Universal Kids Resort’s Opening Ends Our Construction Coverage
Universal Kids Resort opens tomorrow in Frisco, Texas. And I’m a little bummed about it.
Not because I have anything against kid-centric theme parks. But because it marks the end of two and a half years of walking around the park as it rose from the dirt and mud.
My first trip to the corner of the Dallas North Tollway and Panther Creek Parkway was in December 2023, about 11 months after Frisco announced Universal Kids Resort was coming. I had heard Balfour Beatty had broken ground, so I drove out during my lunch break to see what was happening.
Read more: Universal Kids Resort Review: Our First Visits Inside Frisco’s New Theme Park
I found a bunch of parked excavators, scrapers, and dump trucks. Across the street, a masonry crew had started building the wall Universal paid for around Cobb Hill, the neighborhood directly south of the project.
For the next several months, I spent many Friday lunches photographing machines moving dirt. It was glamorous work.
At the same time, Frisco was extending Panther Creek Parkway and building Universal Parkway, two of the three roads surrounding the park. The Dallas North Tollway, the third, was also getting major upgrades intended to get guests in and out without turning nearby streets into a parking lot.
I watched as the resort’s topography took shape and wet utilities went in. Crews dug deep to prepare for Bello Bay Cruise, the Minions vs. Minions whitewater raft ride. I leaned heavily on engineers and construction contractors I know to help identify what I was seeing.
I published several articles during that stretch, but only the first got much traction. Apparently, land prep isn’t a big draw for casual theme park fans. People want coaster track, not pics of concrete culverts.
Things finally got more interesting once the project started going vertical in late 2024. The Universal Kids Resort Hotel rose first, followed by several buildings inside the park. Even then, most people weren’t paying much attention.
Ride parts start showing up
That changed when the staging lot started filling with ride vehicles and track. I first spotted SpongeBob’s flowers peeking out from beneath a plastic tarp. Those wrapped vehicles are now sitting in Bikini Bottom as the Bobbing Barrels. I also saw the Barnacle Bus’s U-shaped track and the U.F.O.s (submarines) that now spin around Jellyfish Fields Jamboree.
At the time, though, I didn’t know any of the specifics for the ride parts. I figured I could muddle through the research myself, but my plate was already full. So I reached out to Aahs n Oohs. A few months earlier, he had made a mind-boggling discovery involving the Ministry of Magic queue at Epic Universe, so he seemed like the right person to ask.
How To Fit Over 5 Floors Of Magical Offices Into A Show Building
— Aahs n Oohs (@Aahs_n_Oohs) November 26, 2024
A portion of the queue of "Harry Potter and the Battle of the Ministry" will have guests walking through the grand British Ministry of Magic atrium.
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(Universal simulated the enchanted weather in the pic) pic.twitter.com/Z9PhikjSzg
I asked whether he might be interested in collaborating. He was. Within an hour, he had identified most of the ride vehicles in my photos, many of them tightly wrapped in plastic.
Over the next year, we developed a routine. I would send him iPhone photos while walking the perimeter. He usually had answers before I even got home and had a chance to edit the actual photos from my camera.
Aahs continually amazed me, including the time he looked at two wooden crates and told me SpongeBob and his jellyfish were inside. These were wooden boxes in a parking lot more than 200 yards from my camera.
Another time, nearly everyone who saw photos of pink, white, and green coaster cars was convinced they were headed to Jurassic World. Aahs knew better: “Those are for the Trolls coaster.”
That Jurassic coaster proved elusive more than once. When most people assumed Universal Kids Resort’s dinosaur coaster was a Vekoma, Aahs insisted it was a Mack Rides YoungSTAR. He even matched Frisco’s footers to the same coaster at Universal Studios Beijing.
I’m proud of what Aahs and I accomplished. Other than Rhonda’s TrollsFest Express going vertical and a Jurassic coaster car making its first appearance, we were first with just about every vehicle reveal and ride-testing update. I happened to be in Orlando both times, photographing a drained Rivers of America and every available square inch of Epic Universe, so I didn’t beat myself up too much.
No drones needed
Several people have asked me why I never bought a drone to document the park. I bought a 200mm lens instead. First, my drone footage probably would not have impressed anyone. Theme park fans are used to Bioreconstruct-level aerial photography. I figured sidewalk shots were my best bet.
I was also worried about crashing a drone inside the park. A Balfour superintendent told me that happened at least twice during construction. So I stayed on the dirt and sidewalks wrapping the resort, camera in hand.
Documenting Universal Kids Resort from dirt piles to Minions has been a blast. So yes, I’m a little bummed that it opens tomorrow. I’ll miss my daily collaborations with Aahs, who has become one of my best friends. I’m looking forward to taking him to the park when he gets to town. No doubt, he’ll point out details I’ve missed.
Now, some of our favorite photos from the last few years.
Want to learn more about Universal Kids Resort and its seven themed lands? We’ve got you covered. Visit our Universal Kids Resort hub for everything coming to the new Frisco theme park.
