Only a "Fool" Would Believe the 5th Park is Near...

[PhotoDave219]

In my experience I would agree.

However, I have been told there is a place in the Orlando area called LaSpada's which is pretty good. They import Amoroso's rolls so it could be legit. I don't think it's right near WDW or Intl Drive though. Somewhere north of Orlando. Could be worth the drive.

Well these days I can just drive to the motherland....

 

[MyMartianRomance]

Its not a proper Cheese Steak unless its from Philly! That's like saying Taco Bell and Chipotle are proper Mexican food!

 

[GoofGoof]

Well these days I can just drive to the motherland....

I live in the suburbs of the motherland. They opened a Tony Luke's about 10 mins from my house. It's not good for the waist size

 

[GoofGoof]

Its not a proper Cheese Steak unless its from Philly! That's like saying Taco Bell and Chipotle are proper Mexican food!

Agreed, but I do like me some Chipotle if I'm going for fast food. Taco Bell lost me when they got rid of the dog.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Its not a proper Cheese Steak unless its from Philly! That's like saying Taco Bell and Chipotle are proper Mexican food!

 

[PhotoDave219]

I live in the suburbs of the motherland. They opened a Tony Luke's about 10 mins from my house. It's not good for the waist size

Have we derailed this thread enough yet.....?

Anyways, I like Tony Lukes although the last time i had that was at CBP. Damn I miss Chase Utley.

Tho I really love Jim's at Fourth & South Streets.

For Florida? Delco Steaks in Dunedin & Brighthouse Field isnt bad. (Also Chadds Ford)

 

[GoofGoof]

Have we derailed this thread enough yet.....?

Anyways, I like Tony Lukes although the last time i had that was at CBP. Damn I miss Chase Utley.

Tho I really love Jim's at Fourth & South Streets.

For Florida? Delco Steaks in Dunedin & Brighthouse Field isnt bad. (Also Chadds Ford)

I had about a dozen on topic posts in this thread with some good thought provoking theories and assumptions. Even got a few likes. Some of my best work. I'm good for an off topic tangent

To bring things back around they should really consider opening an authentic Philly Cheese Steak place in this 5th gate.

 

[GeneralKnowledge]

Have we derailed this thread enough yet.....?

Anyways, I like Tony Lukes although the last time i had that was at CBP. Damn I miss Chase Utley.

Tho I really love Jim's at Fourth & South Streets.

For Florida? Delco Steaks in Dunedin & Brighthouse Field isnt bad. (Also Chadds Ford)

Jims is great....I don't know why so many places struggle to make a good cheesesteak. It's quite literally one of the simplest (and cheapest) items in the culinary world. So many places try to use actual steak.....there's a place near me called A Taste of South Philly....their cheese steak has thick cut steak, peppers and a bunch of other crap.....you'd think if you're going to open a restaurant call A Taste of South Philly you migh go to south philly to scope it out first.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Jims is great....I don't know why so many places struggle to make a good cheesesteak. It's quite literally one of the simplest (and cheapest) items in the culinary world. So many places try to use actual steak.....there's a place near me called A Taste of South Philly....their cheese steak has thick cut steak, peppers and a bunch of other crap.....you'd think if you're going to open a restaurant call A Taste of South Philly you migh go to south philly to scope it out first.

Its all about marketing.... and yes, Jim's is very simple and done right. Ive been there early and gotten some very fresh cut steaks with lots of wiz....

 

[Pam Hates Penguins]

Its all about marketing.... and yes, Jim's is very simple and done right. Ive been there early and gotten some very fresh cut steaks with lots of wiz....

What does this have to do with the title?

 

[GoofGoof]

What does this have to do with the title?

Cheese Steaks are always on topic. It's in the forum bylaws.

Just be happy nobody brought up WaWa...also always on topic

 

[BrerJon]

Cheese Steaks are always on topic. It's in the forum bylaws.

Just be happy nobody brought up WaWa...also always on topic

So where's the best place to try a cheesesteak near WDW? I don't think I've ever had one.

 

[ProfSavage]

Came back to check this thread and had to skip to the end because the last 10 pages were the usual Uni vs Disney slapfight

To all the Uni Fanboys and Disney Pixie Snorters:

 

[Siren]

Because it worked out so well the last two times Disney rushed new parks to beat Universal to the punch. But hey, third time's the charm right?

It did work out well. This strategy has effectively kept Universal at bay in terms of attendance. If Universal announces a third gate -- Disney will have to quickly act to retain market share.

Yeah thats simply not going to happen. You do understand how popular and mainstream Star Wars is, right?

Star Wars is the only IP that can justify a fifth gate.

I agree that Nintendo would make a good land. I'm really curious to see what they do with it. It's not a good idea to make a whole Nintendo park but it could/should be a major component of a 3rd gate.

I totally agree. Nintendo should just be the anchor IP for the park.

 

[danlb_2000]

So where's the best place to try a cheesesteak near WDW? I don't think I've ever had one.

This is a good question. I have started a thread on the dinning board about it...

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/cheesestakes-at-wdw.914042/

 

[wdisney9000]

It did work out well. This strategy has effectively kept Universal at bay in terms of attendance. If Universal announces a third gate -- Disney will have to quickly act to retain market share.

What strategy? Hasnt Universals attendance risen in the last few years? More people (return visitors) shave off days at Disney to go to Universal or they just simply go to Universal and maybe visit Disney for a day or two.

 

[Mike S]

It did work out well. This strategy has effectively kept Universal at bay in terms of attendance. If Universal announces a third gate -- Disney will have to quickly act to retain market share.

My point was more about the fact that DHS and DAK were pretty underbuilt with not as much to do as MK or Epcot and hold that stigma to this day. At least we're finally getting things like Avatar and Star Wars but they still need more.

 

[GoofGoof]

What strategy? Hasnt Universals attendance risen in the last few years? More people (return visitors) shave off days at Disney to go to Universal or they just simply go to Universal and maybe visit Disney for a day or two.

Yes and no. If you look at the market share numbers since 2009 when Potter opened:

2009 2015
WDW 74.9. 70.0 -4.9
Universal 16.0 23.8. +7.8
Sea World. 9.1 6.2 -2.9

Disney's market share is definitely dropping along with Sea World while Universal is up. However, in terms of total attendance both Uni and WDW are up so it's not like less people are going to WDW in favor of Uni. Part of the reason is that Universal (Harry Potter) is attracting a lot of people that may not have visited Orlando at all. Since 2009 Orlando has seen a huge growth in tourism and not much has changed at WDW. Potter is a big driver of that growth. So while Disney is losing market share that doesn't necessarily mean that loss is all guests who are skipping WDW to go to Universal some of Universal's gains come from new customers.

Another factor to consider when looking at market share is number of gates. WDW has 4 gates so if I visit 7 parks on 1 trip I count as 7 unique visitors. In reality I'm not paying for 7 full price 1 day tickets. I'm paying much less with multi-day passes. Same goes for APs. If Universal has a large local fan base with relativel cheap season passes they count as "visits" every time they walk through the gate but they aren't paying full price. The hope is that those guests will spend money on food, merchandise and hotel rooms too. That's where huge profits can be made. A better metric would be market share of unique visitors but that will never be released publicly. In Disney's case they are content with a slightly smaller market share as long as it comes with a higher per guest spending number. In total they make more money. The million dollar question is when will people hit their breaking point on price? It can't go on forever.

My point is that growing market share is nice, but if you are doing it with discount tickets it may not necessarily be economically as big of a deal. When Universal opens a 3rd gate or Disney opens a 5th they will probably both see boosts in market share because of it.

 

[NelleBelle]

I will agree that Harry Potter has a huge pull for Universal. Our family is visiting WDW after our cruise in Oct and we are one of those families that will be shaving a couple days off our visit at WDW to visit Universal to check out Harry Potter. Also, for the first time since we had kids, we are staying off-property, something I swore I would never ever do again. But it's gotten too $$$ to stay on-property and after dropping a wad on the DCL (definitely worth it IMO, more so than staying at WDW), we just couldn't justify the ridiculous expense. It will certainly be something to look forward to as they will have Kong up and running + Harry Potter--all new stuff we've never seen before. Having been away from WDW for 6 years, we basically have DS and the 7DMT (and MDE to figure out) and a bunch of missing attractions.

 

[Siren]

What strategy? Hasnt Universals attendance risen in the last few years? More people (return visitors) shave off days at Disney to go to Universal or they just simply go to Universal and maybe visit Disney for a day or two.

That's exactly what we do. We *never* used to go to Universal before and now we have to visit there every time.

Disney's strategy of building parks quickly to offset Universal's growth potential has worked. There are plenty of people like me who can't justify staying at Universal but will visit for a day or two while on their Disney vacation.

Universal adding a third theme park will make more guests want to vacation there for their entire trip and not even bother with Disney.

Universal's attendance has sky rocketed with HP but they should have been able to beat DHS and DAK in attendance. I think Universal adding a third park will finally beat a Disney Park for the first time ever.

My point was more about the fact that DHS and DAK were pretty underbuilt with not as much to do as MK or Epcot and hold that stigma to this day. At least we're finally getting things like Avatar and Star Wars but they still need more.

I totally agree with you. DHS and DAK are under built. But, if Universal builds a third park then Disney will no other choice than to enact the *same* strategy of building a park to offset Universal's growth. Otherwise,it will look like Disney has conceded to Universal. And, you know Eisner would have already put the shovel in the ground.

Is Star Wars Land and Avatarland going to be enough to stop Universal *if* they open a third gate?

Yes and no. If you look at the market share numbers since 2009 when Potter opened:

2009 2015
WDW 74.9. 70.0 -4.9
Universal 16.0 23.8. +7.8
Sea World. 9.1 6.2 -2.9

Disney's market share is definitely dropping along with Sea World while Universal is up. However, in terms of total attendance both Uni and WDW are up so it's not like less people are going to WDW in favor of Uni. Part of the reason is that Universal (Harry Potter) is attracting a lot of people that may not have visited Orlando at all. Since 2009 Orlando has seen a huge growth in tourism and not much has changed at WDW. Potter is a big driver of that growth. So while Disney is losing market share that doesn't necessarily mean that loss is all guests who are skipping WDW to go to Universal some of Universal's gains come from new customers.

Another factor to consider when looking at market share is number of gates. WDW has 4 gates so if I visit 7 parks on 1 trip I count as 7 unique visitors. In reality I'm not paying for 7 full price 1 day tickets. I'm paying much less with multi-day passes. Same goes for APs. If Universal has a large local fan base with relativel cheap season passes they count as "visits" every time they walk through the gate but they aren't paying full price. The hope is that those guests will spend money on food, merchandise and hotel rooms too. That's where huge profits can be made. A better metric would be market share of unique visitors but that will never be released publicly. In Disney's case they are content with a slightly smaller market share as long as it comes with a higher per guest spending number. In total they make more money. The million dollar question is when will people hit their breaking point on price? It can't go on forever.

My point is that growing market share is nice, but if you are doing it with discount tickets it may not necessarily be economically as big of a deal. When Universal opens a 3rd gate or Disney opens a 5th they will probably both see boosts in market share because of it.

Wow, this is wonderful post. And, super informative, too!

And, I don't know what to make of Sea World anymore.