Pokemon Ride at Universal Studios Speculation Grows

A new ride is allegedly in the works at Universal Studios Japan, and some believe it could be a Pokemon ride. Chris Nilghe of TDRExplorer (a blog dedicated to covering Japanese theme parks) recently mentioned on Twitter that Sansei Technologies is working on an unannounced trackless dark ride, which is being shown off at the IAAPA conference in Singapore. After showing a display of the new ride (viewable in the tweet below), Nilghe then speculated that the ride could be an unannounced Pokemon ride that would replace the Spider-Man ride in Universal Studios Japan. Sansei Technologies is a major ride developer for both Disney and Universal and developed the Na’vi River Journey ride for Walt Disney World and the Ant-Man and The Wasp: Nano Battle! ride at Hong Kong Disneyland. 

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Universal Studios entered into a partnership with The Pokemon Company back in 2021, promising “to jointly explore groundbreaking entertainment” featuring characters of the popular franchise. However, outside of some nominal mascot presences in Universal Studios Japan, the partnership hasn’t really turned up much so far. However, the announcement that Universal Studios Japan would close the Amazing Spider-Man ride in the park in early 2024 has driven speculation that a Pokemon ride would replace it in 2025 or 2026. This is supported by a number of job listings for Universal that would require working on an Orlando project for a year before moving to Osaka to work on a different project. 

While Universal Studios has theme parks outside of Japan, don’t expect to see a Pokemon presence outside of Japan anytime soon. While a Super Nintendo World area has opened at Universal Studios Hollywood and is under construction at the new Epic Universe park at Universal Studios Orlando, the partnership announcement between Universal Studios and The Pokemon Company only mentioned Universal Studios Japan.

Obviously, this is all rumor and speculation, but things certainly seem to be trending in the right direction for a Pokemon ride. We’ll keep you informed of any big developments or official announcements.