Interestingly, Disneyland bookings are up. Disneyland Paris bookings are up. Universal Orlando bookings are up.
Walt Disney World bookings aren’t.
But here's the thing about Universal Orlando - bookings may be up but it doesn't feel like an overcrowded mess (except for Diagon Alley - like it or not, that was an intentional design choice).
We went the Saturday
after new year so, yes, I concede we avoided
holiday crowds.
We showed up a little after noon and managed to do 9 attractions (with a park hop in there), a character meet and greet with Crusty & Sideshow Bob, and fast-service Dinner, all with the two parks closing at 9.
No Express Pass, btw.
To be fair, not everything was a larger attraction. We did the Woody Woodpecker ride one last time since we knew that area was closing but at the other end of the spectrum, we also fit Forbidden Journey and Hagrid's into all of that.
And we farted around in Diagon Alley (son wanted Gringots but we decided the line was too long), took a final walk-through of the Curious George and Fievel areas he's too old for now and spent at least 15 minutes as my son, still afraid of bigger coasters, contemplated Rip-Rocket-Ride*, we watched the sorting hat projection thing on the Hogwarts castle and so on.
Again, parks were open for less than nine hours while we were there. We showed up without a plan around the busiest time of day and meandered a lot. We walked briskly to get to one of the shows and between parks when we went out the front of studios and back in at IOA but that was the only time we did anything with particular purpose.
It wasn't a commando day, even remotely and by experienced WDW planning and touring standards, we did almost every dumb thing you shouldn't when trying to maximize your time
except saving Hagrid's for last.
... This
used to be possible at Disney, too.
I don't expect it to ever be
THIS easy again at WDW but the difference is just so startling and apparently, Universal isn't going out of business running things this way
(you're saying it's busier than it's historically been and we all know they're investing like crazy) so seriously, what the hell Disney?
To all those seasoned WDW fans who think people deserve what they get when they show up to the Magic Kingdom without a spreadsheet, this is what the rest of the world is like. This is why people are caught off-guard when they don't understand that a trip to Disney requires devotion and commitment and most of all,
a plan.
I'm sure even with bookings down, G+ and ILL are up right along with waits for everything.
Would have been interesting if, beyond photo ops at WDW on Bob's recent visit, he and Josh had been spotted in trench coats and fake mustaches wandering around Universal Orlando.
Just half an hour each in those two parks to see how things like atmosphere, crowding and wait times compares at their biggest local competition as a normal guest would have been an eye-opening exercise, I'm sure.
*Still a reluctant pass
