Universal's Epic Universe General News & Discussion

[fryoj]

You would have thought, but Helios didn’t get a signature restaurant.

Which is insane to me. They built what, to outward appearance, is a high end Deluxe hotel. But they seem to be treating it a step down from that.

 

[Mad Dog]

Outside deluxe look. Inside and amenities, pools etc. more like a high end moderate.....Really its mostly a location, location, location hotel resort. Definitely a step behind Portofino and Hard Rock.

 

[fryoj]

Outside deluxe look. Inside and amenities, pools etc. more like a high end moderate.....Really its mostly a location, location, location hotel resort. Definitely a step behind Portofino and Hard Rock.

My guess is they thought they'd have trouble filling rooms if it had ultra deluxe pricing, so they toned it down.

 

[12th Man]

This is a bit off topic but has anyone else noticed a rather positive shift in sentiment towards the Universal parks over the past few years, especially with young people. I know the internet is incredibly siloed, especially TikTok, but this one post there I saw had over a quarter million likes and countless positive comments about the parks. With Epic opening especially, I think this honestly speaks to a shift in the general public’s perceptions of Universal and I believe Disney should be worried.

Do we think Disney actually sees Epic as a threat to their market share? A lot of the fans on X don’t think so, and I definitely agree with the idea that a rising tide raises all boats, but I think something deeper is going on here in the minds of consumers.

TikTok - Make Your Day

 

[jarmor]

My guess is they thought they'd have trouble filling rooms if it had ultra deluxe pricing, so they toned it down.

Or. . . it was made exactly how it was planned from the beginning?? They have no problems filling the big 3 so why would they have issues filling a 4th? Unlike other chains, it feels as if Universal is reading the room perhaps and understand that the majority of guest aren't really looking for ultra high end and are mostly working families.

 

[Steptwice]

Or. . . it was made exactly how it was planned from the beginning?? They have no problems filling the big 3 so why would they have issues filling a 4th? Unlike other chains, it feels as if Universal is reading the room perhaps and understand that the majority of guest aren't really looking for ultra high end and are mostly working families.

True but you just built a beautiful 500 room park facing focal point hotel. Ya gotta atleat have one signature restaurant for the people who want to splurge on vacation

 

[Mad Dog]

They can probably change the restaurant focus if future demand warrants it. Right now, they just might be testing the waters.

 

[DarkMetroid567]

Or. . . it was made exactly how it was planned from the beginning?? They have no problems filling the big 3 so why would they have issues filling a 4th? Unlike other chains, it feels as if Universal is reading the room perhaps and understand that the majority of guest aren't really looking for ultra high end and are mostly working families.

I mean it’s still like a $500+/night hotel, it’s not exactly “working family” oriented lol

 

[OrlLover]

I mean it’s still like a $500+/night hotel, it’s not exactly “working family” oriented lol

Exactly but maybe everybody is comparing it to Disney.

 

[rhino4evr]

The restaurants in royal pacific and portafino are frequently vacant or less than 20% full for dinner even during busy season. Part of this is due to the proximity of city walk and the amount of competition they have , the other is guests prefer to eat outside their hotel in general.

I’m a bit surprised they don’t have an exclusive sit down restaurant , but I could see why.

As I’ve posted a bunch of times , I believe they really should leave celestial park open later so that hotel guests can eat dinner after the rest of the park closes, without having to take a bus to city walk.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

The restaurants in royal pacific and portafino are frequently vacant or less than 20% full for dinner even during busy season. Part of this is due to the proximity of city walk and the amount of competition they have , the other is guests prefer to eat outside their hotel in general.

This is partly why Disney still has such a significant advantage over Universal vacations. Universal just doesn't drive that type of interest since they're targeting young adults who'd rather be in the parks (or clubs at CityWalk) versus fine dining at night. Disney has a heck of an audience who are older and have the income to spend on high quality meals at restaurants like Topolino, California, Narcoosee's, etc.

That's partly why I think Universal's next phase of additions should be targeted at the entire family, since older folks & children don't have the best time at the Universal parks with the lack of experiences for them in comparison to Disney.

 

[jarmor]

It's like this, we can't want the parks to be open till 10-11 at night AND want the resort hotels to have 5 star restaurants at the same time. We gotta pick one. I think the parks will rather have signature restaurants inside their parks where millions can visit vs inside the hotels where it's very limited.

However, I do miss going to tchoup chop. . .

 

[Mad Dog]

It's like this, we can't want the parks to be open till 10-11 at night AND want the resort hotels to have 5 star restaurants at the same time. We gotta pick one. I think the parks will rather have signature restaurants inside their parks where millions can visit vs inside the hotels where it's very limited.

However, I do miss going to tchoup chop. . .

Loved Tchoup chop. Sure miss it.

 

[Brian G.]

This is partly why Disney still has such a significant advantage over Universal vacations. Universal just doesn't drive that type of interest since they're targeting young adults who'd rather be in the parks (or clubs at CityWalk) versus fine dining at night. Disney has a heck of an audience who are older and have the income to spend on high quality meals at restaurants like Topolino, California, Narcoosee's, etc.

That's partly why I think Universal's next phase of additions should be targeted at the entire family, since older folks & children don't have the best time at the Universal parks with the lack of experiences for them in comparison to Disney.

I agree that Universal needs some additional family stuff, but I also don't think they need to go all in. I think they're happy with their current target demos.

However, I do miss going to tchoup chop. . .

Same.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

It's like this, we can't want the parks to be open till 10-11 at night AND want the resort hotels to have 5 star restaurants at the same time. We gotta pick one. I think the parks will rather have signature restaurants inside their parks where millions can visit vs inside the hotels where it's very limited.

However, I do miss going to tchoup chop. . .

Disney does both though. There's no need to pick either or. If you want to be at the parks, that's your choice. If you want to sit down for a nice meal, that's your choice. It's all about offering a diverse set of options for all guests.

3 out of the 4 Disney parks are open to at least 9PM each night with restaurants at the hotels booked solid for dinner. The top tier restaurants at the resort can be difficult to book (or outright impossible to get). Ohana, Narcoosee, California Grill, etc., reservations are hard to find at times.

Universal should be offering more variety, not just continue to target the same demographic and expect different results.

I agree that Universal needs some additional family stuff, but I also don't think they need to go all in. I think they're happy with their current target demos.

Same.

Not saying to go all in, but they just need to offer more variety of activities. Not expecting them to flip into prioritizing young children/older audiences, but more options would be nice.

 

[Mad Dog]

I agree that Universal needs some additional family stuff, but I also don't think they need to go all in. I think they're happy with their current target demos.

Same.

Nice at Universal not to have strollers and EV's bumping into my shins all day. Although there's less EV's at WDW since they cracked down on the Disability Access Pass Fraud. Amazing how so people many can walk now that couldn't walk before.

 

[saint.piss]

 

[MartyMcFly]

Disney does both though. There's no need to pick either or. If you want to be at the parks, that's your choice. If you want to sit down for a nice meal, that's your choice. It's all about offering a diverse set of options for all guests.

Yeah but they can do both because commercially it makes sense for them. They would not do both if it wasn't profitable, they're not offering options for the sake of their guests they're offering it for the sake of capturing more spending.

As we see longer stays at Universal it's definitely possible... I remember lamenting the fact that the parks weren't open later during HHN cos I stayed on property for 10 days to 2 weeks at some points. Some nights were just plain boring... But I guess there just wasn't the demand.

 

[Mad Dog]

Yeah but they can do both because commercially it makes sense for them. They would not do both if it wasn't profitable, they're not offering options for the sake of their guests they're offering it for the sake of capturing more spending.

As we see longer stays at Universal it's definitely possible... I remember lamenting the fact that the parks weren't open later during HHN cos I stayed on property for 10 days to 2 weeks at some points. Some nights were just plain boring... But I guess there just wasn't the demand.

Good point. We used to do a long vacation every Sept./Oct. Though we stop in to see HHN, we're not hardcore fans, so it's more a negative than positive for us. We quit coming at that time for two reasons. The primary one was the constant bad weather in Florida and the adjacent states that we drive through. The secondary reason was Studios closing so early for HHN and IOA not staying open very late either. Yes, it did get a tad boring and we generally like all the other things to do. Sometimes Universal forgets about us tourists that don't come there for HHN like the locals do. Perhaps Epic will solve that secondary problem. But the weather is in a very bad cycle right now. Hope that cold frigid weather cooled the Caribbean down a bit.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

1) Sapphire Falls is the template for Helios, a b/l/d restaurant, bar, and counter service. Sapphire's bar, Strong Water, has among the best food and drinks on the property, so I'm okay with Helios not having a Tchoup Chop/Palm/Bice.

2) Universal's always said they are ok with Disney having the kids till 10 and then they'll take over from there. Demanding them to change what isn't broke is like asking the rain not to be wet.