The Universal Rumors thread

ParentsOf4

ParentsOf4

Well-Known Member
pheneix said:
Has anyone mentioned Universal's rapidly growing ambitions for their hotel business and how the prospect of UO bringing 4000+ more hotel rooms online by 2018 is scaring the hell out of WDW?

Disney isn't dropping all this money on DHS because they want to. Because they most certainly do not.
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Uni hotel aspirations certainly will affect WDW but I wonder if Universal's partner hotels might be impacted even more.

Uni's "Partner Hotels" offer low-cost alternatives to Uni's 3 deluxe resorts. Less expensive onsite hotels such as Cabana Bay Beach seem to offer direct competition to these Partner Hotels.

Hypothetically, someone has 7 days planned in Orlando: 5 days at WDW and 2 at Uni. Are they going to book a WDW hotel, Uni hotel, or transfer hotels?

Perhaps the bigger fear is that, rather than visit WDW at all, guests will simply plan 4 nights at Uni, which can cost considerably less than 4 nights at WDW. A WDW 4-day adult hopper is $338 while a Uni 4-day hopper is $168. WDW resort room rates are so inflated that they often need 30% "Room Only" discounts to match Uni's rack rates. Meanwhile, Uni continues to offer their "Stay More, Save More" discounts to encourage longer stays. Given WDW prices along with Uni making major theme park upgrades, are tourists going to view 4-day Uni vacations as viable low-cost alternatives to what used to be traditional 7-day WDW vacations?
 
P

pheneix

Well-Known Member
ParentsOf4 said:
Uni hotel aspirations certainly will affect WDW but I wonder if Universal's partner hotels might be impacted even more.

Uni's "Partner Hotels" offer low-cost alternatives to Uni's 3 deluxe resorts. Less expensive onsite hotels such as Cabana Bay Beach seem to offer direct competition to these Partner Hotels.

Hypothetically, someone has 7 days planned in Orlando: 5 days at WDW and 2 at Uni. Are they going to book a WDW hotel, Uni hotel, or transfer hotels?

Perhaps the bigger fear is that, rather than visit WDW at all, guests will simply plan 4 nights at Uni, which can cost considerably less than 4 nights at WDW. A WDW 4-day adult hopper is $338 while a Uni 4-day hopper is $168. WDW resort room rates are so inflated that they often need 30% "Room Only" discounts to match Uni's rack rates. Meanwhile, Uni continues to offer their "Stay More, Save More" discounts to encourage longer stays. Given WDW prices along with Uni making major theme park upgrades, are tourists going to view 4-day Uni vacations as viable low-cost alternatives to what used to be traditional 7-day WDW vacations?
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Very good points, and all within the context of a weak global economy that will only see consumers become more and more constrained financially at the years go by.
 
D

djlaosc

Well-Known Member
ParentsOf4 said:
Hypothetically, someone has 7 days planned in Orlando: 5 days at WDW and 2 at Uni. Are they going to book a WDW hotel, Uni hotel, or transfer hotels?
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The way that I'm seeing a lot of UK people doing Universal now is booking a night in a Universal hotel at some point in the holiday (double booking accommodation) in order to get the Express Pass.

That's what we are doing next year.
 
71jason

71jason

Well-Known Member
ParentsOf4 said:
Uni hotel aspirations certainly will affect WDW but I wonder if Universal's partner hotels might be impacted even more.

Uni's "Partner Hotels" offer low-cost alternatives to Uni's 3 deluxe resorts. Less expensive onsite hotels such as Cabana Bay Beach seem to offer direct competition to these Partner Hotels.
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Was it ever confirmed one way or another if Cabana Bay will have express pass? If not, I don't think there's as much competition with the Lowes hotels. Harris Rosen, however, "the mayor of I-Drive" who owns several large moderate hotels in the area, is probably freaking out even more than TDO.
 
Mr_Incredible

Mr_Incredible

Well-Known Member
ParentsOf4 said:
Uni hotel aspirations certainly will affect WDW but I wonder if Universal's partner hotels might be impacted even more.

Uni's "Partner Hotels" offer low-cost alternatives to Uni's 3 deluxe resorts. Less expensive onsite hotels such as Cabana Bay Beach seem to offer direct competition to these Partner Hotels.

Hypothetically, someone has 7 days planned in Orlando: 5 days at WDW and 2 at Uni. Are they going to book a WDW hotel, Uni hotel, or transfer hotels?

Perhaps the bigger fear is that, rather than visit WDW at all, guests will simply plan 4 nights at Uni, which can cost considerably less than 4 nights at WDW. A WDW 4-day adult hopper is $338 while a Uni 4-day hopper is $168. WDW resort room rates are so inflated that they often need 30% "Room Only" discounts to match Uni's rack rates. Meanwhile, Uni continues to offer their "Stay More, Save More" discounts to encourage longer stays. Given WDW prices along with Uni making major theme park upgrades, are tourists going to view 4-day Uni vacations as viable low-cost alternatives to what used to be traditional 7-day WDW vacations?
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To be fair that is for 4 theme parks Vs 2

Additionally, we are going to Orlando for a week in November. Uni only for the first time. Very excited!
 
ParentsOf4

ParentsOf4

Well-Known Member
Mr_Incredible said:
To be fair that is for 4 theme parks Vs 2

Additionally, we are going to Orlando for a week in November. Uni only for the first time. Very excited!
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Simplistically (in other words, I'm just making up numbers), if a 6-night WDW family vacation costs $2000 and a 4-night Uni family vacation costs $1000, some portion of the population will opt for the Uni vacation regardless of how many theme parks WDW has, especially if Uni is creating lots of new experiences while WDW is pretty much the same as it was years ago.

Think of it this way. Let's say I last traveled to Orlando in 2009 for a WDW vacation. I spent a week there with my family and had a great time. Now my family is deciding where to vacation next year. We can either spend $2000 to experience a WDW vacation that will essentially the same as the vacation we had in 2009. Or we can spend half that for perhaps a shorter Uni vacation but that provides us with new experiences. What do I do?

Each family will answer that question according to their unique circumstances. One thing to keep in mind is that things have changed at Uni since 2009. Uni has all those new attractions that everyone's talking about and a modestly priced hotel opening in 2014 that sleeps 6 in a mini suite for less than the price of a single room at a WDW Moderate Resort. A 4-day ticket at Uni is less than half the price. Then there's all that talk of Uni improving quality while WDW is slipping a bit. Maybe WDW quality is better but the gap has closed.

When you put together all the factors, I suggest that the percentage of vacationers opting for a "Uni only" vacation is greater today than it was in 2009. Perhaps more importantly, as Uni continues to aggressively expand & update, the percentage opting for the "Uni only" vacation will grow.

If I have the inclination to spend the kind of money required for a WDW vacation, then maybe I still opt for a repeat of the WDW vacation. But maybe, just maybe, all the changes going on at Uni are enough for me to save money and experience something new.
 
HenryMystic

HenryMystic

Well-Known Member
71jason said:
Was it ever confirmed one way or another if Cabana Bay will have express pass? If not, I don't think there's as much competition with the Lowes hotels. Harris Rosen, however, "the mayor of I-Drive" who owns several large moderate hotels in the area, is probably freaking out even more than TDO.
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No express. Was mentioned today at the media event.
 
StageFrenzy

StageFrenzy

Well-Known Member
Sue_Vongello said:
Been kinda quiet around here ...

Which is crazy that its odd that we haven't heard new rumors out of Uni lately.
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One reason it has been so quiet is HTF said he was taking a break from leaking info to let other sites leak info. usually what he says gets picked up and claimed as inside info on other sites.
 
misterID

misterID

Well-Known Member
Are there any plans for the "Twister, Ride It Out" plot, seeing how it's almost universally hated? I don't know how significant of an attraction can go there because of RR&R behind it, but you'd figure that would be a good place for a permanent Haunted House attraction. Are there any ideas to replace existing attractions?
 
ThemeParks4Life

ThemeParks4Life

Well-Known Member
misterID said:
Are there any plans for the "Twister, Ride It Out" plot, seeing how it's almost universally hated? I don't know how significant of an attraction can go there because of RR&R behind it, but you'd figure that would be a good place for a permanent Haunted House attraction. Are there any ideas to replace existing attractions?
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As much as I loathe it, I've heard of no plans to remove it.
 
NeedMoreMickey

NeedMoreMickey

Well-Known Member
This past April during spring break was my first time at Uni. Did 2 parks with the Express line and it was really expensive. They charge different rates for the express line depending on the day and the sales tax and my tickets was over $200 for one day. Liked everything we did and glad paid extra for the express but probably won't go back until the next section of HP is finished.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
NeedMoreMickey said:
This past April during spring break was my first time at Uni. Did 2 parks with the Express line and it was really expensive. They charge different rates for the express line depending on the day and the sales tax and my tickets was over $200 for one day. Liked everything we did and glad paid extra for the express but probably won't go back until the next section of HP is finished.
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Will you be back in Orlando before next year?
 
RandomPrincess

RandomPrincess

Keep Moving Forward
We went to IOA in 2012 to see the HP section mostly but had a great time.

I love that Uni is adding a bunch of great low height limit rides. Transformers is only 40 inches and the two new Harry Potter rides are supposed to be lower or no height limit as well. It makes it a lot easier for us to spend multiple days with my LOs at Uni/IOA without feeling like there is nothing for them to do. Come 2015 my kids will be 6 and 4 and we are planning to spend a couple night at a Uni hotel and then switch over to Disney. We will not be extending our trip though. Disney will be losing 2 days of money from us.
 
IWant2GoNow

IWant2GoNow

Well-Known Member
Corey P said:
I don't see how a third park would benefit myself or anyone else??? How about finish the parks they have, build a new water park maybe another hotel???
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There are already rumors of additions to the current parks (Jurassic Park, Suess Landing, KidZone rework, possible Toon Lagoon replacement, expansion between MiB & Springfield) as well as a new water park coming. Their new value hotel should be opening later this year, I believe & I'm sure there is more than likely another in their thoughts.

However, whatever news HTF will be sharing on Friday seems much bigger & most importantly NEW. All of these things are already rumored & out there. I don't think (but could be wrong) that HTF would hype this up only for more confirmation on things already rumored. He's making this out to be a rather large announcement.
 

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