Laura
22
I totally agree with that as well.
-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
The "Legoland" Effect
- Thread starter steve2wdw
- Start date
I totally agree with that as well.
Pumbas Nakasak
Heading for the great escape.
Oh Id say that is quite likely.
TimeTrip
Well-Known Member
I always felt Universals counter service (at least at IOA) to be the best around. Throw in Mythos, and you have a combo for great food
lebeau
Well-Known Member
Chezman1399
Active Member
Wow, you're a real nice guy! Fortune Teller?
Potter does not have quite the following people give it credit for, most of the children who grew up with Potter are now teens and preteens obsessed with glittery Vampires. I probably know more mothers obsessed with Potter than any other group of people.
I can't make a full day out of any of the current Universal Parks, and trust me I've tried. I spend my money on an annual Pass there and always want some reason to vist, according to the stuff in the area, it will most likely extend my visits to the park an hour at most. No matter how great the area is, it's just a small area of the park, it's not going to draw people by the millions and stop them from ever leaving forever and going elsewhere. You can't spend a week at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Universal there is just not enough to do.
But that's my point Universal doesn't have the land or the amount of things to do like Disney does. Neither will a Legoland. Disney is a full vacation resort with golf courses, spas, 4 theme parks, water parks, shopping, restaurants, clubs, sporting events. Universal is 2 parks, restaurants, shopping, and clubs, and 3 expensive hotels. Legoland will be a park. The other guys will never have the capacity to be in the realm of Disney, and things they do will only bring more people to the Florida area, a maority of which will find there way to Disney World. Some will stay in Disney hotels because the Disney Value Resorts are better than staying cheaply most places in Orlando, and Universal Hotels will be too expensive for some families. Disney doesn't have to do anything, people will always come to Disney World just because it's Disney World.
Chezman1399
Active Member
I always felt Universals counter service (at least at IOA) to be the best around. Throw in Mythos, and you have a combo for great food
I've always had issues with their counter service. If you take there Pizza vs. Disney's, Disney's has more meat and cheese on the pizza, better quality sauce, and it's about a dollar to a dollar and a half cheaper.
lebeau
Well-Known Member
You are completely missing the point.
1. No one is saying people will stop going to Disney.
2. No one is saying people will spend a week at Uni or Legoland.
The point is that some people will decide to get a flex ticket to sample all of the wonderful offerings not owned by Disney. Potter and Legoland just make this option more appealing. And with Disney competitors announcing new attractions faster than Disney, Disney will either need to respond or risk losing ground.
It's unlikely they will ever be toppled. But they could face real compeition for the first time ever.
There was a time when I wondered why other studios released animated features. Invariably, Disney would just re-release a classic on the same weekend and the Disney re-release would take the wind out of the competitor's sails. But somewhere along the way, Disney lost it's edge. Now, they face competition from all over the place.
The same thing could happen in Orlando if Disney doesn't rise to the challenge.
theadmiral459
Member
Wow I see this a couple of different ways here first of all this Disney has there roots to far in the the ground here there not going anywhere but I see when potter land and lego land come on board that will take some people away from Disney for atleast one time visit including me I go to Disney almost every weekend but i will miss a weekend there to check out these other attractions it's something new some people get tired of seeing the same thing for the last 15 years .
Chezman1399
Active Member
Well, actually my original post and everything I've been posting too have been about how legoland and Potter effect Disney because that was what the first couple posts were about, so maybe I'm just joining the conversation late. For some reason I only saw 2 pages on this post when I started posting. On that the Flex issue had just been brought up, and I think my comments may have been taken wrongly if so I apologize, by missing those few pages I seem to have missed what's going on now in this thread.
I agree with this completely. Families will either need to be those who already rent cars or bring their own vehicles to be able to go offsite - or those who are willing to spend the extra money to not use the free Magical Express.
Don't underestimate the value that the free airport transfers has on the average Disney Resort guest.
disneydudette
Well-Known Member
Disney's biggest advantage is it's MYW pass imho..
Numerous time's we've considered splitting our vacation with universal. It's completely worthless when comparing a 4 day pass... to a 7 day pass. The $20 difference (for 2 adult tix) can't justify paying for a flex ticket and rental car/taxi fees. So I'm still able to get 7 days of vacation parks, at a 4-day park price... as opposed to paying more to experience offsite attractions for the same amount of time.
Disney's biggest strength will be the ability to offer the "all included" vacation expereince. One can hope that this will mean better improvements to the DDP, transportation, and On-Site Resort Perks.
When pricing vacations out... it's still cheaper for me to stay at Disney for an entire week. But it's far more cheaper for me to stay off-site and never step foot in a Disney park. Give people enough options... and they don't mind skippin' Disney.
It's not to say that disney has to have the "all or nothing" approach... we even just recieved an email (pin) for a 5-night/6-day vacation which would allow us 2-nights to spend outside the park. But it might not be a bad idea to "up" the game even more... to prevent people from looking else where.
Numerous time's we've considered splitting our vacation with universal. It's completely worthless when comparing a 4 day pass... to a 7 day pass. The $20 difference (for 2 adult tix) can't justify paying for a flex ticket and rental car/taxi fees. So I'm still able to get 7 days of vacation parks, at a 4-day park price... as opposed to paying more to experience offsite attractions for the same amount of time.
Disney's biggest strength will be the ability to offer the "all included" vacation expereince. One can hope that this will mean better improvements to the DDP, transportation, and On-Site Resort Perks.
When pricing vacations out... it's still cheaper for me to stay at Disney for an entire week. But it's far more cheaper for me to stay off-site and never step foot in a Disney park. Give people enough options... and they don't mind skippin' Disney.
It's not to say that disney has to have the "all or nothing" approach... we even just recieved an email (pin) for a 5-night/6-day vacation which would allow us 2-nights to spend outside the park. But it might not be a bad idea to "up" the game even more... to prevent people from looking else where.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
I have no idea, only a guess.
If you consider a "local" someone who lives in the five central Florida counties (Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Lake, Polk), you get 2.3 Million people. If you throw in the Tampa/St. Pete/Clearwater metro area you get another 2.7 Million people. That's a total of 5 Million "locals" that live within a 2 hour drive of WDW.
It's alot, but then you realize that the six counties of SoCal (Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino) comprise 21 Million people within a 2 hour drive of Disneyland. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_California
So there's a good idea at the power of locals at the two Disney properties.
There are about 8 Million people within a one hour drive of Legoland California, in the San Diego/Orange/Riverside counties. There are about 2 Million people within a one hour drive of Legoland in the Orange/Osceola/Polk counties.
Interestingly, there are 8 major theme parks in SoCal, and 8 major theme parks in Central Florida. So spoken broadly, the tourists are driving the parks in Central Florida, and the locals are driving the parks in SoCal, with a few exceptions. The parks in SoCal are spread out from Magic Mountain in north LA County to Sea World down in San Diego. The Central Florida parks are fairly close together, although Legoland will be noticeably separate from that Orlando core. You could also make the argument that Busch Gardens Tampa should be included in the tally.
SoCal Theme Parks
Six Flags Magic Mountain
Universal Studios Hollywood
Knott's Berry Farm
Disneyland
Disney's California Adventure
Legoland California
Sea World
San Diego Zoo/Wild Animal Park
Central Florida Theme Parks
Universal Studios Florida
Islands of Adventure
Sea World
Magic Kingdom
Epcot Center
Animal Kingdom
Disney's Hollywood Studios
Legoland Florida
tirian
Well-Known Member
It's also worth noting that most Orlando residents view Universal, Sea World, and Epcot as "locals" parks, and everything else (basically the rest of WDW) as being for "tourists." At least, that's how most people who live here talk about it. :lol: It's very similar to how Californians view Knotts and Magic Mountain.
Legoland will probably be added to the "locals" list, and that alone will make it successful. If Blackstone sells a local AP that includes Universal, Sea World, and Legoland for a super-low price—basically what Disneyland does with its Southern California Resident Pass—the parks will be even more attractive for central Florida residents. Add an aggressive marketing campaign and a high-speed rail system (ha), and they could attract the tourists who use Magical Express.
By the way, I think a lot of people forget that we WANT Potter and Legoland to be successful. Success=competition=better parks all around.
p.s. With the exception of Mythos, the food at Universal is nasty.
Legoland will probably be added to the "locals" list, and that alone will make it successful. If Blackstone sells a local AP that includes Universal, Sea World, and Legoland for a super-low price—basically what Disneyland does with its Southern California Resident Pass—the parks will be even more attractive for central Florida residents. Add an aggressive marketing campaign and a high-speed rail system (ha), and they could attract the tourists who use Magical Express.
By the way, I think a lot of people forget that we WANT Potter and Legoland to be successful. Success=competition=better parks all around.
p.s. With the exception of Mythos, the food at Universal is nasty.
EPCOT Explorer
New Member
Yeah, I'm sorry, but it's waaaay too premature to assume a rail system and or masses of buses will provide the transportation between Legoland and Universal. And to be honest, if Universal was expecting such an unptick of guests when it opens the HP area, wouldn't it be reasonable to think they would have started making arrangements for fre transportation (like the ME) to and from MCO? Even before any potential partnership with Legoland was undertaken?
tirian
Well-Known Member
Exactly. IMO, it'll attract more locals than tourists at first, simply because of the distance. But visitors who drive into Orlando instead of flying, and those who rent cars, might swing by Legoland.
ILLmaticS0ldier
Member
So central flroida has been divided into two ..........Blackstone Vs Disney
Laura
22
All good points, and goes back to what I said earlier. Almost everyone in California (local or tourist) who is into visiting attractions and theme parks is going to have either their own car, or a rental car. So essentially any major park or attraction they stick along the 5 is going to get business.
In Florida, there's not as many locals (as you stated already) and most attraction & theme park visitors do not have a car to use and rely on free shuttles to get around...or pay $20-$30 here or there for a taxi ride...which is never a good thing for Busch Gardens, Universal, Sea World, and now Legoland.
These non-Disney theme parks are really going to have to come together and put something huge in the works to compete with Disney. They need good (and free) transportation from the airport and between parks and a "key to the world" type system that allows unlimited admission to all included parks, a dining plan, and hotel accommodations. Until they have all of that, Disney will always be the more convenient option.
NewfieFan
Well-Known Member
Oh, I agree... Disney is the more convenient option! They convinced us... we show up at the airport and all we see in FL is Disney! (That, and I like Disney! :animwink
But the offerings are becoming more varied out there. And myself as a repeat traveler am becoming more and more interested in the "other" parks. One of these days I'm going to spend the money to go see what else is out there. Whether it be SeaWorld, Legoland, etc.The question is how many other vacationers are like me? The ones who previously only stayed and played at Disney but are now taking a day or more out of their vacation to try out other local spots. That is where Disney will lose their money. If last year I spent 8 days at Disney but this year I only spend 6 or 7... Disney has lost a day or two! Yes, they still have my ticket and hotel money but they lost food and merchandise for a day or two. And that is where they make their money.
So unless Disney can add enough new "stuff" in the next couple of years to convince me that I can't "afford" to lose a day off my Disney vacation b/c I might miss something new... then they are going to lose me for a day or two!
Again, the question is how many people will do this (who didn't do it before) and is it worth anything to Disney!?!