Comparing Disney's Hotels to UNI's latest

[flynnibus]

Insidethemagic reported on details for the up and coming hotel for Universal..

It's interesting to see how the property compares to Disney's offerings.

They report the hotel will have..

The hotel will feature two zero-entry swimming pools, including a dive tower water feature, waterslide, sand beach, and lazy river. The hotel will also have a 10-lane bowling alley, fitness center, game room, and gift shop.
The price for a night’s stay on March 31, 2014 is currently $244.00 per night for a standard room and $254.00 per night for a poolside view, plus tax and fees. Standard rooms in the Tower will start at $164.00 per night in July 2014, but will ultimately drop as low as $119 per night.

Room description..

The North Courtyard will be inspired by the sweeping motor courts of the 1950s and 60s, featuring 600 family suites across four-story buildings with open corridors. Each of the 600, 430-square-foot suites will sleep up to six and include a fold-out foam bed, kitchenette, a sliding partition for privacy, two flat-screen TVs, and an extra-large bathroom with preparation spaces for three people at once.

The South Courtyard theme will be different, that of a tropical resort design with seven-story towers around a zero-entry pool that’s more than 8,000 square feet with a lazy-river and sand beach. In addition to 300 suites, the towers will feature 900 guest rooms that are each 300-square-feet and that sleep four and include two queen beds and mini-fridge.
Rates begin at $119 per night for guest rooms and $174 per night for Family Suites (guests who stay longer will save more, with discounts up to 25 percent off per night. Package rates are available with savings based on length-of-stay; a family of four can stay for seven nights for $47 per person, per-day – including accommodations and tickets to both Universal Orlando theme parks

The family suites puts it right in competition with Art of Animation.. but being notably cheaper and with more onsite perks. The rooms are smaller as they are a more traditional Hotel 'suite' format.. vs multple rooms like AoA.

As expected.. no mention of inclusion of Express pass for booking at the hotel. So what do you all think? Does this property put new pressure on Disney's hotel positioning?

 

[ISTCrew20]

I think it will have a much bigger impact than I thought it would originally - a family of 4 can stay onsite at UOR for 7 days (including admission) for $47 a person a night. That's going to hurt Disney big time.

Also, Express Pass isn't included, but it looks like they will be offering 1 hour early admission to Wizarding World.

 

[devoy1701]

does anyone have artwork? where is this one going? I already love Loew's Royal Pacific resort for what it is at it's price point.

 

[flynnibus]

I wonder how many people will shift their model from staying at Disney and visiting UNI.. to staying at UNI and visiting Disney.

Suprised UNI hasn't advertised bundled transportation.. that is probably Disney's biggest 'asset'. Even if it's just a bundled offer, instead of free.. UNI could do heavy damage if guests weren't worried about transportation.

 

[flynnibus]

does anyone have artwork? where is this one going? I already love Loew's Royal Pacific resort for what it is at it's price point.

Both here - https://www.universalorlando.com/Hotels/Cabana-Bay-Beach-Resort.aspx
and here - http://www./2013/02/cabana-bay-beac...or-first-wing-of-new-universal-orlando-hotel/

 

[Genie of the Lamp]

This property in my mind does put new pressure on Disney's Hotel/resort positioning. Let's use an example of a family of 6 going on a cruise ship for 2 weeks and decide to leave 2-3 days earlier and attend one of O-Town Parks. Now let's say that family is a local O-Town family, most likely they will decide on staying in the new UNI hotel be it for cheaper rates and with more amentities being offered here. Now if that family let's say was from PA, then they most likely would decide on staying at a place like AOA be it that it is in Disney property and feel they can get the most/more vacation's worth (financially) if they stay on Disney property and visit their parks. So in essence, Uni will have the advantage for locals, out of towners still will lean towards WDW. Uni gains locals, no gains in out of towners while Disney gains out of towners but loses locals. BTW, is this the Cabana resort planned for their or is it something else/different? None the less, Disney should be offering more incentives/on site perks (cause Incentives matter and can change consumer behavior) and that's what they'll try to accomplish with MM+/Fastpass+/NGE whether or an advocate of it or not.

 

[Genie of the Lamp]

I wonder how many people will shift their model from staying at Disney and visiting UNI.. to staying at UNI and visiting Disney.

Suprised UNI hasn't advertised bundled transportation.. that is probably Disney's biggest 'asset'. Even if it's just a bundled offer, instead of free.. UNI could do heavy damage if guests weren't worried about transportation.

Yeah should be interesting to see the numbers on the spreadsheet/paper. It would be cool if they did like a Hogwarts express transportation system (be it a bus/monorail/train). That would be fun to ride on and would be similar to what they are going to do with it in the HP 2.O expansion. Yeah one of the problems when me and my family visited UNI in 06 (be it that it was our first time going there) was the fact that we had no idea on what do to with transportation since we had no rental car and we were staying at the Swan Hotel. Luckily, we talked to the concierge representative their and was able to get us a taxi cab to get us roundtrip from their to UNI for $105 total (no tax included). But yeah if they can figure out and implement an effective transportation system, look out.

 

[flynnibus]

that's it! all along the hogworts express should have done between the airport and the resort.. not between parks! That would be insane

 

[Scuttle]

They will be building an overpass that will lead to IOA along with bus transportation.

 

[George]

that's it! all along the hogworts express should have done between the airport and the resort.. not between parks! That would be insane

Would force Disney to build the MCO to TTC monorail.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I wonder how many people will shift their model from staying at Disney and visiting UNI.. to staying at UNI and visiting Disney.

*raises hand*

Though Disney offers ME (which saves on airport transfers), the lower price point of these hotels would help to offset that cost, plus it would still get me the early entry and ease of access to UNI offerings.

 

[George]

I've got to admit, the 10 lane bowling alley is a nice perk.

 

[flynnibus]

I still can't get out of my head how freaking cool it would be to have the hogwarts go between MCO and UNI.

It's a pipe dream in so many ways.. but talk about a closer! Build a station building adjacent to the airport.. use the same 'fake' interior concept in another type of outer vehicle... have guest's luggage taken directly to their hotel.. and arrive in some station. They couldn't keep up if they had such a attraction experience for just GETTING to the resort.

 

[djlaosc]

I believe that I am correct in saying that you can pool hop at the current three Universal hotels?

I wonder whether that will carry over to Cabana Bay, and what seems like a mini-waterpark? Or whether it will be like Stormalong Bay (Am I correct in thinking that DVC members can pool hop in DVC resorts apart from Stormalong Bay and AKL?)

 

[GLaDOS]

The recreation for the hotel has moved it from "Just one of Universal's many projects" to a legitimately exciting thing in my book. The bowling alley and lazy river are both spectacular additions, and at its lower price point I'll definitely be staying there in the future.

 

[bhg469]

What a great addition! Disney has really slipped for a long time when its has come to affordable resorts. This offers a lot more for less money. Also they don't seem to segregate the expensive resort guests from the cheaper resorts and I like that. Art of animation is a good idea but they're selling fiberglass statutes and paint. IMO there are far too many vacation club resorts and not enough moderates.

 

[Jimmy Thick]

If Universal takes away the front of line perk they have at their other hotels, this hotel will seem second class. If you have plans to go to Universal and if you don't stay at one of their hotels then your a fool because the front of the line perk is the best perk in the theme park world. Taking that away for a bowling alley and lazy river is rather absurd.

Keeping the front of the line perk at the K-Mart resort, and then you got something.


Jimmy Thick- The K-Mart resort, I kinda like that...

 

[djlaosc]

It's going to be interesting to see how Disney responds to this...

...if they get rid of free dining and Extra Magic Hours, I can see a lot of people jumping ship to Cabana Bay...

The only negatives that I can see are...

• If you stay on-site at Universal, you pay $17 per night to park the car, and you would spend $15 per day to park at Disney (if staying onsite at Disney, it's is free/included, and you would pay $15 per day to park at Universal - and it would be more likely that you would spend more time at WDW [4 parks] than Universal [2 parks]) - however, you would know this in advance, and you would be able to due the sums in advance and be able to roughly compare "WDW stay + Universal parking" to "Universal stay + WDW parking", and see which would work out best.
• The lack of FOTLP - but, as I have said since this was announced, you could stay at Cabana Bay for 14 nights, and double-book yourself for a night at one of the other Universal Hotels (or do a split stay to cut costs, but possibly add more complications) to get the FOTLP - spend those two days focused on the Universal parks, and get as much done/seen as you can, and then with the remaining days at Cabana Bay, you would be focused on WDW/SeaWorld, and then you could just go into the Universal parks at any time - ride a ride or two, watch a show... - you've already done everything on your Universal focused days
• The bowling only has 10 lanes - 1800 rooms v 10 lanes - hopefully everyone doesn't want to bowl at the same time!

 

[Scuttle]

I'm hearing the bowling lanes will work like WDW's ADR system for signature spots. Credit card advance payment for a certain amount for a 1 hour block.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Frankly, I totally dig that hotel's theme even without the bowling and water park. Wish Disney would use such great theming for it's value hotels. That period furniture looks splendid!

I'll definitely keep this hotel in mind for a future trip.