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Universal to build a new On-Site Hotel
- Thread starter invader
- Start date
Me too.
I actually think it might appeal more to Europeans than Americans. 50s and 60s American decor is quite popular here in today's Germany as it is "exotic". So while people can't identify with it, it still can work as a theme - just like an Italian town like Portofino works for Americans.
menamechris
Well-Known Member
I am personally not thinking about Disney one-upping Universal by a hotel opening. Disney needs to one-up the entire Universal trend that is happening here....something that will be increasingly more difficult to do as time passes. Universal is giving tourists every reason to spend more and more time at their resort. And less with Disney. Disney needs to figure out what they can do to entice tourists to continue spending their ENTIRE vacation on Disney property. If guests start turning their day-trip to Universal into 2-3 nights STAYING at Universal, that could mean potentially thousands of dollars per family. If I was Disney, I would personally be sweating this more than any single attraction Universal could announce.
That was exactly my first thought as well. And it is interesting to see that the Cars wings of the Art of Animation more or less have the same theme for their decoration.
I actually think that Disney is recently having a trend to go away from having themed resorts in the sense you mean it and go over to more "themed decorating". The Princess rooms at POR or the Pirate rooms at CBR don't fit the theme of the resorts at all, they are just decorated. I think the "themed decorating" is in a way easier to understand, stands out more, while a theme is a more intricate story that you need to let yourself to be immersed in. I am afraid that the trend is more and more towards the easy decorating in the future.
I don't know whether it's necessary (we've never used it before), but we are looking to stay at Universal for 1 night on our next trip (hopefully 2014) - on the day that we are looking at, but in 2012 instead of 2014, 1 night at Hard Rock Hotel is $319, plus $25 for a rollaway bed, and $17 for parking - for a total of $361/£231, which is $72.20/£46.28 per person (party of 5), plus tax, and that has Unlimited FotLP.
For comparison, Express Plus Past for those two days and two days parking (1 time per attraction) is $389.90/£249.94, which is $77.98/£49.99.
So, unless the price of this new hotel is dramatically less than $72 per person, why wouldn't we stay at HRH instead? You may not need the FotLP, but how much will you really be saving by going to the cheaper hotel?
Pumbas Nakasak
Heading for the great escape.
Express pass is necessary to avoid Q ing with the underclass, and it lets you ride multiple times in a short time scale.
Horizonsfan
Well-Known Member
It's also possible that they'll offer Express at a very discounted rate.
The Early admission can't be undersold though. People want to see Harry with no wait.
Nope, Uni would NEVER invoke such a class system.
ChrisFL
Premium Member
Do you mean the resort that sat empty for over a decade that they just decided to re-theme? I mean its nice, but its basically a LOOOONG overdue existing resort.
The Empress Lilly
Well-Known Member
Maybe it is the European in me then. I am totally fascinated by the theme of this hotel. I wish WDW would've build it. Disney can keep Nemo and Tow Mater, I want to stay in a glorious mid-century motel.
Call it kitsch, but I'm a complete sucker for immersion in any period style. Mid-century Americana is awesome. (And to think WDW destroyed so much of its own authentic 60s/70s/80s treasures! Vandals! It would've been worth its weight in gold in ten or twenty years time. Down the road they are building the kitsch version of the 1960s already.)
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
To be fair, only the Little Mermaid buildings and the Lobby building are from the Pop Century construction.
Yes - me, too! I think it might appeal so much as at that time most of Europe was still desperately trying to get over the devastation that WW II had left behind and in comparison the USA was having all those modern things like cars, TV etc. and was so far ahead with regard to living standards to Europe that this time somehow still has that appeal of a carefree time filled with luxuries.
The Empress Lilly
Well-Known Member
Do you mean to tell me you do not like all those 50s and 60s grey concrete car parks and shopping centers in the heart of European cities?
TarzanRocked99-
Well-Known Member
its looking more and more likely that a transforming announcement will be made by end of month from our friends at Uni
Do you mean to tell me you do not like all those 50s and 60s grey concrete car parks and shopping centers in the heart of European cities?
Actually, my friends think I am odd as I do like the 50's modern architecture.But yes - too much fast and cheap building going on at that time in Europe. However, It seems to have been the fashion of that time. Stockholm which wasn't hit by bombs voluntarily erased a whole area of their old town to build something new instead...
I've been to plenty of roadside motels over the years. Though many of them have disproportionate names, the disproportionality tends to be an aggrandizement of the motel's features or status, not a wholesale referential shift in geography. (For example, a dilapidated motor inn called the "Grand View Lodge," which overlooks a barren field.)
Moreover, the press release refers to "motor courts just off the highway," not specifically to "East Coast beach motels." While there are beach motels that are "just off the highway," the broad language of the press release clearly has the effect of evoking road trips generally, and not East Coast beaches in particular.
However, while there do exist some roadside motels with names that are completely inappropriate for their location, that fact is beside the point. What's important for the purposes of this particular resort is the extent to which its name is appropriate to its function and role, in the context of its location in central Florida.
Put another way, a name can be too clever for its own good. In regard to Orlando-area resorts, the general public is likely to associate a resort's name with a literal reference to its theme, simply based on precedent. Even if there are a handful of tacky motor lodges in the middle of the U.S. with grandiose names like the "Polynesian" or the "Royal Pacific" (each justifying their moniker with a few plastic tikis and leis strewn about the lobby), the typical Orlando visitor is likely to assume that resort hotels with those names are going to literally evoke Polynesia or Pacific islands.
I would bet that the overwhelming majority of visitors who first hear of the "Cabana Bay Beach Resort" are going to associate the hotel with some sort of tropical beach theme. Although they might learn quickly enough that the hotel is in fact nothing at all like the Caribbean Beach Resort over at Disney, why create that extra layer of confusion -- and possibly annoyance, for those who book their rooms without doing all their research?
Don't get me wrong -- I think it would be a nice trend to start having resorts whose names aren't necessarily so on-the-nose with the hotel's themes; I just don't think this specific example is the best way to start.