Universal Studios Hollywood's impact on the Disneyland Resort

Californian Elitist

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
As some of us may or may not know, USH (Universal Studios Hollywood) is going through some major construction right now. Potter is making its way here to California, as well as Despicable Me (it's almost finished, actually) and we suppose the Simpson expansion as well. Both Cantina and Doc's closed at the beginning of the month and the Simpsons ride is behind walls, which is why some of us believe the expansion is on its way.The tour is also getting new things; exactly what is unknown. USH is also building one, or two new hotels and City Walk is said to be getting new additions. It's called the Evolution Plan.

http://nbcuniversalevolution.com/plan/

My question is, and I understand the majority of people here won't be able to answer this question... I guess it's more of a local question, but how do you think USH's plans will affect the DLR, if they affect it at all? Unlike Florida, Disneyland and and Universal are in two different counties and cities, although the two aren't very far away from each other. Like the Anaheim parks, Universal Studios Hollywood is pretty much a locals park. There are plenty of annual passholders and lots of people know their way around the park. USH and the DLR have a few things in common.

So far, Disney hasn't announced any new attractions for neither Disneyland and California Adventure. I think it's possible Universal could steal some of Disneyland's customers, though a lot of people visit both. Based on things I've read here, it seems like the logistics are different in Florida. I could be wrong. I'm anxious to see what the future looks like for USH, as I really love that park. We'll have to wait and see.

For those interested in attraction updates:

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RIP, Cantina and Doc's:

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Despicable Me update:

The sign for Miss Hattie's Home for Girls has been put up:

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Gru's vehicle has been added:

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Nighttime:

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Super Silly Funland peek:

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Potter is all dirt and cranes, so I won't post photos of that haha. The Studio Tour lost the Fast and the Furious and the Mummy Tunnel segments (THANK GOD). TF&tF section has its doors closed and the area where the tunnel was is all dirt. No word yet on what those are going to be in the future.

http://insideuniversal.net/2014/01/despicable-me-simpsons-plaza-update/
 

BubbaQuest

Well-Known Member
I think Universal Hollywood will have little impact on Disneyland. I think most people that are frustrated with Disney because of price or neglect have already given up.

I do think Potter will be hugely successful for USH. Unfortunately I think the victims will be Knotts and Magic Mountain. I haven't payed attention to the numbers for those parks for awhile, but I'm not sure if they both can handle an AP abandonment to USH for a couple of years. I think most Disney fans will do DL plus USH, not instead of DL.

As much as I'm frustrated with the current state of DL, it will continue to be the king of multi day family resort vacations. Potentially I could see USH stealing some "day care" Select AP visitors, but I'm not sure if those are really money makers for Disney, so the impact could be small.
 

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
I think Potter will help DLR. First there is only one Universal park in Hollywood. So it's not really a destination resort, more like an add on to a larger vacation. Second, WDTC packages to the DLR have the option of buying Universal passes making it more advantages to simply add it as a day trip while staying at the DLR.
 

lilclerk

Well-Known Member
I think the biggest difference between DL and WDW is DL isn't trying to be an entire vacation destination. WDW wants you on their property forever and don't you dare leave.
 

croboy82

Well-Known Member
Didn't Transformers and Carsland open in the same year? And yet Carsland still had such a positive effect.

Harry Potter will def help USH a lot but I don't think Anaheim will suffer so much. Carsland is still a success. But they should still build new things, Carsland proved that.
 

James122

Well-Known Member
I do think the opening Potter will have an impact, but I don't think that impact will be as big as what's going on in Orlando right now. I agree with BubbaQuest - I think the biggest victim might be Magic Mountain, considering its (relative) proximity to USH and the fact that it most likely draws from the same area. Knotts, I'm not too worried about; they've managed to survive and thrive being just up the street from DLR, so I expect they'll weather this storm as well.

I would definitely expect to see a rise in attendance once Potter opens ( I know I'm gonna be checking it out), but I don't think that USH will be stealing a noticeable number of DLR's day guests or annual passholders away. Like Disneyhead said, it may actually be advantageous for Disney as folks who purchase Walt Disney Travel Company tickets decide to add a trip to USH. The theme park dynamic here in SoCal are certainly a lot different than Orlando, that' s for sure!
 

Californian Elitist

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
People are already choosing to go to both DLR and USH. Not only locals, but tourists, too. When I visited USH earlier this year, I saw multiple people wearing ears. At Disneyland, I've seen people with Universal gear on. Transformers have USH a 15% jump in attendance...Transformers, alone. I'm pretty sure USH gets as many guests as the "studio park" in Orlando. It holds itself up well. If the park can see a 15% increase for just Transformers, I'm guessing Potter will cause and astronomical increase.
 

maxairmike

Well-Known Member
The only way it will "hurt" DLR is that it may bump folks who were going to do 3+ days at DL down to two days, or may encourage them to move LA visiting bases closer to Hollywood, or split their stay between a DL area resort and a Hollywood hotel, quite possibly a Universal/Lowe's hotel. Overall, though, you won't see the same market poaching happen that you will see and have seen since 2010 here in Orlando.
 

James122

Well-Known Member
I guess I can agree with this, especially since Disneyland encourages people to visit Universal and Sea World.

This to me is one of the biggest differences between the west coast Disney / Universal parks and their Orlando counterparts. Both DLR and USH understand that there's a wide range of tourist destinations and attractions in Southern California. DLR's spin on it is that the DLR is a great 'home base' from which you can easily venture north to Los Angeles, south to San Diego, or anywhere in between. I assume USH has a similar marketing strategy.

It's completely different from WDW's ' Let's trap them on our property and pretend like the rest of Central Florida doesn't exist' strategy. I'm not saying that either strategy is better, but it just goes to show you the differences between the two tourist markets.
 
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Californian Elitist

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
This to me is one of the biggest differences between the west coast Disney / Universal parks and their Orlando counterparts. Both DLR and USH understand that there's a wide range of tourist destinations and attractions in Southern California. DLR's spin on it is that the DLR is a great 'home base' from which you can easily venture north to Los Angeles south to San Diego, or anywhere in between. I assume USH has a similar marketing strategy.

It's completely different from WDW's ' Let's trap them on our property and pretend like the rest of Central Florida doesn't exist' strategy. I'm not saying that either strategy is better, but it just goes to show you the differences between the two tourist markets.

I find this difference very interesting.
 

FutureWorld1982

Well-Known Member
I'm pretty sure USH gets as many guests as the "studio park" in Orlando.

I wasn't sure, so I made a quick research. The 2012 TEA report gave the following figures:

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS FLORIDA: 6,195,000 visitors
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD: 5,912,000 visitors

So yeah, it looks like they do have about the same number of people (this should greatly change this year, though).
 

teacherlady19

Active Member
A somewhat local person here. We haven't been up to USH since 2001, but our DL attendance has been greater in the past 6 years. Now, when we were in Orlando in 2012, we are 2 people among that 6,195,000 visitors to US IOA FL. We went to only the one park (IOA) and for only one reason: Harry Potter World. The rest of the park was so blasted crowded, and the weather miserably hot and humid, that we didn't do much else in USF.

Will we go up to USH for Harry Potter? Yes, probably. Will we also go to DLR? Yes, though maybe not on the very same week.


Donna
 

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