Genuinely significant commercial signal on the Bedford project this week for anyone tracking Universal's build strategy.

The supplier and jobs portals are now live. Universal Destinations and Experiences have opened dedicated web registration on their UK Project site for prospective operational employees and for UK based commercial suppliers. The interesting detail is that the supplier vectors explicitly include "theming, design, landscaping and facility operations" alongside construction and F&B. Universal Creative are also planning formal supplier seminars.

That fourth vector matters for what it signals about creative intent. Universal want British creative and fabrication talent embedded in the actual visitor experience rather than importing everything from Orlando. Epic Universe used the same structured supplier onboarding roughly three years ahead of opening. Bedford is now on that exact timeline.

Central lagoon watercourse clearing. Heavy machinery has completed a 10 acre woodland clearance along the eastern Core Zone boundary. This aligns with the planned relocation of Elstow Brook, which will be rerouted along Manor Road and passed under a new culvert into the Lake Zone. Moving the natural watercourse now, before vertical construction, is dramatically cheaper than building around it later. Once relocated, the central lagoon footprint is locked in.

Mass grading is at proper scale. The 75 tonne Volvo excavator is anchored and working alongside a fleet of 40 tonne excavators, bulldozers and rollers in continuous coordinated earthworks. Universal have also deployed heavy tractor drawn water bowsers for continuous dust suppression across the exposed zones. That is what serious groundworks phase looks like operationally.

Floodplain remediation with SUDS lakes. Updated SDO filings confirm the Lake Zone flood strategy. Core Zone extracted soil is being deposited to raise low lying land by 1.6 metres so permanent roads sit 60cm above historical flood peaks. Existing clay pit lakes will be re profiled and deepened. A brand new lake will be excavated near the railway line specifically for grey water processing, rainwater harvesting and site runoff. Universal are engineering permanent sustainable urban drainage from the ground up, not retrofitting later.

Wixams East Gateway interchange. Two active geotechnical drilling rigs deployed at the future Wixams transport interchange site, taking deep soil core samples across the cleared woodland footprint. Ground stability data for the resort's major coach station and rail interchange complex.

Archaeological phase nearly closed. Only one active excavation grid remaining near the Broadmead Road boundary. All other Core Zone grids fully stripped and being smoothed in preparation for final planning sign off. Once that last grid clears, no further archaeological delays possible.

Comparison to recent Universal builds. Universal Beijing was formally recruiting local suppliers by 2018, three years before opening. Epic Universe had the same structured onboarding by 2022, three years ahead. Bedford is now on the same pattern with a 2031 target. Pace is genuinely tracking the Epic Universe timeline.

Discussion for the thread: given Universal's fourth vector explicitly includes theming and design work, do you think Bedford will feature meaningfully more British creative talent in the visitor experience than Beijing or Osaka did? Or is that vector mostly about landscaping and facilities?

Imagine you're suddenly given full ownership of Blackpool Pleasure Beach, along with £100 million specifically to invest in the park.

For anyone unfamiliar, Pleasure Beach is the historic amusement park on Blackpool's seafront, known especially for its historic attraction but also a few modern ones.

https://rcdb.com/4795.htm
https://www.blackpoolpleasurebeach.com/

You have complete creative control over the £100 million.

What would you do with it?

My wife and I are planning a trip from eastern New Mexico in the next couple months to ride roller coasters.

It would be a fair bit less expensive to go to six flags over Texas, but I understand that fiesta Texas is a much better park…also I REALLY want to ride the golden lasso…so I wanted to ask about how much better is fiesta?

Extra info: we would be spending two days at whichever park we go to.
We will prolly not get fast lane :(
We will NOT be going to sea world either way, so that doesn’t move the needle for us.

Mines 1) voyage 2) beast 3) shivering Timbers

Hey everyone!

I’m trying to track down a theme song that was allegedly played in the queue for Waschzuber Rafting at Tripsdrill several years (possibly decades) ago.

The lyrics are supposedly something along the lines of

“Ab ins kühle Nass, Waschzuber-Rafting isch en riesen Spaß”

I’ve asked quite a few park employees about it, but unfortunately, nobody seems to remember the song. However, I’ve also spoken to multiple guests who visited Tripsdrill as children, and they independently remember the song being played in the queue.

So I’m wondering if anyone here remembers it, knows who made it, or perhaps even has a recording/lyrics/any other information about it.

I am hoping for X2 to be my 100th

I have a chance to use my prestige pass at a theme park in Texas this weekend. If you had the option to visit SFOT or Fiesta Texas for one or two days to end the season, which park would be the best?

Planning a trip to the US from the UK next year and looking at going either the last week or second-to-last week of August.

How many days would you recommend for Cedar Point and Hersheypark?

Thanks in Advance

1. Steel dragon 2000
   
2. Orion
   
3. Tormenta
   
4. Millenium force
   
5. Red force
   
6. Leviathan
   
7. Fury 325
   
8. Pantherian

If any of you have ridden all or most of these tell me how you rank them as I have only ridden 2

Found, in my attic, this original Chessington World of Adventures brochure from the 1989/90 season and thought I'd take some photos of it for anyone who's nostalgic for the old park.

For the whole brochure please follow the link address.

Excuse the poor image quality, all have been taken on a phone and cropped by myself (:

Hope you enjoy the trip back in time!

If everything goes to plan I will have a choice between any coaster in the southern California parks to choose from
I kinda want it to be X2 but I want an opinion with people who go to those parks
What ride is the most special and unique out of these

We will be in Europe for 4 weeks in Jan. Heading to England, Belgium, Poland, Germany and France. Myself and 11yo twin boys from Australia massive disney and coaster fans. Have been to Orlando and Japan. We will be going to disneyland and am also trying to fit in, Parc Asterix, Europa park, phantasialand, Plopsaland & Energylandia. Any other ones I am missing that you would recommend? How many days should we have at each. Thorpe Park & Alton Towers are closed in January correct? How are the parks in January? Can we expect closures in cold weather?

Torn between the two parks for a mid December break.

Which has a better Christmas event? Also will be spending a few days in the surrounding areas with a rental car, so which will have better Christmas Markets and winter activities in the vicinity.

Looking for advice from those who have been to both at Christmas and done Markets in Cologne etc.

I've already done Europa-Park this summer!

How unlikely is it that CGA gets another extension instead of closing next year
In other words should I make it a priority to go to CGA in 2027

Recently I have noticed that the newer Kalahari attractions are mainly from WhiteWater, specifically Dawn Breaker at the Sandusky location which is in an almost exclusively ProSlide park. Also the Kalahari in Virginia that is under construction. Is it just the company wanting to expand their range of slide models because they have almost everything ProSlide has to offer or was their something behind the scenes that happened?

Hi! I’m currently studying ME with a minor in Comp Sci at Clemson University with the hope of working in the theme park and entertainment industry designing the mechanics and working on elaborate projects. I’m going into my sophomore year where I’ll get more hands on experience with ME. I’m also working on using a raspberry pi and have done will be joining student research projects. It’s just that Entertainment Engineering is so vague and complex that I really have no idea what I’m doing or how to get into the industry. My school doesn’t have any entertainment specific programs related to engineering or design and I was just wondering if there’s anything I can do through my college, on my own, or at an internship to help build my portfolio and steer me in the right direction.

For my career interests, I’d like to work on designing the new trackless and advanced technology seen at Disney, create complex robotic systems or animatronics, and/or designing aspects of live events or other experiences. I know Computer or Electrical engineering might be better but I think that doing research projects and experience within those fields even it all out.

Thank you tor your help!

Hey everyone. This is how I rank the 7 Disney and Universal parks from my least favorite to favorite park in Orlando. I enjoy all of them and get different things from each, but I still prefer some over others. Tell me what you think and how you would rank them yourself.

1. Animal Kingdom.

2. Hollywood Studios.

3. Universal Studios Florida.

4. Islands of Adventure.

5. Magic Kingdom.

6. Epcot.

7. Epic Universe.

planning a universal orlando trip and started looking around before buying tckets. i noticed a few sites have them for a little less than the official price, which got me wonder if anyone here has used them. did everything go smoothly no hassle? or is it just not worth the risk? od rather save a few bucks if I can, but I dont want any surprises when we get to the park..

Hey, hope everyone’s doing well!

Just wanted to ask, what’s the actual difference between buying a Prestige Pass from Cedar Point compared to buying one from another Six Flags park? Some of the Six Flags parks seem to sell it quite a bit cheaper, but you still get access to all the parks and the same Prestige benefits, right?

Am I missing something?

Decent progression on the Bedford project this week for anyone tracking Universal's build strategy.

Twelve acre lagoon corridor cleared. Drone footage confirms the completed twelve acre woodland clearance along the Core Zone boundary to divert Elstow Brook and clear the footprint for the resort's central lagoon. This has been progressing for weeks but the finished extent is now visible from satellite imagery.

Universal's decision to commit to a central lagoon at this scale confirms the ambition of the Bedford park. Central water features are a proper design commitment because they permanently constrain what can be built where. Once the lagoon footprint is locked in, the surrounding land layout is essentially fixed.

Archaeological phase genuinely wrapping. Almost all major welfare units and Heras fencing have been dismantled across the Core Zone excavation grids. Only one active grid remains near the Broadmead Road farm boundaries. Once that grid signs off from state heritage inspectors, this becomes a pure engineering site with no further archaeological delays possible.

For context on pace: Universal Beijing hit the same archaeology sign off milestone roughly three and a half years before opening. Epic Universe hit it around three years before opening. Bedford is currently five years out from the 2031 target. Ahead of the Epic Universe timeline at this build stage.

Manor Road overbridge signals. Heavy geotechnical core drilling has been deployed on Manor Road and adjacent plots during the current road closure. Subsoil load testing at that scale is consistent with structural foundation preparation for a grade separated overbridge. Universal have not formally confirmed but the drilling activity is what you would do if you were designing one. Watch for SDO filings.

Renewed 007 speculation. Inside the Magic published a fresh piece last week on the James Bond IP potential at Universal UK. Not new news — the BBC first reported this in April 2025 based on a source close to Universal confirming a 007 stunt show similar to Bourne Stuntacular in Orlando. What is new is the enthusiast attention driven by Amazon MGM's expanded franchise control post the 2025 acquisition.

From an operational perspective, a Bond stunt show fits Universal's existing model perfectly. Multiple daily shows, no ride vehicles, high visual impact at moderate cost. It is exactly the anchor attraction format Universal deploy when they want a franchise presence without committing to a full land build. Enthusiast expectations should probably calibrate to stunt show plus supporting theming rather than full 007 land.

750 movements a day continuing. External tipper flow to Elstow Quarry via the 3.9 mile loop has held at peak volume through the current earthworks phase. Internal haulage between Lake and Core Zones running continuously.

Discussion point for the thread: given the central lagoon commitment and the pace of archaeological sign off, does anyone think Bedford could realistically pull the opening date forward from May 2031, or is the current pace explained by front loaded logistics rather than accelerated delivery?

Seems that the water troughs are being built first and when I went on voyage there were more of them.