Universal Orlando Resort Expansion (Part 1)

[Nick]

lol - If Sea World has not closed and Universal dark ages did not close, Disney is not closing.

And somehow Disneyland Paris has yet to Shutter, too.

 

[Thisguynamedlee]

And somehow Disneyland Paris has yet to Shutter, too.

I'm sorry I don't really know to much about these things but what's wrong with Paris Disney other than smoking ?

 

[Disneyhead]

Oh I know their business model sucks. It was similar to Darden when I worked there I knew they would implode at some point, because their business model and practices were just not good. Darden finally imploded. But it seems it is taking Disney a very very very long time to implode. It just seems people keep going there with blinders on. I try to get families with older kids to go to Universal, but it just never seems to work. So until I actually see it happen, I am not going to believe it is happening.

I have a set of friend their youngest is 6 and they still won't try Universal out. Then when I do get people to try they always say, it is not as good as Disney. I don't know. Disney brainwashes people or something lol But then I do see the other people's points. The HP areas are really nicely themed, but there are other parts of Universal that are lacking in the theme department and sometimes on the cheesy side like the games over in IOA between heros and JP. So I get some of the complaints. I also understand for families that have 1 young kid. I am there now, and it bites. There is barely anything my 1 year old can go on and she is no longer a lap baby. So either we leave her home or she just rides around in the stroller and walks in lines for rides she will never go on. My 5 yo likes the park, but the something goes wrong in every ride starts to wear on her and it gets a little scary at times. I think their 3rd park needs to fix this. They need a park that mixes thrills with family rides that have no height restriction and some family coasters with low height restrictions. Not kiddie coasters, family ones. Some 38", 40", 42" inch coasters. Universal will not over take Disney if they do not make their parks a little more well rounded. Don't gear it to under 5 crowd, that is Disney thing, but if they could get 5 rides in every park that the whole family could go on, I think they would pull in more mix-aged families. Families with older and younger kids is the crowd I think Universal needs to get. Because waiting until your last kid is 5 to be able to enjoy a park kind of bites.

Universal flat out doesn't want the stroller brigade in their parks. 5 and up is who they are courting.

 

[IzzyB]

And somehow Disneyland Paris has yet to Shutter, too.

Yeah I don't think anyone thinks that an implosion is Disney shutting its doors. I think it means dark years, more cost cutting, etc. I think it will take a strong CEO to change the company culture or Disney splitting their parks division out and getting someone to lead this company who can better run and manager it. But it won't be the end of the Disney parks by any means. I also think there is a good chance that Avatar, TSL, and SWL save them from imploding all together which is why I won't believe it until I see it. But the key is will it delay the implosion or have they woke up and are going to go back to a proper business model that means actually updating the parks on a regular basis.

And I agree they don't want to get the stroller crowd in. But I do think they need families and if they continue down the path they are going they lose the families that have any children under a certain age. That is huge because a family of 3 or 4 is spending a crap ton of money at Disney and Universal is getting none of that money until all the kids are old enough to make those trips and tickets worth it.

 

[Vyrus]

Honestly, right now the Universal way in everything they are doing is just working much better.

Upsell Universal Express and onsite hotel guests only, lines noticeably quicker and more enjoyable.

I went to Disney 3 weeks ago, went to DHS and walk to TSMM, the wait time said 55 minutes and I almost turned around, but something in my gut told me to go in, and I LITERALLY walked onto the ride.

The implosion has begun and the way the parks try to crowd control is ridiculous. The jugular is pumping and ripe for ripping out, lets see how long it takes Uni to take the bait.

 

[UK-Trigg]

Universal flat out doesn't want the stroller brigade in their parks. 5 and up is who they are courting.

This LOL, my shins are still bruised from all that strollers bashing.

 

[Vyrus]

The problem is that with all of those new lands, what takes Uni 2 years to build, TDO spreads it out over 5 in order to not use too much of a certain years' budget. Thats the implosion right there..."Lets only use 10 million this year on Star Wars that way my bonus is $20 million instead of $5 million"

 

[Scott W.]

The time is ripe for Uni, they are the powerhouse at the at the minute and have never had a better opportunity to steal away more and more of Disney's market share. Disney is cutting (noticeably), increasing prices and generally offering the customer less value for money, they have been doing so for years although it is much more noticeable this last trip.

MM+ is a nightmare, takes the fun out of vacation for me and it was a pleasure when we moved over to Uni for 4 nights at the Portofino Bay. We could dine where we wanted when we wanted, ride a ride multiple times without having pre booked and generally enjoy the resort at a much more leisurely pace, even changing plans on a whim to do something else.

I know all of the above from previous trips but what stood out this time was service, Disney has always been number one at service for me but Uni won hands down this trip, the staff/cast at Uni were amazing and this was obviously because they were happier in their roles than their counterparts down the I4.

The interesting thing though is that through all the cuts and possible loss of market share Disney will still hit profits and keep wall street happy, my guess is the increases and cuts will cover lost custom and still increase revenue.

Thing is though they have much tougher competition these days and that competition has its own plans on a grand scale so Disney will be relying on Avatar, ROL, Toy Story land and Star Wars to bring people back through the gates bu even that could be too lttle too late .

I am a fan of both companies and wish them both well but my allegiance over the years has swung Universals way and that was cemented more on this last trip, my girlfriend was with me this trip and as a newbie she was wowed by both resorts and saw good in both, Disney still holds that magic for the first timer but is that enough?

The future is exciting and I look forward to seeing Universal's expansion and if/ how it affects the theme park demographic in Orlando.

This is pretty much my exact thoughts. I'm always happy to return to Universal but I'm really struggling to justify heading back to Disney this year. I know it's minor, but Dinosaur and BTMT down for refurbishment during my trip and the bump in costs and virtually very little new since my last trip (7DMT and Soarin) and with Rivers of Light being delayed plus DHS being a shadow of it's former self, I don't see the point in paying £300+ for so little. Memory Maker is now included for tickets in the UK which is a nice bonus but I don't know.

 

[Nick]

I'm sorry I don't really know to much about these things but what's wrong with Paris Disney other than smoking ?

DLP was neglected for a long time (much like WDW) and has seen declining attendance, even after their Ratatouille ride opened. It's also home to the second worst Disney park in Walt Disney Studios Paris, just slightly above DHS.

 

[Disneyhead]

So how drastic of an implosion are we talking about: impossibly high prices and reduced visitors? Or the closing of an entire park?

Well, normally I would say that to weather the storm, they would make cuts, and raise prices. But a huge part of the problem is that they have already cut too much and raised prices too high. The only prudent course of action they have is to pump obscene amounts of money into the place. They know this and the poop storm coming to WDW is unprecedented. There is a boat load of firings on the horizon. Meg isn't happy with the results of the policies she put in place and she is in a throw people under the bus mood.

If Disney doesn't quickly implement an aggressive expansion and refurb across property plan, then it's going to get really ugly.

If you want to know where Disney is at, 2 weeks ago they dropped the CM blackouts for the entire summer, yesterday they dropped all the summer blackout days for APs AND started an offer for 35% off all the resorts but all stars are 25% off for THE ENTIRE SUMMER!!! Apparently, not one WDW resort is booked up this summer.

 

[Nick]

Meg isn't happy with the results of the policies she put in place and she is in a throw people under the bus mood.

Meg retired last year...

 

[UK-Trigg]

This is pretty much my exact thoughts. I'm always happy to return to Universal but I'm really struggling to justify heading back to Disney this year. I know it's minor, but Dinosaur and BTMT down for refurbishment during my trip and the bump in costs and virtually very little new since my last trip (7DMT and Soarin) and with Rivers of Light being delayed plus DHS being a shadow of it's former self, I don't see the point in paying £300+ for so little. Memory Maker is now included for tickets in the UK which is a nice bonus but I don't know.

Think I'll skip Disney next trip, well I will stay there on my DVC points but skip the parks. Will use the money saved to take the missus to Discovery Cove and Busch, she's never been to either and I'm overdue a trip to both. (note to self, seas AP is probably a good option here). Second week will be Uni, probably Sapphire falls.

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

Don't know if you guys have seen, but it looks like Disney is reducing AP blackouts to the Fourth of July weekend ONLY. Absolutely insane.

 

[Scott W.]

Think I'll skip Disney next trip, well I will stay there on my DVC points but skip the parks. Will use the money saved to take the missus to Discovery Cove and Busch, she's never been to either and I'm overdue a trip to both. (note to self, seas AP is probably a good option here). Second week will be Uni, probably Sapphire falls.

I'm finding Discovery Cove to be a pretty good deal recently. It includes 14 days at SeaWorld, Busch and Aquatica after your visit as well plus it's free parking.

 

[misterID]

WDW is REALLY struggling right now, verging on an implosion. Universal is now in a situation where they could actually go for the mouse's jugular.

They should have sold the resort when they had the chance, but I hear Iger's price was laughable. I'm pretty sure WDW and ESPN were keeping Disney in the Black before Marvel helped them rebound.

 

[JoeCamel]

Meg retired last year...

Yeah but I still blame her.........

 

[UK-Trigg]

I'm finding Discovery Cove to be a pretty good deal recently. It includes 14 days at SeaWorld, Busch and Aquatica after your visit as well plus it's free parking.

Ah yes, you are correct. Not been since 2008 and forgot that SW & BGT were included. Was thinking going AP route but may not need to.

Anyone know if you get a decent discount for DC with seas AP? could still work out a good deal if so as would use the pass again on other trips.

 

[Nick]

Yeah but I still blame her.........

Eh, Family Guy made her an easy target (as well as her own actions).

But no one else within P&R has proved to be any better so it's not like you can only blame her. As sad as it is, i'd rather have Crofton leading P&R over Chapek.

 

[Mad Dog]

The difference between WDW & Universal. Last Fall I came home from my WDW vacation tired and worn out. Unable to change things on the fly and stuck with a planning regimen sucked the fun and leisure out of the vacation. I just came back from my Universal vacation. I'm well rested and relaxed. Vacation like vacation is meant to be. I must have changed what I was doing, time & place, a bunch of times every day. My Vacation credo: "GO SLOW".

 

[Disneyhead]

Meg retired last year...

Yeah, she left unceremoniously last June. But she is still being questioned about the implementation of the MM+ program. She had some rather incomplentary things to say about Staggs and it may have come up in last yearly review.