Universal Question

[rushtest4echo]

If the point is that most folks spend 2 days at Uni and 4 at WDW, I'm perfectly willing to buy that if the facts bear it out.

The facts do bear that out. The obvious pricing is a clear indicator too.

But these forums are full of people who go to WDW over and over again, often multiple times a year. I used to be one of those. You don't do that based on a desire to hit each ride exactly once - if you did, WDW certainly hasn't added enough to require a yearly trip. You do it because you like to spend time in WDW, just like some folks like to spend time at the beach or a national park.

Bingo, same goes for Disneyland.

The idea that folks enjoy being at Uni, however, seems alien and weird to a lot of these same people. This despite the fact that, in my own visits, Uni has been cleaner, has lacked the vast fields of strollers and ECVs, has offered better service, has not forced me to schedule rides or meals weeks in advance - has, overall, offered a much better product.

I agree on most of those points, though the strollers/ecvs has more to do with demographics and the advanced scheduling is one reason we've completely stopped visiting Universal casually, compared to our weekly "planned" outings at WDW where we queue for nothing while still riding 2 or 3 rides, catch a show, grab a meal and go home. I haven't seen much of that at Universal though admittedly I'm not as much into that fan community as I am here (work wise, I spend far more time at Universal though and I don't know many "regular" local/non-local visitors compared to the scores at WDW.

More and more people are going to spend time just "hanging out" at Uni just as they do at WDW. Its going to build loyalty and its own nostalgic base.

No doubt. Universal clearly figured out what WDW did a long time ago much to the chagrin of many a WDW fan: most people come for the parks, but they stay for everything else. Shopping, dining, the resort experience, the water parks and so-on. Between the hotels, the water park, and Citywalk they've got a fun Friday night lineup for locals and visitors.

Personally, I hate most of the food at city walk and inside the parks, so it's hard to hang out there for any extended period (that and Del Taco screaming my name over on I-drive). Still though, I'm sure that plenty of people like Universal's offerings and I do have a feeling that more and more locals will be deciding to make Universal a "hang out" spot as you've mentioned. I'm constantly receiving surveys about expanding Citywalk and how to improve it both as a guest and professionally. At some point in the future I could see us "hanging out" at Universal, but they'd have to adjust the idiotically long entry process to the coasters, they'd need better food offerings, and they'd really need to provide something re-ridable. And of course the main thing they simply fail hard at is entertainment. They really need to up their game especially with night shows if they want to draw casual visitors for regular short and/lengthy visits from the likes of me.