Comcast CEO: "Universal will compete aggressively with Disney"

[truecoat]

Cabana Bay isn't Uni's last hotel. They have stated they could use 15,000 rooms. That is a lot of hotel rooms to fill and if they are successful, it very well could make a dent. Especially if they build the rumored Hogwarts hotel.

 

[ScoutN]

Disney knows that guests will come, no matter how many E-ticket rides they do or don't add. Children grow up hearing about Disney. They hear their friends talk about going to Disney. .

Actually the boys in my fanily grow up with Harry potter. Transformers. Spider man. Jurassic park. The all bit families are Uni exclusive. They don't want any parts of "that girly place" they want the "totally awesome" stuff. The families in mine with boys and girls do half and half. Heck the girls are in love with potter land.

 

[71jason]

When WWOHP opened in 2010, what concerned Disney was a 400K drop in occupied room nights, which translated into a $100M in annual lost revenue, nearly all of that representing lost profit. That decline continued in 2011. That's a huge chunk of WDW's net income.

Wow, never heard that number. And that was for (in most tourists' minds) a one-day attraction.

Assuming a worst case scenario, how do you think WDW competes? Extending benefits, like more FastPasses, to the deluxe resorts probably won't do a lot, I imagine those aren't the rooms being taken by Cabana Bay. Sadly, new park improvements wouldn't do much, either--guests will just drive from Universal to see Star Wars Land or what-have-you, like they already planned to do with MK. Do they shutter a resort again? Slash prices?

 

[PhotoDave219]

Over the last decade, Disney has seen theme park attendance gains in every year except 2010.

Corporate Disney's primary focus for the last few years has been getting guests to spend more during each visit, and they have been largely successful at this. All you have to do is compare the price of tickets and food from 3 years ago to see this.

Moving forward, their focus has shifted to getting their onsite rooms filled. In 2013, there was an uptick in the number of occupied rooms but, before that, the number had declined.

Bluntly, if you are not staying at one of their hotels, the folks sitting behind their desks at Disney don't care much if you come back or not.

Unless there is a mass exodus of theme park visitors like there was post-9/11, corporate Disney's attitude is not going to change until at least after Iger leaves in 2016.

Hey, The parks were FANTASTIC to visit in 2004 & 2005. It was a wonderful place.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Right, what Disney fears the most is losing hotel stays, not gate clicks.

After 4 days, Disney essentially gives away theme park admission ($10/day). That just kills Disney’s Per Capita Guest Spending (PCGS). The theme parks are expensive to operate. More theme park visitors equates to more expense.

With the twisted thinking that sometimes happens within executive hallways, guests spending one or two days at Universal actually might help. It's certainly nothing to worry about.

Hotel stays are another matter.

Above a certain occupancy rate, additional occupied rooms represent almost pure profit. At WDW’s rack rates, the numbers are huge.

When WWOHP opened in 2010, what concerned Disney was a 400K drop in occupied room nights, which translated into a $100M in annual lost revenue, nearly all of that representing lost profit. That decline continued in 2011. That's a huge chunk of WDW's net income.

Disney’s biggest fear is that with Universal targeting the value-conscious market beginning with Cabana Bay, WDW’s occupancy rates will erode.

Today, many vacationers use WDW hotels as bases of operation for their Universal visits. With Universal continuing to expand in its theme parks and opening a hotel for value-conscious vacationers, will guests flip? Will guests start to use Universal hotels as bases of operation for their WDW visits?

During WDW stays in 2010 and 2011, I commented to my DW that I had never seen so many Universal bags at WDW hotels.

In Disney’s nightmare scenario, these bags disappear as guests shift their hotels from WDW to Universal.

Most days, WDW has over 5000 empty rooms. Even with the addition of the 1800-room Cabana Bay, WDW has more empty rooms than Universal has total rooms.

MyMagic+ is corporate's play to fill those rooms. However, with Uni moving forward on both the theme park and hotel fronts, MyMagic+ no longer looks like the "can't miss" strategy it once was considered to be.

Youre usually spot on with stuff but I'm curious where the 400k drop in occupied rooms came from.

I'm not doubting it, just wondering where it comes from

 

[bhg469]

Wow, never heard that number. And that was for (in most tourists' minds) a one-day attraction.

Assuming a worst case scenario, how do you think WDW competes? Extending benefits, like more FastPasses, to the deluxe resorts probably won't do a lot, I imagine those aren't the rooms being taken by Cabana Bay. Sadly, new park improvements wouldn't do much, either--guests will just drive from Universal to see Star Wars Land or what-have-you, like they already planned to do with MK. Do they shutter a resort again? Slash prices?

When booking our trip I was questioning disney's strategy. I guess their occupancy still satisfies them but they can easily get their numbers up by discounting tickets for resort guests. We were in a situation where we could not justify the cost of a second day park hopper when we wanted 2 but 3 would have been wasted on us with our plans. If park tickets were a reasonable price for 3 days we would have spent it no problem. It seems like if you don't plan on spending your entire vacation with them, they don't want you there at all.

 

[WDWDad13]

Cabana Bay isn't Uni's last hotel. They have stated they could use 15,000 rooms. That is a lot of hotel rooms to fill and if they are successful, it very well could make a dent. Especially if they build the rumored Hogwarts hotel.

wow... if they build a harry potter themed hotel... then I have to say they are squeezing for every last drop out of ol' harry's teet

I know a lot of people like HP... but to me a hotel themed to that while they are already putting areas in BOTH theme parks for it already seems like overkill to me? I don't know

 

[wm49rs]

wow... if they build a harry potter themed hotel... then I have to say they are squeezing for every last drop out of ol' harry's teet

I know a lot of people like HP... but to me a hotel themed to that while they are already putting areas in BOTH theme parks for it already seems like overkill to me? I don't know

You mean like putting DVC villas adjacent to each of the monorail resorts?

 

[danlb_2000]

wow... if they build a harry potter themed hotel... then I have to say they are squeezing for every last drop out of ol' harry's teet

I know a lot of people like HP... but to me a hotel themed to that while they are already putting areas in BOTH theme parks for it already seems like overkill to me? I don't know

Art of Animation has Little Mermaid themed rooms and it is already represented in two of the WDW parks.

 

[WDWDad13]

You mean like putting DVC villas adjacent to each of the monorail resorts?

no... those are all completely different themed - nice try though

 

[ParentsOf4]

Youre usually spot on with stuff but I'm curious where the 400k drop in occupied rooms came from.

I'm not doubting it, just wondering where it comes from

See TWDC's 10K forms from 2009, 2010, and 2011.

Take available room nights times the occupancy rate. That gets the number of rooms occupied.

From the few years that TWDC split the numbers, it was obvious that WDW dominated the report when it came to hotels.

In recent years, the total includes both WDW and DLR but, as specified in the 10K, WDW has 24,000 rooms vs. DLR's 2400 rooms and an even bigger percentage of DVC rooms. When it comes to the hotels, the numbers really are about what's happening at WDW.

 

[wm49rs]

no... those are all completely different themed - nice try though

All differently themed to the resort they're adjacent to. And as your point was overkill, it more than fits the bill....

 

[WDWDad13]

Art of Animation has Little Mermaid themed rooms and it is already represented in two of the WDW parks.

Art of Animation is a resort - Little Mermaid is theming in 1 section of rooms - Little Mermaid is represented by 2 attractions (1 ride and 1 show) in 2 different parks

HP has themed LANDS in 2 theme parks consisting of multiple (well, sorta) attractions and with talk of a complete HP hotel... well... Uni probably should have just made 1 entire park HP if they are going down this path

 

[WDWDad13]

All differently themed to the resort they're adjacent to. And as your point was overkill, it more than fits the bill....

how are different DVC resorts overkill? Please do explain

here let me start you off - "because they are selling rooms to people who are guaranteed guests for years" - that's not true by the way so don't go down that road

 

[wm49rs]

how are different DVC resorts overkill? Please do explain

here let me start you off - "because they are selling rooms to people who are guaranteed guests for years" - that's not true by the way so don't go down that road

How is one HP-themed resort overkill?

I'll use my own words, thanks.

 

[Disneydreamer23]

I love disney and universal

 

[danlb_2000]

I love disney and universal

Get out.

 

[FrankLapidus]

Animal Kingdom has the Animal Kingdom Lodge adjacent to it. Is that overkill? Or are certain people trying to take pointless cheap shots at Universal again?

 

[WDWDad13]

How is one HP-themed resort overkill?

I'll use my own words, thanks.

because UNI would start to become identified/represented as the Harry Potter theme park - some would argue they are referred to that way now.

I don't blame them for building more... but to put it in their OTHER park I thought was interesting. (I know why though...and if Disney were to do that people would be bashing them about just wanting more $ from people) - seems though if they keep building HP "stuff" - maybe they should have made 1 of their theme parks solely themed to that instead...I don't know?

 

[wm49rs]

because UNI would start to become identified/represented as the Harry Potter theme park - some would argue they are referred to that way now.

I don't blame them for building more... but to put it in their OTHER park I thought was interesting. (I know why though...and if Disney were to do that people would be bashing them about just wanting more $ from people, etc. etc. haha) - seems though if they keep building HP "stuff" - maybe they should have made 1 of their theme parks solely themed to that instead...I don't know?

No more than WDW is being referred to as the Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse etc. one.....

And yes, you do know. It's one thing to find critiques, it's another to pick nits over a proposed hotel.