On Dec. 3, Frisco City Council members approved facade plans for the Universal Kids Resort hotel, a five-story building that will also serve as an entrance to the city’s incoming theme park.
Facade plans are one of many steps in the approval process for Frisco building projects and show the front, rear, right and left sides of a proposed building.
“Construction has started and we continue to make progress on our first Universal Kids Resort," a company spokesperson for Universal Destinations & Experiences said in an email. "This week, the city of Frisco voted to approve the façade plan for our themed hotel. The city of Frisco, its businesses and residents have been wonderful to work with, and we can’t wait to welcome guests to our first theme park designed specifically for families with young children.”
Council’s Dec. 3 approval comes almost exactly one year after the Universal project broke ground at its 30-acre site located at Dallas Parkway and Panther Creek Parkway. The plans were previously tabled at two council meetings in November to allow additional time to finalize the designs, according to meeting documents.
“We have made modifications to the color scheme, window sizes and placement, lower level consistency and screening on the top floor,” said Melanie Becker, a senior director of government relations with Universal Destinations and Experiences.
About the project
The Universal theme park and resort was first announced in January 2023 and formally approved by council members three months later. Renderings circulated by Universal officials since then show a different look for the hotel but were always meant to be conceptual, not the final product, Becker said.
Resident William Scott, age 10, spoke during the meeting to say he felt the color scheme proposed in the facade plan looked cheap. He compared it to the color scheme at the PGA Frisco campus, which he said “is like an organized puzzle” and uses more cohesive colors.
Scott said his parents were Cobb Hill residents that were originally against the resort project but that he “was really excited about Universal.”
“I bet if you ask more kids, you would see they have the same opinion as me,” Scott said. “We need Universal to be the best thing that we can have for our neighborhood.”
Becker said children were not consulted during the research and input process for the hotel, a process that she said included stakeholders from Cobb Hill and Fields.
Universal officials also looked into the types of rooms that families with young children would typically stay in, as the resort's main audience is children under 10, Becker said.
What comes next
Universal Kids Resort is expected to open in early summer 2026.
"At this time, we have not confirmed a grand opening timeframe for Universal Kids Resort," the spokesperson said.
The road leading to the park, Universal Parkway, is already under construction and expected to finish before 2025.
“We'll continue to work with you and our neighbors as we build this fantastic destination,” Becker said.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include a statement from a company spokesperson for Universal Destinations & Experiences.
