News Disney plans to accelerate Parks investment to $60 billion over 10 years

[UNCgolf]

USF is not my favorite, and definitely in danger of being "dropped" in favor of Epic, but it's far from a horrible park. It just has some "dark areas" they need to clean up (which, they have plans for).

Diagon Alley alone keeps it from being horrible regardless of anything else (and it's not the only worthwhile thing there), but it had a much stronger attraction lineup in the 1990s than it does now. Almost every attraction replacement is weaker than what it replaced, unfortunately.

But yeah, I know they have plans to overhaul/expand, which is why I think it's only a short-term problem for them and not a long-term one.

 

[flynnibus]

Then there's the complete rogue option where I say buy 2 days for Epic only.

Actually, I'd bet for most cross-over/Theme Park 'fans' that kind of trip would be more common. People already know the other parks... and they will be chasing 'the new'. But that should be more of a first three years kind of phenom and not necessarily the design pattern going forward.

 

[BrianLo]

Neither property is going to be pricing attractive to visit for short stays. So my theory is I expect the war to be over where people stay and if the 'on property' perks become the new war along with discounting to try to swing the battle to their favor. Could UNI even partner with someone to make cross-resort travel even easier? UNI will be motivated to do this kind of stuff... while Disney will be all on the defensive to try to protect what's left of the bubble.

For repeat visitors, I bet we see more and more 'this trip was our UNI' trip and alternating/changing per trip and less split trips unless Disney flounders and can't fill 5 days.

Ya and I guess that's really my point at the end of the day. This is a landmark shift in pricing for the week-long vacationer. I actually expect Uni may want to rush a second water park. That better completes a 7 day resort experience and Volcano Bay as mentioned may become unbearable otherwise.

As you say, the trip rotations are coming in down the pipe. We're barely clinging onto a viable split stay strategy.

 

[montyz81]

$100M... more like $1B lol

It can't be that much for the train sets. I can't believe that they would put so much money into Orlando without ordering new trains at the very least.

 

[flynnibus]

I'm not projecting -- I'm not basing this on my personal opinion of USF.

I'm basing it on what I've read both here and elsewhere, that USF is generally considered the weakest park of the six.

Ranking something the weakest relatively is a far way from calling it "legitimately awful" and not worthy of a dedicated ticket.

Even at it's low point, I would have never called DHS 'awful' - it was just too long in the tooth and lacked enough attractions, especially for repeat visitors. I mean, I don't care how much I like Indiana Jones, the stunt show is a generation past due, and things like B&B, F!, and Animation Courtyard had become what should be criminal offenses. But they still worked for new guests, even if I felt as a lifer that the park was in it's darkest days relative to knowing what it could be.

 

[DisneyDean97]

They are a thrill ride park, no one denies that, its their nitch since Disney technically doesn't go for the huge thrill usually, other than a few.

Wish Disney would dabble in the thrill area a little more...

 

[Touchdown]

Watch the first Epic Universe reveal video, the head of Universal entertainment specifically says something along the lines of we want to be a place the whole family can enjoy for a week. That last word is key, and their goal. There will absolutely be “deals” on park hopper tickets like Disney has now where day 5-6 will be minimal. I’m sure they are going to keep their “stay more, save more” rates at their hotels. Universal is striving to be a full week destination just like WDW did when their third park opened.

 

[Disone]

They are in Orlando. Those ranks are based on 2019 rankings, if you look at the 2022 numbers, IOA has 11,025, while DAK is 9,017, Epcot is 10,000, and DHS is 10,900

Good call. Thanks

 

[Disone]

You might want to take a second look at the numbers...

TEA last year kept the same ranking as 2019, but Islands of Adventure had higher numbers than Hollywood Studios, Epcot & Animal Kingdom.

Islands of Adventure was the 2nd most visited park in Orlando after MK.

I did. Your right. Thank you

 

[Disstevefan1]

I put this in another thread, but I probably should have put it here. With $60B US, is there a chance Disney would be wise and earmark $100M for new Monorail trains and possibly an expansion to AK or Springs?

This is a wonderful dream that will NEVER HAPPEN! I love the monorail but Disney barely wants to maintain the existing fleet and track.

You understand most of the 60B will go to China, France and cruise ships and specifically NOT WDW..... Unless maybe NEW DVCs for WDW

 

[UNCgolf]

Ranking something the weakest relatively is a far way from calling it "legitimately awful" and not worthy of a dedicated ticket.

Even at it's low point, I would have never called DHS 'awful' - it was just too long in the tooth and lacked enough attractions, especially for repeat visitors. I mean, I don't care how much I like Indiana Jones, the stunt show is a generation past due, and things like B&B, F!, and Animation Courtyard had become what should be criminal offenses. But they still worked for new guests, even if I felt as a lifer that the park was in it's darkest days relative to knowing what it could be.

Calling the attraction lineup legitimately awful (I didn't say the park as a whole was legitimately awful, Diagon Alley alone is too good for that) was definitely my personal opinion, but it wasn't really relevant to the point I was making.

The point was that if it is widely considered the weakest, then people who want to visit both are going to be unlikely to drop a day at one of the Disney parks (that they presumably think are better) in favor of a USF day as opposed to just swapping USF for EU.

It's not going to be an issue for people going on a Universal specific trip, though, and I actually think that's the majority of visitors to both resorts. I could be wildly wrong about this but I've always had the impression that split trip visitors are a relatively small minority (at least among American guests; I imagine it's far more common among international visitors) and most people go to either one or the other on a trip.

 

[Touchdown]

I honestly don’t understand why people do both in one trip unless they legitimately won’t come back again. It is so much more economical to do just Disney one trip and just Universal (or add a Sea World park) another. You come close to doubling the price doing both.

 

[flynnibus]

I honestly don’t understand why people do both in one trip unless they legitimately won’t come back again. It is so much more economical to do just Disney one trip and just Universal (or add a Sea World park) another. You come close to doubling the price doing both.

Because neither are worth an extended, week long stay right now IMO. Both resorts have been relegated to add-on portions of other travel needs for the last 10yrs or so in my household. Tho I can't say I've done more than one day from UNI and Disney in the same trip in any recent memories...

 

[J4546]

We go to both parks for a couple days when we make a trip to FL. Usually 2 and 2. Last year it was the universal parks plus Epcot cause we had never done them. IoA and Volcano Bay great, USF we dont like much at all so wont be back anytime soon. Next year we are going back to Epcot, IoA and Epic Universe, not sure what the 4th park will be probably MK just cause we havent ridden tron yet and its a solid park.

 

[Touchdown]

Because neither are worth an extended, week long stay right now IMO. Both resorts have been relegated to add-on portions of other travel needs for the last 10yrs or so in my household. Tho I can't say I've done more than one day from UNI and Disney in the same trip in any recent memories...

I’m going to need to disagree then, can do both easily. 6 night trip to Disney consists of 2 days at MK, 1.5 at Epcot, 1 day at DHS and 0.5 days at AK all broken up into .5 days with hopping. Universal at Halloween and Mardi Gras is worth the whole week, Christmas and Summer I do hop to Sea World for a day.

 

[SplashJacket]

IOA is weird because while we talk about it like a full day park (which it is), it is ONLY a full day ride park.

If you've knocked out all the rides in MK, you still haven't really engaged in a lot of what the park has to offer.

If you've knocked out all the rides in Epcot, you still haven't really engaged in World Showcase, films or exhibits.

If you've knocked out all the rides in IOA... you can grab a wand and enjoy Hogsmead a bit more.

So while MK, Epcot and IOA are all worthy 1 day ride parks. MK and Epcot are actually 2 day "attraction parks" and IOA is still just a 1 day "ride park". The 7 day split-resort feasibility is going to come off the rails though by end of decade when DAK hopefully has a night show again and USF has Pokemon. Then the hard cuts in the itineraries start! 14 day stays are in.

That’s the thing about IOA (and universal as a whole). I needs more chill experiences. Both rides and non-rides.

Long, slow-moving indoor family dark rides. Nothing loud, nothing overtly thrilling.

Balance it out with shows and other smaller attractions.

 

[SplashJacket]

This sounds like the argument when people moaned forever that DHS or DAK was only a half day park... because if they only did the things they REALLY liked... they were done by noon.

Yet, those are repeat visitors, and the kind that won't sit back and usually were more the non-show types of people.

While meanwhile people who actually went around the park, and did more of what it offered, didn't have this same dead horse argument. People, especially less familar people, don't tour that same way.... unless they have someone in their ear telling them to skip everything else.

I think a park should cater to everyone’s needs. Not just one group of people.

If I wanna go to Animal Kingdom and fill my day with only rides, I can’t.

If I wanna go to Animal Kingdom and fill my day while avoiding rides, I can’t.

If I wanna go to Animal Kingdom and fill my day with everything the park has to offer, I absolutely can.

Animal Kingdom should let people only ride rides all day if they want to only ride rides.

You can probably spend two full days only doing rides at Disneyland before you get to any of the entertainment offerings. Having a more diverse park, with a depth of diversity, only makes the park better.

I don’t think it’s an outlandish claim to say Animal Kingdom is a full-day park, but only a partial day park to a lot of people, and I don’t think that’s a fault of the people visiting.

 

[JoeCamel]

It can't be that much for the train sets. I can't believe that they would put so much money into Orlando without ordering new trains at the very least.

The real question is where would you buy a train set? Why replace them with the same infrastructure problems ie: door action, platform height etc?
Never going to happen it is an obsolete ride that needs complete replacement but stockholders want their dividend and the ROi for what it would cost to replace is not there.
You know "Disney is a bidness" and all that

 

[abaker1975]

I think a park should cater to everyone’s needs. Not just one group of people.

If I wanna go to Animal Kingdom and fill my day with only rides, I can’t.

If I wanna go to Animal Kingdom and fill my day while avoiding rides, I can’t.

If I wanna go to Animal Kingdom and fill my day with everything the park has to offer, I absolutely can.

Animal Kingdom should let people only ride rides all day if they want to only ride rides.

You can probably spend two full days only doing rides at Disneyland before you get to any of the entertainment offerings. Having a more diverse park, with a depth of diversity, only makes the park better.

I don’t think it’s an outlandish claim to say Animal Kingdom is a full-day park, but only a partial day park to a lot of people, and I don’t think that’s a fault of the people visiting.

I have always thought it would be great to have at least one park at WDW have the density of attractions that Disneyland Park does. WDW's blessing of size sometimes feels a curse when you see how much is fit into Disneyland Resort.

 

[doctornick]

I have always thought it would be great to have at least one park at WDW have the density of attractions that Disneyland Park does. WDW's blessing of size sometimes feels a curse when you see how much is fit into Disneyland Resort.

I don't think there needs to be one with as many as DL (quibble though: MK due to having a bunch more shows than DL is a lot closer in attraction count than you would expect by counting just rides) so much as they really just need to make each park have a larger amount of total attractions. This is particularly evident at DAK and DHS.

The constant replacement of attractions (e.g. in recent years Cosmic Rewind, MMRR, FAE, Princess Fairytale Hall, SWGE & TSL, etc) as opposed to building new additional attractions (less common like Tron and Ratatouille) has been a huge problem at WDW. Replacing Dinoland instead of adding Tropical Americas elsewhere is a continuation of this problematic trend.

Somehow at DL they manage to make additions without the "blessing of size" (e.g. SWGE, MMRR there)