-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
NYT: "Universal....Takes Aim at Disney"
- Thread starter mgf
- Start date
flavious27
Well-Known Member
Well there are neighborhoods on two sides of their property, I-4 on another and a bunch of hotels and s kirkman on the last side.
They have the land south of IOA that can be and should have been used for the wwhp expansion.
Land is irrelevant in what the article and original posting mentions anyway.
Universal keeps the two parks that they have on the space that they have more updated and maintained as well as bringing new things in at rates more than WDW does with its massive land and four parks to do it as far as the theme parks are concerned.
Another place that does this is Disneyland.
I am such a purist and I dislike having to say goodbye to the classics but if it means getting rewarded with great new attractions, updated current ones at a fair pace I am all for the two park limited space method that works for Universal Orlando and Disneyland California.
Universal keeps the two parks that they have on the space that they have more updated and maintained as well as bringing new things in at rates more than WDW does with its massive land and four parks to do it as far as the theme parks are concerned.
Another place that does this is Disneyland.
I am such a purist and I dislike having to say goodbye to the classics but if it means getting rewarded with great new attractions, updated current ones at a fair pace I am all for the two park limited space method that works for Universal Orlando and Disneyland California.
Yup. All that looks great on the Masterplan.
MICKEYEARSFL
Member
honestly, I have not been overly impressed with Universal for a while i liked all the old attractions like Jaws, ET, Back to the Future they were great but now they are gone! dont care much at all for Harry Pouter :hurl: 
. Universal does have Halloween horror nights that are actually pretty cool I enjoy going to that but Universal anymore has lost something. IMHO :wave:
. Universal does have Halloween horror nights that are actually pretty cool I enjoy going to that but Universal anymore has lost something. IMHO :wave:
Jimmy Thick
Well-Known Member
This article is just wishful thinking, Universal will never be considered a close competitior to Disney other than on the internet, this article is amusing, but not factual.
You can knock out both Universal parks in Florida in one day, and thats even during the busiest time of year. You cannot do that at Disney World. Universal is only a minor player with dreams of the big leagues, dreams which will be unrealized, as long as they have that small patch of land their parks sit on.
Jimmy Thick-Disney will always be king.
You can knock out both Universal parks in Florida in one day, and thats even during the busiest time of year. You cannot do that at Disney World. Universal is only a minor player with dreams of the big leagues, dreams which will be unrealized, as long as they have that small patch of land their parks sit on.
Jimmy Thick-Disney will always be king.
baymenxpac
Well-Known Member
good one.
Pumbas Nakasak
Heading for the great escape.
Well you are the self proclaimed expert on knocking one out.
bubbles1812
Well-Known Member
I'd tend to disagree with you Jimmy....will WDW always get more visitors? Yes. They have 4 parks and a whole lot extra and a lot more capacity to take visitors. That being said, I could see Universal very much becoming a close competitor for especially the teenage/adult group (It already is to a degree but if universal keeps on the path they are it will be even more so). The last time I was at Disney with my whole family (parents and two younger brothers who were 11 and 9 at the time), my brothers were already started to "outgrow" Disney. Yes they still enjoyed things but they enjoyed the three days out of ten we took Universal/IoA more. The rides were faster and innovative. *Just a note, I have been back to Disney since then but not with my whole family...neither of my brothers have really had a desire to return since then to Disney though they have been interested in doing Sea World/Universal/Discovery Cove*
I love Disney to the nth degree but given the chance, I'd be willing to take a day or two out of a vacation that used to be all Disney to go to Universal. (The Hardrock Hotel is really a very fun place as well as CityWalk. I also love me some Potter and the other rides are very cool though they don't have quite the same allure/nostalgia as Disney's rides). I think in the next few years Disney is going to really have to start working to get the older crowds, especially once Potter 2.0 opens. They've honestly really "kiddified" the parks even more than they were already by the closing of Pleasure Island and some of the more adult oriented stuff at the World. I assume Avatar Land (should it get built) is their beginning play to try to entice back some of that older audience. While families with small children will always make up the majority of Disney's visitors I highly doubt they want to officially become known as an only 10 and under place.
Disney could stand to add a few more rides that are 40/44 inches and above IMO. Everest was a great addition. I'd love to see them add more rollercoasters (like actually roller coasters....the dwarf mine cart ride looks cool but it's pretty clear that it's not an intense roller coaster like Everest). They have enough spinning rides and dark rides at the moment. I hope the next few years are really exciting as Disney starts to take notice of what Universal is doing. And with that I join most of the other posters on this thread and say Onward Universal!
I love Disney to the nth degree but given the chance, I'd be willing to take a day or two out of a vacation that used to be all Disney to go to Universal. (The Hardrock Hotel is really a very fun place as well as CityWalk. I also love me some Potter and the other rides are very cool though they don't have quite the same allure/nostalgia as Disney's rides). I think in the next few years Disney is going to really have to start working to get the older crowds, especially once Potter 2.0 opens. They've honestly really "kiddified" the parks even more than they were already by the closing of Pleasure Island and some of the more adult oriented stuff at the World. I assume Avatar Land (should it get built) is their beginning play to try to entice back some of that older audience. While families with small children will always make up the majority of Disney's visitors I highly doubt they want to officially become known as an only 10 and under place.
Disney could stand to add a few more rides that are 40/44 inches and above IMO. Everest was a great addition. I'd love to see them add more rollercoasters (like actually roller coasters....the dwarf mine cart ride looks cool but it's pretty clear that it's not an intense roller coaster like Everest). They have enough spinning rides and dark rides at the moment. I hope the next few years are really exciting as Disney starts to take notice of what Universal is doing. And with that I join most of the other posters on this thread and say Onward Universal!
The mindless Uni-bashing amongst Disney fanboys really annoys me, and I think the people who do it are doing themselves a disservice by missing out. Honestly, as someone who enjoys both Disney and Uni and does them both on every trip, it's become clear that over the past few years, for every one step Disney takes forward, Universal takes three. They're on top of new technology, when a ride gets too outdated it is either refurbed or replaced, and some of their stuff is just better than its Disney counterpart, period.
The only reason Disney can continue to get away with this is because of Uni's land problem, and also maybe because they're afraid to refurb/close down attractions for any extended period of time. I'll be honest, I used to be a bigger Disney fan than I am now, and while Disney World is still my favorite place in the world, it's sad to see them spending hundreds of millions of dollars building Fantasyland and Avatarland when we've got extremely outdated attractions like Universe of Energy and horrible attractions like Stitch dotting the landscape of the parks, with no attention from TDO. Maybe Uni's land restrictions are a good thing, it encourages to really treasure what they have and keep their stuff up to date and maintained.
The only reason Disney can continue to get away with this is because of Uni's land problem, and also maybe because they're afraid to refurb/close down attractions for any extended period of time. I'll be honest, I used to be a bigger Disney fan than I am now, and while Disney World is still my favorite place in the world, it's sad to see them spending hundreds of millions of dollars building Fantasyland and Avatarland when we've got extremely outdated attractions like Universe of Energy and horrible attractions like Stitch dotting the landscape of the parks, with no attention from TDO. Maybe Uni's land restrictions are a good thing, it encourages to really treasure what they have and keep their stuff up to date and maintained.
bubbles1812
Well-Known Member
Very much agree with everything you just said. I think it just bothers people that Universal has actually started to make gains since Comcast took them over. But I find both Disney and Uni very fun. It's silly the way people bash the non Disney parks.
Regarding Uni, paying that ridiculous amount of money for the Harry Potter rights was just about the smartest thing they ever did based on the dividends already being returned to them. Disney dropped the ball there. I know they do have some land where they could potentially develop new things on and I could see them adding more Avengers type stuff soon. No freaking way Uni gives up those rights for the characters/rides based on them to Disney any time soon. Their value just probably tripled at least given the movie's success. And depending on how well Potter 2.0 does in bringing in more guests (I'm going to guess very very well), I could see them eventually attempting to buy out some of the businesses/residents who live around the parks to get more land...it would be very expensive obviously but Uni is making money again and will for the forseeable future.
I am actually excited for New Fantasy Land and yes, it seems I'm in the minority but I think even Avatarland could be great if done right. (The movie wasn't the best in the world but what I saw on screen has potential to generate some really cool rides). But there are definitely areas of the parks they could convert to something new and no one would miss them unlike say people missing the Snow White ride when it is gone. I think Disney is taking a good step forward with Avatar in the regard that they are at least thinking about building rides and attractions not geared specifically towards little kids. But I think the way Uni is pushing the envelope, Disney is going to have to eventually do a whole lot more to keep some of the older families...like I said, where I used to be willing to spend all my time at Disney, I will now block off days for Universal as well. Rather than a week, I give Disney 5 days and Universal 2. I've seen that with many other people. That's two days that Disney doesn't get my dollars and if enough people start doing that, eventually the TDO are going to have to address it. Eventually you can't cut anymore and you have to spend money to make money.