Universal Orlando - New Orlando Park Design Rumors

We’ve talked about Universal upcoming secret new theme park in Orlando for some time, but we’ve never really gone into detail about what it will be like. After all… for the longest time as soon as I’d heard a rumor about one thing, another rumor would come up claiming something else entirely, so everything seemed very much in flux for the longest time. This is as it should be, considering how much money it costs to build a brand new from-scratch theme park, you know Universal isn’t just going to take the first idea and run with it, they’re going to work all the angles, all the possibilities, try out all the various mixtures of IP that could be used for the possible theming.
While I don’t know if they’ve finalized the design yet myself, this week ThemeParkUniversity has opted to post their own prediction on what the forth park may be like. This includes a strange idea I had not really heard much about which would see the center of the new park with a free-to-enter public hub space that would also serve a similar purpose to Citywalk at the existing resort. From there you would then pass through entry gates into each of the themed-lands, where you would be forced back into the central public space to transition from one land to another.
I’m not sold on this concept, and personally I’d got a hunch it could be axed before the park opens, as it seems like a giant logistical, staffing and security bottleneck just waiting to happen that will cause more problems than give advantages. This also sounds more like a “leftover” idea from one of the original concepts I had first heard about the project before being dropped, where the idea was to build it up with separate lands, where guests would arrive and stay in an on-site hotel and visit each land entirely by itself in the same way guests on a cruise-ship opt for various experiences as they arrive at each port-of-call along the way.
Speaking of hotels… you know there is going to be one, and they claim it will be a large and tall one at the backside of the entire new park, allowing guests to have room views down into the park itself, much like how guests staying in Cabana Bay’s end-towers get an incredible view down into Volcano Bay.
As for the lands… according to their report, the park will open with four and have room for at least two more to add as expansions, which they list as being themed to: Fantastic Beasts, Super Nintendo World, How to Train Your Dragon and Universal Classic Monsters. The first two have been fairly locked in for some time now, as well as the Dragons… though I had heard rumors of other plans that could combine the various Dreamworks Animation properties into one land, or give several Dreamworks Animation properties their own lands… but some of those could be for future expansions. To be honest, I find it odd they would limit their Dreamworks presence to just one film property, especially one that just released its final chapter.
The Universal Classic Monsters is an interesting choice, not because it doesn’t have a place at a Universal park, but more so because the Orlando parks have mostly chosen to ignore this part of Universal’s film history over the years outside of Halloween Horror Nights season. Previous rumors however had indicated they might have been looking at a land themed to the new ‘Dark Universe” reboot versions of the monsters, but since Dark Universe has been on-hold since the last Mummy film failed to find big box-office, I’ve got to wonder if they might be better off putting this on hold for a future expansion when they have more solid studio plans.
Meanwhile of all the other rumors… I can see how they may have opted not to try and go with anything Lord of the Rings/Hobbit related, though I’m surprised we’re not seeing anything more SciFi oriented, like all those rumors of trying to include Star Trek into the park just as the franchise is working itself back from a lull. Still… anything can happen between now and when they choose to announce it, so stay tuned!