Litany of 2026 parks / resorts deals - is this unprecedented?

[Laketravis]

The only downside to that calculus is that you would have to vacation at universal. If you like roller coasters great, otherwise it’s a useless comparison

Have you been to Epic?

I'm taking my 20 year old son who grew up at WDW but now he's extremely excited to experience Epic. So yeah, it's a very useful comparison.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Have you been to Epic?

My guess is no

 

[Laketravis]

My guess is no

My first visit was a couple of months ago. Left with the impression that WDW has some catching up to do, both in terms of submersive detail and technology.

 

[Nubs70]

In a nutshell:

5 nights at Universal Dockside (1/11-1/16)
4 day park tickets - USO, IOA, Epic
4 days of Express Pass

Two people: $2385

I'd like nothing more than to spend a week or two at WDW like we used to multiple times a year until 11/23 when our AP's expired. But it's become virtually impossible to enjoy with the increased level of cost sensitivity on a seemingly constant basis, everywhere you look. We can afford it, but the feeling that we are being shaken down at every turn has become overwhelming.

I don't see anything in the current special offerings for this coming summer that change my mind, because while it may be an overall few points discount on the cost, nothing there replaces any of the perks and benefits of years past.

In fact, I can't think of much that Universal has reduced or eliminated to the same level WDW has. If in fact they have, I suppose I haven't noticed because none of it has become a pinch point yet.

As i sit at an all inclusive in Akumal, current shadown feeling at WDW is more than an all inclusive but slightly less than a timeshare presentation.

 

[ToEarthandback]

My guess is no

Have you been to Epic?

I'm taking my 20 year old son who grew up at WDW but now he's extremely excited to experience Epic. So yeah, it's a very useful comparison.

No .. and good way to move the goalpost , I was responding to a post about a 5 night vacation , take away the thrill rides and tell me what one would do for 5 nights ? Then compare that to Disney

 

[Jrb1979]

No .. and good way to move the goalpost , I was responding to a post about a 5 night vacation , take away the thrill rides and tell me what one would do for 5 nights ? Then compare that to Disney

There is lots to do. There is City Walk, the resorts are worth spending time at.
There is still lots of attractions that aren't thrill rides at Universal as well.

 

[Laketravis]

No .. and good way to move the goalpost , I was responding to a post about a 5 night vacation , take away the thrill rides and tell me what one would do for 5 nights ? Then compare that to Disney

Epic is open until 10pm each of those nights. My 20 year old is looking forward to shutting down that park each night.

So am I. USO closes earlier but City Walk is open much later.

Here's a partial list of what one could do each night just at Epic:

Celestial Park
Rides

• Constellation Carousel
• Stardust Racers (roller coaster)

Live entertainment

• The Time Tellers storytelling troupe at Hemisphere Stage

Dining

• Bars
  
  • Aquaria Bar
  • Bar Zenith
  • CelesTiki
  • The Plastered Owl
  • The Tiger Bar
  • Atlantic
  • The Blue Dragon Pan-Asian Restaurant

Retail

• Lens Flare
• Moonship Chocolates & Celestial Sweets
• Nintendo Super Star Store
• North Star Wintry Wonders
• Other Worlds Mercantile
• Sensorium Emporium

Play area

• Astronomica (splash pad)

Super Nintendo World
Rides

• Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge (dark ride)
• Mine-Cart Madness (roller coaster)
• Yoshi’s Adventure (slow-moving elevated ride)

Live entertainment

• Meet & greets with Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, and Donkey Kong

Dining

• Quick-service restaurant
  
  • Toadstool Café
  • The Bubbly Barrel
  • Turbo Boost Treats
  • Yoshi’s Snack Island

Retail

• 1-Up Factory
• Funky’s Fly ‘n’ Buy
• Mario Motors

Activity

• Key Challenges with Power-Up Bands or the Universal Orlando app

Dark Universe
Rides

• Curse of the Werewolf (roller coaster)
• Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment (dark ride / thrill ride)

Live entertainment

• Character meet & greets (Frankenstein’s Monster, Bride of Frankenstein, Ygor, The Invisible Man)
• Violin musician

Dining

• Quick-service restaurants
  
  • The Burning Blade Tavern
  • Das Stakehaus
  • De Lacey’s Cottage

Retail

• The Guild of Mystics
• Pretorius’ Scientific Oddities

Activity (extra cost)

• Darkmoor Monster Makeup Experience

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic
Ride

• Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry (dark ride)

Live entertainment

• “Le Cirque Arcanus” (indoor show)
• Roaming characters: an Auror, Hogwarts students, Ilvermorny students
• Live musician trio with a Pygmy Puff

Dining

• Bar
  
  • Bar Moonshine
  • Café L’Air De La Sirène
  • Le Gobelet Noir

Retail

• Cosme Acajor Baguettes Magique (wand shop)
• K. Rammelle (confectionery)
• Le Galeries Mirifiques
• Tour En Floo

Activity

• Interactive wands

How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk
Rides

• Dragon Racer’s Rally (spinning flat ride)
• Fyre Drill (water battle ride)
• Hiccup’s Wing Gliders (roller coaster)

Live entertainment

• Haddock Paddock (meet & greet)
• “The Untrainable Dragon” (indoor show)

Dining

• Quick-service restaurants
  
  • Mead Hall
  • Spit Fyre Grill
  • Hooligan’s Grog & Gruel

Retail

• Hiccup’s Work Shop
• How to Treat Your Dragon
• Toothless’ Treasures
• Viking Traders

 

[Laketravis]

There is lots to do. There is City Walk, the resorts are worth spending time at.
There is still lots of attractions that aren't thrill rides at Universal as well.

He moved the goal post from "coasters" to "thrill rides". To be honest I'm not disappointed there is nothing "tame" like Carousel of Progress or Mickey's Philharmonic at Epic, or Living with the Land and Turtle Talk at Isles of Adventure.

No wonder WDW is having to offer the appearance of heavy discounts right now.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

No .. and good way to move the goalpost , I was responding to a post about a 5 night vacation , take away the thrill rides and tell me what one would do for 5 nights ? Then compare that to Disney

No offense…

But “only coasters” is an outdated criticism of UNI pushed mostly by Disney zealots

Now does that mean equal parks…no…they’re still relying too much on screens and lack children’s offerings…and food…but they have closed the gap with what they have done

 

[Chi84]

Have you been to Epic?

I'm taking my 20 year old son who grew up at WDW but now he's extremely excited to experience Epic. So yeah, it's a very useful comparison.

I think the point was that there isn’t as much for young children and maybe grandparents who aren’t into coasters.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Not to go down the epic well…

But I want to just state where I stand

I loved the detail and design…they really put a lot of capital into it.

But it’s completely inadequate for a mass attendance park. Not close to enough.

And that’s on a Sunny day…if it rains - as Florida does - it’s a wreck

Now that doesn’t mean they won’t do a “phase two” and flesh it out…I have more faith that they will than they won’t. The Same can’t be said for all operators…it just can’t be

 

[Laketravis]

I think the point was that there isn’t as much for young children and maybe grandparents who aren’t into coasters.

Well if THAT was the point it would have certainly narrowed down the discussion. But the question was what one would do for five nights (young children and grandparents probably go to bed). Given the clarification, I would still maintain there is plenty for young children and maybe grandparents who aren't into coasters to do.

They just don't have "Disney" branded on them.

 

[Chi84]

Well if THAT was the point it would have certainly narrowed down the discussion. But the question was what one would do for five nights (young children and grandparents probably go to bed). Given the clarification, I would still maintain there is plenty for young children and maybe grandparents who aren't into coasters to do.

They just don't have "Disney" branded on them.

We don’t care if “Disney” is branded on the rides. But rides like Living with the land are good because everyone can enjoy them together.

Grandparents don’t necessarily go to bed early but coasters can be hard on the body lol.

My son and daughter went to Universal pre-Epic and loved it. When their kids get a bit older (now between 2 and 6) I’m sure they’ll plan a trip there.

I don’t see it as one or the other. Then again, I’m from Chicago and like both the Cubs and White Sox.

 

[Laketravis]

We don’t care if “Disney” is branded on the rides. But rides like Living with the land are good because everyone can enjoy them together.

Grandparents don’t necessarily go to bed early but coasters can be hard on the body lol.

My son and daughter went to Universal pre-Epic and loved it. When their kids get a bit older (now between 2 and 6) I’m sure they’ll plan a trip there.

I don’t see it as one or the other. Then again, I’m from Chicago and like both the Cubs and White Sox.

Tell me about it. I'm 65 and starting to feel the effects - I'm not as rubbery as I used to be.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Well if THAT was the point it would have certainly narrowed down the discussion. But the question was what one would do for five nights (young children and grandparents probably go to bed). Given the clarification, I would still maintain there is plenty for young children and maybe grandparents who aren't into coasters to do.

They just don't have "Disney" branded on them.

Didn’t doesn’t even do stuff for children much these days…bluey being an exception.

What they are showing now - having just actually returned and observing without praising my credit card for buying lightning lanes - is going into this weird Disney adults/borderline furry mentality…it’s growing.

@monothingie is right…it’s growing.

The crowd at Geo 82 was a bit mind blowing…as was the thinly veiled presentation.

You have two options:
1. Believe it now
2. Fight it for years, develop amnesia, and then claim you never fought.

That phenomenon is currently playing out with the last defenders admitting Disney tanked Star Wars on other threads. Very late to the party…cause it ended years ago

 

[Chi84]

Didn’t doesn’t even do stuff for children much these days…bluey being an exception.

What they are showing now - having just actually returned and observing without praising my credit card for buying lightning lanes - is going into this weird Disney adults/borderline furry mentality…it’s growing.

@monothingie is right…it’s growing.

The crowd at Geo 82 was a bit mind blowing…as was the thinly veiled presentation.

You have two options:
1. Believe it now
2. Fight it for years, develop amnesia, and then claim you never fought.

That phenomenon is currently playing out with the last defenders admitting Disney tanked Star Wars on other threads. Very late to the party…cause it ended years ago

Wait did you just say you bought lightning lanes?

 

[Comped]

I think the point was that there isn’t as much for young children and maybe grandparents who aren’t into coasters.

Or people like me who can't ride them...

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

My first visit was a couple of months ago. Left with the impression that WDW has some catching up to do, both in terms of submersive detail and technology.

Unfortunately Epic has a lot of catching up to do in terms of capacity and operations. It’ll be a great park when they figure that out, but as great as the attractions are, when the average waits there on a random Tuesday in September look like MK at Christmas it’s a real problem.

I went to Epic during AP previews and it was incredible. Now? Not so much unfortunately.

 

[Charlie The Chatbox Ghost]

They are also run by people who have had no problems destroying decades of good customer will by doing almost everything possible to destroy that customer will.

Especially evident by Iger PAYING OpenAI billions to allow people to generate whatever slop they want with Disney IP. What happened to the company that just 2 years ago was so protective of Mickey Mouse that they were going after anything that wasn’t exactly public domain? Now anyone can make modern Mickey do anything (and I mean anything- people jailbreak AIs within minutes of their release, we WILL see this happen to Sora’s Disney AI) all in the name of shareholder profits because generative AI is being forced down our throats. The Disney OpenAI deal destroys decades of Disney being associated with high quality entertainment and destroys good will with customers. How long until this slop gets into the parks in a way more damaging than the gift shop AI garbage from last year?

Anyways, on the main topic- these deals seem like a way to get people into the parks before the obvious recession happens whenever the AI bubble pops. Honestly 2 free days would be great but I have a 3.5 month old so Disney is a no-go for awhile, lol.

 

[DisneyHead123]

Dunkin Donuts gives my area a bad name. Most people are never more than a few miles away from one.

I was pretty gobsmacked by the prices when I went recently! Half a dozen donuts and ten donut holes for just over $19.