Universal Studios Hollywood Update and Nintendo Land Speculation

This morning we're taking a look at Universal Studios Hollywood where construction is starting to pick up again after a slow-down after Wizarding World Opened. 

We'll update you on the goings on and have some fun speculation as to what's happening on the lower lot

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Written by Gregg Condon

Some of these pics are from Saturday (March 4) and some are from Wednesday (March 8). We'll point out the differences so you can see how much has changed in just a few days. 

Work is still continuing around the globe out in front of the park (although it could be done by now ;) ) 

This definitely isn't done yet. 

We totally love the Streetmosphere at Universal Studios. 

More concrete work going on

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On Saturday Stages 22 - 24 were still standing 

By Wednesday it looked like this. Rumors are Stage 25 will be gone today. 

To support whatever it is they are building on the Lower Lot they are also adding another Starway. 

New wraps on the wall on the upper lot. 

So what does this all mean and what's this all for? 

At this point it's pretty clear this is for NintendoLand (or whatever it is they end up calling it). You now have a pretty big space where the soundstages were, rumors are the restaurants where Panda Express is will be gone after the summer and you also have the space that was cleared when Stage 28 was removed. 

Now the original rumor was that the Stage 28 space was going to be for a Secret Life of Pets ride, based on absolutely no evidence we are of the opinion that this is no longer going to happen. 

First off, the ride was never "officially" announced. Remember when Universal unveiled their new logo last year, that was when everybody thought they were going to announce Secret Life of Pets. 

Let's look at the timeline here: 

• September 2014 - Universal demolishes Stage 28
• March 2016 - Rumors abound that a Secret Life of Pets ride will be announced during opening of Wizarding World of Harry Potter
• April 2016 - Wizarding World opens with no announcement
• May 2016 - Universal and Nintendo announce partnership
• June 2016 - Universal Studios Hollywood announces a major announcement, turns out to be only for a new logo

So let's assume that a Secret Life of Pets ride was in the planning stages and was going to be announced in either April or June 2016. Think it's a pretty safe assumption. But then something happened in May 2016, Universal announced a partnership with Nintendo. 

Obviously Universal Creative is constantly working on new attractions and they were going to have "back up's" if Nintendo didn't happen. But then it did, and why not have MORE space for Nintendo instead of a Secret Life of Pets ride? 

Now this isn't to say SLOP is never going to happen, it very well could. But the original rumor is that it was going to open THIS year in the former spot of Stage 28. There is still NOTHING there. Let's say they started building the ride today in that spot, you're probably talking 12-18 months before opening. That's a full 1 1/2 to 2 years after the movie came out. 

On the other hand you have Nintendo which is all of a sudden relevant again after the disastrous Wii U, you've got a new Zelda game, new Mario later this year and an amazing new console (which we'll have a review of next week, so stay tuned). Seems like a no-brainer to us, you use as much space for Nintendo as you can. 

We could be TOTALLY off-base here, but we don't think we are. 

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UPDATE: The following pictures were taken on March 10, as you can see all of the stages are gone. 

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Alright, enough with the fun speculation, back to stuff that's totally happening, like some nice work to keep Super Silly Fun Land looking Super and Silly. 

Last Saturday Voodoo Donuts was still walled up and closed 

This is going to be an awesome combo!! 

Wednesday Voodoo Donuts is all ready to go, rumors of a soft opening today and public opening tomorrow. But we'll update when we have more info. 

Alright, that's going to wrap it up for this update, we hope you enjoyed some fun speculation about the future of the park, we sure enjoyed writing it up. 

What do you think? Are we totally off-base here? Let us know in the comments below. 

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​Related Updates: 

• Tour of new Universal Cinema at CityWalk LA 
• Lunar New Year and Park Update from Universal Studios Hollywood
• ​Experiencing HHN Hollywood in a Wheelchair
• Photo Tour of Universal Studios Florida
• Photo Tour of Islands of Adventure ​​

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