Comcast warms up to its Universal theme parks with new investments

Comcast is fully behind the parks, and I have heard numbers of $100-150 million that are slated to be spent each year for the next 5+ years for Universal Orlando alone. They appear to be committed to taking an even bigger chunk out of Disney vacations, and I'm excited.

Not to go down the rumor path, but...Soundstage 44 at Orlando (Murder She Wrote/Xena theater) has just been completely ripped down in under a week and permits popped up very quick that were evidently rushed through. And instead of the usual contractor for Universal handling it, it is all under the direction of Universal Creative. They are rushing something along, and there are a great many that suspect Transformers has been fast-tracked for this coast. To add to the mystery, Universal Creative evidently planted at least one leak to find and plug up some "holes" (this is suspected to be the House of Horrors rumor). Personally, I've heard that indirectly that a Special Projects person said Transformers would be coming in 13 months.

Whatever it is, they're moving quick, and from seemingly out of nowhere. Regardless of what happens with that plot, I am very much looking forward to Comcast dumping money into the resort and seeing the results.

I thought Transformers was a given for Orlando. Am I just recalling gossip or was that something in the press?

I never expected Orlando to get Transformers, because it's the same thing as Spiderman, except with robots, right?

Same ride system, apparently, but that doesn't mean it's not worth applying to a different story and different video and effects.

We saw that building being taken down---it's landlocked, and I'm not sure it's big enough for a "real" show building the size of Transformers/Spidey---at least, not by eyeballing it. But, that plot could well be bigger than I'm thinking.

I am super excited for the improvements to the parks, especially the replication of Harry Potter at the different parks. I think it will take away from the crowds at Universal Orlando a little bit since people can go to one closer to their area of the country. Plus, in the case of Universal Studios (not IOA), that park was getting kind of abandoned and sad looking at parts. It will definitely revitalize that particular venue to have some new stuff added.

Brian Noble said:

We saw that building being taken down---it's landlocked, and I'm not sure it's big enough for a "real" show building the size of Transformers/Spidey---at least, not by eyeballing it. But, that plot could well be bigger than I'm thinking.

Monsters Cafe has become a barely open, barely functioning place and it is rumored to be on the chopping block in very short order. They were flying sightline test balloons up to about 65 feet, and Transformers is a dual-level building. Plus, with the recent re-opening of La Bamba Cafe as a character dining location, losing Monsters Cafe is not a net loss to the park in terms of dining capacity (never mind that when it is actually open, it is only open for about 4-5 hours).