Universal Orlando To Get $5 Million From Local Government To Build Next Theme Park
Well, I think its safe to say that today has been a darn good day for Universal Orlando! This afternoon Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings along with county commissioners signed off on a plan to spend $5 million helping Universal Orlando develop its next theme park!
According to a recent piece in the Orlando Sentinel, Orange County and Universal will split the cost of relocating a wastewater pipe that runs through the land the Universal wants to use to develop its Epic Universe theme park!
The deal has sparked criticisms from some activists who have said that Universal (which is owned by Comcast Corp) could foot the bill on it’s own especially since its parent company made a $13.1 billion profit last year. It should also be noted that this came seven months after Demings and the commission approved a separate deal to give Universal $125 million to pay for a new road on the same property.
However, Demings held firm with his decision calling it a sensible agreement because Universal will be replacing an important bit of infrastructure that would eventually need replacing anyway.
Photo: NBCUniversal
Universal estimates that it will spend around $14 million to move the pipe with the money awarded by Orange County going as a credit against future fees.
So what is Epic Universe? Universal Orlando’s third theme park will be built a few miles south of Universal CityWalk with some speculation that it will open at some point between 2023 – 2025.
Universal is remaining pretty tight-lipped about the project but there are a couple of things we do know. The first is that this park will be the home to Super Nintendo World. According to reports, there will also be an area of the park that pays tribute to classic monsters including Frankenstein, the Werewolf, the Mummy and Creature from the Black Lagoon.
In addition, kids are expected to flock to a recreation of the mythical world of Berk from the How To Train Your Dragon movies and there’s also expected to be another tie in the Potterverse though this is still surrounded in speculation. Some believe the focus might be on Fantastic Beasts which has a third film currently in the works.
Here at UniversalParksBlog we’ll be keeping up with all of these exciting developments so keep checking in with us for the latest news and updates.
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Source: Orlando Sentinel
