Universal considering UK theme park in Bedford

After the very positive meeting with the local MP, the new neighbours moved in.
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Jamesss said:
I expect a lot of locals will be in favour. For all the families in with kids, it'll be like having a bit of Orlando on their doorstep. A dream come true for many.

Let's hope there're no rare insects or ancient archeological artefacts on site.
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Most of the area is currently farmland and the old brickworks, so it shouldn't be too bad.

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Dear Santa Mr. Yasin,

My name is Dar, I'm 34 and a half, and I've been a very good thoosie this decade.

For the new universal park I would like:
  • A clone of the dueling Mack at epic universe
  • A donkey kong mine cart coaster
  • A clone of velocicoaster but instead of ending after the roll over water, it goes straight into the Taron layout (Taron is another Intamin at Phantasialand in germany, Intamin should still have the blueprints I hope(?))
  • A log flume like Dudley-do-right, but less wet
  • A dark ride like rise of the resistance (I know it's a disney ride, but I think they won't notice because there isn't a disney in the UK)
  • Lots of parking with solar panels
  • Good transport links
Thank you very much,
Dar

p.s. I will leave scotch and cookies out for you and a carrot for your PA
 
davidm said:
New BBC news article - doesn't say anything new I think, but it exists...

www.bbc.co.uk

Universal Studios UK: Is a theme park coming to Stewartby?

What might a major new theme park mean for a Bedfordshire village and its 1,200 inhabitants?
www.bbc.co.uk
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I saw people complaining about BBC's fact checking quality control going down the gutter recently - thorpe park? 490 acres? If you include all the land and lakes from the boundaries of monks walk and Staines Road, you're still struggling to reach even half that. Ofc Towers is bumped up by the gardens and surrounding forestry, which kind of diminishes the sheer scale that this piece of land for Universal will be.
 
I think Thorpe Park do own much of the lake real estate don't they? They should really quote the developable real estate though.

Alton though? Alton is huge, and there's a lot more land not used by the park too.
 
Whatever any of these actual land masses are (from various sources, how vague) it would also be relevant to show the unusable or potential set aside space.

From what's left its the classic not the size that counts, but how you use it. 2 floor attractions will be helpful here like the space saving Universal got from the Transformer ride. Double Decker attractions everywhere would fit the UK London imagery too (no I don't want them to paint massive show and ride buildings in red).
 
As an interesting comparison (assuming online figures are correct), the entire Warner Bros World park in UAE is less than a tenth of this entire plot, which i think should be a big part of the model they're aiming for. Obviously they don't have any high rollercoasters but it's a good example of what can be achieved in a weather proof environment.

Or Universal Singapore, again about 1/10 of this purchased plot.

Space certainly doesn't seem to be an issue they'll be facing.
 
I tried to figure out how the 490 acres would have been reached for Thorpe.

The standard area which we would think of is the main island, the area (including lakes) all the way to the old Thorpe Farm area, and then up to Monks Walk and the road the other side. That totals about 260 acres.

Technically, there's ownership of the area the other side of the A320 too (the road which links Thorpe and Chertsey). The park could never develop there, and I don't know how much responsibility they have for it, but it is included as ownership in planning applications. Even then, that only accounts for about another 70 acres, at absolute most.

The Thorpe Lakes Watersports area (the other side of Monks Walk) is another 150 acres or so. But Thorpe don't own that anymore, so seems weird to include it.

However, that does bring us up to this mythical 490 acre figure. Have a look at what that roughly looks like...

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In any case, they've totally over-stated the size of Thorpe.
 
That image is very interesting and makes you realise the TP site is mostly useless, once the vacant island next to Swarm has been developed they have pretty much run out of space. Will be interesting to see what they do after that.

Also makes you realise just how huge the site Universal have purchased is. Has so much potential!
 
I haven't been to TP for about 20 years but certainly didn't remember it being as big as they claimed so good work! The Universal site is definitely massive so lack of room shouldn't be anyones concern.

When i was younger there was a bit at TP where you caught a train to a farm but on the way there it stopped at a pirate ship and there was an entertainment piece (which seems crazy looking back), does anyone know what those areas are now?
 
Bowser said:
I haven't been to TP for about 20 years but certainly didn't remember it being as big as they claimed so good work! The Universal site is definitely massive so lack of room shouldn't be anyones concern.

When i was younger there was a bit at TP where you caught a train to a farm but on the way there it stopped at a pirate ship and there was an entertainment piece (which seems crazy looking back), does anyone know what those areas are now?
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The Pirate ship was on this piece of land i’ve circled. It’s not been used ever since the Pirate ship was removed back in the 80s?
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The island now attached to it is a new island, I believe that island was created at the same time Swarm island was.

Edit: Just found this image of the railway routes, apparently the treasure island railway was removed in 1993

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“The 2ft gauge Canada Creek Railway (marked in red) operated from 1989 to 2011. The 2ft gauge Treasure Island railway (blue) operated from 1984 to 1993.”

Some more images and details about it here: http://www.memoriesofthorpepark.co.uk/treasureisland.html
 
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www.bedford.gov.uk

Wixams Station FAQs | Bedford Borough Council

www.bedford.gov.uk www.bedford.gov.uk
just been looking at the plans for Wixams Station, I'm concerned that the plans do not consider the park traffic and there's very little provision for large crowds at park close. At the very least, this needs a wider overbridge connecting both sides. It's going to be busy, very busy.
 
Tonkso said:
www.bedford.gov.uk

Wixams Station FAQs | Bedford Borough Council

www.bedford.gov.uk www.bedford.gov.uk
just been looking at the plans for Wixams Station, I'm concerned that the plans do not consider the park traffic and there's very little provision for large crowds at park close. At the very least, this needs a wider overbridge connecting both sides. It's going to be busy, very busy.
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The Wixams station was in the plans before Universal popped up. So that's why it was not considered for park traffic. But with all this, it can be considered for expansion.

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Indeed, but what I mean is there hasn't been any movement on rethinking it, and it's going to start construction pretty soon. I guess until Universal make a decision, there's not much use redesigning, especially as they could end up with a massively overengineered station and no theme park.

Actually, thinking logically for second, they probably are redesigning it with passive provision for Universal driven expansion, and if the expansion is needed Universal will likely be asked to pay for it. It's almost impossible within our planning system for Universal to not end up footing the bill (including the inevitable rebuild of the Marston Vale Line station).
 
spicy said:
That image is very interesting and makes you realise the TP site is mostly useless, once the vacant island next to Swarm has been developed they have pretty much run out of space. Will be interesting to see what they do after that.
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To be fair, the park have a lot of spaces they could develop.

Slammer is still SBNO.
The Walking Dead pyramid is almost 30 years old; that will be a spot for redevelopment sooner rather than later.
The beach area (including Depth Charge) could be revamped (even if it's just improved)
The Shark Hotel area was once highlighted as a potential ride development area. If the park ever build a permanent hotel, on the other side of the lake, that could be used
The island behind Swarm could hold a couple of rides
The rapids need a major spruce up
Flat rides are aging, and will need work / replacing at some point
They also have the compound area next to Ghost Train / Trailers scare maze. That area could be used if the park became tight on space

The park have a huge amount of space they could use if they're creative enough, and there's plenty of parts of the park that need redevelopment in the coming years too. Whilst they can't expand the physical land space much more, space isn't something to be concerned about with regards to Thorpe
 
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