New details were released Friday about Frisco’s new theme park, including an official name — Universal Kids Resort — a logo and a new rendering for the nearly 100-acre park designed for families and young children.
The announcement by Universal Parks & Resorts, which has rebranded to Universal Destinations & Experiences, included updates on the project, which is underway on the Dallas North Tollway in the Fields development.
Also announced, the roadway leading into the theme park will be named Universal Parkway.
Molly Murphy, president of Universal Creative, a division of Universal Destinations & Experiences, said the company officially broke ground and began moving dirt in early November with plans to go vertical with construction next year.
“Universal Kids Resort will inspire the unbridled creativity of kids through imagination, discovery, and most importantly, this resort will be full of color and life and thoughtfully set in a lush green landscape with a completely distinctive look, feel and scale from our existing parks around the world,” Murphy said. “The resort will feature a theme park with immersive lands that celebrate our iconic brand of entertainment, humor and innovation. It’ll bring to life the loved characters and stories in ways that wow our young theme park goers.”
Building the resort, which will include a 300-room hotel, will also create thousands of jobs starting with more than 2,500 new construction jobs, Murphy said.
Mark Woodbury, chairman and chief executive officer of Universal Destinations & Experiences, said finding the right location for the resort is key to its success.
“When we started this project, we looked all over the country and in fact, internationally, on where would be the best place for us to plant our Universal park and Frisco quickly became the top of the list,” Woodbury said.
Woodbury said North Texas, being one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the country, “is a wonderful place to raise a family and that makes it a perfect place for our new concept.”
The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro is now home to more than 8 million people, according to the latest Texas Demographic Center population estimates.
Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney said Universal Kids Resort will allow children in the community the chance to grow up around the resort’s characters and be a part of them every day.
“It’s going to become the very essence of growing up and living in Frisco,” Cheney said.
The mayor called the day a milestone for the city.
“It’s a day that will change the trajectory of Frisco and what it means to live here,” he said. “The visitors and the economic impact and the millions of dollars it will bring to the region is going to serve this community for generations.”