- Joined
- Jan 3, 2001
- Messages
- 9,289
Universal ride's future in doubt
Published August 9, 2006 - Orlando Sentinel
The Back to the Future ride at Universal Studios is closing -- perhaps as soon as next month -- to make way for a new attraction, sources tell me.
No comment from Universal, but speculation on some unofficial Web sites indicates a new storyline and ride vehicles could be based on The Simpsons cartoon or The Fast and the Furious car-racing movies.
Back to the Future, based on the Michael J. Fox movie trilogy, opened in 1991 for an estimated $40 million. Back then, it was among the most sophisticated rides around.
But today, a generation of kids may know nothing of Doc Brown and his time machines -- making the ride less relevant for a park that is already struggling with attendance.
WHAT GOES ON . . . inside the mind of the Mouse?
That was the question this week at the Governor's Conference on Tourism, which began just as Walt Disney World increased ticket prices.
It wasn't just that this was Disney's second increase of the year -- or that, at $67, entry at Mouse World is more than twice what it was 15 years ago.
Officially, Disney says it upped prices so that its industry partners would have the information in time for their 2007 guide books. The company won't say whether that means it will forgo a price increase next year.
But the experts I spoke with wondered whether the latest increase could mean that Disney senses a downturn in attendance. Charging a few bucks more a head might allow the company to meet revenue goals even with fewer clicks of the turnstile.
Orlando's hotels know this strategy. Occupancy is down, but hotels have increased room rates. That's why the resort tax in Orange County continues to climb.
And despite the dire predictions, there's no evidence to suggest that Disney's (relatively) gradual price increases have ever hurt attendance.
AND THE WINNER IS . . . Ed Gilbert once told me he felt like Susan Lucci -- sans the pumps -- what with being nominated and never getting a seat in the Florida Tourism Hall of Fame.
But the fourth time was the charm. The chief of Gilbert & Manjura Marketing in Longwood was one of four inductees announced at the Governor's Conference on Tourism.
Gilbert was the youngest director -- only 28 -- to have run the state's Division of Tourism, the predecessor to Visit Florida.
He opened the first international offices, helped tourism rebound after a 1970s gas crunch and was at the helm when the slogan "When you need it bad, we've got it good" won a national Addy.
Gilbert, now 55, noted -- humorously -- that some previous inductees were recognized after they had died.
"I really am honored to get this award," he said, "but I think there is a contingency that would have preferred I got it posthumously."
Published August 9, 2006 - Orlando Sentinel
The Back to the Future ride at Universal Studios is closing -- perhaps as soon as next month -- to make way for a new attraction, sources tell me.
No comment from Universal, but speculation on some unofficial Web sites indicates a new storyline and ride vehicles could be based on The Simpsons cartoon or The Fast and the Furious car-racing movies.
Back to the Future, based on the Michael J. Fox movie trilogy, opened in 1991 for an estimated $40 million. Back then, it was among the most sophisticated rides around.
But today, a generation of kids may know nothing of Doc Brown and his time machines -- making the ride less relevant for a park that is already struggling with attendance.
WHAT GOES ON . . . inside the mind of the Mouse?
That was the question this week at the Governor's Conference on Tourism, which began just as Walt Disney World increased ticket prices.
It wasn't just that this was Disney's second increase of the year -- or that, at $67, entry at Mouse World is more than twice what it was 15 years ago.
Officially, Disney says it upped prices so that its industry partners would have the information in time for their 2007 guide books. The company won't say whether that means it will forgo a price increase next year.
But the experts I spoke with wondered whether the latest increase could mean that Disney senses a downturn in attendance. Charging a few bucks more a head might allow the company to meet revenue goals even with fewer clicks of the turnstile.
Orlando's hotels know this strategy. Occupancy is down, but hotels have increased room rates. That's why the resort tax in Orange County continues to climb.
And despite the dire predictions, there's no evidence to suggest that Disney's (relatively) gradual price increases have ever hurt attendance.
AND THE WINNER IS . . . Ed Gilbert once told me he felt like Susan Lucci -- sans the pumps -- what with being nominated and never getting a seat in the Florida Tourism Hall of Fame.
But the fourth time was the charm. The chief of Gilbert & Manjura Marketing in Longwood was one of four inductees announced at the Governor's Conference on Tourism.
Gilbert was the youngest director -- only 28 -- to have run the state's Division of Tourism, the predecessor to Visit Florida.
He opened the first international offices, helped tourism rebound after a 1970s gas crunch and was at the helm when the slogan "When you need it bad, we've got it good" won a national Addy.
Gilbert, now 55, noted -- humorously -- that some previous inductees were recognized after they had died.
"I really am honored to get this award," he said, "but I think there is a contingency that would have preferred I got it posthumously."
