Ticket Prices

[PSU_Princess]

Hey everyone--Just thought I would let you know that Universal has decided to raise their one day ticket prices to $67 to match WDW prices.

http://www.universalorlando.com/tickets.html

 

[TakeMe2TheMagic]

I saw that coming

 

[JROK]

Just four threads down... http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=82174

 

[sbkline]

Obviously, I must not have a good head for business, because I find that to be a stupid business move. It would seem to me that if you want to compete with someone and draw customers away from them and to you, that you would want to have lower prices than your competitor so as to entice people to save a few bucks by coming to you instead of them. To that end, I would think that if WDW raised their prices, that Universal would be content to keep their prices the way they were so as to give people a reason to think "huh...I can get into Universal for less than I can get into WDW now, so I'll just visit them instead and save some money." But instead, they raise their prices to match Disney. So now, with prices being equal, what reason is there for a person to decide to visit Universal as opposed to Disney, other than the obvious issue of park preference?

When I was a kid, my uncle had a baseball card stand set up at the county fair. He sent me down to check out the prices of the other guy selling cards, so that he could lower (not raise) his prices accordingly. The theory being that if they are both selling the same product, then the customers are naturally going to patronize the one who has cheaper prices. So, my uncle lowered his price when I told him how much the other guy was selling for. Shouldn't Universal at least keep their prices the same, so as to compete with Disney better?

 

[ClemsonTigger]

Let's not go down this road too far....
You all remember the last pricing thread flaming out then was locked.
I'd rather not see that again...although your point is well taken.

 

[PSU_Princess]

Just four threads down... http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=82174

oops...Sorry!! Now I'm one of those "you should have done a search people"...I was just playing around on the internet yesterday while I was bored and checked out the Universal site.

 

[sbkline]

Let's not go down this road too far....
You all remember the last pricing thread flaming out then was locked.
I'd rather not see that again...although your point is well taken.

I wasn't flaming anyone, nor was I crying foul that they raised prices, nor was I accusing them of being greedy. I'm simply at a loss to understand the wisdom of such a move by a company that is trying to compete with Disney. From a business standpoint, I would think that they would want to have lower prices than their competitor, rather then raising prices to match a competitor. I just don't understand the reasoning behind the decision, that's all.

 

[kcnole]

I'm not sure if it's true, but I'm assuming the thought process is this. They want guests to see their product and Disney's product as equal. They're afraid that if their price does not equal disney's price that the consumer will likely decide that they must have a product that doesn't match up to Disney's brand. Universal wants to be seen as equal, not a cheap imitation.

There's actually some truth to that thinking. Years ago when the cola wars first started Pepsi learned this lesson. Coca Cola had a headstart on the market so when Pepsi came along with their product they sold it quite a bit cheaper than Coke. They sold a lot of their product but people saw it as a cheap version of coke (much like we see generic store brands now). They would buy it because it was cheaper, but when they served it to friends they called it coke. Pepsi lost out in the end because although they were selling product they were losing brand recognition.

So if we equate this to the theme park brands, Universal does not want to be known as the other park they want to be known as the equal park and if their prices are cheaper then they are afraid the consumers will see them as an also ran. The only way they can build to where they want to be is if they can build their brand to match that of Disney, so that people come to Orlando to visit Universal and give Disney their off days. It may be a lofty dream but I think it's their thought.

There's a lot more reasons besides Disney why I think they won't succeed, but that's for another thread.

 

[sbkline]

I guess that makes a certain degree of sense as well. Although I suppose it speaks ill of our society as a whole in that we have been condiitoned to think that more expensive must mean better.

 

[ClemsonTigger]

I wasn't flaming anyone, nor was I crying foul that they raised prices, nor was I accusing them of being greedy. I'm simply at a loss to understand the wisdom of such a move by a company that is trying to compete with Disney. From a business standpoint, I would think that they would want to have lower prices than their competitor, rather then raising prices to match a competitor. I just don't understand the reasoning behind the decision, that's all.

Please don't misunderstand. I wasn't directing anything at you or your statement. I just don't want what happened in the other prices thread to start again...I don't think you do either. I don't know that with all of the people here, that the subject can remain civil.

 

[typhoonguy]

I wasn't flaming anyone, nor was I crying foul that they raised prices, nor was I accusing them of being greedy. I'm simply at a loss to understand the wisdom of such a move by a company that is trying to compete with Disney. From a business standpoint, I would think that they would want to have lower prices than their competitor, rather then raising prices to match a competitor. I just don't understand the reasoning behind the decision, that's all.

Also keep in mind that cedar point SIGNIFICANTLY lowered their admission AND food prices (cotton candy for a QUARTER!) yet their attendence is down even more so than last year.