FRISCO – Imagine holding your child’s hand and walking through a collection of interactive experiences featuring popular characters from Minions or SpongeBob SquarePants, and then staying at a similarly themed 300-room hotel.
That is Universal Parks and Resorts vision for young families with its newly announced theme park in Frisco.
Drone Video: Check out the future Universal Studios location in Frisco on the Dallas North Tollway.
What do we know about the park so far?
It is derived from a “portfolio of great attractions that appeal to young families around the world,” said Mark Woodbury, chairman and CEO of Universal Parks & Resorts. He described the plan Wednesday to the media, city officials and developers of the $10 billion Frisco mega-project called Fields.
The description was conceptual rather than detailed.
Woodbury said the park’s four or five themes will feature many meet-and-greet experiences with Universal’s stable of well-known characters. It will be about a quarter the size of Universal’s popular Orlando, Florida park, which features themes such as Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts and Despicable Me Minion Mayhem.
It will be designed to blend into the landscape of the sprawling Fields project, he said. It will be the main attraction of the project alongside the PGA of America’s new golf resort.
Woodbury emphasized that the park will be about experiences — interactive attractions geared toward younger families and children ages 3 to 9. He said he envisions it being a one or two day destination.
“These diverse experiences … come together to create this wonderful universal park designed specifically for the Frisco families in the area,” said Woodbury.
A 300-room hotel will be built at the front of the park, he said. Unlike Universal’s five signature parks worldwide, no roller coasters are planned.
Page Thompson, president of New Ventures for Universal Parks & Resorts, said the Fields development site gives the company “plenty of room” to build a park full of family-friendly attractions, including playful shows.
“That’s a reasonable scale for our young family audience,” Thompson said. “Even though it’s smaller than our other parks in terms of area, its quality is at the level that deserves the Universal name.”
Universal executives did not provide a timeline or estimated cost for the project. Property sales records show that the company expects to open the park within four years.
According to market research firm Technavio, the family entertainment center market is expected to grow over 12% annually to $21 billion through 2026.
These hubs range from arcade studios and virtual reality gaming zones to more traditional businesses that mix food and fun, like Coppell-based Dave & Busters, Irving-based Chuck E. Cheese, and Dallas-based Main event entertainment. The category also includes KidZania, the Mexican-owned upscale children’s entertainment concept, which opened its first US location at the Stonebriar Center in Frisco. This location is approximately 14 miles south of the proposed Universal location.
According to Technavio, the total amusement industry market is expected to reach $681 billion worldwide by 2027, with North America accounting for 54% of the growth. Theme parks were hit by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and are still recovering.
Christopher Penney, associate professor of management at the University of North Texas at Denton, said he believes Universal could test the market for future parks using the Frisco concept. He compared it to the company’s development in Florida.
“I think what they’ve been doing in Florida for the past decade could be happening here,” said Penney, who worked in the amusement park industry before entering academia. “They just started with Universal Studios, built in Islands of Adventure and added something. Every bet they made was successful.”
What Universal’s parent company is banking on is that “everybody’s been locked in their homes for a few years,” he said. “Themed entertainment is going to be the biggest growth segment, and they have all their chips in place. Virtual reality, the metaverse, can only go so far. People want something tangible that they can touch, hear, feel and smell.”
This also differentiates Universal’s plan from Six Flags Entertainment Corp. from Arlington, which operates 27 theme parks in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Six Flags was an industry outlier, posting a 21% drop in revenue in its most recent quarterly results.
“What’s happened is they’re very stagnant,” Penney said. “They didn’t have to spend money to open new ones [rides]. What’s going to happen now is that because of the competition, Six Flags really needs to react and step it up. Everyone in the community really wins when you have that healthy competition.”
Frisco will also gain traction as a regional tourist destination and housing market as Universal begins hiring, Penney said.
“It will definitely be the catalyst for a lot more growth in this space,” he said. “That growth would still happen. What that did is shift the timeline up, maybe a decade.”
Staff writer Mitchell Parton contributed to this story.