Comcast CEO: "Universal will compete aggressively with Disney"

[tirian]

And why not? It's been a licence to print money.

Money that's being heavily reinvested into the parks.

And if and when the fuss dies down a bit the parks will still have two world beating, fantastically executed full on E tickets situated in totally immersive lands with great supplementary attractions.

And people in the loop are still saying that Uni has the LOTR rights. If that's true, the combination of Potter and LOTR will be impossible to ignore.

 

[Foolish Mortal]

No. Because Comcast is mostly owned by a family. The Comcast CEO is of that family.

Ralph (father) and Brian (son) Roberts

I think he meant NBCUni CEO Steve Burke. He just recently signed a fat new contract so I don't think that's a realistic possibility. However Disney does have Alan Horn and Kathleen Kennedy, so maybe all we need is willpower to kick Bob and ALL of his Strategic Planning cronies out and move those two up the ladder.

Disney would never ever give Burke the power that Comcast has !! Not only the power, but they couldn't come close to the financial compensation either.

 

[FrankLapidus]

Disney would never ever give Burke the power that Comcast has !! Not only the power, but they couldn't come close to the financial compensation either.

Its a shame Disney allowed Steve Burke to leave the company in the first place.

 

[ParentsOf4]

So a 20% increase (I believe that's what was stated in the article, it was something like 10-20%) in the park in which the Transformers attraction opened doesn't count as a major draw, and would have happened if nothing (or something with truly non-major draw) had opened? It is a major draw, it is heavily featured now alongside Potter in marketing materials.

The quote from NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke was:

"We have two parks in Orlando, but the park where we opened Transformers has been up 20% most weeks since that attraction opened."

 

[maxairmike]

The quote from NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke was:

"We have two parks in Orlando, but the park where we opened Transformers has been up 20% most weeks since that attraction opened."

That's what it was, I couldn't remember if that was a quarterly or more general statement, but it was actually more precise!

No, Transformers isn't a major draw at all...

 

[PhotoDave219]

The quote from NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke was:

"We have two parks in Orlando, but the park where we opened Transformers has been up 20% most weeks since that attraction opened."

The numbers should balance out once Diagon Alley opens and everyone buys two-park passes to see all of HP.

 

[Captain Neo]

How can Universal hope to compete with world class attractions like Buzz Lightyear's spaceranger spin, Toy Story Midway Mania, and a Space Mountain that hasn't seen a real refurbishment since 1994?? Not to mention state of the art technology on display in Expedition Everest and the ability to enter long term contract commitments with the Walt Disney Company by joining the DVC Program!

Sure that Mine train coaster through Gringotts getting chased by dragons and a new Jurassic Park ride may sound good but how fun can they possibly be? Are they really any more exciting than having not one but TWO dumbo spinners and Princess Fun Faire? No of course not!

 

[CJR]

Im not saying that universal doesn't use other big movie franchises. But things like despicable me and transformers aren't really draws. They have their place, but its not like them being there has anything to do with most people coming to universal. There are two reasons most people go to universal and thats the universal park brand or harry potter.

We got season passes last year to go on Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem. Yes, most people go for Harry Potter, but you are mistaken if you don't think Despicable Me is a draw. It drew us, Harry Potter was nothing more than an over-rated bonus, in my opinion.

 

[Andrew C]

How can Universal hope to compete with world class attractions like Buzz Lightyear's spaceranger spin, Toy Story Midway Mania, and a Space Mountain that hasn't seen a real refurbishment since 1994?? Not to mention state of the art technology on display in Expedition Everest and the ability to enter long term contract commitments with the Walt Disney Company by joining the DVC Program!

Sure that Mine train coaster through Gringotts getting chased by dragons and a new Jurassic Park ride may sound good but how fun can they possibly be? Are they really any more exciting than having not one but TWO dumbo spinners and Princess Fun Faire? No of course not!

Wow. If you hate WDW that much and have over 1,000 posts on a WDW forum, I bet you have over 3,000 posts on your Uni forum!

 

[Jimmy Thick]

Here's something to consider. Even at today's insane prices, Disney managed to fill 8.3M, yes that's million, room nights. Just to throw out a number, if you assume an average stay is 7 nights, that's 1.2M families who coughed up Disney's prices.

We've read on these threads plenty of posts from people ranting about how much they loved MyMagic+. That's what Disney is hoping for.

Disney is hoping they can find a couple of hundred thousand more families to switch from offsite and book their 7-night stays onsite instead. 200K more onsite families corresponds to 1.4M room nights. In 2013, Per Room Guest Spending (PRGS) was $267. $267 X 1.4M = $374M. That's just in one year at current PRGS (which can be expected to rise).

An occupied room at a hotel that's already running at over a 50% occupancy rate represents almost pure profit. Last year, Disney's domestic hotels ran at 79%.

Again, Disney only has to influence a few hundred thousand families. They don't need more visitors, only more visitors staying onsite and (per the original budget), MyMagic+ becomes a big financial success.

Wonder why no one has picked this apart?

Jimmy Thick- I do, but...

 

[Matt_Black]

Wonder why no one has picked this apart?

Jimmy Thick- I do, but...

Math has a pro-Disney bias.

 

[SirLink]

Im not saying that universal doesn't use other big movie franchises. But things like despicable me and transformers aren't really draws. They have their place, but its not like them being there has anything to do with most people coming to universal. There are two reasons most people go to universal and thats the universal park brand or harry potter.

Funny then how Transformers has upped attendance at around 20% per day. Please Minions are becoming as common as Mickey Ears in Orlando ... plus cooler too.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

 

[SirLink]

Exactly.

 

[Matt_Black]

Is it me, or do the Minions just seem like the Rabbids from the Rayman series with the numbers ears filed off?

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Nope just you.

 

[ParentsOf4]

Wonder why no one has picked this apart?

Jimmy Thick- I do, but...

Don't get too excited about MyMagic+. It is behind schedule and grossly over-budget which is wreaking havoc on profit projections.

At this point, the money's been spent. Disney needs to keep moving forward.

However, if Disney knew then what they know now, MyMagic+ never gets approved.

 

[biggy H]

Most people I know only stay at Universal resorts for the FOTL perks and then only usually for a couple of days as they have done everything at Universal. Some though about staying at the new one but when they found out that it would have the FOTL perk they decided against.

Anyway the CEO would have to say what he did and its more likely that they are really taking about opening parks and resort in other countries to help them expand. Most just think of Universal as just being in the US whereas just about everybody knows Disney has parks all over the world.

 

[SirLink]

Anyway the CEO would have to say what he did and its more likely that they are really taking about opening parks and resort in other countries to help them expand. Most just think of Universal as just being in the US whereas just about everybody knows Disney has parks all over the world.

No he didn't actually ... and also yes international expansion is going on ... but he isn't talking about that ... and nope most people don't think of Universal being just US ...

 

[Matt_Black]

No he didn't actually ... and also yes international expansion is going on ... but he isn't talking about that ... and nope most people don't think of Universal being just US ...

Wait, Universal has parks in other countries? News to me.