Universal Studios: What can we expect from a potential UK theme park?
The prospect of a Universal theme park opening in the UK has got fans very excited indeed.
After financial records and public documents suggesting something was afoot were found by industry news site Orlando Park Stop, the company confirmed the plans in a statement to Sky News.
Universal Destinations & Experiences – which, like Sky, is owned by US company Comcast – said it had acquired land in Bedford and was “at the early stages of exploring its feasibility for a potential park and resort at this site”.
Let’s have a look at what could be in the works.
Why would Universal come to the UK?
The UK can certainly put on a good summer, but its theme parks mostly stay shut during the autumn and winter as nights grow long and the weather takes a turn.
But the likes of Legoland, Thorpe Park, Chessington, and Alton Towers are still popular, drawing millions of visitors every year and giving Brits the perfect opportunity to enjoy one of our favourite past times: standing in queues.
Add in the success of similar attractions like the Harry Potter studio tour in Hertfordshire, and it’s easy to see why Universal would be eyeing up the UK.
More than half of the country’s population live within two hours of the Bedford site, which is 45 minutes from London and easily accessible from Luton airport.
Universal has been expanding aggressively since the pandemic, with fresh attractions at its long-popular US and Japanese destinations, a whole new park in Beijing in 2021, and another in Florida in 2025.
The UK isn’t quite as reliably sunny as Orlando…
What should we expect based on its other parks?
Given this would be its first park in the UK, it would likely be a full-scale Universal.
They typically host a mix of high-speed outdoor rollercoasters and more immersive dark rides.
Beijing may be a good point of reference, as more of the attractions are indoors due to weather concerns.
That park and Japan’s also show how Universal looks to cater to specific markets with its ride choices. The former heavily features the Kung-Fu Panda films, while the latter has a large Nintendo area.
It begs the question as to what franchises and characters might be picked for a British audience.
Universal has built some great coasters – but would have heated competition from Thorpe Park and Alton Towers
Well, what might we get?
Harry Potter seems an obvious choice given its British roots and popularity at Universal’s Hollywood, Florida, and Japan parks, though the Hertfordshire tour may make things more complicated.
The outlet that broke news of the UK park, Orlando Park Stop, suggests Paddington and James Bond may get their own attractions (Universal did distribute the last 007 film, No Time To Die).
There have also been long-standing rumours in the industry that Universal wants – and may already have – the theme park rights for Lord Of The Rings.
It could make the UK a fitting home, given season two of Amazon’s TV show is being filmed here.
It might also be worth looking at the ill-fated London Resort theme park project in north Kent, which was first announced over a decade ago and has never come to fruition.
That was being billed as the UK’s answer to Universal and Disneyland, boasting rides based on UK pop culture like Doctor Who and Wallace And Gromit. Maybe Universal could pick up the pieces?
Harry Potter is a lynchpin of Universal’s parks
When will it arrive?
Universal has said “it will be many months before we are ready to make a decision to proceed”, let alone get permission and start work.
The studio also has several irons in the fire already.
The 2025 Florida project, dubbed Epic Universe, is set to be its largest theme park yet. It’s also working on smaller locations for Texas and Las Vegas for beyond that date.
Should the UK park happen, its likely scale means we probably won’t see anything built until the late 2020s or 2030.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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Will Trump address parliament on UK state visit?
This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
The Salt Path author Raynor Winn’s fourth book has been delayed by her publisher.
It comes amid claims that the author lied about her story in her hit first book. Winn previously described the claims as “highly misleading” and called suggestions that her husband had Moth made up his illness “utterly vile”.
In a statement, Penguin Michael Joseph, said it had delayed the publication of Winn’s latest book On Winter Hill – which had been set for release 23 October.
The publisher said the decision had been made in light of “recent events, in particular intrusive conjecture around Moth’s health”, which it said had caused “considerable distress” to the author and her family.
“It is our priority to support the author at this time,” the publisher said.
“With this in mind, Penguin Michael Joseph, together with the author, has made the decision to delay the publication of On Winter Hill from this October.”
A new release date will be announced in due course, the publisher added.
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Winn’s first book, released in 2018, detailed the journey she and husband took along the South West Coast Path – familiarly known as The Salt Path – after they lost their family farm and Moth received a terminal health diagnosis of Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD).
But a report in The Observer disputed key aspects of the 2018 “true” story – which was recently turned into a film starring Jason Isaacs and Gillian Anderson.
Raynor and husband Moth (centre) with actors Jason Isaacs (L) and Gillian Anderson (R). Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
Experts ‘sceptical of health claims’
As part of the article, published last weekend, The Observer claimed to have spoken to experts who were “sceptical” about elements of Moth’s terminal diagnosis, such as a “lack of acute symptoms and his apparent ability to reverse them”.
In the ensuing controversy, PSPA, a charity that supports people with CBD, cut ties with the couple.
The Observer article also claimed the portrayal of a failed investment in a friend’s business wasn’t true, but said the couple – whose names are Sally and Tim Walker – lost their home after Raynor Winn embezzled money from her employer and had to borrow to pay it back and avoid police action.
Anderson played Winn in a movie about the couple’s journey. Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
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It also said that, rather than being homeless, the couple had owned a house in France since 2007.
Winn’s statement said the dispute with her employer wasn’t the reason the couple lost their home – but admitted she may have made “mistakes” while in the job.
“For me it was a pressured time,” she wrote. “It was also a time when mistakes were being made in the business. Any mistakes I made during the years in that office, I deeply regret, and I am truly sorry.”
She admitted being questioned by police but said she wasn’t charged.
The author also said accusations that Moth lied about having CBD/CBS were false and had “emotionally devastated” him.
“I have charted Moth’s condition with such a level of honesty, that this is the most unbearable of the allegations,” Winn wrote on her website.
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