EastTexasRadio.com Powered by Ten Stations
Universal Destinations & Experiences revealed Friday new details about the theme park coming to Frisco, including the park’s official name, Universal Kids Resort.
In January, the company announced it would bring a family-focused theme park and a 300-room themed resort hotel to North Texas. On Friday, executives with Universal Destinations & Experiences, a division of Comcast NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC 5 Fort Worth, confirmed that they’d received zoning approval to move the project forward and announced the park’s official name.
We’re designing the resort so kids and families can feel the thrill of being physically immersed in their most beloved stories and characters.
Molly Murphy, Universal Creative
The theme park will be the company’s first park designed specifically for families with young children, catering to riders up to 46 inches tall.
“The whole resort will have a very lush landscape feel, and we have buffer trees,” pointed out Page Thompson, president of new ventures for Universal Destinations & Experiences.
“The characters that children in this community will grow up loving and get to see and touch and be around every single day, it’s going to grow into being the very essence of growing up and living in Frisco,” said Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney.
The final rendering presented Friday morning differs from the original vision proposed in January 2023 (compare the January and December renderings below).
The footprint is about one-quarter the size of the parks in Orlando, scaled down to be more “intimate and engaging” for younger guests. The company said that in January, the theme park will have a completely different look, feel, and scale than Universal’s existing parks but will still carry the same quality as the more significant resort destinations.
The city estimates Universal Kids Resort will generate $200 million in annual spending in Frisco.
Molly Murphy, president of Universal Creative, described the park’s design as one with young children in mind.
“We’ll have playful shows, meet-and-greets, fun food and beverage. We’re designing it with the unbridled creativity of children in mind,” said Murphy. “From a kid’s perspective. What does it look, feel, smell, and taste like? Tapping into their imagination and their sense of discovery and play.”
Cheney added Friday that the road leading into the park will be named Universal Parkway.