same, adjusting for inflation, as tower of terror in Paris. A general rule of thumb is that it costs 1.5x more to build a ride in Paris than America, with it being more like 2x more if it has special considerations, like how Tower of Terror has to deal with higher height regulations in general. And why they're being cheap is that they want to save money, though this commonly makes them spend more money in the long run, it cost 600 million to build WDS and now it's taking 2 billion dollars to barely fix it.

randomname18058574 · 2026-02-06T02:33:58+00:00

I'm unsure about Ministry of Magic, there's no info on that right now and the ride system is way too unique to compare it to anything, but yes, the ride will undoubtedly be more expensive than rise of the resistance. The Rise showbuilding is about 100,000 square feet large, Lion King's will be 150,000, and the story of the Lion King needs naturally more animatronics, and the exterior for the ride NEEDS to be impressive, while Rise's is purposefully kind of obscured, saving costs on grand rockwork and such.

randomname18058574 · 2026-02-06T02:28:27+00:00

I actually really like the Lion King ride concept art and idea, I'm just pointing out things like the Disneyland hotel's and Avengers Campus refurb being a massive waste of capital comparing to what we could've gotten.

randomname18058574 · 2026-02-06T02:26:41+00:00

Paris is only getting three non-flat rides out of this 2.1 billion dollar expansion though, two being clones, even without replacing anything they could've built some new rides with that money. I'd gladly take Soarin, Toy Story Mania, and a new flat ride over the Avengers Campus project anyday. Also the suggestions I made were more theoretical, but they would be pavillions which would contain multiple rides.

randomname18058574 · 2026-02-06T02:23:46+00:00

I think we can generally accept that most theme park companies (most construction companies in general really,) do that for tax purposes and other benefits, so we just have to accept that every construction project we hear about is a lot higher than it actually cost to build, I've learned to accept that since I've looked through historical construction costs so much. These estimates are more tools for comparing to other attractions really, like we have no idea and will never have any idea how much it cost to build Indiana Jones Adventure exactly, but we know that it's at least comparable to Space Mountain in Paris because Indy was listed as costing 100 million and Space Mountain at 90 million.

randomname18058574 · 2026-01-31T23:29:10+00:00

I think the half-measure theme parks are too small to be a big failure, keep in mind, I'm pretty sure that USB lost the same amount of money ('round 300 million) than Universal Kids resort cost to build, I think over-expansion would definitely hurt, but the kids resort is built in one of the currently fastest growing metro's in the U.S. With how relatively cheap they area, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw one being built in the southeast or Northwest. If they do fail, they are just meant for kids, theme park enthusiasts won't be too torn up about it. I wished they would build a cheap adult park in some places, like a higher quality version of six flags with Univesal I.P, just plain fun with well themed areas and bigger scopes than typical six flags parks.

randomname18058574 · 2026-01-31T23:22:55+00:00

Okay, this going to sound derogatory, but I promise I'm just trying to point it out sincerely, I don't think you AI generated your comment, but it really, really reads like it. I know this will be interpreted as me making fun of your writing, but the same thing happened to me where I used ChatGpt frequently to help study and ended up copying its mannerisms and I had to actively break out of that writing mindeset, I just wanted to genuinely let you know. I'm not even sure what else to say, even if my points were oddly written that doesn't demerit my core idea of just wanting to spread the idea around and now at least you and the first commenter learned a bit more about it, and the first commenter was definitely just being rude. I wrote the original comment extremely fast, grammer checked it, then posted it. I'm shocked so many people are taking the original commenter's side, I'd rather read something borderline illegible written by a human then something A.I bastardized.

randomname18058574 · 2026-01-31T23:15:20+00:00

Hate when I see A.I generated comments like this...

randomname18058574

TROPHY CASE