Universal is taking advantage of Disney's weak spot

[Greatfalls]

Between my middle school kids, my wife who is a teacher, and various friends with school age kids, I often hear about people being excited that they are going to Disney. I've never heard anybody exclaiming that they're going to Universal.

 

[kbelle8995]

Personally I think Disney needs a little competition. It will make everything better for everyone if Universal continues to grow and prove they are ready to rumble so to speak.

It will be better for all of us. If it makes Disney less complacent, excellent.

With Universal stepping up and the new section of HP opening this summer, they may have too. It far too easy to rest on one's laurel's

 

[JeremyGNJ]

The two parks are in completely different leagues.

Universal spends money on big expensive new attractions because they need to increase their visitor base.

Disney spends money on it's big expensive RFID technology because they need to extract more money from their existing guests and also better manage the crowds they already have.


If Universal spent money on RFID like Disney did, it would yield very little benefit due to their size. If Disney spent money on rides like Universal, it would attract very few new guests.

 

[bwang123]

Ever heard the expression "A rising tide lifts all boats"? It applies in this case to Orlando theme parks.

Yes, Universal has been extremely successful over the past several years, almost entirely due to the new Harry Potter attractions. They've brought in thousands of new guests, many of whom might not have visited Orlando if not for HP.

And so, Universal's share of the pie has gotten slightly bigger. But at the same time the pie itself -- the number of people visiting Orlando theme parks -- has also grown. That's why, even though their share of the overall business isn't as big a percentage as it was -- Disney is still reporting record attendance and revenues at its Orlando parks.

Don't worry. This competition is only going to make your future experiences that much better when visiting Disney World.

Exactly. That is why Disney's attendance still shows a slight increase over the same period Universal experienced a boom. There are just more people going to Orlando to just visit Potter Land and never intended to visit Disney.

Universal will never be able to steal Disney's target market because Disney caters and advertises to princess loving girls and small children with their families. Just watch the commercial's from each company and you will see who their target market is. If Universal starts to add kiddie rides and princess meet and greets, watch out.

 

[kbelle8995]

Yeah well if Disney wants to extract more money. They better rethink their merchandise. I was in MK a few weeks ago and let me tell you the selection was pitiful.

Yes guests want Ears and a Mickey mouse shirt but after that you are starving for choice. At least New Fantasyland had great different merchandise as did surprisingly Space Mountain arcade. They had some great Space MTN merchandise that I didn't see anywhere else. I was tempted to buy it even though not a huge Space Mountain fan.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

As it stands now, these parks need to add a MAJOR headliner every few years. Universal has added numerous attractions of late that are each significant enough to draw visitors to Orlando by themselves. Disney hasn't added anything of that magnitude since the opening of AK & Kilimanjaro Safari.

Disney is 3 years away from opening an attraction based on a movie that is already 5 years old and hasn't really show any staying power. Universal has Minion Mayhem now.

 

[MuddyTires]

This sort of reminds me of the twitter fights I see middle schoolers get in about which sport is better: hockey vs. Basketball and baseball vs. Lacrosse

The beauty of this world is that there is room for multiple options.

Yeah, I don't get the people who want to create some Disney versus Universal war. To each his/her own.

Personally, I don't see the two as anything alike to be compared. Obviously, for some people, they are substitutes. For me, they're two totally different types of places.

 

[PrincessJo]

There will always be a market for both. Years ago I loved Disney. Now I prefer Universal. My kids are grown up and my husband and I prefer the more mellow less stressful planning of Universal. It's wonderful to be able to walk to both parks and Citywalk. The state of the art rides and theming cannot be beat and I eagerly await the new Harry Potter expansion which looks amazing!

EXACTLY!! I don't understand all the bickering over which is better. They are each different and serve a different purpose. No big deal.

Between my middle school kids, my wife who is a teacher, and various friends with school age kids, I often hear about people being excited that they are going to Disney. I've never heard anybody exclaiming that they're going to Universal.

I could have gone anywhere for my birthday this year and we're going to Universal to see the Harry Potter expansion. Disney didn't even enter my mind and I'm SOOOO excited!! The only reason we're going on the Disney cruise in November is because it's my son's 18th birthday choice... or we wouldn't have gone this year at all.

 

[nancipants]

As a Central Florida resident, I can attest to the fact that the theme parks would prefer for all their competition to perform well. Their goals are all the same: to get people to visit Orlando.

Disney benefits when Universal does well, and vice versa.

 

[KatieCharlotte]

Its a Friday night, and Universal Studios and IoA are open until......

6pm.

https://www.universalorlando.com/Resort-Information/Theme-Park-Hours.aspx



I'm sure Disney is very worried.

Although US/IoA does have surprisingly early closings in general, those shortened hours are because of a special ticket event on Friday evenings in April, Grad Bash. The park opens at 8 a.m., with IoA early entry for onsite guests at 7 a.m. WWOHP at 7 a.m. was pretty magical.

Our family loves Disney. And Islands of Adventure. And LEGOLAND. Each provides a very different experience. There are pros and cons to each. I want MK to keep the classics, not make big changes. I do want to see fresh, innovative attractions at DHS, Epcot, and AK. In the future, we will probably repeat what we did this spring -- one day at MK and then non-Disney parks. Maybe one day at Epcot. The only thing that could bring us back to DHS is Star Wars.

 

[Son of Gadsden]

Why are so many posters around here so hellbent on believing there is this cold war going on between Disney and Universal right now?

Yes, Universal is constructing a lot lately, but it hasn't been "insanely" more than Disney. WW and NFL cancel each other out essentially. This has been argued endlessly on other threads. Some may not like NFL as much as WW, but attraction for attraction, they're both very comparable, even with the new expansion at WW. WW has been doing great to rejuvenate a near bankrupt Universal and IoA. Numbers are steeply up after being steeply down. TEA numbers for NFL are not out yet, so not much to compare there.

Universal has been working on Springfield, Disney has been working on Disney Springs. I hear a lot about "Springfield is just a bunch of shops and crap!" That's pretty much what WW is.

Universal has done Transformers and whatever else. I'll admit, I don't really go to Universal much. Maybe once every five years or so, so I'm not all that aware of what goes on. I just know what I hear about. Disney is working on Avatarland. Disney has also invested and is in final testing phases of their revolutionary technology in MM+. There are bugs now, but they are listening, and they are fixing them. Once this project is done, it will change everything. The sky is the limit with this new tech. It will just be one more thing that will show why Disney is dominating the market, and will force Universal to be imitative rather than innovative once again to play catch up, as always. The hub construction is going on to help with crowds. There is always some kind of construction going on to make something in the parks better.

I never get the argument that Disney is laying around doing nothing while Universal is doing all this construction. If you believe that, you're not paying attention.

WDW has twenty two resorts, four theme parks, and two water parks. Universal Orlando has four resorts, two theme parks, and one water park...all dramatically less successful than Disney's parks....like 8 mil vs 17.5 mil difference in attendance between both companies best parks in Orlando. Universal is playing catch up, at best. WDW's worst park DHS still has Universal Orlando's best park beat by millions in attendance.

Universal is no where near "scaring" or unseating Disney, not in Orlando, not anywhere. Disney is playing chess, Universal is playing checkers. There is no war to put the other out of business.

 

[csmith041177]

I don't want to get into an argument about what Universal is doing and how that can be hurting Disney World. There is no doubt that with the Harry Potter franchise, Universal got a game changer. Add this with transformers, Springfield area, etc., then you have some really cool stuff going on. I love love love Disney, but I love Universal too. They are very different theme parks, and offer many different things. However, I really don't see how anyone can go into Hogsmeade and not be absoltely captivated and blown away. I think that is the reaction of most people.

 

[EMode]

Between my middle school kids, my wife who is a teacher, and various friends with school age kids, I often hear about people being excited that they are going to Disney. I've never heard anybody exclaiming that they're going to Universal.

It definitely depends on who you are hearing from. Next year our HS band and chorus are going to Orlando. The teachers want to stay onsite at WDW but none of the students do because they don't want to be stuck going WDW parks, they want to go to Universal. 2 years ago the band didn't even go to any Disney parks, they stayed at Coco Key and went only to Universal.

They just cater to different crowds, I don't think they are in direct competition with eachother, as others have pointed out more people in Orlando mean potentially more guests at each park
We are planning our first trip to Universal this year, my kids are getting older and feel WDW doesn't offer them anything new and exciting anymore, Universal does. They are definitely excited about going there

 

[jsilvers]

One is clearly engaged in a tit for tat battle---feasting upon the crumbs that fall the kings table.....while the other is engaged in a global war of theme park dominance.

You do realize that Universal, in addition to Orlando and Hollywood, has parks in Japan and Singapore, with a further park under construction in Korea and recent leaks of a park in China?

 

[Mad Hattered]

Why are so many posters around here so hellbent on believing there is this cold war going on between Disney and Universal right now?

Yes, Universal is constructing a lot lately, but it hasn't been "insanely" more than Disney. WW and NFL cancel each other out essentially. This has been argued endlessly on other threads. Some may not like NFL as much as WW, but attraction for attraction, they're both very comparable, even with the new expansion at WW. WW has been doing great to rejuvenate a near bankrupt Universal and IoA. Numbers are steeply up after being steeply down. TEA numbers for NFL are not out yet, so not much to compare there.

Universal has been working on Springfield, Disney has been working on Disney Springs. I hear a lot about "Springfield is just a bunch of shops and crap!" That's pretty much what WW is.

Universal has done Transformers and whatever else. I'll admit, I don't really go to Universal much. Maybe once every five years or so, so I'm not all that aware of what goes on. I just know what I hear about. Disney is working on Avatarland. Disney has also invested and is in final testing phases of their revolutionary technology in MM+. There are bugs now, but they are listening, and they are fixing them. Once this project is done, it will change everything. The sky is the limit with this new tech. It will just be one more thing that will show why Disney is dominating the market, and will force Universal to be imitative rather than innovative once again to play catch up, as always. The hub construction is going on to help with crowds. There is always some kind of construction going on to make something in the parks better.

I never get the argument that Disney is laying around doing nothing while Universal is doing all this construction. If you believe that, you're not paying attention.

WDW has twenty two resorts, four theme parks, and two water parks. Universal Orlando has four resorts, two theme parks, and one water park...all dramatically less successful than Disney's parks....like 8 mil vs 17.5 mil difference in attendance between both companies best parks in Orlando. Universal is playing catch up, at best. WDW's worst park DHS still has Universal Orlando's best park beat by millions in attendance.

Universal is no where near "scaring" or unseating Disney, not in Orlando, not anywhere. Disney is playing chess, Universal is playing checkers. There is no war to put the other out of business.

Just so you are in the loop, this is what Universal's plan is at the moment...

Diagon Alley
Hogwarts Express
King Kong next to Jurassic Park
Family coaster in Jurassic Park
Cababa Bay Value resort
New Waterpark between the CBR and Pacific Royal Resort
Overhaul of the KidsZone attraction area
Sprucing up Citywalk currently and adding 5 new eateries
Bought up a large chunk of real estate across I-4 (3rd gate anyone?)

There is more, but it makes Disney's attempt at building The Blue Cat People from Fern Gully look even more lame. And that is still 3-4 years away! I sure hope the rumors of Universal landing Lord of The Rings doesn't come to fruition. Can you imagine what THAT would do?

 

[FLchick415]

I, too, don't understand the need to create a "competition" between the two parks. They're both GREAT. When I first saw WWoHP, I cried. Actual tears. I was THAT blown away. Disney, to this day, still has many things that make me weepy. If I want big thrills, I go to UOR. If I want to act like a kid and ride my nostalgic favorites, I go to Disney. I seriously doubt Universal is sitting back going "Hmm...how can we upstage Disney today?"

 

[surferdave]

Worth listening to the DisUnplugged Podcast interesting discussion about the market share increase at Universal and the reductions at Walt Disney World and Seaworld.

I don't think this suggests that Disney is in trouble but I am sure Bob Iger and the board are having some interesting discussions

Very eye opening discussion. Lots of folks here wouldn't like it very much.

http://www.disunplugged.com/2014/04/23/dis-unplugged-podcast-042214-orlando-show/

 

[999DoomBuggies]

Lol @ anyone that doesn't believe that US and DW are not in a direct war. US plans to dump an additional 2 billion into their parks. US is definitely hurting Disney, to deny would be disingenuous. A short sighted view of ten years will find that US has not greatly harmed Disney. A long term view can see these past five years as the turning point and the potential for US to unseat disney 20 yrs down the road. Many laughed at the idea that Asian countries could build tvs and cars better than the United States and look at them now.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

More folks will drop in to Universal for a couple of days, but not so many are going to move to making Universal the focal point of their Orlando vacation. If Universal adds another park, they might achieve that, especially for families with older kids.

 

[glohoffman]

It definitely depends on who you are hearing from. Next year our HS band and chorus are going to Orlando. The teachers want to stay onsite at WDW but none of the students do because they don't want to be stuck going WDW parks, they want to go to Universal. 2 years ago the band didn't even go to any Disney parks, they stayed at Coco Key and went only to Universal.

They just cater to different crowds, I don't think they are in direct competition with eachother, as others have pointed out more people in Orlando mean potentially more guests at each park
We are planning our first trip to Universal this year, my kids are getting older and feel WDW doesn't offer them anything new and exciting anymore, Universal does. They are definitely excited about going there

This. To me they aren't comparable. I have never had a desire to go to Universal...I am just more of a "Disney" person, and so are my kids. My husband would probably enjoy Universal, but not one of the attractions there screams at me. Sure they are done well, Im just much more of a Fantasyland person and much less of Harry Potter person lol