Universal Orlando to sell Expansion land......

[CTXRover]

According to the Orlando Business Journal , Universal Orlando is close to closing a deal to sell their entire 1800 acre Lockheed Expansion site to Thomas Enterprises, Inc for development of such things as a retail and entertainment center, a concert hall, a convention center/golf course, etc.

When IOA opened, Universal claimed they were planning to use this expansion land to expand their resort to a size that they could directly compete with Walt Disney World, including plans for two more theme parks and up to 8 to 9 more hotels. I suppose future expansion, if any, will now not include this ambitious plan.

 

[SNS]

That sucks, I was hoping they would get into direct competition with Disney

BTW, I wonder why no one has replied to this important news?

 

[JLW11Hi]

Oh boy. Does this mean Universal is easing off on the resort business? Why would they do that??

 

[Goofyfanatic]

I'm sure Universal has done thier research...perhaps after seeing how things has faired with the new park and two new hotels...My guess is they must have seen 1st hand that competition would be tough against disney...I'm sure if their was more money to be had...they would keep that in mind. Afterall IOA is the least attended of the Orlando theme parks.

I can understand it too...most people travel to disney..and if they have time venture to other theme parks...not the other way around...at this point it would be very tough to compete directly with diseny..I'm sure Universal has found this out 1st hand.

 

[JLW11Hi]

They can't just give up now though...geeze, it took Disney 30 years to get to where it is now. Besides, I think IOA is gaining quite a bit of popularity among Orlando travelers. Every time I talk to someone here about Disney World, they always say that they liked Universal better.

 

[Blake]

i agree- they need to remember that at one time, Disney only had two parks too...

Also- it is true that many people claim IOA as their favorite Orlando theme park and as more and more go and test it out, more and more will return...

 

[CTXRover]

I think they are considering this deal for two reasons. These are simply my opinions based on observations.

First, and foremost, the theme parks in the Orlando area have already reached a saturation level. With 7 main theme parks to pick, most families on a week trip will never do them all and as a result are picking and choosing. I think both Universal and Disney saw this happen immediately after both IOA and AK opened. Instead of bringing hordes of additional people to either resort, the exisiting park's attendance were just "siphoned" away to the new parks. Disney hasn't really seen the overall resort increase they expected, the parks just spread out the attendance. Same goes for Universal, last year's attendance for the entire resort was a mere 3-4 million more than when it was just Universal Studios at its peak. That really wasn't worth building an entire billion dollar new park and expansion. As a result, for either Disney or Universal to build another park would be like suicide for their exisiting parks.

Second, and probably less a factor, may be the whole Universal sale to NBC. In order to make the theme park division look like a worthy investment to NBC, which have publicly stated they are considering selling off the theme parks to a separate company unrelated to Universal Studios, UO and USH need to show some major $$$. What better way for UO to make easy $$ then to sell off prime real estate.

Even if locals prefer Universal, that doesn't help the bottom line too much at UO since the driving force behind tourism in Orlando is "traveling tourists" and there are hardly any people who make a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Orlando and not visit Disney. But there are quite a few who stay on Disney property and never leave. UO has had nearly 5 years to prove themselves as a main drawing power to tourists, and even with, what I thought were, effective national campaigns (well, at least eastern coast campaigns) and numerous "free" offers tied to sponsering companies, Disney is still the far and away champ. For instance, MK alone attracted more people than the entire UO resort attracted. Its tough to compete against an established power house, even if you've got the goods.

 

[Testtrack321]

Another reason is that WDW was just plane damn lucky to have the whole resort just happen. With the recent big Disney movies (Mermade, Lion King) and all those hotels and new stuff, people just came. At Universal they found that just having a park and hotels dosn't do jack. You have to have brand name recognition and a good track record.

 

[Blake]

I guess i can see what you mean- instead of the AK boosting attendance, it just split the three parks attendance among 4.....but still, if i was Universal i would have kept the land. Now, in the future, if things changed, what does Universal have? At least Disney has all the extra space to add hotels, shopping, theme parks, water parks, parking, whatever....Universal doesn't have the space- ie: even if it was no good to them right now, it could have been in the future.

 

[AndyMagic]

I'm pretty sure the sale of the Universal expansion land was reported far too early. As of now, I have seen only one article on the matter and I haven't heard anything about it since. If it were really anywhere close to happening, the Orlando papers (especially the sentinel) would be all over it. I have a feeling that the Business Journal had a hunch and reported it as fact because as of now, nothing has progressed on the matter.

 

[johnvree]

That stinks. Competition is good for us.

Maybe the numbers show that the new parks are merely spreading out the attendance rather than increasing it. But I wonder how much the economy/fear of travel are dragging the numbers down.

I still think if they build more parks, more people will come - or at least stay longer once they are there. I for one have increased the length of my trip to allow me to visit more of the parks. In the mid 80s, a five day trip was enough to do everything in the World and still have enough time left over for a few things outside of it. Now five days dosen't even get the World done. Bottom line, I still go every few years, but when I go, I go for ten days as opposed to five.

 

[Juggler]

On my last visit I spoke to someone who was opening a new restaurant on the 192. They had an existing business on the I-drive but after 911 the trade at the conference centre dropped dramatically and never picked up, which really hit his business. Plus the prices of the hotel on the I-drive seem to have increased quite a bit over the last few years and tourists have realised they can get a luxury villa for less than the price of a basic hotel on the I-Drive. Most of the villas seems to be bases around the 192 and 27 which take possible visitors 20-30 minute drive from US. None of this is going to help Universal and can only help to strengthen Disney's position.

I have a friend with a great villa on the 27 and they are only 5-10 minutes drive from Disney via a back door but it's 20-30 minutes drive on a good day up the I4. It never stops me visiting US but it has to impact their trade.

Selling the land that could have potentially have been US Hotels and parks seems like it could be bad for trade long term. Not a good move!