As head of The Walt Disney Studios, Katzenberg knew all about upcoming Disney collaboration with Pixar films. There was an ongoing feud among the two companies over Antz before it was ever released. Katzenberg wanted his film to release before Bugs Life. Same thing with El Dorado, only not so much was known about the New Groove project at the time, only that it was set in the ancient Central, possibly South America. Emperor’s New Groove, was a difficult script, with the story constantly having to be rewritten. Anyway, Antz/Bugs Life: An ant won’t accept his role as a colony worker, and his independent thinking ends up saving his colony. El Dorado/New Groove: mostly just two animated movies set in ancient Mayan, possibly Incan, civilizations. Stories are a bit different, but Disney was still in that phase where they would release Pixar movies in the late spring, with Disney animated films in the early winter. Bee Movie/Ratatouille: Main character is not supposed to fraternize with humans, but ends up befriending one, learning that not all humans are bad. Small Soldiers was produced by DreamWorks Pictures and (in North America) distributed by them as well. They made a lot of live action movies back then. Bad Guys/Zootopia. A certain group of animals are seen as evil. In Bad Guys, it was pretty much anyone who wasn’t human. In Zootopia it was predators. Nick said that "If the world's only gonna see a fox as shifty and untrustworthy, there's no point in trying to be anything else." This was pretty much what Mr Wolf thought in the beginning. Zootopia came out several years before Bad Guys, but both are supposed to have their sequel released in 2025. Yes, it was based on a book, but so was Shrek. Fairy tale creatures are in the public domain, so DreamWorks is free to do with whatever they want with them, but they clearly liked using them as a way to get back at Disney, who also became successful through use of these characters. The first movie is filled with jokes about the company and it’s CEO at the time. I pretty much used the strongest examples, and then threw up a bunch of extra ones which had similarities for comic effect. The Katzenberg/Eisner feud is a fun one that I have interest in. It reminds me of when Don Bluth was fed up with Disney, and left to start up his own animation company. Only, instead of attacking Disney head on by releasing films on the exact day as Disney releases, DreamWorks tried to release theirs before.

@@texneyThe Bad Guys isn’t in the public domain. Neither is How To Train Your Dragon. Heck, Small Soldiers wasn’t even made by the animation studio. Yes it was produced by DreamWorks, but it’s not the same DreamWorks that makes animated films.

I don’t recall saying that either films (The Bad Guys and How To Train Your Dragon) were in the public domain. I said that the fairy tale creatures used in Shrek were. They were in the public domain back when Disney used them as well. As for Small Soldiers, it was produced by DreamWorks Pictures, Universal Pictures, and Amblin Entertainment. This was due to their early start up years, as both DreamWorks and Amblin had studios offices on the Universal Studios lot, with Spielberg tied to all three. So, I’m not sure what you’re trying to get at. The same DreamWorks that made Shrek is the same DreamWorks that made Sweeney Todd. It doesn’t matter what production departments worked on what if it’s the same company. …Although, a Sweeney Todd themed cruise ship would be kind of cool. 🤔

@@texneySee that’s the thing, because the Fairy Tale characters are in the public domain, DreamWorks was able to do what they want with the Fairy Tale characters in the Shrek series since there’s no copyright. But the Bad Guys & How to Train Your Dragon were movies based on books, so the authors of the book were probably consulted when DreamWorks made their movies. Also, DreamWorks Pictures is not the same studio as DreamWorks Animation. Like Amblin Entertainment, DreamWorks Pictures mainly produced movies that Stephen Spielberg was involved with, or directed. DreamWorks Animation, is the studio that everyone knows about as this is the studio that makes the animated movies like Shrek or Trolls or Kung Fu Panda. Other then the name, both DreamWorks studios have nothing in common.

DreamWorks most definitely got permission from the authors of Bad Guys and How to Train your Dragon for those movies, as well as the author of the Shrek! book. It’s cheaper than dealing with the lawsuit. Back to DreamWorks pictures not being the same studio as DreamWorks animation, I think you are basing this belief on dated logos and names. If you look up both “Small Solders VHS opening” and “Shrek VHS opening,” you would clearly see the DreamWorks SKG logo, followed by “DreamWorks Pictures Presents” on both. So by your logic, the original Shrek was done by a different studio, and not the same one as say, Bad Guys. That said, you could argue that two different DreamWorks studios were working on entirely different projects. One was working on Prince of Egypt, while the other was working on the CGI Shrek film. Both movies are still DreamWorks though, just as their live action movies were DreamWorks. Disney went through different names throughout their 100+ years as a company, but they are all still Disney. The physical studio that made Snow White may not be the same that did Wish, but they are still Disney. Parent Trap and Love Bug aren’t even animated, but they are still Disney. Play the time game again, and look up Nightmare Before Christmas VHS opening. Originally Disney released the movie under Touchstone, because they wanted audiences to know that this was not the same type of movie Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast was. When it came time to rerelease the movie on new media, all the Touchstone logos were removed and replaced with Disney. So, you have people who say Roger Rabbit isn’t Disney, it’s Touchstone, but at the same time somehow believe Nightmare Before Christmas is Disney.

This one is in Texas. It is supposed to open sometime later this year. The one in Florida opened in 2022. Thanks for watching. 👍

_“Our state fair is a great state fair”_ There are permanent pavilions and concrete at our state fair. The only dirt you’ll find is at the rodeo, which is also indoors. A lot of the other stuff just sits there unused for most of the year. They do use the Cotton Bowl and a concert venue (they keep changing sponsors, thus changing names). There used to be a big science museum until they relocated. I’m sure they probably host several mini events, that the city can charge for usage. They have the state fair in the fall, which only means it’s not triple digits out. But still 80-90 degrees means people want to spend most of their time indoors, if possible (midway games and rides are still outside.) If I remember correctly, when building Epic Universe, they started with the parking, then structures, then actual pavement for guests/staff. It appears like they’re doing the same here. When building a house, you usually pour the foundation before the driveway. But for commerce, usually it’s the parking first, which is why sometimes you’ll end up with a parking lot for a business that was never built, which is a weird find, especially decades later. Ideally, you don’t want to pave concrete that construction equipment needs to drive on. Concrete needs at least 7 days to cure before actual vehicles can drive on it, due to their weight. That would make continued construction a nightmare, as they would have to avoid these areas. It’s probably why Universal Kids has large gravel on its driveways and foundation sites, because they still need to be able to drive on it. Concrete is ok for foot traffic typically after a day. So cosmetic things like paint and textured surfaces can go in after. I’m going to assume a very late 2024 opening date. They still have seven months. We don’t really have unions here, as Texas is a right to work state. Labor is unfortunately (for the worker) cheap. They could get this thing up real fast if needed, as it looks like a pretty simple park. They could open, and still have removal or refurbishment of what’s left of Mountasia as a second phase. Honestly, it’s pretty smart. Legos are a timeless toy, whereas Peppa Pig may not be a thing a decade from now. So keeping things minimal is best. Probably why they threw up Florida’s Peppa Pig in the Legoland parking lot.

@@texney speaking of the Florida Peppa Pig, I didn't even know it existed until it opened. I wonder how long it took to open up the Florida Park? I am with you on keeping the dirt so the construction vehicles and what not can get around, it just looks like so much is left to do and I am only guessing because I don't really know. The State Fair in my city is pretty big and has a permanent home. It's mostly asphalt, grass and some concrete. So the operators come in and in just two weeks everything's up. Anyway I hope it all works out and they at least get some of the Christmas crowd.

And I'm going to assume that it will open on September 30th 2024

Yes. The entire first Shrek movie was intended to be a crack at Disney. Lord Farquaad (which sounds very close to a vulgar name on purpose) was meant to be Eisner. And if you remember the scene when Shrek sees the castle and jokes about him needing to compensate for something, that’s one. The Welcome to Duloc animatronic is meant to be a representation of Its a Small World, and the fact that there’s a queuing line and counting wheel just to get into the kingdom allows to viewer to understand that this is supposed to be the “magic kingdom,” or at least, it would be, had they not banished all the fairy tale creatures. Since fairy tales are public domain, both Disney and Dreamworks are free do whatever they want with the original stories. Anyway, Eisner essentially promised Katzenberg the position of President of the Walt Disney Company, but then later refused. This resulted in the two not getting along, and ultimately lead to Katzenberg leaving, joining up with Spielberg, who also was burned by Disney with their use of Roger Rabbit. Together, along with David Geffen, they formed DreamWorks. That’s why you’ll see “SKG” written in the logo. One of the many things that bothered Katzenberg was Eisner making fun of his height. By making Farquaad incredibly ridiculously short, he was turning the tables. Even the “f” in the banners were lower case because he was so short. The compensation line, Shrek saying “men of his stature are in ‘short’ supply,” and Donkey trying to figure out what he meant, thinking that Shrek believed “he has a really-” but gets interrupted. …there is a lot of adult humor in that movie which definitely is not something Disney or even Pixar would do, thus setting them apart. I find the whole Katzenberg vs Eisner topic is very fascinating, one that lead to a series of copycat movies and other concepts. Since he worked at Disney, he pretty much knew about their current and future plans.

Thanks for the tip. I was going to wait till July, so I would have two months in between each visit, but if they’re speeding things along, I may have to start doing monthly updates like I do with Universal. These are just a series of driving videos, which is why they’re every four months. Frisco changes so much so fast, that it makes sense, whereas, I only have one set of NRH driving videos because not much really has changed, at least since last year. I think some residential north of NRH2O finished the year before Peppa Pig announced its plans for a Texas park. Also, I got a new drone. Once these driving videos are done, (I think there are three more scheduled to go), everyone will finally get to see the entire Universal Property. I may have to come back out to Peppa Pig if they are indeed speeding things along and actually film the full property. It would be good to know what they plan on doing with the former parking lot, since it’s been removed, and if they currently are doing anything to the former Mountasia area. The property south of it recently was for sale. I wonder if Merlin bought it.

Thanks for noticing. When I first started doing the driving videos, waiting… …hoping… …they’d break ground, I used soundtracks from DreamWorks films. The very first series had Spirit - Stallion of the Cimarron. I wasn’t sure if anyone would notice, being that it’s an old hand drawn style animation from over twenty years ago, but even if not, it seemed appropriate given that there was still so much pasture and prairie land, plus, Bryan Adams!!! My favorite DreamWorks movie is Sweeney Todd, but I don’t know if that soundtrack would fit right. 😁 I used what I could from Shrek 1 & 2, and decided to just go with Trolls for 2024.

“Large screen TV,” you say? I’ve been informed that a better drone is on the way. The crappy cheap one I’ve been using films at 720, but this new one will have the better 1080 resolution. So hopefully you’ll be able to finally see some better quality drone footage of the ENTIRE property with these monthly updates.

Your videos are fine the way they are by the way I just meant that my astigmatism is so bad that I have to have it on the large screen TV to see it in the detail that I want. 😂Lol (with practically any video.)

When I saw the Peppa Pig ride all the way from the main road (26) Easter weekend, I knew you were right in requesting an update. I was excited to get out there yesterday, but was surprised that was basically it. Just a bunch of people still moving dirt around, but it looks like instead of a flat boring piece of property, the work being done was making this out to be several elevations, with all the plumbing and electrical mostly buried by this point. I bet things will really start to move along quicker soon, but I’m thinking this will be more of a late fall/early winter opening, if that 2024 deadline stands true.

​@@texneyearly winter sounds about right, if they pull it off at all

Yeah, I wanted to make sure I had video of the 2024 banners because it was such a shock last year when they claimed the opening date. The video will be amusing if they fail to meet that deadline. It took Universal nearly 10 months before breaking ground with a 2026 promised date. Peppa Pig made their announcements a month or so after Universal, breaking ground in last spring, promising 2024. Now, granted, this is basically a clone of the Florida park, so they don’t have a whole lot to do now that electrical and plumbing is all buried. I truly believe that everything they need to get this park up and running has already been delivered, some as early as last October, and on the premises, while Universal is making theirs from scratch, and are still constructing them off property, which is why it will take them longer. Merlin Entertainment surprisingly owns and operates a lot of entertainment venues, mostly theme parks outside the US. They own all the Legolands, and their first Peppa Pig theme park, they built right next to Legoland for that reason. They also own SeaLife, which is why many are next to Legolands, though the one in FL is not. In the DFW area, they first invested in a large outlet mall right outside one of the busiest international airports in the world. They built one of their Legoland Discovery Centers, with a SeaLife, next to it. I wanna say 6 or so years ago, they opened up a Peppa Pig World of Play in that very same mall, but on the other side of it. It’s mostly just an indoor playground themed to the show, but its success inspired them to select DFW for their second outdoor Peppa Pig park. The line to get in STILL backs up into the mall on the weekends and holidays! I grew up with this mall, so I always felt the Discovery Center space had a bit of a curse on it, as everything that opened was pretty cool, but could not last more than a year or two. Merlin Entertainment broke that curse, as the discovery center has been open for about 14 years, as has SeaLife, which took over the Former GameWorks location (if you remember the gaming aspect of DisneyQuest, that’s what it was). At one point, Disneyland would rent out space in the future Discovery Center by the month just to unload unsold Disneyland merch, as we would not get our own Disney Store for a while. With the closing of so many Disney Stores, this mall has one of the last surviving few as it remains an outlet for not only the website, but for the parks as well. If you’re familiar with Character Warehouse, this is somewhat similar. What I am interested in is how much of the former Mountasia family fun center will remain. It would be nice if there are things other age groups within the family could enjoy together like go karts, miniature golf, and such, but the property looked kinda in disrepair before they bought it, so I don’t know what can be saved, and what will be saved. I remember my first driving videos there. The blue barns looked like the scene from a horror movie!!!

@@texney Merlin here in Florida is moving the Sea life aquarium from International drive in Orlando to their park. So when you visit Legoland FL you will be able to do Peppa Pig and SeaLife. Not sure what they will do with Madam Tussaud's Wax museum on I drive. When the Frisco park opens up I want to take my grandson so that I can compare it to Legoland.

Forgive my late reply, but regarding the desire to compare the Frisco park to Legoland… …it reminded me of my September visit. You know, open grasslands, with a future road… …I found a Lego brick. Like, no lie. Someone left behind a Lego brick!!! It might’ve fallen out of one of the workers trucks, because why else would it be doing there? But there it was, staring up at me, as if to say “Hi. This is it. Legoland.”

@@texney I hope some Legoland exec didn't try to put some funky hex on the park... Just kidding. But that is weirdly ironic.

@@texney To me, Texas always seemed the next logical step for them to build a Legoland. And I was perplexed when they went for what seems a standalone site for Peppa Pig Theme Park. Then the Universal Kids announcement came and all was clear.

You know what? Yeah. Yes I could. I will definitely take your request into consideration. I wasn’t going to do that park often, simply because my kid is too old, and I am still a little bit mad at her for playing “muddy puddles” on our carpet with a bottle of ink she found. (What is this show teaching these kids?!?) But I noticed that one drone video of it seems to have a following, so there’s no real reason why I shouldn’t. To be honest, my in laws live directly behind it, and could even walk to it. They’re excited because by the time it opens, their other grandchild will be just the right age for it. This park is scheduled to open sometime this year, but that drone video is from January, and even though they have park attraction elements ready to install, the property didn’t really appear that far along. So it would be nice to do an update to see if they’ll actually make that deadline. They already missed spring break, and the summer will be big, with NRH2O right next door. I probably won’t do monthly updates like I do with Universal, but I could probably start doing videos every four months, like I do with the Universal driving videos. That would put the next update in May, but since I will be over there visiting for Easter, if it looks like things have sped up, I may do it sooner rather than later, because, like I said, the elements are there. They’ve got a lot of stuff in storage containers, and there’s an old building (shown in the Peppa Pig thumbnail that they’re probably using for storage as well). It’s most likely a direct clone of Florida. BTW, if it’s alright for me to ask, are you local? Do you have any interest in the Peppa Pig World of Play in Grapevine, or have ever been to it? My daughter was already in kindergarten by the time it opened, so I never took her. I was wondering if you were interested in any video of that. It’s too weird for an adult to buy admission without a kid, but I do have some video of the gift shop, and outside, that I took last year. Do you have any interest in that as a potential video?

@@texneyHaha😅Did not expect that response but I only live like 18 minutes away from the park. I am interested in the park because my child currently likes peppa pig and I have never really taken him to a theme park of some sort. Kinda wanna know how much progress they have made. Also of course you can post the video-I will be looking forward to it🎉

I will see what I can do. In the mean time, I highly suggest taking your kid to Peppa Pig World of Play in Grapevine Mills ASAP. They grow up so fast, and I regret not taking my kid IMMEDIATELY when it opened, because she really did grow out of it fast. I’d pick a weekday when schools are in session because I have seen spring break, and that line is LONG! I can’t imagine standing in that line with a toddler. That mall is busy on weekends and holidays, so it may be too much stimulation, and a meltdown is possible. (for adults, I don’t know about children 😁) Look up some videos about what it’s like, and just realize it’s an indoor playground for them, which essentially is what the theme park will be, with a handful of kiddie rides. But you go to see your kid smile, and that’s enough of a good time for you, I guess. Besides, unlike the theme park, it’s fully air conditioned. 👍 Merlin Entertainment owns the Legoland AND SeaLife, as well as World of Play at Grapevine Mills, so seeing the success of that indoor Peppa Pig play area is what led to them picking DFW for a second US location. They’ve had that Legoland Discovery Center for about 14 years now, and it’s been such a success that they expanded. I wonder if we’ll see a true Legoland somewhere in DFW in the future. …after our kids are all grown up, of course.

Yeah, I honestly am not liking the new art. Just looks cheaper IMO. Just comparing the boat ride transformation is an example of what I mean. Also, I know there were some talks about what a “dark ride” really was, which is why there’s a lot more buildings, because I do think there will be indoor rides now. So hopefully that’s where the budget is going. I honestly was surprised about replacing Madagascar with Sponge Bob. I didn’t figure Universal would pay Paramount for the rights to use him. It’s one of the reasons I figured we wouldn’t see a Wizarding World here, because they’d have to pay WB more money. Makes sense for Epic Universe, but not for an experimental small regional park. Naming it Universal Kids does allow the inclusion of Illumination properties like Minions, but I would have thought they would include other properties, like Sing! And Secret Life of Pets, before Sponge Bob. Just seems like a missed opportunity. It does, however, give them the opportunity to repurpose anything they may still have left of Fievel’s Playland, if they’re willing to ship it over here. I doubt they’d revive the IP, but they could just embed it somewhere, even if in the hotel. (Legoland Hotel has a playground in the lobby)

@@texney My family enjoyed our stay at the Legoland hotel. A little pricey but the rooms are basically suites. I think SpongeBob is a cheap IP, it's everywhere and I think they really wanted a water play area but couldn't make sense with SLoP or Sing. Too much city. I do think the hotel is better. The Camp Jurassic area took a big hit... I think. There some kind of "trail" and play are but no interesting rides. A pterodactyl sky coaster like at IOA would have been nice.

There are knowns and unknowns. We know that Universal Parks and Resorts rebranded itself as Universal Destinations & Experiences. We know that they are building an experimental regional theme park aimed at families with small children. The concept art appears to be heavily DreamWorks themed, and when they announced the new park in Frisco, Universal Studios also closed KidZone at its Orlando park, which also serves this age group, retheming it for DreamWorks properties as well. So while there is yet to be an official name or announcement of the themed lands, based on what we already know, it’s going to be a very nicely themed kiddie park. Originally it was aimed at 3-9yos, but has since been risen to 11yos. They also said that there were not going to be any “dark rides,” but I later discovered a comment made by the mayor of Frisco, that the city was working with them to get “indoor immersive rides and experiences,” and that what was meant when they said “no dark rides,” was really no “full dark thrill rides for teens and adults.” So my belief is that this will be more of a DreamWorks themed Magic Kingdom, where children of all ages, from 2 to 80 can enjoy. Legoland, but a Legoland parents, grandparents, and older siblings can enjoy as well. There are a couple videos on the channel where I predict what may be in each land, but this was back when I fully believed in the “no dark rides” statement that was given during the initial announcement, but even then, I was a bit skeptical, because what else could be in these buildings? I look forward to the parks opening, even though my daughter will probably be in high school by then, some time 2026.

It’s about $44-72 for adults $29-57 for children 12 and younger, with group and senior discounts. We went on a mid price range day, Friday night, but my husbands a big fan, and bought these on launch day way back in July I think. He had forgotten about it till later that day and was shocked at how many days had already sold out. That said, fan or not, it’s still pretty cool to walk through, but for the price, and the risk of bad weather or a sick family member the day of, it might be worth it to wait. I’d say they’re cheaper on the day of, but that’s probably due to the times left available. 8:15pm and later on the cheaper days is when you’ll see $44 adult tickets, if you ever find yourself in an area that’s hosting it. They seem to be adding more and more locations each year.

Thanks again for the tip! It’s not part of my daily routine, so I probably wouldn’t have gone out there this week. This trip I learned that I can fly, and I can film, but I apparently can’t do both, oh yeah, and the battery life on this poor thing is crap. Christmas has been bought, so I will probably have to wait till my birthday before I can ask for an upgrade. I feel much better about investing in such things, now that I know this is really happening. I mean, it could still end up like Dubai, but I have a lot of faith in this DreamWorks concept. I feel like this project will be completed.

@@texney so wait will this be a universal studios them park or a dreamworks theme park? and will it be just for kids or will it be for adults to i hope they bring big rides

That’s amazing! Thanks for the tip! I will have to go out there next week to film an update. I wonder if there will be, or was, a ground breaking ceremony. Seems odd not to do one, but maybe they plan on building the hotel first. Universal tends to have other companies own and operate those, but we’ll see, maybe that’s why.

Oh you’re too kind! 😊 Thank you! This was an “affordable” toy drone that I “borrowed” from my husband. It was my second time flying it. First time was a few days before the week of storms hit, in my backyard, just to see if I could get it to work before using it for this sole purpose. I honestly had gone out there weeks prior, for my last video, with my own cheap (we’re talking $45 in 2017) toy drone, and couldn’t even get it to fly straight up! This was shot last Wednesday morning, when the ground was still muddy, and the road crew for this specific project was gone due to the rain. The tiny drone didn’t do well with the wind, and video was super choppy as a result. That’s why this video update is so short, because the rest really wasn’t that usable I’m afraid. That, and when I tried to film the DNT/Panther Creek corner, it died, losing all the footage it took from that angle. Any footage is better than none I suppose, and maybe some day in the future I’ll get something a little more professional. But I learned a lot from that experience, so next time, I’ll just have to monitor the wind speeds for that more localized area, and simply let it hover over me, rather than let it explore, as having it return to me proved to be quiet difficult during both attempts. I really want to see Universal break ground, and even set up a sort of visitor preview center, but I doubt we will see that any time this year.

I just drove by today …and oh my gosh …they’ve cleared off the entire bit of land. They’ve moved so much dirt in there about eight contractors doing a lot of work directly on the property where the parking lot and theme park will be!!!!

Still awesome footage. I tried to fly my son’s drone, and I think I gave up after a little bit ….that was years ago , and it was a tiny little one; the size of my hand.

Thanks. Looks like you’re a drone enthusiast. This footage is from a Tello TLW004. For the price, it’s not bad. It’s just not designed to do the height, distance, and wind speed that goes with it.

Thank YOU for keeping US informed on all the other Universal projects! 👍 I’d like to be the “bioreconstruct” of this location, but unfortunately, for now, all I am armed with is a cell phone, dash cam, and a toy drone with limited range, battery life, and video resolution. I am excited as well for them to finally start, but am unsure about the hold up. I think the property may still be owned by the ranch, but don’t quote me on that, as I am uncertain. I didn’t see any cattle, but there sure were plenty of cow pies left. 😆💩🤢 Maybe there is some sort of agreement with the ranch and the Fields development, since Universal is dealing with the developer, rather whoever is currently using and maintaining the land.

I’m hoping I can get some drone footage this month. All we’ll see is the upcoming streets that border it, but it will be good for archival purposes, as I plan to hopefully keep a monthly update once they actually begin on the property.

I’ve got another video scheduled to go public in a few hours. I drive away, so you’ll be able to see the full corner. There’s another set scheduled two days from now, but today’s newer upload will be the most visible of the driving batch. Be on the look out for a future video I’m working on, which will be the first construction update for the channel. They haven’t broken ground yet, but they are working on the roads leading to it. Right now, there’s easy access to the hotel entrance, but they’re currently parking road construction vehicles on it. I actually get out of the car this time to film!

Great footage! I drive by there every few days. It’s going to be so exciting to see this place evolve! ☺️ I was tempted to get out of the car but I wasn’t sure where to park …My luck and a happy bobcat would leap out of the wildflowers and purr at me. 🤣🥺 it’s too hot to do the flappy bird motions that scare off bobcats. 😞but once ‘ real ‘ fall weather arrives… lol

@@stajon6829 lol, I honestly was reading your comment and imagining one of those yellow construction type bobcats, which I did manage to get film of. Then I imagined trying to scare it with those bird arm motions your described 🤣 After having my fun, and rereading, the brush is much too thick to walk through. I didn’t want to get in trouble for trespassing, so I mostly just filmed from the property’s fence line. I did bring a drone, but it was a cheap decade old toy that couldn’t handle the strong winds that day. For Panther Creek, I parked several streets down and walked behind the neighborhood, alongside the vacant lot. Residents can’t be too upset, because it seems like that’s where they let their dogs poop. I try to make sure I am not in front of any houses, or in any way a bother, since I know the entrance and first side streets are probably not too happy with content creators such as myself, or even just people with general interest of the area, so I don’t mind minimizing my impact, if they’re willing to leave Universal alone. If I had a truck, I honestly would just park behind all the other work vehicles on that road, as many don’t go past that gate.

I have two more sets of drive bys I will be uploading. Next batch should show the majority of the property. I am also working on my first construction update video, finally. While they haven’t officially broken ground yet, they are working on the roads leading up to all the Universal entrances. They need this infrastructure first. They do, however, have easy access to the hotel entrance, as they are parking road construction trucks on it. I actually walked there to see it for myself. So they easily could, but probably are waiting on electrical, water, and sewage. That video will both be very interesting and very boring. Interesting because we can actually see stuff being built, boring because, who honestly cares about how wide a pipe is? 😏 Also, I believe the expected opening date is 2026, so Kid Zone in Orlando and Epic Universe will long be finished by then.

This is actually my home portal. It truly was once a Bed Bath and Beyond that I used to shop at. I’ve actually been shopping this mall since 1997. The image shown before the clip is of the actual exterior entrance. If you compare this, with images of the new Meow Wolf, you will see similarities.

@@texney WOW... even though I want to see it I'm thinking it might not be as big as the original because even though bed bath & beyond has a pretty big store... I don't think it's nearly as big as that big bowling alley they've got it out for the first meow wolf 🥺. but I only live two and a half hours so I'm still going to go there. I've only been to the original I still want to see the one in Denver so bad... the one in Vegas looks so so. you do have a lot of information on meow wolf you've definitely done a lot a lot of research! I wonder if that movie they had was worth paying to stream? have u swen it? i i saw a guy who showed inside already... I can try to find the link and give it to you 😀

@@vacationboyvideos Thank you for watching, and commenting. While Omega Mart is 52,000 sqft, and Convergence Station is a whopping 90,000sqft, House of Eternal Return is only 20,000 sqft. According to Meow Wolf’s website, Grapevine is 29,000sqft. I don’t know if the former store was always that size, or if they partially took over other tenant space, but it seems original. It won’t have as many rooms, but if you remember Santa Fe, a lot of their rooms were tiny. Guess they have more artists, but we have a large state, so I’m sure, combining Dallas and Houston exhibits, would be huge. I haven’t been to “Seismique” but I did visit “Color Factory” in April. I will have to check that out next time I’m there (if Meow Wolf Houston isn’t open yet). Looks much cooler than Color Factory. My daughter just really wanted to go. Last June, my family road tripped to Santa Fe, then Denver, so we knocked those two out. We did Omega Mart last year in May, around the same time we found out about our local outlet mall just down the road becoming a portal. Thought that was an interesting pick. I haven’t seen the Origin movie yet, but it’s in all the gift shops. Area15 is interesting because there is the Omega Mart store, then outside, a separate Meow Wolf gift shop, where something like that would be sold. The other two locations do sell some Omega Mart merch in their gift shops, but not much. I’m hoping the gift shop in Grapevine is open to the public, and does not require a paid ticket. It would be weird to have something designed to look like a store in a mall and not to be accessible to regular shoppers. Legoland, SeaLife, and Peppa Pig, which all require tickets to experience at that mall, all have gift shops still accessible to anyone just walking by. My goal was to release a video for each of the four portals before the opening of Grapevine. That’s not going to happen in time, but I will still continue. I have a free ticket to Grapevine, but haven’t booked anything yet. Probably not going to go opening day on account of me actually wanting to enjoy it, versus content creation, but I do hope to visit what’s free to the public. I’ve already have some shorts out there of the interior, and exterior, as well as mall walkers that suspiciously showed up immediately after winning my ticket.

@@texney oh wow how did you win the ticket?!??😳😲🤯 and congratulations!! wowowo 🤯😲😀💥✨💫 did you win anything else to?!? so which one did you like better so far out of all the ones you've went to? I've only been to the original... but out of the Vegas and Colorado won the Colorado one looks to me better.... I'll eventually see the one in Vegas I'm sure!!! but I rather see Colorado before Vegas. I think the prices of their food at the Omega Mart from KZfaqrs look ridiculously expensive!!! and I think they could have did a better job on the packaging. I did see the gift shop at the convergence station on the KZfaqr guy who put it up it looks really big! I know that they expanded the gift shop at the one in Colorado the only one I went to from the time I went which was back in 2019.... plus they have that room now that has everything for recycle junk it looks really amazing so eventually I'll go back to the original just to see that any other newer rooms (maybe in the next two years) I'm wondering what the one in Houston in 2024 is going to be about? yeah it sounds like the one in grapevine is actually 9000 more feet than the original 😀yea! I went to the Houston seismic.(I can't spell it) ..it was nice....was about 3 hrs to get there... it's definitely different then meow wolf... it's individual rooms by individual artists. so it's more like a modern art exhibit... versus rooms connecting two rooms and having a "flow" but was still neat!!! we were still in there long time taking a lot of pictures and videos! it's also in abandoned bed bath & beyond 🤪 there's also otherworld in Ohio that looks really really neat! you can see it on KZfaq. I follow a guy on KZfaq called carpet bagger or he said the owner told him they're going to try to expand it because the shopping center that it's in has a lot of stores that have went out of business (thanks to Amazon in Walmart) so it might even get bigger!!! 😀 I wish more more interactive are like this would popup more and more an old abandoned shopping centers! there's also mixed tape in Oklahoma we almost went but that's a kind of far drive and the place looks really small. there was supposed to be an interactive art by another company in Houston a guy in Austin Texas told me about when I was at the toy Joy store (really cool for kids if you haven't been) but I can't remember the name of it. Japan also has an interactive digital art... but it's more projection and projection mapping. (I also haven't been) I believe it's called team lab. I thought about going to wonder space in Austin Texas it's an hour from me... I think it looks better than the ice cream museum which is also in Austin Texas at the domain. that color factory I looked it up it doesn't look that appealing at least not to me but I can see maybe for kids it would be awesome. there is also hopscotch in San Antonio I have not been but I heard they used to have one in Austin. I'm going to send you a video I did of some of that inside of the new meow Wolf ✌️😀 any more info lets stay in touch 😀✌️😀✌️😀💫✨✨✌️😀✌️✌️(I'm going to share your channel with all my Facebook community and Friends) (let me know if the link doesn't work I'll try it again.......) kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mKtya7eYv6myj30.html

@@vacationboyvideos So as a teaser, in front of the Grapevine location, they set up a Lærnü exhibit. One of the items was a claw machine that gave out colorful eggs. It’s a quarter to play, and isn’t rigged. You just got to line it up correctly. They want people to win. In the eggs are decals of the actual artwork that will be on display, some of which are holographic. Up until the very end, they even included a pretty neat fortune as well. I didn’t get any video of the teaser exhibit, only pics. The exhibit is now gone, leaving behind the carpet that ticket holders will stand on when they queue up for their scheduled experience. Every day, they put out one larger golden egg, with a “you are chosen” card, with a code on the back to enter during checkout. It’s quite brilliant, because if you imagine people who haven’t a clue what Meow Wolf is, and get that, now they have to pay for admission for everyone else who wants to go with them. We were going to go anyway, so I saved $50. Accidentally picked up a regular egg trying to get that one and instead of a sticker was rubber MW patch that’s on those mall walker tracksuits! Anyway, that Friday, and the rest of the weekend, they were having mall walkers go all over the metroplex to promote the new portal. I guess they stopped here unannounced first. They filmed them interacting with the exhibit, but haven’t seen that video released yet. I tried to get video, but apparently was taking photos instead. I still managed to upload a short however. Colorado is HUGE. I think we spent 4 hours in there, but if you don’t have anyone holding you back, you could easily stay longer. Like Omega Mart, they have these “boop cards.” I also felt like the main storyline was easier to complete, where as Vegas, you have to do everything in order, wait in line, and if you do it out of order, wait in line again. Plus, I heard that they closed down the slides. The prices at Omega Mart are indeed expensive! I wanted to buy something, anything, but it was crazy expensive. I get that you’re buying a piece of art, but to keep the shelves full, I know very well that they have pallets in the back of this stuff, and will be selling it for years and years to come. It’s just a box with a label. My daughter got two pet kiwis, and mostly because they were discounted. In the gift shop outside however, we got the MeowWolf plush that they sell everywhere. She ended up taking it to Grapevine Mills afterwards. She was the one who wanted to go to this place. I had no idea there were others. We told her we probably wouldn’t because it was in Vegas, and we would probably never visit, but then my husband had a conference there, and so his flight and room was already paid for. So we flew to meet up with him. I was kinda disappointed in trying to find family friendly stuff to do there. Not an issue with Denver. You can drink and get high at either city, but for some reason, Vegas just brings out the worst in people. They can get drunk at home. I don’t get it. I guess it was the shift from being the whole family to Whatever Happens in Vegas Stats in Vegas, because when I visited in 2001, it wasn’t like this. If you watched my video about House of Eternal Return, there is a portion that discusses Mix Tape. I had no idea about it, and being located north of Grapevine, I really should plan a trip. Basically they did a collaboration with Meow Wolf, and at the Santa Fe exhibit, there’s a videophone that is connected to a video phone at Mix Tape. I had no idea, and assumed we were talking to someone else inside a different room at HOER, not OKC. The lady I got started talking about Omegamart and how she wanted to go. I think she knew I was at Meow Wolf, but not Santa Fe. Finding video of either phone was just as difficult as finding video of the water tower, but thankfully I did. Even Carpetbagger skipped it. The last time I was in Austin was back in 1993. Seemed like just a regular Texas city. I guess it wasn’t “weird” yet. Definitely not the music and tech capital people act like it is today. Looking up Toy Joy though, it sounds like I would have LOVED IT, and still would. I would have been 10 at the time, but there would have been no way for my parents to have known about it I guess. Can’t exactly load up Prodigy, and look up what all there is to do down there. It would take as long just to drive from Dallas to there, by the time the dial up modem connected. So Color Factory, you gotta make sure isn’t the Crayola Color Factory, because that’s definitely a different experience, and we actually gave one of those here. Color Factory in Houston however feels like a Meow Wolf, if it had a tight budget, and focused more on its Instagramability. Going on a Sunday, there were more kids, I even brought one, but the majority were still young adults, and most of them were treating it as a photo shoot, bringing in actual cameras that still used something called film which requires some archaic form of developing. Anyway, I wasn’t even planning on going, so my phone only had a few watts left, so I needed to save those for emergencies since this was the farthest I’ve driven an EV outside of Dallas and still had to make it back. There were no outlets to charge anywhere, but they had several cameras that took your QRC and emailed them all for you, which was nice. I just wished I had worn something different. Thanks for the Facebook plug. Yeah, LA Times posted the original video on their KZfaq channel 3 days ago. It made me a little disappointed. I felt that instead of subtle nods to all the exhibits, and a story tying all the universes together, we were just getting a clone of Santa Fe.

I honestly couldn’t find any videos of this. I went early June this year, and didn’t film a single thing. Wished I had written the script before I went, otherwise I would’ve gotten better footage. This was the very very last thing this video was waiting on, and it was such a short piece anyway, that I “borrowed” a picture from the fan wiki page of the artist who was working on it and called it “done.” I honestly don’t remember it being there when I visited, but there was just so much to see, that I might’ve gone inside and just didn’t notice. I’d imagine a lot of people not noticing what it was. I believe that as far as “water towers” go, this is one of those small individual ones older buildings have on their roofs for their own personal use, not the traditional ones actual municipalities use for entire communities.

Thank you so much for watching, and for being so patient with this channel. This final video of the series took forever to complete. I was on vacation for a while, also had some other stuff come up, and this one was also more difficult to research than the rest for some reason. Like you said, this land has the most questions. I do think the park needs at least one merry go round style ride, given the demographic, and an indoor building would protect the ride from the elements, but theoretically breaks the “no dark ride” rule. The quick service could have a boat dock, but with it being so close to the boat ride’s end, I’m not sure if it’s needed. I could totally see penguin sculptures at the splash pad, which is mostly the reason my mind went to ice, rather than a wading pool, especially since I’m not sure just how strict they are going to be with this timeline. They are technically all there in the third movie, for a bit anyway, so fans really can’t chew them out on it. I think the stage show may be a placeholder for something else. People aren’t going to want to spend much time here. With the humidity, the heat index is already around 110-115, and it’s not even July yet. And the winter will be just as bad. I shared the circus idea because in the 80s and 90s, I did enjoy my time “joining the circus.” I did it every time I could. …which got real awkward once I was double digits. They really did shoot kids out of cannons. That wasn’t a joke. Basically, they would dress two kids in the same outfit. One kid would climb into the cannon, and while the audience was distracted, watching him/her climb in, the other kid would be escorted to the back of the audience. After the cannon went off, Kid 2 would appear from the back of the crowd, while Kid 1 remained in the cannon for maybe a minute before re-emerging. So that section, and the parking lot, could be reimagined as a circus in the future, because it’s technically outside the zoo, no longer restricted to Central Park, even though in the third movie, the circus does make a stop there. The meet and greet at the bottom that shares retail space and the ride, I’m thinking could be just be Julien. He’s the king, so he should get his own separate building from the common “pansies,” as he calls them. The building on top that I also said could be a meet and greet and bathrooms, I’m thinking really only have two main areas, so either a rotation of Alex, Gloria, and the Penguins, a rotation of Alex and Gloria, with a rotation of the penguins in the other side, or Alex in one, Gloria in the other, and penguins rotate between the two whenever.

@@texney All of these ideas are great. I really do hope they feature King Julien. I really miss his jokes!

Thanks for watching.

Thank you. I really appreciate that. Yeah, I thought about what you said in another video about party rooms, and the boathouse looked like a great pavilion building for some sort of festival or large party, but the way it was setup on the water just lead me to go with my original belief. Like you said, they have to be serviced somewhere, preferably not at the boat ride itself. I also noticed that the walkway dead ended on both directions and felt like maybe it goes behind the boathouse, it just was drawn in a warped vague fashion indicating that they don’t know either. They tend to leave out backstage areas out on conceptual art, so I believe it’s there for a reason. There’s more of a backstage route that circles in the entire park on the other side of the greenery that they can use instead. lol, a dinosaur attraction that could “eat up crowds.” I think my two expansion ideas would work for rider capacity, the problem is when would they go about building them? The first concept plans the town was given indicated two expansion lands, but when the second was given (shown in this video) there was just the one, which was massive, if you don’t take the final concept artwork into mind. So it looks like they are already giving us one expansion land as a possible opening day section. Waiting an hour for a “spinner ride” in the blazing sun sounds awful, but then you have to consider that they already do that for Pteranodon Flyers at IoA, even though there is a kid friendly playground right next to them screaming at them “Hey! You could be here right now playing and having fun! Instead you’re in a boring line that barely moves!” It would be nice if they did what they do at Dumbo, and give the parent a buzzer, and allow the child to play until the buzzer goes off. This could totally be implemented at IoA, but they have yet done so. This park is designed with shade in mind, so hopefully it won’t be too dreadful. I think that’s why each land has about two outdoor rides, with most other attraction indoors in the AC. If they design the trees and buildings to cast shade when the sun sets in the west, it could be very beneficial. That said, Six Flags is too sweltering and their trees are huge by local standards, since were planted in the 60s. The shade is a blessing, but there is no breezeway. I hope planners know where the wind flows and use it. My backyard can be about 20 degrees cooler than the rest of the property because of the shade from the mature trees, and the wind that blows through them. I dread of the day when they decide to build houses there, as that will kill the wind, and my source of free outdoor cooling. It would be nice if each land had some sort of water feature that could also cool down guests. Floor fountains would work if it weren’t for the fear of slippage. I remember seeing emergency crew respond to a fall a kid had at the Disney Springs fountain. It wasn’t pretty. The expansion pad could be used as a sort of mini water park, except Frisco already has a community water park, and nearby in The Colony, there is also a large water park called Hawaiian Falls. There’s just too many water parks nearby, (I only mentioned two), that I think locals would go there instead. Plus, luring guests into air conditioned facilities like restaurants and gift shops could still bring in money. No one’s ever not gone to a park because it’s too hot. I mean, those that don’t, are still replaced by those who will. I don’t foresee another Camp Jurassic, as it looks like, of the four lands, there’s already something similar in the Shrek land, and some sort of water attraction splash pad in the Madagascar land. That will be an interesting video to end the series with. You are the zoo animal. You are the attraction. It looks like a lot of direct sun exposure in that land. A giant playground next to a splash pad. Looks a bit boring to the adults, but an absolute blast for the kids. As far as a hotel pool goes, I’m not sure if it morphed into the Texas shaped lake within the park. (Better visually explained in the Park Central video). Clearly no one is allowed to swim in the pond. Maybe the pool will be indoors. I don’t think the LEGOland Hotel had a pool, which is what I’m comparing this hotel to. Most residents in the area have their own pool, due to their affluence, and if not, have access to a free, or cheap community pool. So really, only out of state guests would use it. It would give them something to do once the park closes, but given the age group of the children, you’re dealing with a lot of people who don’t know how to swim and/or like to go to the bathroom in them, which may explain why Legoland focuses more on splash pads. There is a DreamWorks Water Park in New Jersey, so I know they’re capable of something. I just think that given their targeted demographic, park time will be spent on the children, and the evenings will be for the adults, who will mostly take the family out for shopping and dining, and not interested in getting wet.

@Texney So when I mentioned water park I was mostly thinking an oversized water play area. Maybe like the now closed Feivels play area from KidZone that had the little water slide and water features. The drawing just looks like a slide tower with multiple slides. Otherwise its odd for a coaster with one train element. It's been a while since I was able to do Flyers with my son, but I recall some decent shading along the winding path. I did not know Disney uses a buzzer. It's been years since I did that ride with my kids. Legoland in FL has a really nice Waterpark but I don't expect to see anything that size here. I really do hope your right about creating shade. We could use a bit more at Studios & SeaWorld. The other parks are OK.

So interesting thing about Fievel’s Playland is not really knowing it had water features. I think in the late 90s, waiting for my turn to ride, not realizing this part of the area existed, despite remembering commercials where a blue hat Fievel rode down it with other children. I don’t remember anything else water related, or if my younger brother even experienced it. I wonder if my daughter had, when my husband took her while I rode MIB, since they wouldn’t let me on with my fanny pack, and all the lockers were full, despite it being off peak season. I bet Camp Jurassic is the same way in that some people may not even realize that there are water guns until their 7yo walks up to their father completely soaked from head to toe, telling him how their mother sprayed them completely with water, even though they literally were begging for it, and never once tried to spray back. I know my husband was surprised. On the topic of Fievel, I’m not sure if the logistics would work, but given the Fievel Goes West theming, and that fact that there would be no DreamWorks without Amblimation, it would be cool if they relocated some of the play structures to the new park. Green River was never specifically located in Texas, more further out west, so it wouldn’t be offensive to have it here, and would give adults who grew up with it some kind of closure, and ability to share their love of an animated classic with a generation who only seem to care about CGI. We do need some sort of coaster though. Originally I was thinking indoors, but considering how successful the Exhibition was, it just makes sense to have a permanent display. It would make it more easier to market themselves as a school field trip destination since it’s “educational.” I believe that’s how Legoland does it, at least here with the smaller Discovery Center. It’s packaged as a double experience ticket with SeaLife included. When Disney was creating New Fantasyland, they removed the old Dumbo ride, and increased capacity by doubling it. It was quite clever of them to turn the old circus tents originally used for Mickeys Birthdayland into a mini circus land, with an additional tent by Barnstormer. Inside that tent is where you wait in line (if that) and are given a restaurant style buzzer. When it goes off, you then wait in a much smaller line before being allow outside the tent, where the ride actually is. Often times, it’s short enough that they just give us the option of forgoing the play area, but just try and tell your kid “no.” Anyway, if you chose to wait with a buzzer, there is a center ring playhouse that resembles the fire scene where Dumbo has to jump. Anyway, the log flume doesn’t really resemble anything that could be themed to Jurassic. And waterslides may be too scary, even with such a small nothing drop off. There is a ride at the Six Flags here, which is very subtle, not really any drop offs, but still, most little kids don’t want to ride it because they’ve only experienced or seen things like Splash Mountain. The other issue is getting wet. My husband absolutely does not want my daughter or himself putting themselves at risk for getting wet because he believes it causes chaffing. Yeah, I dunno. I’ve never had the problem. I’ve only ever experienced Legoland in California. They’re entire water park section was closed because it was winter. 70 degrees, and closed. The Discovery Center here has an outdoor splash pad that was its “expansion land,” but it’s also closed during the winter. All water parks in the area are pretty much only open in the summer months. This means that anything beyond a water gun or walking fountain would most likely be a seasonal attraction, and therefore take up valuable real estate without offering anything to a majority of guests. Now then, in the summer, Six Flags here will occasionally have a parade where trucks drive through with WB characters spraying people with super soakers. That’s an option I guess.

@@texney I forgot that you guys get something of an actual winter. I think you're right then, a mini water park or oversized water play area will take up space when not in use. The last time I rode dumbo was when my older kids were young. There was only one spinner. So we never got to experience the new queue. My last kid is 11, & has no interest in it whatsoever, but if he wanted to ride, sure. He is a thrill junkie. He likes Gwazi, Mako, Hagrids, Guardians etc. Although he seems to be a little afraid of Rip Rocket and Falcon's Fury. I love Rip Rocket but will not do Falcon's Fury. I did one like at the Florida State Fair and saw my life flash before my eyes!! It was fun when it was over! Plus fair rides always have a little "cloud" of concern over them. I mean, they put them up and take them down every 3 weeks, yeesh. So at this point I have no idea what the expansion will be. But it reallly looks like a slide tower with all those slides coming off in different directions. As far as Camp Jurassic is concerned... the 1st time we went we really did not know what it was. The amber mines, the water cannons were an awesome surprise. I think we spent an hour or so there, even though we still had more of the park to do. Problem was we had on regular clothes and shoes and they got soaked. So every time we went back with our passes, the kids changed into swim suites and had a blast. I am also curious how they will transform the park during certain holidays. Can you imagine all the lands decked out in Christmas lights and the DreamWorks characters in holiday outfits?!

They haven’t broken ground yet, but yes, this is the location and the area around it. The land has been purchased, announcement made, and city zoning approved.

Where the road dead ends and I turn into the neighborhood is Panther Creek Pkwy, and will eventually become a true intersection for the new hotel, and that neighborhood. It will become a six lane road, vs the current psudeo four. Construction of this road (no idea if they will start on the video’s portion first) will begin in June, unless that’s changed. In the northbound video, when I turn right onto the toll’s access road, we are all forced to drive in the right lane because they are working on the tollway, turning it into eight lanes. This involves restructuring the bridge way that allows Fields Pkwy to run under it. This intersection is extremely important, as THIS will be where most Universal traffic will go, as this road leads to the park’s main entrance, which is scheduled to start construction some time in quarter three of this year. I do not currently know what they plan on doing with the bridge portion, as before it was torn up, it was a two lane road that was prepaved to be six lanes. You can see this construction and the future intersection to the parks main entrance, in the “driving from” video, just check the description for the time code. They may need to expand this in the event that they need multiple left turn lanes, as this is where they want all west and south bound guests (me) to exit. If this becomes a problem, then people (also me) will start using Panther Creek Pkwy instead, which was what those residents all feared. Bridge work is super expensive, so I do not know if they plan on taking on such an investment, though they may as well since they are currently tearing down some of it. This is what I have always admired about Frisco, even when I was a kid. They think fourth dimensionally, and are willing to plan for such. It made no sense for that road under the bridge to be 6 lanes, as it was in the middle of rural nowhere. No roads go through it. Only people who’d use it are people making u-turns, and the former owner of that ranch, who’s driveway will become the new road to Universal. The city, when it paves turning lanes, will often times pave a portion of a non existing lane instead. This indicates that a lane will one day be there. Most towns in the area wait for a problem to arrive first. They wait for traffic to become a major problem. Frisco has growing pains, but they handle it like no where I’ve ever seen. I have three groups of to and from videos for each driving tour. When the last two go public, the southern portion of the tollway, you’ll notice that all buildings, sidewalks, and parking lots are built pretty far from the street. (Or you can review January’s) This means that they have allowed the ability for the area to expand several lanes in, when the future needs it. They aren’t going to wait for the future to happen, then tear up all the sidewalks and parking (money wasted), possibly even relocating businesses like some cities would. I admire their city planners, and whoever handles their budgeting, as other places typically wait for state funds, which is why they wait for problems in the first place.

Actually the balloons may be the bday spot.

Thanks for the compliments. I’m not really a fan of videos where people just talk in front of a screen for half an hour. I feel like people actually want to see what I’m talking about. I do wonder about potential copyright infringement on some of the clips though. The edits are actually why it takes me so long to post videos, since it’s not just me talking. I drove around last week for another driving tour update. The area develops so fast that it’s worth documenting, even if Universal still hasn’t broken ground yet. I’m not worried about the copyrighted music on the driving tour videos however, since I am no way close to being monetized. It’s just to bring people in, and feed the algorithm. I have two of those videos scheduled to be public tomorrow morning, and plan to release 6 videos in total for May. The goal is to do a driving update every 4 months until a need arises to do more (like actual park construction). I’d like to someday do drone footage, but all I have now are cheap toys that I am unfamiliar with, and I don’t want to tick off that poor neighborhood. I feel guilty, every time I pull in for my tours. Congratulations on the new grandkid. I hope it opens in 2026. I believe it took Universal Beijing TWO YEARS to break ground after they made their announcement. If they are delayed, Peppa Pig should open in North Richland Hills by then (supposedly 2025). I’ve been meaning to do a video on that, but with limited personal time, Universal gets my full attention. My Jurassic World video may be delayed a week due to my tour videos, and misc. life events. It also requires more production time since it heavily involves Camp Cretaceous, and Netflix is a bit tricky with clips. So if you don’t see it out this week, that’s why, but you’ll at least have an updated tour playlist to get your through till then. My step mother in law has a new grandkid as well, and lives walking distance from the new Peppa Pig theme park, so she is looking forward to it. I remind grandparents interested in the two parks, that younger kids currently have Crayola Factory to visit, as well as the Legoland Discovery Center in Grapevine Mills, which also has SeaLife, Peppa Pig World of Play, and Rainforest Café. So that’s an option for future toddlers. When things calm down, and I need random subject matter to fill in the gaps between Universal updates, I plan to do videos on things like this. (There’s also a KidZania in Frisco, which is pretty interactive) Regarding Tom Sayer/Camp Jurassic, I feel like it will definitely be a hit. The problem with theme parks is limited time, and there is just so much everyone wants to do in that limited time that play areas often get over looked, or skipped all together. But for the few that do spend time at them, the children LOVE them. It’s a bit boring for adults, and teens, but I did enjoy completely soaking my daughter at Camp Jurassic, with these dino spray guns. Best part was that she loved it as well. We could do activities like this, Tom Sawyer, and Honey I Shrunk The Playground (back when it existed) because it was so busy, and we needed an escape and some place to sit down and chill, while the kid went nuts. As far as a birthday pavilion, it just makes sense to have it all up front in one building. The thing is that you have to have a party coordinator, and it’s just easier to have one large section, than several individual ones all over the park for logistical and staffing purposes. Places like Six Flags, and water parks, will have a large area (usually outdoors) off the beaten path for things like company, school, or church gatherings. But who wants that when it’s 100 degrees out? That’s why I’m thinking the big building up front in the Trolls section. The idea did cross my mind that the balloons may be a ride of some kind. I just could not tie it in with the franchise in any way, even after rewatching all 4 Shrek movies and the two Puss in Boots. They did celebrate the ogre triplets birthday in the forth film, but it would just seem odd, with Shrek 4D (they just got married) right there with a 1yo birthday party. The ride just seemed too small for that area, and the line for it, did not make much sense. In fact, originally I thought everyone was waiting in line for that, and not Donkey’s stable. In any case, they need to break ground and start posting permits and such so I can see just how horribly wrong I was with my predictions. 😁 They may be waiting on the city to build their roads, but they already have access from the hotel side to at least start for staging purposes. They were laying gas lines already during January’s announcements, so they may also be waiting on electrical and other infrastructure from the city before even considering starting.

@Texney You are spot on about play areas. My kids could easily spend a couple of hrs in Camp Jurassic. I particularly liked the rope bridges but a lot of the crawl space has been blocked off since they reopened after the shut down. Busch Gardens basically abandoned Jungala!!! There is a Chic fil a there now and both the other eateries are shuttered. We just did Tom Sawyers Island a couple of weeks ago when we went to ride Tron. So a combo of both places themed to a swap would be great. It is interesting how the concept art has the river going between the catapult feature. They must be planning something there. Also, I hope it doesn't take 2 yrs to break ground. Geese! Don't want to give the negative residents too much time to mount some weird roadblock.

When did you last visit Camp Jurassic? I was last there in February 2022. I don’t remember spending as much time there as I did in 2020, but I don’t remember anything being blocked off, so it may all be reopened, especially during 2023. This was still back when you were required to wear masks indoors. It’s possible that something else happened there. I know that if a kid vomits, or has a bathroom accident, at a McDonalds PlayPlace, once notified, they completely shut down the play structure for cleaning. Of course, during COVID, the entire Playland was closed. So it’s possible that it just needed to be cleaned and dried, which is difficult to do for indoor areas. I’m not sure how wet those places get after rainfall. Frisco usually just passes permits when they feel like it. Novel idea, but you elect officials to represent you, and they are the ones who determine whether or not zonings get changed, and permits get approved. No individual propositions for citizens to vote on. Councilmen do it for you. Brilliant. That’s how local politics used to be, and that’s why Frisco continues to be the fastest growing city year after year. This was one of the rare cases that city council actually prolonged approval, wanting residents to voice their concerns before voting on it. With this in mind, I am honestly surprised that neighborhood has remained untouched by all the development going on. It’s very common for someone to move here, build a house, and then immediately be upset that someone else wants to do the very same, but as much as I refuse to believe 2008 was that long ago, that was 15 years ago. So any development there will be a huge change to what that neighborhood is used to. One of the councilmen supporting it lives in that neighborhood, and a few other residents also support it. MOST Frisco residents support it. Those against it don’t really seem to realize that they are already a local tourist destination. And I agree that having apartments and condos would bring more traffic to their road, which is what was originally planned for that space. We need more housing, definitely. Especially smaller, affordable places, but they lucked out not having it there. What WILL bring more traffic is when they finally connect their Panther Creek Pkwy, with Preston Rd, which will begin in June, and estimated to be finished in 2025. That, and Frisco St, but honestly, that just means that anyone who currently cuts through their neighborhood would now just drive there instead. I noticed this visit that there is a detour sign, indicating that some route seems to have been detoured through their actual neighborhood on purpose. They’ll blame that new traffic on Universal, but Universal agreed to build not only a massive landscaping barrier on their own property, but also along the Cobb Hills neighborhood as well, in addition to some fencing. Residents are worried people would decide to park there and walk, rather than pay for Universal parking. With Frisco St finished, they could get away with Universal building gates for them. Residents had mid Jan to mid March to voice their complaints to the council and Universal. Of course, many of the meetings were canceled due to snow, but that is why it took till March to finally get a vote. You can’t stop progress. There’s a town nearby that was also one of the fastest growing about two decades ago, despite being so anti growth. It was actually worse for the town because developers would simply build outside of the town limits if they were denied or given too much grief. So they contributed to the traffic but did not have to pay any city taxes to help pay for the infrastructure they were now using. It was BAD! Seeing all that rural land just north of Frisco just makes me think that if they can’t build in Frisco, then they would just build there, and Frisco residents would not benefit from any of that revenue, just as that other town had done.

@Texney we were there Dec 4 2022 to see KidZone one last time, but Camp Jurassic June 6 2021. I have owned APs for probably 10yrs and don't go as often as I should. But we have Disney, Busch/SW, all the water parks and we used to have Legoland. You just run out of weekends. Haven't gone to Universal yet this yr. The area that was blocked was at the very top. They blocked off large courses.

That’s a great idea for the classical section. A more interactive experience is definitely better and more welcoming than some peaceful cabanas that may or may not be charged extra for. The music could easily just be piped in at the individual sections, meaning the giant walkway separating them would be the quiet buffer zone for the genres. There should be plenty of loud kids diluting it as well. Alternatively the Trolls Land could simply have one synced song, but each section is playing it in their own special way. An example of this synchronized harmony would be the It’s A Small World ride, where it’s just one continuous looping song, but upon entering each region, it is being sung in their native language. That said, it needs to be multiple songs, not just one, as I fear for the team members who will have to listen to it all day long. I don’t know how cast members who are assigned to It’s A Small World are able to do this day in and day out. And I am definitely worried about the Madagascar section, with that Move It Move It song. That may be a section I avoid visiting entirely! 😆 As for safe spaces as an escape from sensory overload, yes, I do think getting autism certification is a must. A lot of places already do it, and it will only help Universal attract more visitors. They already won’t have to worry about loud noises such as fireworks, due to the ban. That’s a better fitting for that large country building, as this is a small regional park, so there can’t be too many restaurants, otherwise there will be too many choices for the amount of visitors they have. Thanks for watching!

I really hope you’re right. It just wouldn’t be a theme park without it. In a future video, I will discuss this further. You see, is a merry go round a “dark ride?” What if it’s inside a building? What about swings? If you have a building containing multiple rides that are traditionally outside, are they all now “dark rides?” At what point do you have an indoor theme park? In Universal Beijing, the Kung Fu Panda land is all indoors. At Motiongate Dubai, all the DreamWorks rides are indoors. So the Shrek land, that has the crazy boat ride mentioned as possibly being in the Funk Trolls section, also had a track ride that takes riders through the first Shrek movie, which is what most people traditionally see as a “dark ride,” even though it’s next to all the other rides in the same building. The same time they said “no dark rides” they also said “In-ward thinking environment: Focus on ‘inside’ - not ‘outside’” So maybe it’s a trick of words, and there are many buildings housing indoor rides. It gets very hot here, and very cold. We need things to do inside that’s more than a restaurant or movie.

I think if there’s gonna be any dark rides, it’s gonna be in Jurassic Park

@@verboltenfanboy726 Agreed. Looking forward to doing that video. (Working counter clockwise). At the moment, it looks like each land has two major outdoor attractions, surrounded by buildings. They can’t all be restaurants and gift shops. Something else has to be in them. I’m thinking maybe a form of pterodactyl flyers, but with better capacity. More like the Beijing ride and less of like Islands of Adventure. I know we all want the other JP Beijing ride, but that may be too scary for the targeted audience.

Thanks for watching.

Thanks for watching! I was very impressed with the DreamWorks retheme. I wouldn’t have ever known had I not have done the research myself. I grew up on Nickelodeon, but all I had access to was the “Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios in Orlando Florida.” No rides. That area pretty much was on the decline by the time Nick Central opened at Dreamworld. I had no idea it even existed! I hope the Kenny and Belinda remodel is just as good, if not better. Universal announced a new DreamWorks theme park where I live two months ago. If it’s anything like Dreamworld, we’ll be lucky. It’s targeting smaller kids though, so who knows.

@@texney Yeah I absolutely agree, I do somewhat remember when i was younger (like 4 or 3 😭) visiting the nickelodeon area. I only remember because i have a picture of my family with Spongebob and Patrick 😂😂😂. Yeah nick studios was kinda just there for advertising i guess lol, they did game shows i nick studios but then they stopped, what even replaced it I forgot wasnt it Fast n Furious? Yeah I reckon the remodel looks great atm, just hoping that the area will still feel like an all ages area. Ohhhh really, i never knew about that? I’ll have to look into it. Also i do wanna request a video, Have you heard of The Smiler at Alton Towers?? Literally one of the most interesting rides ive seen imo

@@RHYSISABOMB I believe Nickelodeon Studios is walled off from the park now, and is a separate thing. So you can’t even go there to mourn the loss of your childhood. I don’t know if the building itself is in use or still abandoned, but Blue Man Group and a few others are using the actual studio buildings. Nickelodeon Studios was cool back in the day because just like with Disney’s MGM Studios, you got to see how your favorites were made, see props, and even get insider info, something treasured since it’s not like you could go on the internet to learn about what’s new back then. I remember they made me eat slime once. (Tasted like tapioca). By the time I was an adult though, most of the tour was non existent, the iconic slime geyser had been removed, which was where the real Slime Time Live was being filmed, at least on the American channel. And they even moved the time capsule to a newly opened Nick Hotel, which quickly failed because not many parents booking it liked the new Nick since they’re now adults, and also because Nick was pretty much gone from the park by then. They rethemed the Hannah Barbera ride to Jimmy Neutron, a show I hated, but my little brother loved. I was an adult, so I knew the show wasn’t meant for me. It was meant for kids. I just didn’t like how the industry was moving to cheap CGI, and quality was diminishing over some new trendy thing. Jimmy Neutron would later close for Minion Mayhem. That whole section of the park is being rethemed to Minions at the moment. There is a Sponge Bob store and Meet and Greet at the kids area of the park. That’s been there forever. I never liked him, though my brother and everyone else seemed to, including people my age. I feel like he was the downfall of Nick to be honest. They would marathon the crap out of his show. So if you didn’t like him, you had nothing to watch. If you did like him, you grew tired and stopped watching. There were shows I did like on other networks that I quickly tired of because they marathoned stuff too. Fast & The Furious replaced Disaster, an attraction that demonstrated how they filmed disaster movies, mostly earthquakes. I got casted to be a mall shopper once, only since I had visited before, I knew the column was going to fall on me, so I was a bit more believable, but sadly, no video proof. I’ve heard about Smiler and Alton Towers. I like family style coasters, but not those extreme thrills inversions and loops, which I think Alton Towers has a lot of. I don’t like being upside down. In fact, the only reason me and husband ride Hagrids at Universal is because our daughter wants to, but somehow Slinky’s Dog Dash is too scary for her. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I was very upset at EuroDisney because I foolishly assumed all their coasters were like the American ones. They are not! 😳 I am currently trying to focus this channel on DreamWorks experiences, updates on our local park, as soon as they break ground anyway, opinions on it, and possibly other stuff to do around the area since that’s like a half day for anyone who’s traveling outside the area just to see it. But I have noticed that this specific Dreamworld video has become the most popular within the channel, so I definitely will consider any and all of your suggestions, it just may not be for a while. The problem I face is that it doesn’t seem right for someone like me who has never been to a specific theme park, let alone that hemisphere, to do an in-depth video on something they’ve never experienced for themselves personally, while at the same time, I’m here. There’s other stuff here that I can visit. I really ought to focus on what I know rather than pretend I know, ya know? 🤣 In fact, one of the reasons I started this particular series was because I didn’t know. There’s probably a lot of people like me who don’t know either. I should tell them! 😁

@@texney Yeah it is nowadays shut, they relocated to somewhere else. Yeah i remember that blue man group stuff taking over. Yeah it was honestly such a smart invention to show kids how there favourites are made, i love that idea and id recommend u look up Alton Towers Nickelodeon. They had a nick attraction there aswell. Haha ewwwwww thats so gross 😂😂😂😂 OH YEAHHH I REMEMBER SEEING AND HEARING ABOUT IT BEING RELOCATED. Now the time capsule is just all over the place its been relocated a couple more times afterwards aswell haha. Oh I loved that Jimmy Neutron ride, Ive never been outside of Australia so i never experienced the true attraction atmosphere for these rides but still i remember watching tons of vids. Yeah definitely CGI was pretty bad and cheap OMG ANOTHER SPONGEBOB HATED THANK GOODNESS I THOUGHT I WAS ALONE. I hate spongebob and absolutely agree with you on the amount of crap he has related to him, he really did ruin nickelodeon and yeah i did enjoy the show when i was younger but now im 17 its just rubbish. Oh yeah thats right Twister was replaced by Fast and furious my bad, Oh thats cool i never realised the audience got casted into the shows. Yeah im much more of a family coaster fan myself, I don’t really ride the rides because ive got a fear of vomiting. Yeah no thanks for upside down’s for me to, Alton towers has so many thrill rides it ain’t even funny haha. Lol Hagrids looks frightening to me ngl im surprised she enjoys it 🤩 Yeah i get ya, i love seeing IP themed areas myself. Yeah ur super lucky to have local parks over there, here in Australia we have like what 6 theme parks 😭😭😭 and none are local for me 😔. Yeah honestly Australian Theme Parks dont have alot of informative videos about them and trust me alot of people are interested in Australia Parks. Oh thats fine ill give some suggestions for Australia Theme Park related stuff. Oh no its fine literally if u have experienced it or not we all just appreciate a brief history of the theme parks. Yesss ill have to check out ur other videos, Yeah it’s awesome that ur informing yourself and then ur also informing us viewers. Sorry if i skipped some things or maybe mis read I’m quite a slow reader that gets distracted with just small details here and there (Thanks to my ADHD 😭😭😭) But yeah if u want some suggestions for Dreamworld related stuff here are a couple. Tower of Terror 1 and 2, Buzzsaw, Wipeout, Eureka Mountain Mine Ride, and finally Thunder River Rapids (The Rapids ride shut down because it killed some guests due to a malfunction, just thought id warn u in case that type of stuff is triggering)

It would seem that Nick had several themed lands at several amusement parks globally. I wanna say that Universal Studios Hollywood had something at one point too. I just don’t remember because it wasn’t there when I went in 1986 or in 2021, but I remember seeing it in 2001, just didn’t pay too much attention to it since I was 19 at the time. I try to upload a new video in the series around Friday or Saturday if I can stick to a schedule. This weeks will be DreamPlay, but I believe the following week will be a DreamWorks water park. It’s inside this massive indoor area (being indoors helps it keep year round attendance). Also inside is an indoor amusement park called Nickelodeon Universe. I could probably do an entire series on “the history of the Nick experiences” if I were desperate for content. There’s definitely plenty there to work with. As for the time capsule, in 2009, I actually drove to the Nick Hotel just to see it. The entrance guard there let me in after telling him that’s all I wanted to do. The hotel was kinda in the middle of nowhere, so it’s not like people want to park there for any other reason than as hotel guests. It bothered me that it was missing when I visited in 2005, but I could not find any information about it online at all. There was a rumor that it was there, but no actual proof. So I took a picture of it, but I am wishing I got video because there was a “window” that allowed you to see moving slime and hear it gurgling as if that’s all that was in it, the iconic slime. I uploaded it as soon as I arrived home, and if you ever see a picture online, there is a 50% chance that it’s the one I took. Since Nick moved out and established a working studio in Burbank, it is rumored that it was relocated there, on the opposite side of the country, but again, “pics or it didn’t happen!” Being in Australia though, you do have an advantage to visit places like Tokyo Disney and Universal Studios Japan, as well as other touristy things that make it much more difficult for people like me on the opposite side of the globe to travel to. I have always wanted to visit Australia, but Tokyo Disney is on my bucket list. OMG I hate SpongeBob so much with a passion! Since young adults also loved him, I tried to give the show a try. The only value the show has is the character Squidward, but he’s just saying what we’re all thinking anyway. All the other characters are nails on chalkboard irritating. I asked people why they liked the show, and they would all tell me because “it’s stupid.” I would then ask them about Ren and Stimpy, a classic Nicktoon that is also stupid, and they would claim that they had never watched it. They were of the appropriate age to have seen it, even in reruns. There’s also a character in the show that I find highly offensive, Sandy Squirrel. Supposedly she’s from “Texas,” and there even was an episode insulting the state. If you haven’t figured it out yet, that’s where I’m from, hence the name of the channel. But since we’re on the subject, what is your opinion on Rocko’s Modern Life? That’s a Nicktoon that I really enjoyed as a kid, but since the main character is from Australia, I wasn’t sure how culturally offensive he was. As for Twister, that would be a tornado, and Disaster was earthquake related. Twister was replaced by the unpopular (but I like it) Jimmy Kimmel Live ride. Twister was a very popular movie in the 90s, but by the time it replaced Ghostbusters, yes, ghostbusters, it was forgotten. I honestly didn’t see the movie till 2003. The attraction was a show that simulated being in a tornado, however the last time I saw it, 2009, Universal had cheapened so much that they made us wait an hour so that the room would be full, and then the main bit, the actual funnel cloud itself, was turned off. That whole trip was like that attraction, shorter hours, longer waits despite low attendance, and special effects turned off. They’ve gotten better though. What made Twister so bad was that Ghostbusters was much more timeless. Like Disaster, Ghostbusters was a show, and would pick people from the audience to become part of the cast. You needed to be an adult, so in the 90s, when the show existed, I was too young despite being a big fan of the franchise. Since the park originally opened with the second movie still in theaters, or just released to home video, the show was set to the first movie, where you fought Zuel. Hagrids doesn’t really have any loops or inversions, but it’s still pretty intense. My husband watched it in the video thinking it was safe and I knew that KZfaq can’t replicate the g forces and simulate the speed, but we went anyway. The first time we rode it, we both apologized to our daughter, as she was only 7 the first time. She still loved it. My husbands a big Harry Potter fan, and the new legacy game that came out has made the building structures on the ride, which originally were part of the dueling dragon coaster before the retheme, canon, as they appear in the video game itself. About the Rapids ride, I kept stumbling on the incident during my research. I was interested, but fought hard not to be distracted by it, researching that instead. DEFINITELY didn’t want any news footage! So where I live, there is an amusement park called Six Flags. There are several locations, but this is the original, the one that started it all. It had a similar attraction where, in the 90s, I think something similar happened, most of the people survived, but there were a few fatalities, or one, I don’t know. I just know that the ride is still in operation. I stopped riding it after that happened, but my husband took my daughter on it, not knowing. This is the same park that had a lady fall to her death from a roller coaster several years ago. Yes, that coaster is still in operation as well. 🤦‍♀️ If you made it this far, thank you for reading my book. 😁 You touched on a lot of topics, and I wanted to respond to as many as I could. 👍