Sponsored Listings:
Universal Orlando could be planning a fourth theme park, NBCUniversal’s CEO hinted on Thursday.
“In terms of a new gate in Florida, we are looking at it,” Stephen Burke said during parent company Comcast’s second-quarter earnings call. “We love the theme park business. It’s one of our best, most consistent businesses. And … another gate in Florida would have the advantage of turning Florida from a two- or three-day destination to potentially a week-long destination. We think that would be attractive.”
Burke was responding to a question from Bank of America analyst Jessica Jean Reif Cohen, who noted that Universal filed for the name Fantastic Worlds with the patent office in mid-June. Burke confirmed the name registration but did not say whether that would be the name of the fourth park.
The Universal Orlando Resort currently consists of the Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure and Volcano Bay theme parks. Volcano Bay is a water park that opened a year ago.
The Orlando Sentinel reported last October that Universal Orlando has purchased an additional 101 acres of land for new theme park projects in Orlando, bringing to more than 570 acres the amount of space the resort has to work with for expansions.
Comcast’s theme park division saw its second-quarter revenue increase 3.6% to $1.4 billion.
Executives noted that adding hotel room capacity has been a key driver of revenue in Orlando — when the Aventura Hotel opens in a couple weeks, it will bring Universal Orlando’s total rooms to over 6,000, which is 2.5 times more than five years ago, with more hotels yet to come.
Source: travelweekly.com
