Universal buys 100 acres of land

[lockedoutlogic]

Holy crap! What!? Where will they get the labor? I thought the labor was a huge issue on additional gates? Tell me I'm wrong, I'd love for more gates!

It is a big problem...but most people don't want to hear it.

There's this belief that people want to work for minimum or near minimum wage on Christmas to serve them in the Orlando entertainment megalopolis...they don't...and largely never will.

But the answer is to pilfer the competition when it comes to labor...seaworld closing could help...or being acquired/integrated into universal...which is always an outside threat to the rat.

 

[sachilles]

...that's scheduled to happen in May...

Does anyone know the scope of work on I-4 near universal? One would think they'd offer to offset some costs to customize the interchange if it works in their favor, or even the municipality requiring it for permitting reasons. Just seems like the time is right.

 

[embracejg]

It would be tough to get anything done involving I-4.

 

[sachilles]

Follow up question.
Google earth shows a large industrial complex just north of the new land and in the middle of some of the smaller acquisitions. It looks like Lockheed Martin. Anyone familiar with area know the status of the complex? Do they have current contracts to produce anything.....if they closed up shop, would it be a likely superfund site? Seems like that is the big piece of the pie that Universal could use to help in Florida domination.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Follow up question.
Google earth shows a large industrial complex just north of the new land and in the middle of some of the smaller acquisitions. It looks like Lockheed Martin. Anyone familiar with area know the status of the complex? Do they have current contracts to produce anything.....if they closed up shop, would it be a likely superfund site? Seems like that is the big piece of the pie that Universal could use to help in Florida domination.

It's Lockheed Martin and there's a good chance it's a grey field...

Wdw sits on what would 100% would be a brownfield today...

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Does anyone know the scope of work on I-4 near universal? One would think they'd offer to offset some costs to customize the interchange if it works in their favor, or even the municipality requiring it for permitting reasons. Just seems like the time is right.

That was a joke...

"May the day never come"

 

[sachilles]

Answering my own question on Lockheed Martin:

Looks like they have a lot of recent business that should keep that plant running. I'm sure they'll love having a theme park next door.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busi...-lockheed-martin-missiles-20170519-story.html

 

[Mr. EPCOT]

I think Comcast is looking to be very ambitious with this land...

 

[dlavender]

It is a big problem...but most people don't want to hear it.

There's this belief that people want to work for minimum or near minimum wage on Christmas to serve them in the Orlando entertainment megalopolis...they don't...and largely never will.

But the answer is to pilfer the competition when it comes to labor...seaworld closing could help...or being acquired/integrated into universal...which is always an outside threat to the rat.

That would be really interesting, should it happen.

I'd really hate to see it close.

Perhaps down the road being acquired would be the best thing for that park.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I think Comcast is looking to be very ambitious with this land...

We all do...cause it's good for us. Except disney and Comcast expanding parks to make up for lost revenue due to cable cutting is horrible to our wallets...and specifically to we...the travelers

 

[lockedoutlogic]

That would be really interesting, should it happen.

I'd really hate to see it close.

Perhaps down the road being acquired would be the best thing for that park.

I think they'll be sold...I don't know how that would affect the parks or properties though...

What I'm "amazed" at is how much damage that documentary did...probably the single biggest event in modern theme park history...it's stunning.

If Comcast bought just that operator alone...they'd have a children's park near philly (headquarters)...and two expandable regional parks to operate out of in Florida (Tampa) and Virginia...it's an attractive property...if they can stabilize sea world.

If they combined the two compounds in Orlando and filled in between? More to do than at Disney world...period...

 

[dlavender]

I think they'll be sold...I don't know how that would affect the parks or properties though...

What I'm "amazed" at is how much damage that documentary did...probably the single biggest event in modern theme park history...it's stunning.

If Comcast bought just that operator alone...they'd have a children's park near philly (headquarters)...and two expandable regional parks to operate out of in Florida and Virginia...it's an attractive property...if they can stabilize sea world.

If they combined the two compounds in Florida and filled in between? More to do than at Disney world...period...

It's truly amazing.

Almost single handily burned the place to the ground and negated all the good the place has done.

It's one of the best parks in the country, IMO.

It's hard to believe that for $99 you get basically an annual pass.

I wish they would join forces with Comcast and become a week long destination.

I know Uni pulled out of the "flex ticket" a few years ago, most likely to carve out their own experience.

It'll be interesting to watch.

 

[Mr. EPCOT]

I think they'll be sold...I don't know how that would affect the parks or properties though...

What I'm "amazed" at is how much damage that documentary did...probably the single biggest event in modern theme park history...it's stunning.

If Comcast bought just that operator alone...they'd have a children's park near philly (headquarters)...and two expandable regional parks to operate out of in Florida (Tampa) and Virginia...it's an attractive property...if they can stabilize sea world.

If they combined the two compounds in Orlando and filled in between? More to do than at Disney world...period...

I think SeaWorld has been done in by a variety of things all at once. Yes, Blackfish didn't help, but the skyrocketing popularity of Universal due to the Wizarding World and the loss of Anheuser-Busch as their parent company were maybe the real heavy hitters. If AB still owned SeaWorld when Blackfish was produced, it's easy to imagine that their corporate savvy and influence would have prevented Blackfish from being such a thorn in their side.

I know Uni pulled out of the "flex ticket" a few years ago, most likely to carve out their own experience.

It actually was just less than a year ago, when Wet 'n Wild closed.

 

[writerguyfl]

And I really don't see Orlando giving them permission on public roadway to build a private rapid transit of any kind to connect just their parks. Orlando is going to want some kind of public benefit. See the fights over Disney's desire to be the first stop on the maglev train that has been proposed for the new rail station. Apparently Disney won't help with the funding unless they are the first stop, not just a stop. So Disney was completely cut out, and now the whole project, which was something of a pipe dream anyway, is beyond jeopardy and probably into lost cause status.

I definitely disagree. The City of Orlando has a history of giving away public goods/money to Universal. As an example, the City paid for the pedestrian bridge that connects two the hotels to the theme parks. This was highly controversial. (See the Related Articles section on the following page for opinions.)

Orlando Sentinel: http://articles.orlandosentinel.com...al-orlando-universal-boulevard-property-taxes

Full Disclosure: I don't know the status of this project. It may have been scrapped. Regardless, my point is that the City of Orlando isn't against giving away stuff to Universal.

Also, Orange County officials seemed eager to help facilitate the privately built Maglev train between the airport and the International Drive area. That plan involved providing access to public land a private company. Again, I don't know the status of that project. But, there seems to be support by local government for these types of things.

(By the way, I think you're mixing up your trains. The Maglev was never going anywhere near Disney World. The train that was to include Disney World was the high-speed rail project between the Orlando International Airport and Tampa. That project was ultimately rejected by our governor.)

-----

While the connectivity of the old and new portions of Universal Orlando are interesting, I think the biggest unknown regarding infrastructure is vehicular access.

Sand Lake Road between I-4 and Kirkman Road is already a big mess. If Universal intends to build a theme park on this new land, that short stretch of road will become eternally gridlocked. Figuring out how to get thousands of cars to and from the new site is a far bigger problem to overcome.

[Note: Post edited to remove a subjective opinion of the Governor of Florida.]

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I definitely disagree. The City of Orlando has a history of giving away public goods/money to Universal. As an example, the City paid for the pedestrian bridge that connects two the hotels to the theme parks. This was highly controversial. (See the Related Articles section on the following page for opinions.)

Orlando Sentinel: http://articles.orlandosentinel.com...al-orlando-universal-boulevard-property-taxes

Full Disclosure: I don't know the status of this project. It may have been scrapped. Regardless, my point is that the City of Orlando isn't against giving away stuff to Universal.

Also, Orange County officials seemed eager to help facilitate the privately built Maglev train between the airport and the International Drive area. That plan involved providing access to public land a private company. Again, I don't know the status of that project. But, there seems to be support by local government for these types of things.

(By the way, I think you're mixing up your trains. The Maglev was never going anywhere near Disney World. The train that was to include Disney World was the high-speed rail project between the Orlando International Airport and Tampa. That project was sunk by our idiot governor.)

-----

While the connectivity of the old and new portions of Universal Orlando are interesting, I think the biggest unknown regarding infrastructure is vehicular access.

Sand Lake Road between I-4 and Kirkman Road is already a big mess. If Universal intends to build a theme park on this new land, that short stretch of road will become eternally gridlocked. Figuring out how to get thousands of cars to and from the new site is a far bigger problem to overcome.

Agree 100%...that's the history and the political climate in Orange County...

...but do you have stats to back that up?

 

[jknezek]

Oh I have no doubt Orlando will offer incentives. Almost any city will... see the bidding war for Amazon's second HQ. But building a pedestrian bridge is one thing. Using public right away along a few miles of the busiest tourist strip in the city for express transport benefitting one company only... is a different kettle of fish.

No doubt in my mind the city will pay for general road improvements and a massive upgrade to that spaghetti intersection. That has benefits to all, not just Universal.

 

[Mr. EPCOT]

Using public right away along a few miles of the busiest tourist strip in the city for express transport benefitting one company only... is a different kettle of fish.

FWIW, I've always heard that the reason Universal Blvd. has such a large median up and down most of its length was to eventually accommodate some kind of mass transit option for Universal.

 

[jknezek]

FWIW, I've always heard that the reason Universal Blvd. has such a large median up and down most of its length was to eventually accommodate some kind of mass transit option for Universal.

An interesting theory, but here's the Google street view. There really isn't much of a median for a lot of the length where the traffic is heaviest. Maybe that was the case once, but as the area got built up, the median disappeared? I don't know.

https://www.google.com/maps/search/....4640126,48a,35y,347.65h,79.21t/data=!3m1!1e3

 

[writerguyfl]

An interesting theory, but here's the Google street view. There really isn't much of a median for a lot of the length where the traffic is heaviest. Maybe that was the case once, but as the area got built up, the median disappeared? I don't know.

The median of Kirkman Road is pretty much wide open. That's probably an easier route, as the Universal Blvd and I-4 intersection has a lot of retention ponds that would probably create construction issues.

That said, I think Universal has already started planning something to connect the current property with the new hotels that will happen in the former Wet N Wild location. If you re-visit TheMaxRebo's map on page 1, you'll see a small yellow property that has been purchased. I believe that's immediately west of Universal Blvd (off Visitors Circle). That's likely to be used for some sort of private transportation system (automated monorail, gondola, busway, or tram) to get guests from the new hotels to the parks.

Now that I'm looking, they could probably build whatever it is from Wet N Wild to the newly purchased land through the space between Universal Blvd and Kirkman Rd. Doing that, they wouldn't have to displace anything significant (maybe a storage yard or class B/C office space) and they'd only need to get approval to cross over the public roads. That might be easier to do politically speaking than running down the middle of Kirkman Rd.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

The median of Kirkman Road is pretty much wide open. That's probably an easier route, as the Universal Blvd and I-4 intersection has a lot of retention ponds that would probably create construction issues.

That said, I think Universal has already started planning something to connect the current property with the new hotels that will happen in the former Wet N Wild location. If you re-visit TheMaxRebo's map on page 1, you'll see a small yellow property that has been purchased. I believe that's immediately west of Universal Blvd (off Visitors Circle). That's likely to be used for some sort of private transportation system (automated monorail, gondola, busway, or tram) to get guests from the new hotels to the parks.

Now that I'm looking, they could probably build whatever it is from Wet N Wild to the newly purchased land through the space between Universal Blvd and Kirkman Rd. Doing that, they wouldn't have to displace anything significant (maybe a storage yard or class B/C office space) and they'd only need to get approval to cross over the public roads. That might be easier to do politically speaking than running down the middle of Kirkman Rd.

If they invest in a transport system...I'm guessing is light rail or automated small car monorail of some time...I don't think the more advanced pod prts would be needed. Especially if they make it a point a to b scenario and then Walk or tram beyond.

I'm thinking like an airport monorail...costly for sure...but not like what disney has continued to build "for show"