Since Harry Potter is opening at Universal for the last half of 2010, I expect that Disney will have to offer some discounts for that time period. I have heard lots of people say they are going to Universal and skip Disney for Harry Potter. With the economy and Harry Potter, I think the last half of 2010 will be a prime time for Disney discounts! I know we have a trip planned to see Harry Potter and stay at Universal, since they have front of the line priviledges. Just wondering what everyone else thought??
My 9 year old son and I just had this conversation yesterday. We are planning to cruise with several families on the Carnival Dream out of Port Canaveral in July 2010. My son and I have decided that we want to go a few days early and spend time at Universal and the new Harry Potter exhibit instead of trying to do WDW. We love the Universal hotels and the front of the line pass! I just wish we knew when Harry Potter will be open.
I have to say our original plan was to stay offsite in 2010 and do 3 days for Universal, hit Busch Gardens, maybe do Sea World and then fill with Disney. Meaning Disney would lose our resort dollars for all 10 days and lose our spending money for 4-5 days, and a lot of dining dollars--probably only lunches for 4-5 days instead of 3 meals for 10 days. I think this is going to hit Disney harder than a lot of people are thinking. We're going to go to Disneyland and other CA attractions in 2010 instead. When we do go back in 2011, we're going to spend three days at Universal--changing hotels. BTW--In July I read that it was announced that part of HP will be opening in December 2009 with the rest following by March or April 2010.
Well, being that we are not really Harry Potter fans (love Universal though) Hopefully that would mean some better offers for me & mine in Sept 2010. Also, I would prefer to wait until most if not all of the kinks are worked out w/ such a huge attraction like that. Remember when the new Xbox live came out so glad DH got the extended warranty!
Oh I hope you are right! I would think they would offer discounts for the most of the year regardless of when it is opening, since Harry Potter fans will probably ditch their spring vacations in order to catch Harry Potter at Universal even if it doesn't open until the fall - at least I hope so since I'm kinda thinking of a late winter/spring trip in 2010 I haven't decided between WDW and a Caribbean destination, but if WDW had some dynamite deals, like free dining or the buy some get some free promotion late winter/spring, I might have to skip the caribbean this year and do Disney!!!!
We're huge Harry Potter fans but we figured once it opens it's going to be crazy, so we'll probably wait until the following year to go see it. We only live an hour away from WDW and have annual passes... so if we renew our passes next summer, we probably won't benefit from any long-term stay discounts but the idea that the crowds will be down is very nice.
I am planning on staying at WDW next summer and going on a few day trips to Univeral for HP! Disney is still going to have my dollars! Hopefully the discounts will continue or get better!
Im speaking from fact we typically split our stays in MCO between Universal (onsite 2 nights) & WDW, sometimes throwing in a 3 day DCL jhmo, im thinking most HPUnoobs (i think i've coined an acronym here) will be day guests. So many disney vets r used to free ME, free DP & relatively low rates for values/mods, bouncebacks u name it. I don't see them going entirely to the darkside as disney will try to lock them in early any way they can; probably with free ticket offers or reduced AP price. U/Loews is slower to reduce rates (has relatively last minute deals compared to Disney). Lately has offered their best rates to multi-night stays (longer, the lower) and PAP rate has been excellent this year (which is now 'qualifying' for their YouFirst program) & will probably increase bookings. it's going to be very interesting to see how this shakes out next year.
