MrPromey
Well-Known Member
The purchase of the Universal theme parks (for the intent of being folded into WDW) as far as I see, would make little strategic sense… A big part of the Florida plan was to have a sprawling campus with buffers between it and the rest of the (sure to be built up) Orlando area. Universal Studios is right in the middle of this Orlando area and in route to the Universal parks, Disney guests would have to pass another theme park (Sea World) and a slew of gift shops, (many advertising *discount* Disney merchandise) outlet stores, small attractions and restaurants that are in direct competition with Disney for tourist dollars..
I suppose they could operate them independently of WDW in order to appeal to a demographic that WDW has difficulty going after with a less family friendly environment and events (such as HHN) – sort of like the Mirimax of Disney theme parks but it still seems rather counter productive (i.e. counter profit) since they would have to continue to market the whole thing against WDW.
Really, the only benefit I could see for Disney would be in purchasing the parks with the intent of closing them and selling off or doing a re-theme of some of the bigger attractions for use within WDW parks. They could then perhaps sell off the land that the two parks currently occupy in smaller chunks so that a it would not be possible for anyone else to put a new park I this already highly developed area. This is something they probably couldn’t do for quite some time without considerable expense and perhaps a few lawsuits because of contracts that I imagine are in place for the outside companies who have invested in City Walk and the Hotels. I don’t know that this would really be worth the trouble for Disney.
I think that a gut reaction would be that the purchase of the Universal parks by Disney for some kind of use would seem like a no-brainer but the logistics of the whole thing are mighty complicated.
I suppose they could operate them independently of WDW in order to appeal to a demographic that WDW has difficulty going after with a less family friendly environment and events (such as HHN) – sort of like the Mirimax of Disney theme parks but it still seems rather counter productive (i.e. counter profit) since they would have to continue to market the whole thing against WDW.
Really, the only benefit I could see for Disney would be in purchasing the parks with the intent of closing them and selling off or doing a re-theme of some of the bigger attractions for use within WDW parks. They could then perhaps sell off the land that the two parks currently occupy in smaller chunks so that a it would not be possible for anyone else to put a new park I this already highly developed area. This is something they probably couldn’t do for quite some time without considerable expense and perhaps a few lawsuits because of contracts that I imagine are in place for the outside companies who have invested in City Walk and the Hotels. I don’t know that this would really be worth the trouble for Disney.
I think that a gut reaction would be that the purchase of the Universal parks by Disney for some kind of use would seem like a no-brainer but the logistics of the whole thing are mighty complicated.
