A Terror-rific Spirited 13th (ToT fans have lots to fear)...

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
Put me on the pixie dust list then b/c it appears Disney is also heavily investing in their parks. I would say for this year and next, there is about equal levels of new stuff.

At the highest level, Disney opened a new area in "Norway" & refreshed the ride, Upgraded to digital projection, added a theatre and added a new film to Soarin', opened a new track to TSMM, Added star wars nighttime show, added new MK stage show, doubled the size of Disney Springs.
Universal added Kong, refreshed Hulk, changed up some restaurants at Citywalk

Disney will open Pandora next year, and crossing fingers for Rivers of Light. Typhoon Lagoon will get a new ride
Universal will close Wet n Wild and open Volcano Bay, and Jimmy Fallon ride will open

The long term potential for both companies is fantastic.
That is a pretty pixie duster list of additions. You forgot the new trash cans in Epcot and the Sapphire Falls Resort at OUR.
 

Cletus

Well-Known Member
Put me on the pixie dust list then b/c it appears Disney is also heavily investing in their parks. I would say for this year and next, there is about equal levels of new stuff.

At the highest level, Disney opened a new area in "Norway" & refreshed the ride, Upgraded to digital projection, added a theatre and added a new film to Soarin', opened a new track to TSMM, Added star wars nighttime show, added new MK stage show, doubled the size of Disney Springs.
Universal added Kong, refreshed Hulk, changed up some restaurants at Citywalk

Disney will open Pandora next year, and crossing fingers for Rivers of Light. Typhoon Lagoon will get a new ride
Universal will close Wet n Wild and open Volcano Bay, and Jimmy Fallon ride will open

The long term potential for both companies is fantastic.

And then Universal will open Fast n Furious (personally, don't have really high hopes but it's something new), Nintendo, another new Hotel, and an addition to Cabana Bay. Then there is the land where WnW currently is. Pretty sure that plot will be taken advantage of. And then there is that big old plot of land they bought near the Convention Center. I wonder what is going there? Hmmmmm Disney announced Pandora 5 years ago. I find it frightening just how much Universal could accomplish in 5 years.

Fireworks are fireworks. And thanks for not adding Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam to that list. You would have lost my respect at that point.:happy:
 

Sir_Cliff

Well-Known Member
I wonder if Disney is at all nervous about worsening relations between China and the US in the coming years? It seems to me that their deal with the Chinese government will leave them very exposed if some kind of trade war breaks out. If relations rapidly deteriorate, that big chunk of Americana sitting near Shanghai might be tempting to either expropriate outright or use as leverage.
 

tribbleorlfl

Well-Known Member
If you mentioned that Thanksgiving weekend Universal is giving 40,000 free movie tickets to an advance full film screening of Sing across the country to take away from Moana, then I can see people complaining more so about that.
They're not doing this to necessarily draw attention away from Moana's debut, they're doing this because the promotional campaign during the Olympics was a disaster and it's currently tracking quite poorly (boxoffice.com is projecting an opening weekend at about a third of Moana's projected and only a fifth of Secret Life's actual). They're trying to gin up exposure and word of mouth for its Christmas release, and frankly, will have no impact on Moana's opening weekend (since the screenings are only at AMC and all start at 10 am).
 

wdisney9000

Truindenashendubapreser
Premium Member
At the highest level, Disney opened a new area in "Norway" & refreshed the ride, Upgraded to digital projection, added a theatre and added a new film to Soarin', opened a new track to TSMM, Added star wars nighttime show, added new MK stage show, doubled the size of Disney Springs.
I think its great that Disney is finally doing things, but they are just playing catch up. I can not award them any points for doing things that are extremely overdue. There would be no need for a third theater at Soarin or track at TSMM if attraction capacity had been properly maintained. If I do not mow my lawn all summer and then finally do it in November after it has looked horrible for 4 months, I should not be considered for "yard of the month" just because I finally did what was long overdue. Especially if my neighbors have kept their yard looking great and actually added plants, flowers and landscaping.

Even more sad is that with all the work they have done, attraction capacity is still the same at Epcot and HS and it does not seem that it will change anytime soon. For Epcot, they are considering another refurb possibly (GoTG at UoE). So they will spend a ton of money, take probly 2 years and they will still have the same amount of attractions, just with longer lines. And for HS,it will be around 2020 when Star Wars land opens.
 
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Katie G

Well-Known Member
And then Universal will open Fast n Furious (personally, don't have really high hopes but it's something new), Nintendo, another new Hotel, and an addition to Cabana Bay. Then there is the land where WnW currently is. Pretty sure that plot will be taken advantage of. And then there is that big old plot of land they bought near the Convention Center. I wonder what is going there? Hmmmmm Disney announced Pandora 5 years ago. I find it frightening just how much Universal could accomplish in 5 years.

Fireworks are fireworks. And thanks for not adding Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam to that list. You would have lost my respect at that point.:happy:

I only mentioned this year and next. Disney has plans for future years with Star Wars and Toy Story.

Hotel resorts don't play into the value perception of theme park pricing though, so adding in new resorts isn't a fair comparison.
 

Katie G

Well-Known Member
I think its great that Disney is finally doing things, but they are just playing catch up. I can not award them any points for doing things that are extremely overdue. There would be no need for a third theater at Soarin or track at TSMM if attraction capacity had been properly maintained. If I do not mow my lawn all summer and then finally do it in November after it has looked horrible for 4 months, I should not be considered for "yard of the month" just because I finally did what was long overdue. Especially if my neighbors have kept their yard looking great and actually added plants, flowers and landscaping.

Even more sad is that with all the work they have done, attraction capacity is still the same at Epcot and HS and it does not seem that it will change anytime soon. For Epcot, they are considering another refurb possibly (GoTG at UoE). So they will spend a ton of money, take probly 2 years and they will still have the same amount of attractions, just with longer lines. And for HS,it will be around 2020 when Star Wars land opens.

I wasn't saying that one park was better or worth more, just that both parks are building and looking short term (this year and next) it was largely comparable. Each park went though a period of stagnation. IOA got nothing new or major investment prior to Harry Potter, and since then, really only Kong and refreshes of rides that were already there. UO has its own set of outdated rides that I skip everytime. The same applies to Disney in that there are plenty of outdated things that I usually skip over.

Double standards in general are a pet peeve, so when someone says its okay for UO to gloss over a decent price increase but outrage at Disney for any price increase there, I just felt the need to point out that both should be considered on equal footings.
 

Brer Oswald

Well-Known Member
And then Universal will open Fast n Furious (personally, don't have really high hopes but it's something new), Nintendo, another new Hotel, and an addition to Cabana Bay. Then there is the land where WnW currently is. Pretty sure that plot will be taken advantage of. And then there is that big old plot of land they bought near the Convention Center. I wonder what is going there? Hmmmmm Disney announced Pandora 5 years ago. I find it frightening just how much Universal could accomplish in 5 years.

Fireworks are fireworks. And thanks for not adding Jingle Bell, Jingle Bam to that list. You would have lost my respect at that point.:happy:
Universal pretty much has me at Nintendo......and I'm a die hard Disney fanatic!
 

wdisney9000

Truindenashendubapreser
Premium Member
I wasn't saying that one park was better or worth more, just that both parks are building and looking short term (this year and next) it was largely comparable. Each park went though a period of stagnation. IOA got nothing new or major investment prior to Harry Potter, and since then, really only Kong and refreshes of rides that were already there. UO has its own set of outdated rides that I skip everytime. The same applies to Disney in that there are plenty of outdated things that I usually skip over.

Double standards in general are a pet peeve, so when someone says its okay for UO to gloss over a decent price increase but outrage at Disney for any price increase there, I just felt the need to point out that both should be considered on equal footings.
I think the perceived "outrage" at Disneys price increases are that everything has risen dramatically in price over the years from resort rooms and park tickets to food, beverage and parking. The issue I see is that Disney seems to want to continue to make it overly complicated. The insane rack rate room prices that they discount 5 different ways with random promotions, the AP now has like 10 levels of variation, MM+ hasnt exactly done much but eliminate the need for rope drop, but now you have to book that FP+ at midnight, 60 days out and coordinate it with your DDP and plan a large majority of your trip ahead of time.

I remember the days when you could just go to WDW, buy your park tickets and have a fun day in the parks. All the planning and online FP+ reservations were born to pacify attraction capacity issues that THEY IGNORED for years And Instead of fixing the problem, they just went with a musical chairs approach and the problem still exists after they spent over a billion dollars and counting. Has UO increased prices, yes. But booking a trip to UO is very easy. The resort prices are fair and you dont have to decide which promotion best fits your needs and hope that they are offering said promotion when you have vacation time. You pay extra to stay in the deluxe resorts, you get Express Pass. Its simple. There is no shell game.
 

Bocabear

Well-Known Member
I really agree, it was not that long ago...maybe 8 years ago we used to just drive up on a Friday night, do all the parks in one day, see everything, have an amazing quick weekend trip, and there were no crazy reservations for rides, Restaurants were not that difficult to get into... and we literally ran the 4 park gauntlet and got on everything in one day...with this current system in place I can never sem to get on more than a cfew rides on any given day, and everything, even the attractions that never had a line, is at capacity... Are there that many more people coming to WDW? if so, Disney Company should be making a mint... or is all of this the result of the Fastpass Plus system?
 

Katie G

Well-Known Member
I think the perceived "outrage" at Disneys price increases are that everything has risen dramatically in price over the years from resort rooms and park tickets to food, beverage and parking. The issue I see is that Disney seems to want to continue to make it overly complicated. The insane rack rate room prices that they discount 5 different ways with random promotions, the AP now has like 10 levels of variation, MM+ hasnt exactly done much but eliminate the need for rope drop, but now you have to book that FP+ at midnight, 60 days out and coordinate it with your DDP and plan a large majority of your trip ahead of time.

I remember the days when you could just go to WDW, buy your park tickets and have a fun day in the parks. All the planning and online FP+ reservations were born to pacify attraction capacity issues that THEY IGNORED for years And Instead of fixing the problem, they just went with a musical chairs approach and the problem still exists after they spent over a billion dollars and counting. Has UO increased prices, yes. But booking a trip to UO is very easy. The resort prices are fair and you dont have to decide which promotion best fits your needs and hope that they are offering said promotion when you have vacation time. You pay extra to stay in the deluxe resorts, you get Express Pass. Its simple. There is no shell game.

I totally agree with what you are saying. Personally, I won't pay to stay onsite, and I try to spend a little money as possible on food (except F&W b/c the French booth is fantastic ;)) The same could be said for me when I visit Universal. But that is my willingness to pay for different items, Food and resorts isn't something I want to pay a ton for.

I am a local, and rarely find that I have to pre-plan anything in order to enjoy the parks. Most times I am planning a FP or two depending on which park I plan on visiting and I'm doing it a couple days in advance, sometimes day of. I don't visit during the busiest days because I don't like the crowds, and I'll enjoy the parks, walking around until I find a ride I want to go on that has a reasonable wait. I can't do everything in one day, but I'm not the commando visitor that needs to. (I did once take my niece and nephew to MK and spent nearly 10 hours straight there and we did 16 rides, fireworks, parade and plenty of food. Exhausting and won't do it again)

Those days when you could drive up and do everything in a day were the days that WDW struggled to fill the parks. That is where all the crazy promotions come from, trying to appeal to the wide variety of visitors and their level of willingness to spend money. Its economics at its finest. If they went back to blanket promotions, many people would believe that Disney wasn't offering them something they wanted.
 

ford91exploder

Resident Curmudgeon
The stuff Spirit fanboi jokes are made of...

Wait...so was that the reason for that inane travesty?

My, the Poly has been ruined. The view blocked by those hideous bungalows, a vintage Tiki interior ripped out for something you can see everywhere, expansions build up all the way to the TTC, the white sandy beaches permanently closed off, a prison-fenced Coco Key Resort swimming pool. What a shame.

Let's face it the Poly was always about the lobby of the GCH, the gardens and the pool(s), The rooms were never all that great but you spent your time in the public spaces in the Poly, Now all of that has been destroyed and you basically have a Hampton Inn with Monorail Access.
 

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
I wasn't saying that one park was better or worth more, just that both parks are building and looking short term (this year and next) it was largely comparable. Each park went though a period of stagnation. IOA got nothing new or major investment prior to Harry Potter, and since then, really only Kong and refreshes of rides that were already there. UO has its own set of outdated rides that I skip everytime. The same applies to Disney in that there are plenty of outdated things that I usually skip over.

Double standards in general are a pet peeve, so when someone says its okay for UO to gloss over a decent price increase but outrage at Disney for any price increase there, I just felt the need to point out that both should be considered on equal footings.
Universal is opening headliner E Tickets. 1/3 of DHS is closed.

It is not a double standard. I really can't make you see the difference.

When was the last new E Ticket opened at WDW? 2006!
 
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roodlesnouter

Active Member
Put me on the pixie dust list then b/c it appears Disney is also heavily investing in their parks. I would say for this year and next, there is about equal levels of new stuff.

At the highest level, Disney opened a new area in "Norway" & refreshed the ride, Upgraded to digital projection, added a theatre and added a new film to Soarin', opened a new track to TSMM, Added star wars nighttime show, added new MK stage show, doubled the size of Disney Springs.
Universal added Kong, refreshed Hulk, changed up some restaurants at Citywalk

Disney will open Pandora next year, and crossing fingers for Rivers of Light. Typhoon Lagoon will get a new ride
Universal will close Wet n Wild and open Volcano Bay, and Jimmy Fallon ride will open

The long term potential for both companies is fantastic.

Bravo Disney, about time. Too little, too late I;m afraid.

Disney spent far too long resting on their laurels and hanging onto the security they thought they had in nostalgia and a loyal fan base.
While up the road Uni have been steadily, well not that steadily, improving their offer with new attraction after new attraction, Disney finally woke up and smelt the coffee and they now see Uni as the real threat that they are, I still believe Avatar was a panicked knee jerk reaction to potter.

Yes they are building now but the damage was done years ago, Uni have stolen a lead and they have land, money and momentum behind them now. Meanwhile I have just planned another trip using my DVC points I have tickets for Uni, BGT and SW not one foot will I take inside a Disney gate, 4th time I have done this in recent years.

Disney were too arrogant for too long.
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
IOA got nothing new or major investment prior to Harry Potter..
Blame GE and/or Blackstone. When Comcast came in they rushed into starting to update the parks.

Meanwhile how long has Epcot stagnated?

The perceived perception is Uni are rushing through one project after another. WDW is not.

Just saying. This is why perhaps you got the answers you did.
 

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