I think Comcast shouldn't remind people that they are associated with Universal. So when your cable guy shows up 10 hours late, if at all, you can no associated it with Harry Potter and Transformers.
The park cannibalization that became immediately apparent when animal kingdom opened all but precludes any "new park" in the traditional sense. People have increasingly limited funds for vacation and less time off to spend it.
In the old days, Walt would have started an airline.
I think the "vision" for MGM is this:
Magic kingdom lite
Disney are also beholden to the cost of airfare. Especially for international visitors, the flights alone can be costly enough to make short stays seem like really poor value for money. Flying from the midwest, I'm a thousand bucks in before I've even exited MCO. A three day vacation, even if the mouse is feeling generous with hotel rates and dining plans, is still going to be pricing out at north of 2K, which starts looking like actual vacation money. So then I'm left thinking, do I drop another 1K or so to do a week, or do I just go to Spain.
In the old days, Walt would have started an airline.
I think Comcast know perfectly well what they're doing. They've seen the dumb-pipe and ala-carte future of cable TV just as clearly as Disney investors are starting to, and figured that if their cable business is going to be relegated to dumb-pipe commodity status, then then it'll be their oil you're pulling through it. This is AOL, just done right, and at the right time.
I am sure they are aware of what they are doing. But as the #8 most hated company in the US (according to bloomberg), I would think from a marketing standpoint you'd want to keep your hated brand name away from your loved brand name...
I wonder about LEGOLAND. I'd like it to do well only because I'm still very fond of the old Cypress Gardens area. Plus I like Lego Batman.This is particularly important and people tend to ignore it. There's only so many days a year people can be on vacation and even those who can take 2 weeks at a time, may not be able to afford 2 weeks at Disney (or Universal) prices. The only advantage an additional park offers is space to spread out visitors but none of the parks have actually reached their true capacity anyway and it's much cheaper to expand or redevelop an existing park. MK is closest to maxing out but there's a fair amount of undeveloped space there too and besides if current developments at DHS and AK are successful that may spread the crowds more naturally anyway.
Disney still has a huge advantage there though with its substantial resort infrastructure. It's a game Universal is investing heavily in, but for the moment people are overwhelmingly going to stay at Disney and then visiting Universal, not the other way round. The new waterpark makes Universal more of a complete vacation package, but I think people are vastly underestimating how expensive it would be for them to purchase land for another gate.
But there's other cannibalization happening too. Take a look at the attendance for non-Universal or Disney parks in Florida. They are going to wither long before Disney suffers any noticeable loss.
I wonder about LEGOLAND. I'd like it to do well only because I'm still very fond of the old Cypress Gardens area. Plus I like Lego Batman.
I can see universal opening a third gate before Disney does a fifth. In today's society people don't have the vacation time to keep adding days. For example the average stay at WDW did not increase much at all when Animal Kingdom opened. Disney adding a fifth gate wouldn't make people stay longer, instead they would spend less time at the other parks in order to go to the fifth.Universal opens a third gate and Disney opens a fifth. And on and on it will go. Plan and enjoy your vacations wherever you choose!
Just to help you with the acronyms TDO stands for Team Disney Orlando. TWDC is the Walt Disney company as a whole. So yes TDO only does care about WDW parks and resorts. TDA cares about Disneyland parks and resorts. TWDC cares about everything. I'd also like to point out that parks like Epcot and DHS haven't seen large attendance increases they have only been increasing between 1-3%. Universal numbers may not matter now but if they keep investing as much as they say they are it could change disneys look at things. There also is no chair for TDO there is a president and that is George Kalogridis but these days he doesn't even have much say in what happens to the parks. Most decisions come straight from Burbank and TWDC.Hate to stir the pot, but TDO does not care what Universal's numbers are. Parks are only part of the overall revenue picture for TDO. Movies and TV are more worrisome. The parks are like retirement checks, they just keep on paying in. TDO Parks & Resorts chair would watch their own pipeline, occupancy rate, bookings, etc. Only fools buying stock for speculation would look at Universal's numbers as an indicator of future business. Roll all theme parks together to get an idea of the market direction, but spikes and dips in any one park is meaningless.
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We have done that but not often. We have drastically cut back on the number of days spent on Disney property though but we are just one family.Do the math - All 4 Disney parks get 51,500,000 visitors compared to Universal's 16,400,000. That's more than a 3-1 margin. Immediate concerns - nope. Now if the trend continues and it appears that Universal is taking market share (the real concern here for Disney) then expect the mouse to react strongly. You may even be seeing some of this happening now as preemptive strikes with the additions to AK and HS.
What I'd like to see is how many people go exclusively to Universal and never touch WDW property. If that number is rising then you have something to be concerned about.
We have done that but not often. We have drastically cut back on the number of days spent on Disney property though but we are just one family.
As for that attendance, is that count first park of the day for both resorts? I'd hope that hopping numbers are excluded.
I would like to add that the AECOM/TEA numbers are guesstimating really because neither Disney nor Universal post actual attendance numbers. DHS saw a very small increase last year yet it's possible it didn't even increase at all actually.I have read on here that the "hop" does not count as attendance. Same for UNI/IOA I would assume-esp since one attraction alone requires a hop.
I can see universal opening a third gate before Disney does a fifth. In today's society people don't have the vacation time to keep adding days. For example the average stay at WDW did not increase much at all when Animal Kingdom opened. Disney adding a fifth gate wouldn't make people stay longer, instead they would spend less time at the other parks in order to go to the fifth.
TDO most definitely cares what Universal's numbers are. They would be complete fools not to be paying attention to their closest competitor. Even if WDW's attendance numbers are 3X what Universal's are, what do you think their profit margin is? I recall reading somewhere it was an industry high 35% or so (not surprising given their "charge more for less" mentality over the past decade). So out of those 51,000,000 people who visit annually, 17,000,000 represent the profit. You don't think they'll care if 5,000,000 of them choose to spend their vacation dollars somewhere else?Hate to stir the pot, but TDO does not care what Universal's numbers are. Parks are only part of the overall revenue picture for TDO. Movies and TV are more worrisome. The parks are like retirement checks, they just keep on paying in. TDO Parks & Resorts chair would watch their own pipeline, occupancy rate, bookings, etc. Only fools buying stock for speculation would look at Universal's numbers as an indicator of future business. Roll all theme parks together to get an idea of the market direction, but spikes and dips in any one park is meaningless.
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