As you probably know, the UK will be blessed with a Universal theme park opening in Bedford in 2031. I don't know a single enthusiast who isn't ecstatic about this project. The park is in the early stages of construction right now, so all we have to go off is this concept art photo overlooking the park.
This single picture has been a saviour to us UK thoosies. There appears to be two large-scale thrill coasters. One appears to be an Intamin multi-launch coaster and has been rumoured to be 88 mph, making it the fastest rollercoaster in the UK (sorry Hyperia, we still love you). By the photo it looks like it could easily be the tallest rollercoaster in the UK too — look at that spike!
It's also rumoured to be themed to Back to the Future.
The other coaster appears to have a very long layout and even crosses the lake that is central in the park.
So — what do I hope for this park?
Well, first of all I hope it's not swarmed with people travelling from America on opening day who have 794 coaster creds, have visited every Universal park on Earth and still buy Fast Track and beat us in the small UK towns to the rides — but that definitely won't happen.
First of all I do really hope that first coaster is themed to Back to the Future. I think that would be absolutely awesome and a great thing to flex about. 'We finally have an IP for a big coaster that's not themed to torture or zombies!!' Seriously, I think Back to the Future is a great film and would be perfect for this ride. I could also see it having an awesome indoor section.
Now for the other thrill coaster shown on the concept art. A lot of people have suspected this to be a flying coaster themed to Wicked, which would be awesome! Personally, when I saw that striking green track I thought of Shrek, which Universal does of course own. Yes, it would make a fairly old IP, but come on, we all love Shrek — it's a classic.
Now here's for my unrealistic hopes and dreams for this awesome park. When I heard people discussing Wicked as a theme, I thought an awesome project would be two duelling/racing flying coasters — one pink and one green. It would be amazing to see the two coasters swooping and twisting around each other surrounded by the Emerald City... probably with a musical theatre kid front row belting out a number like Defying Gravity.
Another IP that was discussed amongst thoosies was Jurassic Park. It would be awesome to see a shuttle coaster surrounded by plants and trees... and then as you go up the spike there's a big Tyrannosaurus rex animatronic about to swallow you and the whole train whole! But then of course you return back down the spike and return safely into the station. I imagined this coaster having a similar layout to Mandrill Mayhem since it's our best shuttle coaster in the UK (Mandrill Bill will back me up on this). So another thing I thought of was a barrel roll, and as you face the ground you're met with a water dinosaur animatronic jumping out of the water at you with a water effect... hopefully it would be more reliable than John Kramer's body on the floor of Saw: The Ride.
Thanks for watching me ramble about coaster concepts (you'll probably get quite a few articles like this from me) and be sure to leave your opinions in the chat!
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