Epic Universe Ticketing Info, Advice, & Speculation

[Mad Dog]

with the tremendous caveat that i have no idea how well they have or have not sold these three-day packages, i think there’s potential for negative guest sentiment by using this strategy. people don’t like it when they can’t just buy the thing they want to buy.

i don’t want to overstate this — i doubt anyone seriously interested in visiting epic universe will swear off the resort because of this. but they may delay trips, perhaps for years.

i’m sure they considered incentivizing visiting the other parks different ways. offering discount admission to non-epic parks would have been my preferred strategy, but again, i’d want to take a hard look at the data before committing to anything.

Yeah, I agree. Plus, when they make it 'complicated' to buy tickets, it has to hurt getting people to make plans after the opening two months. I think the package stuff, though probably real short term profitable...is long term negative.....and has the potential to create a very negative perception in the public's eyes....

 

[belloq87]

with the tremendous caveat that i have no idea how well they have or have not sold these three-day packages, i think there’s potential for negative guest sentiment by using this strategy. people don’t like it when they can’t just buy the thing they want to buy.

i don’t want to overstate this — i doubt anyone seriously interested in visiting epic universe will swear off the resort because of this. but they may delay trips, perhaps for years.

It's certainly annoyed me and my travel party, who have already decided to delay our originally-planned November trip to next January. They like to plan far ahead, and they will not sign-off/commit to plans when there's any uncertainty, even as I've communicated that the tickets we want will almost certainly be available by then.

i’m sure they considered incentivizing visiting the other parks different ways. offering discount admission to non-epic parks would have been my preferred strategy, but again, i’d want to take a hard look at the data before committing to anything.

Alternatively, they could have made different investment choices (particularly at USF) over the last couple of years and heading into the next couple of years.

If there was an MIB-level attraction (to compare to Universal's strategy when IOA opened) opening late this year or early next year (or had opened last year), perhaps they wouldn't have to resort to ticketing structure gimmicks (or your proposed discounts) to try to preemptively boost attendance.

 

[fryoj]

Our view is a little distorted here as we are enthusiasts who have been to the main parks and only need to see Epic. Your random family that hasn't been to Uni, or only goes once every couple years, is going to want to go to all of the parks. 1 day in each park is how, I'd assume, most non-regulars would book it. Those are also the people that are going to be booking hotels, eating at the parks, buying merch, spending the most money. They are going to milk that as long as they can.

 

[Jake S]

Your random family that hasn't been to Uni, or only goes once every couple years, is going to want to go to all of the parks. 1 day in each park is how, I'd assume, most non-regulars would book it. Those are also the people that are going to be booking hotels, eating at the parks, buying merch, spending the most money. They are going to milk that as long as they can

if all that is true, why force guests to make a decision they’re already apparently going to make? if the answer is to squeeze as much out of their biggest fans as possible, i think that’s a long term mistake.

 

[fryoj]

if all that is true, why force guests to make a decision they’re already apparently going to make? if the answer is to squeeze as much out of their biggest fans as possible, i think that’s a long term mistake.

This isn't about their biggest fans. They are after the casual big spenders. The vacationing families. That's who those ads are targeting. Those families aren't committed yet. If you let the locals, AP's, and the "coming no matter what" crowd to buy whatever they want, there's a risk of pushing the families out if they are thinking they'll hit capacity. They gave their biggest fans the opportunity to get single day tickets already with the AP sales.

 

[Frank Drackman]

It's certainly annoyed me and my travel party, who have already decided to delay our originally-planned November trip to next January. They like to plan far ahead, and they will not sign-off/commit to plans when there's any uncertainty, even as I've communicated that the tickets we want will almost certainly be available by then.


Alternatively, they could have made different investment choices (particularly at USF) over the last couple of years and heading into the next couple of years.

If there was an MIB-level attraction (to compare to Universal's strategy when IOA opened) opening late this year or early next year (or had opened last year), perhaps they wouldn't have to resort to ticketing structure gimmicks (or your proposed discounts) to try to preemptively boost attendance.

in my eyes, from day one when UNI announced Epic, the way they explained the reasoning, they present themselves as a multi-day vacation destination.

what I am trying to say is they never seemed to set their early goals around attendance at one park, they have been courting vacationers, families to visit the resort, to visit all four gates.

they want to be seen as the destination, the reason a family is visiting Orlando.

I don't see it as a 'gimmick' when they projected this, that they were trying to grow/capture more of length of stay or some other metric that is more a measure of the resort than attendance at one park.

This isn't about their biggest fans. They are after the casual big spenders. The vacationing families. That's who those ads are targeting. Those families aren't committed yet. If you let the locals, AP's, and the "coming no matter what" crowd to buy whatever they want, there's a risk of pushing the families out if they are thinking they'll hit capacity. They gave their biggest fans the opportunity to get single day tickets already with the AP sales.

right, this has been what I feel they've used to justify the investment, the attendance at one gate, but growth in hotel nights, attendance based on the resort itself

 

[Mad Dog]

The best way to extend vacations is to make each park desirable to attend. People extend because 'they' want to visit the Universal complex.....but not necessarily be told what parks they have to attend to get the full experience for their money. If the supply is good/entertaining, the demand will follow. Basic economics. If there's parks that people don't want to attend, because they're lacking, then the entire equation of more parks creates longer vacations....collapses.

 

[USO92]

The best way to extend vacations is to make each park desirable to attend. People extend because 'they' want to visit the Universal complex.....but not necessarily be told what parks they have to attend to get the full experience for their money. If the supply is good/entertaining, the demand will follow. Basic economics. If there's parks that people don't want to attend, because they're lacking, then the entire equation of more parks creates longer vacations....collapses.

To illustrate your point further - I won’t personally buy a multi-day ticket to split the parks between different days. USF has the nostalgia, the events, and a handful of rides worth riding (imo). And even when I do go to the parks, which is rare anymore, I don’t really need multiple days (3+) to accomplish IOA, USF, and VB.

And with epic opening, I could see buying a 3 day ticket, or more, but using 2+ days on Epic alone. USF is the weak link in the chain and hopefully the next 5-10 years will fix that. Until then, Universal is about a 2 day trip for me…Disney on the other hand would be multiple out of necessity.

 

[belloq87]

I don't see it as a 'gimmick' when they projected this, that they were trying to grow/capture more of length of stay or some other metric that is more a measure of the resort than attendance at one park.

I call it a gimmick because they're trying to artificially amplify/bolster attendance at the existing parks (primarily, I suspect, USF) by forcing guests -- as of now -- to buy days for those parks to get a single day at the new park. It's a manipulation.

Instead of that, they could have invested in trying to organically grow the average guest's length of stay by making sure USF also had (or would shortly have) great, new, must-see stuff to offer.

 

[Mad Dog]

Once they go to three parks, the chances one of the parks will deviate, attendance wise, from the norm, increase. Even at WDW it was happening big time to DHS until they capitalized on Frozen's unexpected success that summer to bring attendance up. And then they added TSL & GESWL, and its generally high demand now. Now AK is the problem child. It happens. And it will probably happen to the weakest of the three Universal parks. The only solution is to make the weak park stronger, with new stuff. It didn't happen with IOA and Studios due to the unique location of the two parks, and HE being an easy trip between the two Potter worlds. Therefore, they sold lots of two park hopper passes, which they announced were 80% of all tickets sold. That will be much tougher with the new third park, though close, but far enough away to alter ticket buying and individual park attendance. It will be very interesting what tact Universal settles on, concerning tickets/hoppers/etc., once the initial dust settles.

 

[Brian G.]

Once they go to three parks, the chances one of the parks will deviate, attendance wise, from the norm, increase. Even at WDW it was happening big time to DHS until they capitalized on Frozen's unexpected success that summer to bring attendance up. And then they added TSL & GESWL, and its generally high demand now. Now AK is the problem child. It happens. And it will probably happen to the weakest of the three Universal parks. The only solution is to make the weak park stronger, with new stuff. It didn't happen with IOA and Studios due to the unique location of the two parks, and HE being an easy trip between the two Potter worlds. Therefore, they sold lots of two park hopper passes, which they announced were 80% of all tickets sold. That will be much tougher with the new third park, though close, but far enough away to alter ticket buying and individual park attendance. It will be very interesting what tact Universal settles on, concerning tickets/hoppers/etc., once the initial dust settles.

We all would look to USF in that case, as IOA's lineup is too damn strong. I believe it was RBLX who pointed out that it may have to rely on the seasonal events at present - it's just a matter of how much it needs to make up if it becomes an issue.

 

[Mad Dog]

We all would look to USF in that case, as IOA's lineup is too damn strong. I believe it was RBLX who pointed out that it may have to rely on the seasonal events at present - it's just a matter of how much it needs to make up if it becomes an issue.

Yeah, I agree. That's the park I was looking at, though it will be strong for HHN & Mardi Gras. Might need to introduce a big time Summer Festival. Holiday stuff is kind of split between the two (Studios and IOA/Seuss) ,but that's the time of year when all three parks might even out for 5 weeks. It'll be interesting on whether Epic does anything prominent for Christmas.

 

[saint.piss]

Yeah, I agree. That's the park I was looking at, though it will be strong for HHN & Mardi Gras. Might need to introduce a big time Summer Festival. Holiday stuff is kind of split between the two (Studios and IOA/Seuss) ,but that's the time of year when all three parks might even out for 5 weeks. It'll be interesting on whether Epic does anything prominent for Christmas.

I think Fan Fest Nights would be a good seasonal summer event for USF to fill that void

 

[Mad Dog]

I think Fan Fest Nights would be a good seasonal summer event for USF to fill that void

It's definitely an interesting sounding event on paper. I guess we'll see how successful it ends up in real time.

 

[belloq87]

I think what frustrates me is that a lot of us saw this possibility coming half a decade ago, and instead of Universal investing in big, high-quality additions/replacements to the USF lineup*, we instead are having to discuss band-aid fixes (special events, ticketing manipulation) for the hypothetical attendance hit that may come.

* Yes, they've spent money there. No, I don't think the things they've spent it on post-2014 are very good (Bourne excluded) or drive attendance.

Anyway, probably a better discussion for the "USF: What Do We Think About It?" thread.