Baking shows, sarcasm, passive aggression, pubs — there are some things the British people do really well. But are we any good at having fun? It’s a question I’ve asked myself over the years as I’ve traveled around the world visiting many vibrant and exciting places. And honestly, while we know how to throw a jolly nice picnic on a mild summer’s day, I’m not sure we really understand the underlying mechanics of having a high-octane good time.

Perhaps that was why, when Disney decided in the early ’90s to set up a theme park in Europe, it chose France rather than the UK as the better location. It was a blow to my country, which boasts only a handful of theme parks, few of which are worth mentioning, and none of which I’d recommend making a special trip from abroad to visit. Just look, for example, at this account of a pre-opening day visit to the new Epic Universe theme park in Florida by my colleagues Scott Stein and Bridget Carey. No Brit would ever dare to dream up anything so extravagant and thrilling. 

But all that is set to change with Wednesday’s announcement that Universal has chosen the UK as the location for a planned theme park. The park, due to open in 2031, will be based in Bedford, England — a part of the country with little else to recommend it other than its proximity to London — on a 476-acre complex, which Universal is already looking to expand. It will be the first time Universal has opened a theme park outside of the US or Asia, and will likely attract significant tourism and jobs to the area.

Perhaps most important, it will give people like me, who grew up envying friends who vacationed in Orlando, a real taste of what we’ve been missing in terms of thrills and the kind of intensely detailed theming that only Disney and Universal parks are able to offer. Bear in mind that the current best roller coaster on this wet and windy island, Nemesis at Alton Towers, is now more than 30 years old — we are more than overdue a fresh opportunity to be hurled around at speed.

The Universal Park is such a big deal to the UK that even our Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, put out a statement about it. «Today we closed the deal on a multibillion-pound investment that will see Bedford home to one of the biggest entertainment parks in Europe, firmly putting the county on the global stage,» he said.

His announcement focused on the economic benefits of the park, but Universal’s decision has sparked a real buzz across the country from people who are mainly very excited about the possibility to ride genuinely good coasters.

Universal has yet to say what attractions the park will feature, but it seems inevitable that like Universal Studios in Orlando, there will be some version of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, given that the entire story is set in the UK. For the sake of my husband, who is the world’s biggest fan of Men in Black and will never go to Florida, I hope Universal also decides to transport the Alien Attack ride across the sea. 

It would be fun, too, if there was something unique at the park — just as Disneyland Paris, for a few years at least, was the only Disney park to boast the excellent Ratatouille ride. Some might appreciate specific nods to British culture beyond Harry Potter, but I say keep it American. 

Our own attempts to build «British» theme parks have been based on less-than-thrilling concepts such as Camelot (RIP) and Gulliver’s Travels. No, bring us the Simpsons and the Minions and any other yellow-hued cartoon characters you have over there. There’s not much we can do about the weather but we need to learn to have fun the American way, with snacks bigger than our meals and boundless opportunities to buy merch that we don’t need simply because we were swayed by the good vibes of our big day out. I can’t wait.

Amazon will soon launch 27 low-Earth orbit satellites as part of its Project Kuiper. The original launch window was set for Wednesday between 7 and 9 p.m. ET (4 to 6 p.m. PT), but poor weather forced the rocket launch to be scrubbed for the day.

«Weather is observed and forecast NO GO for liftoff within the remaining launch window at Cape Canaveral this evening, according to Launch Weather Officer Brian Belson,» United Launch Alliance said in its live updates Wednesday night. «The stubborn cumulus clouds and persistent winds make liftoff not possible within the available window.»

There’s no word yet on when it’ll be rescheduled, but there’s a mission page for updates on the launch and plans to livestream the takeoff. You can watch the rocket launch live on that page or YouTube.

The launch mission, KA-01 or Kuiper Atlas 1, will be on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket and will take place at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

It’ll be a big step forward for the project, which Amazon announced in 2019 with promises of a $10 billion investment. Now the company is poised to enter the race to provide satellite internet service, a space currently dominated by SpaceX’s Starlink, which has about 7,000 satellites. Amazon’s plans call for 3,200 satellites to be deployed over 80 launches. The company intends to provide internet service with this technology later this year.

More competition will improve internet services

The literal space race, which includes Starlink, Amazon and other companies such as Viasat, Hughesnet, Eutelsat and China’s SpaceSail, could mean more internet service availability in far-flung and rural areas with limited broadband options. Though Starlink is the leader in space, some of these other companies are continuing to launch satellites and working to deploy high-speed internet in more markets, such as Brazil. With more players in the market, that could mean faster and cheaper internet in more areas, although whether that actually bears out for consumers remains to be seen.

Mahdi Eslamimehr, executive vice president at Quandary Peak Research and adjunct professor at the Department of Computer Science at USC, said Amazon is well poised to compete with Starlink. «Amazon has made extensive launch agreements with major providers such as ULA, Arianespace, Blue Origin, and even SpaceX itself, positioning Kuiper as a major challenger due to its expansive infrastructure and significant resources.»

He said, «While Starlink currently enjoys clear market leadership, it faces increasing competition from well-capitalized and strategically agile competitors, specifically from China,  suggesting the market will become considerably more competitive in the near future.»

So far, Eslamimehr said, Amazon’s satellite efforts have been promising and successful, at least in the prototype stages. The company has also been testing Amazon Web Services in space. «These developments collectively underscore Amazon’s robust entry into the satellite internet market and reflect positive early momentum in its overall space strategy.»

Beyond how it fares against Starlink and other companies, the Amazon satellite launches are significant in other ways. Eslamimehr said, «Project Kuiper isn’t just about competition; it’s positioned as a critical step toward closing the global digital divide, promising to deliver high-speed internet to underserved communities worldwide.»

Correction, April 4: An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of the USC professor and Quandary Peak Research executive vice president. His name is Mahdi Eslamimehr.