News Universal Studios Hollywood Projects 515 & 294: New Resort & Security Overhaul

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AlexMBush~

AlexMBush~

Apr 14, 2022
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As originally found by Theme Park Wizard on Twitter, NBCUniversal has filed three permits today: for an 11 story hotel structure east of the property.
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I have also done checks and can confirm it's legitimacy.
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With the prospect of P515 affecting the USH skyline, I decided to check back in the permits found by Sal on IU and Theme Park Wizard on multiple platforms, and I think I may know how high up the hotel will be above sea level.

Checking from the permits in December, it seemed to specify around that of the Front Gate Parking and nearby Security Check stands. Taking that into consideration, and checking through friends who have been at the park--I have been able to get that the height elevation above sea level from that point on, is around 790 feet tall. Gaining from that, the recent permits have allowed me to specify and gather that the hotel will be around that of the 900 foot range.

Due to the Hotel, likely ten Hotel Floors and one Roof Floor, being 11 Story's Tall completely. 110 Feet in total height. I do not inheritedly know the height map for that of the Hilton , but I have to imagine it'll be just a little bit shorter than that of the Universal project.

To make it short: this hotel's gonna be tall, it's gonna dominate the park skyline, and it is gonna be an icon of the property.
 
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looks like the old country star/saddle chop restaurant site can have some purpose again
 
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From Theme Park Wizard, traffic cones and rods are now restricting parking access to a portion of Woody Woodpecker Parking.
 
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This Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for public records laws that allow citizens to track and engage with ongoing developments around the places they live and work!

Thanks to those public records laws, I have obtained copies of site plans relating to two, different-but-related, upcoming Universal Studios Hollywood projects: 515 & 294. Project 515 is a huge new resort hotel encircling half of the iconic Universal Studios Hollywood globe, directly bordering CityWalk, and overlooking the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park. Project 294 is a trio of new CityWalk "Security Hubs" slated to entirely replace the current security area around the aforementioned globe sign.

Full Disclosure: I've yet to visit Universal Studios Hollywood so my on-the-ground knowledge is quite limited and my personal opinions on the project are few and far between. Because of that, this will be nice and brief—a quick read before Thanksgiving dinner perhaps?


Project 515: New Resort Hotel​

Project 515 is obviously the big story here. Not only is it a new resort at the incredibly land-locked Universal Studios Hollywood Resort, but its placement will also dramatically change the appearance and experience within CityWalk forever. The unedited site plan for Project 515 can be found below.

Resort Site Plan.png

This is a fairly difficult site plan to read thanks to additions/improvements (darker) being overlaid directly onto current structures and elements (lighter). Additionally, there are few obvious, easy-to-place landmarks on the periphery of the plan. To make this project easier to place, below I've overlaid the site plan above onto a satellite map of the area.

515 Site Plan Overlay.jpg

As you've likely guessed, the bold outline in the site plan is the exterior shape of the main resort building itself. The way it is wedged between the parking booths and CityWalk is truly remarkable.

Though I'm not going to go super deep into the analysis of what we can see in this resort's site plan (I don't know how large the audience is for breaking down each pool area cabana, for instance), I did want to do some broad-strokes interpretation to help folks get some idea of the major elements that can be found in the plan above. Hence, the following composite map. Though building shapes are simplified and a ton of details are omitted, this is, broadly, what I expect based on the site plan above.

515 Site Plan Interpretation.jpg

Now, given the placement of this resort, major changes will be required to CityWalk's security and parking in order to make this addition possible. For the security portion of those required changes, we have Project 294.

Project 294: New Security Hubs​

Project 294 consists of a trio of new "security hubs" to be placed at different points throughout CityWalk. A map of the three general areas slated to house these security hubs can be found below.

Security Hub Locations Map.jpg

I am not going to break down each of these site plans as, again, I don't think the market for detailed guest flow estimations through new security setups is all that large, but in case you want to do some of your own analysis, here are the site plans for the three security hubs in question:

East Security Hub:

East Hub Site Plan.png

Central Security Hub:

Central Hub Site Plan.png

West Security Hub:

West Hub Site Plan.png


As always, feel free to download, edit, share, etc. these images wherever you wish—all I ask is that you credit their initial publication back to ParkFans.net and link to this post. If you want to create some sort of content based on these site plans and want higher resolution and/or watermark-free copies, shoot me a message and I'll hook you up. I look forward to seeing better analysis and far better-informed opinions from USH locals in the days and weeks ahead!

Happy Thanksgiving!
 
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I love what USH is becoming. Hollywood Drift opening next year and now this resort. Definitely going to become a destination hotspot in the next decade or so.


I honestly would hope for another major coaster or two to be added within the next 10-15 years tho
 
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Zachary said:
This Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for public records laws that allow citizens to track and engage with ongoing developments around the places they live and work!

Thanks to those public records laws, I have obtained copies of site plans relating to two, different-but-related, upcoming Universal Studios Hollywood projects: 515 & 294. Project 515 is a huge new resort hotel encircling half of the iconic Universal Studios Hollywood globe, directly bordering CityWalk, and overlooking the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park. Project 294 is a trio of new CityWalk "Security Hubs" slated to entirely replace the current security area around the aforementioned globe sign.

Full Disclosure: I've yet to visit Universal Studios Hollywood so my on-the-ground knowledge is quite limited and my personal opinions on the project are few and far between. Because of that, this will be nice and brief—a quick read before Thanksgiving dinner perhaps?


Project 515: New Resort Hotel​

Project 515 is obviously the big story here. Not only is it a new resort at the incredibly land-locked Universal Studios Hollywood Resort, but its placement will also dramatically change the appearance and experience within CityWalk forever. The unedited site plan for Project 515 can be found below.

View attachment 35440

This is a fairly difficult site plan to read thanks to additions/improvements (darker) being overlaid directly onto current structures and elements (lighter). Additionally, there are few obvious, easy-to-place landmarks on the periphery of the plan. To make this project easier to place, below I've overlaid the site plan above onto a satellite map of the area.

View attachment 35441

As you've likely guessed, the bold outline in the site plan is the exterior shape of the main resort building itself. The way it is wedged between the parking booths and CityWalk is truly remarkable.

Though I'm not going to go super deep into the analysis of what we can see in this resort's site plan (I don't know how large the audience is for breaking down each pool area cabana, for instance), I did want to do some broad-strokes interpretation to help folks get some idea of the major elements that can be found in the plan above. Hence, the following composite map. Though building shapes are simplified and a ton of details are omitted, this is, broadly, what I expect based on the site plan above.

View attachment 35442

Now, given the placement of this resort, major changes will be required to CityWalk's security and parking in order to make this addition possible. For the security portion of those required changes, we have Project 294.

Project 294: New Security Hubs​

Project 294 consists of a trio of new "security hubs" to be placed at different points throughout CityWalk. A map of the three general areas slated to house these security hubs can be found below.

View attachment 35443

I am not going to break down each of these site plans as, again, I don't think the market for detailed guest flow estimations through new security setups is all that large, but in case you want to do some of your own analysis, here are the site plans for the three security hubs in question:

East Security Hub:

View attachment 35444

Central Security Hub:

View attachment 35445

West Security Hub:

View attachment 35446


As always, feel free to download, edit, share, etc. these images wherever you wish—all I ask is that you credit their initial publication back to ParkFans.net and link to this post. If you want to create some sort of content based on these site plans and want higher resolution and/or watermark-free copies, shoot me a message and I'll hook you up. I look forward to seeing better analysis and far better-informed opinions from USH locals in the days and weeks ahead!

Happy Thanksgiving!
Click to expand...
200w.gif
 
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Tacky3663 said:
I love what USH is becoming. Hollywood Drift opening next year and now this resort. Definitely going to become a destination hotspot in the next decade or so.


I honestly would hope for another major coaster or two to be added within the next 10-15 years tho
Click to expand...
Good luck finding room for that lol
 
I felt like they missed a great opportunity of putting Nintendo world where the soundstages between transformers & mummy are and using that plot for a jurassic park area complete with a b&m wing coaster

I don't know, its just me
 
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It’s obvious that USH has really embraced its identity as a resort destination. With attendance growing year after year, the need for expansion has become clear. For years, the theme park played a major role in keeping Universal Pictures thriving, so it makes sense to move or repurpose parts of the studio to make room for the park. And as we’re seeing now, that’s exactly what’s happening.

USH_AA.jpeg
 
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Zachary said:
This Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for public records laws that allow citizens to track and engage with ongoing developments around the places they live and work!

Thanks to those public records laws, I have obtained copies of site plans relating to two, different-but-related, upcoming Universal Studios Hollywood projects: 515 & 294. Project 515 is a huge new resort hotel encircling half of the iconic Universal Studios Hollywood globe, directly bordering CityWalk, and overlooking the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park. Project 294 is a trio of new CityWalk "Security Hubs" slated to entirely replace the current security area around the aforementioned globe sign.

Full Disclosure: I've yet to visit Universal Studios Hollywood so my on-the-ground knowledge is quite limited and my personal opinions on the project are few and far between. Because of that, this will be nice and brief—a quick read before Thanksgiving dinner perhaps?


Project 515: New Resort Hotel​

Project 515 is obviously the big story here. Not only is it a new resort at the incredibly land-locked Universal Studios Hollywood Resort, but its placement will also dramatically change the appearance and experience within CityWalk forever. The unedited site plan for Project 515 can be found below.

View attachment 35440

This is a fairly difficult site plan to read thanks to additions/improvements (darker) being overlaid directly onto current structures and elements (lighter). Additionally, there are few obvious, easy-to-place landmarks on the periphery of the plan. To make this project easier to place, below I've overlaid the site plan above onto a satellite map of the area.

View attachment 35441

As you've likely guessed, the bold outline in the site plan is the exterior shape of the main resort building itself. The way it is wedged between the parking booths and CityWalk is truly remarkable.

Though I'm not going to go super deep into the analysis of what we can see in this resort's site plan (I don't know how large the audience is for breaking down each pool area cabana, for instance), I did want to do some broad-strokes interpretation to help folks get some idea of the major elements that can be found in the plan above. Hence, the following composite map. Though building shapes are simplified and a ton of details are omitted, this is, broadly, what I expect based on the site plan above.

View attachment 35442

Now, given the placement of this resort, major changes will be required to CityWalk's security and parking in order to make this addition possible. For the security portion of those required changes, we have Project 294.

Project 294: New Security Hubs​

Project 294 consists of a trio of new "security hubs" to be placed at different points throughout CityWalk. A map of the three general areas slated to house these security hubs can be found below.

View attachment 35443

I am not going to break down each of these site plans as, again, I don't think the market for detailed guest flow estimations through new security setups is all that large, but in case you want to do some of your own analysis, here are the site plans for the three security hubs in question:

East Security Hub:

View attachment 35444

Central Security Hub:

View attachment 35445

West Security Hub:

View attachment 35446


As always, feel free to download, edit, share, etc. these images wherever you wish—all I ask is that you credit their initial publication back to ParkFans.net and link to this post. If you want to create some sort of content based on these site plans and want higher resolution and/or watermark-free copies, shoot me a message and I'll hook you up. I look forward to seeing better analysis and far better-informed opinions from USH locals in the days and weeks ahead!

Happy Thanksgiving!
Click to expand...


Now that I have had the time to look into this, a few things come to mind. I wonder if @cowmissing could chime in but this would make some sense:

1: The area surrounding Frankenstein Parking seemingly will require the most terraforming out of any of the security hubs. As part of the re-routing that will be taking place to ensure that Hilton/Sheraton will still have access to the park property through the walk. but that they will have to cross the road that is used for check-in/valet.

As a result of the changes, it looks like they are pushing the area as far as they can. Doing a completely new set of ADA ramps alongside that of a new staircase. Likely that the ADA ramp will comply for specialty checkstands accordingly (perhaps not far off from the UOR garden-walk checkstands); but it seems to be the most complex

2: With the central hub already being designated officially in TM proceedings, I think that might be the first one to finish and be operational by that of the Spring. It'd be interesting to see how fast things will be for East-end, but the West-end will take the longest for likely the most obvious reason
 
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