Mine Train vs. Transformers

[sammons70]

I fully agree,, friendly discussion is a must and really generates a lot of good ideas!. I think the two parks could do more if they put there heads together. I love Disney,I really do and a lot more then universal, but my one gripe Is Disney does more of there themeing torads the little girls and the Moms. I really would love to see Disney put fourth as much energy to the entire Family!.

Hmmm... Pirates and Space Rangers, just girls stuff?

 

[WDSearcher]

Let's face it ... he female crowd spends the money. If Cars, Pirates and other so-called "boy stuff" was raking in the the piles of cash that Princesses were, you'd see a lot more of them in the parks. But boy stuff doesn't generate the same profits. That's part of why Harry Potter is so successful -- it's gender-neutral. You've got a wizard who appeals to both sexes, and a very smart female wizard who does the same. So everyone wins.

Remember that FLE was originally supposed to include a big ol' Pixie Hollow area filled with Fairies. That area is now Storybook Circus. And I think it can be said that the area was designed with families -- and with a bit of a skew to boys -- in mind. Goofy is a daredevil, there are firetrucks and trains and cars in the water area and circus tent, there's a sideshow for meeting characters, which is a little more gender-neutral and not "girly". Even the color pallette of the circus area is more appealing to boys. So there was definitely an effort made. 7DMT is dwarfs. Male dwarfs. On a train. In a mine. They didn't build Snow White's Woodland Picnic Adventure. They put in a Mine Train.

When I take my nephew to MK, he has a ball. He's got pirates, Aladdin, animals (Jungle Cruise), cowboys and the Old West, ghosts, the Country Bears, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, the Treehouse (which he LOVES), Tom Sawyer Island (ditto), Buzz Lightyear, an arcade, racing cars, and Stitch. That's plenty for him. He does not walk away feeling like MK is all about princesses. We have gone all day without ever seeing one.

 

[mom2rtk]

Let's face it ... he female crowd spends the money. If Cars, Pirates and other so-called "boy stuff" was raking in the the piles of cash that Princesses were, you'd see a lot more of them in the parks. But boy stuff doesn't generate the same profits. That's part of why Harry Potter is so successful -- it's gender-neutral. You've got a wizard who appeals to both sexes, and a very smart female wizard who does the same. So everyone wins.

Remember that FLE was originally supposed to include a big ol' Pixie Hollow area filled with Fairies. That area is now Storybook Circus. And I think it can be said that the area was designed with families -- and with a bit of a skew to boys -- in mind. Goofy is a daredevil, there are firetrucks and trains and cars in the water area and circus tent, there's a sideshow for meeting characters, which is a little more gender-neutral and not "girly". Even the color pallette of the circus area is more appealing to boys. So there was definitely an effort made. 7DMT is dwarfs. Male dwarfs. On a train. In a mine. They didn't build Snow White's Woodland Picnic Adventure. They put in a Mine Train.

When I take my nephew to MK, he has a ball. He's got pirates, Aladdin, animals (Jungle Cruise), cowboys and the Old West, ghosts, the Country Bears, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, the Treehouse (which he LOVES), Tom Sawyer Island (ditto), Buzz Lightyear, an arcade, racing cars, and Stitch. That's plenty for him. He does not walk away feeling like MK is all about princesses. We have gone all day without ever seeing one.

Don't forget the 2 castles in New Fantasyland belong to the men. And Prince Charming got the Carousel in the divorce.

 

[seadd67]

Hmmm... Pirates and Space Rangers, just girls stuff?

buy your qoute your not reading the whole thing, of course they have rides and attractions to both boys and girls. But there marketing Is gear way more to the Moms and the Daughters, and really maybe that's just the reality of it, but when my DS was younger we had to do a lot of work to show him Disney was for both Boys and Girls. I just think they could do more In there marketing that's all

 

[RMulieri]

I fully agree,, friendly discussion is a must and really generates a lot of good ideas!. I think the two parks could do more if they put there heads together. I love Disney,I really do and a lot more then universal, but my one gripe Is Disney does more of there themeing torads the little girls and the Moms. I really would love to see Disney put fourth as much energy to the entire Family!. Its not that they allieneate the Family, but they seem to put fourth more effort to the female crowd. That Includes the Adults to, they took away the clubs In DTD and really took away a option for the young adults. I my self don't drink or Dance( OMG you don't want to see me dance) but it again was a option for the Adults.
UO can really do more again for the whole Family, there almost just the opposite more focus torads adults and the guys fun. I do not think its intentional, but that's how it appears. There emply could do with couple of training days from Disney to

I have found universal employees to be quite nice actually and alot of them work for BOTH Disney and Universal

 

[seadd67]

I have found universal employees to be quite nice actually and alot of them work for BOTH Disney and Universal

Ya I guess maybe when you are at Disney you get that customer service overwhelming feeling from the CM, and can get use to it. When we have gone to UO you just do not get that same feeling, and this very well could just be me and not stopping to see the work they do. Really there is no one time that stands out that they have done anything, its just that feeling you see when there working. I will make a better effort next time to observe better,OMG now I feel bad

 

[MelissathePooh]

Ya I guess maybe when you are at Disney you get that customer service overwhelming feeling from the CM, and can get use to it. When we have gone to UO you just do not get that same feeling, and this very well could just be me and not stopping to see the work they do. Really there is no one time that stands out that they have done anything, its just that feeling you see when there working. I will make a better effort next time to observe better,OMG now I feel bad

I have to say we just got back from a quick weekend trip to UF and it was outstanding from check in at RPH to the parks. It was crazy busy - thank goodness for FOTL. But I digress - I was struck by the earlier comments about gender. DH and I were just discussing with a friend yesterday about how UF is really pretty gender neutral. The children's areas are gender neutral. DH pointed out that Jurassic Park is probably more geared towards boys, but it never struck us that way in reality as our DD loves dinosaurs as do many little girls I know. Disney is far more gender specific in its theming and marketing.

I don't know if WDW was as crowded as we stayed solely at UF, but it was kickin' for MLK weekend. I know its a holiday weekend (we used to go to Disney for MLK for many many years), but it was busy. Labor Day last year wasn't nearly as busy. We've found UF perfect for long weekends.

 

[Miss Marie]

I agree that Universal is on the money for their audience. I can name the Simpsons, but I have no desire to visit Springfield. I probably haven't watched a full episode in two years. And I can't give you diddly-squat on Transformers. I only know Optimus Prime exists because I recently saw a commercial. But I couldn't tell you what / who / why he is.

So for people like me, the expansions aren't really on track. Then again ... I'm not their core audience. Just as I suspect folks like damo and Rip aren't the Fantasyland core audience.

Totally agree there! Universal is defintely going in the right direction with their target audience. The only way they targeted me at all was with HP. And I don't know if I'll be coming back for the new stuff, as I'm more excited for New Fantasyland. Then again, I've known and loved Disney longer than Harry.

I don't think Universal is a bad set of parks at all. Visited IOA and liked what I saw of the themeing of many of the areas of the park (WWoHP of course, as well as the Lost Continent, Jurassic Park, Toon Lagoon, and Seuss Landing). They do a really nice job. My only reason for not being very into going to either was because there was never anything I really liked represented. HP got me started. Still, not seeing much for me at the Studios park (Some of their closed rides I would have liked, however).

I'm sure that most Universal bashers are Disney fans who either:
1: Aren't into the characters/brands that Universal offers.
2: Have never been.
or 3: Both 1&2
Or maybe they just saw Universal's Disney-bashing AD campaign and were disgusted into not going. I was sort of that way, because when I saw their Universal vs. Disney webpage, I really didn't want to go (I believe they even compaired their park icons. Really? What a stretch!).

I understand why people do it, as I was once like that, but I wish they'd give it one chance. Then they can decide whether or not they like it. They can't let the good experience from Disney + the infamous comparison of the two places stop them from trying both and possibly liking both.

 

[seadd67]

I have to say we just got back from a quick weekend trip to UF and it was outstanding from check in at RPH to the parks. It was crazy busy - thank goodness for FOTL. But I digress - I was struck by the earlier comments about gender. DH and I were just discussing with a friend yesterday about how UF is really pretty gender neutral. The children's areas are gender neutral. DH pointed out that Jurassic Park is probably more geared towards boys, but it never struck us that way in reality as our DD loves dinosaurs as do many little girls I know. Disney is far more gender specific in its theming and marketing.

I don't know if WDW was as crowded as we stayed solely at UF, but it was kickin' for MLK weekend. I know its a holiday weekend (we used to go to Disney for MLK for many many years), but it was busy. Labor Day last year wasn't nearly as busy. We've found UF perfect for long weekends.

I am so thrill you had fun, never been there over MLK weekend, i think every visit is different and everyone's experience is special. Really ones experience with a person/park, is different each time, and I think we(specfly me my self) is just have more patience and appreciate the job the CM's do at all the parks.