Universal is still targeting a 2031 opening for its UK theme park, says Mark Woodbury, chairman and CEO of Universal Destinations & Experiences.
At the Bank of America 2025 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference this week, Woodbury said Universal aims to launch the UK park in 2031, providing the planning, design and construction process goes smoothly.
“We have had 18,000 people register on our app to come and work for us, 2,000 vendors in the marketplace that want to be part of this development,” he said.
“So our hope is that that process will go very smoothly, but parks are complicated organisms”
A multibillion-pound deal was agreed for Universal’s resort in Bedfordshire in April, and Universal has already submitted a planning application.
Woodbury said there could be delays to the project due to infrastructure issues, “but we think we have a pretty good handle on it at this point”, he added.
Universal UK to be “very unique culturally”
As for the park’s design, Woodbury said: “It’s a full-blown Universal theme park with a 500-room hotel that is part of it, very much like Epic in terms of a park with a hotel.
“We’ve created a different mix of attractions that we think will work great in the UK.”
Planning documents have revealed that the proposed UK theme park could feature the tallest rides in Europe.
The UK destination’s “main product is Universal and its Universal-branded IPs”, Woodbury added, but it will be “very unique culturally, you have to pay close attention to that”.
“The other place where international development is unique is around humor. Humor varies very differently in different cultures,” he said.
In response to Disney’s Abu Dhabi theme park announcement, Woodbury said Universal’s “priorities right now are driving Epic to full throttle and to execute on [the] UK”.
At the same time, however, the company is “looking ahead for other places and opportunities”.
Images courtesy of Universal