Disney has been marketing as a destination, whether that is a 3 day destination or a seven day destination from the very beginning. And not just in the southern states, but internationally, from the beginning. Universal does not market themselves well, or almost at all, internationally, or perhaps even outside of the southern states. I don't see much in buffalo either, so I am guessing the northern states are not hit as hard with tv marketing. There is close to zero marketing in Canada, and if you think this is a small market share, then Disney is wasting a lot of dollars up here. I do not know how much is going on in England. But in other countries, just by looking at their international websites, I would say there is zero target marketing going on there. brazil has one of the largest fan bases of HP apparently, and Disney can successfully market to them.
If a person, who has never been to universal, decides to take the kiddies to go see harry potter. Perhaps they have been to Disney a few times too, or maybe have never done any theme park vacation. They go online at the official website and start checking into the cost of a vacation. A three day ticket is the max they can purchase. What do you think they are going to think. I guess I only need three days here.....
What would happen if the website had a 7 day ticket? A 7 day ticket that is only 10 bucks more then there 3 day ticket? Front loaded like Disney. Think about that.
Saying that an annual pass is a viable alternative is both right and wrong. In fact, a year and a half ago, it was on a thread that I berated Universal for not making the annual pass more visible to the average consumer when they changed the website to do just that. Most consumers would not have realized that there was just a marginal difference between the 3 day hopper and the base annual pass. Now at least, that is featured somewhat prominently on the home page.
It can possibly right if you are a consumer who knows what they are doing (however I would argue here how can it be a viable alternative when 3 months of the year are blocked out on the cheapest annual pass). Its the psychology of it all. I ONLY need a 3 day pass, or I have to get an annual pass. This to me absolutely tells the first time user, the first time customer, even the repeat customer, that you only need 3 days at MOST to see all they have to offer. Psychology 101. Universal sucks at the psychology of marketing, and this three day ticket is proof of it. This is what I think. Does not mean I am right though.
I might have been a little light hearted in that comment, but I think it was a little misunderstood too. I don't think Disney is laughing over the competition, indeed they take it very seriously, why else would they pop in a jet, and buy star wars for an extraordinary amount of money literally over a weekend, in the midst of their magic band implementation? However, what I think they are laughing at, or at least I imagine they are laughing at, is the thought, go ahead, bring consumers to Orlando, we are going to get them for 5 out of the 7 days, thank you very much.
I laughed at this. You are right. Universal was the siphon for many years, so turn about is fair play. And I hope that it encourages Disney to do something worthwhile, however I am not sure that is going to be the case. I think disney is profiting from Universals success, and building their targeted marketing plan using dollars the UO is handing them. I just want UO to stop making it so easy for the mouse!!
You are right, they have EVERYTHING to market themselves as a destination. But they don't, at least almost nothing here in Southern Ontario, where we are slammed by Disney marketing, especially at certain times of the year. There is no media campaign here. No one knows about Diagon Alley opening, or the fact that they even have on site hotels. Not here. Maybe its different where you are, but you see, that is just my point. Universal is still marketing to a small and local market, not globally, not internationally. And HP is GLOBAL. And a sunny vacation destination is in the minds of an awful lot of Canadians. And the canadian market was no where near effected as the american market in the past/current recession.
And I know without a doubt that the Universal marketing team sucks. If they had any brains at all, the current 3 hotels would be sold out a year in advance, at 100% occupancy SOLEY due to the fact of 1)FOTL 2)Walking Distance to 2 great theme parks 3)HP. Look at the contemporary when it opened, and MK was the only theme park. It would be almost 12 months in advance you needed to book, in order to get a room. Does not matter if people were staying 2 days or 3 days or a week. That hotel was at maximum occupancy, and booked out a year in advance. Simpy a matter of supply and demand. Universal only had 3 hotels up to a couple of months ago, and you could get a 30% off pin during peak travel times for those hotels.
Not here. Nothing. Nadda. How about those people living in England, can you give us an idea of what type of tv media campaign is going on? I would be interested in hearing that. At least for universal. Disney is all over the place, newspaper, magazines, TV, the whole nine yards.
Also Disney's marketing, the TV media is only a small part of their wild success, and continued wild success.
