ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
The kind of downtime described would be unacceptable at any theme park. FWIW, I’ve not been as unlucky at UOR but I’d be upset.
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News Walt Disney World to resume sales of Annual Passes (New sales resume April 20, 2023)
- Thread starter DCBaker
- Start date
JoeCamel
Well-Known Member
Zummi Gummi
Pioneering the Universe Within!
Isn’t there a temperature threshold that roller coasters can’t operate below? It’s been rather chilly the last couple of days. I feel like I’ve read that before. That might account for some of the downtime on the coasters (though not The Mummy, obviously). Glad you at least got to ride Velocicoaster, though. It is far and away the best coaster in central Florida.
donsullivan
Premium Member
Most of the control systems will not allow them to run when the temperatures drop below 40 degrees F. Of course you can find exceptions or variations, but 40,degrees F is a good baseline below which most operators will not run them.
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
It sure sounds like he has an awful time…no denying that.
I don’t think it indicates that this is “standard” nor does it claim that UOR is doing something wrong in this case that Disney never would.
There are still distinct differences between the two. Disney provides much better food/ancillary offerings. Those are mostly grandfathered in.
And it’s “blessing of size” allows Wdw to offer the week and universal isn’t there
I don’t think it indicates that this is “standard” nor does it claim that UOR is doing something wrong in this case that Disney never would.
There are still distinct differences between the two. Disney provides much better food/ancillary offerings. Those are mostly grandfathered in.
And it’s “blessing of size” allows Wdw to offer the week and universal isn’t there
Zummi Gummi
Pioneering the Universe Within!
I think a very clear delineation exists between the “old” Universal and what they’re doing now. Diagon and Hogsmeade are on par with, and in a lot ways exceed, Disney’s more recent efforts at theming. Ditto the queue area for Velocicoaster. And it seems like they’ve done the same with Nintendo World. I’d also expect Epic to be on par with these lands. There’s also randomly Poseidon’s Fury, which has my favorite queue and show building in the area.
Their older stuff is not up to that level and is a bit more…utilitarian.
Jrb1979
Well-Known Member
While the theming in some parts isn't on par with WDW, IMO they do a better job at balancing thrills with theming then WDW. I would love WDW to add more TOT type attractions and less Remy's. It's one thing I don't get is why so many prefer slow moving themed attractions over themed thrill rides like TOT and Expedition Everest.
This is likely the cause of their experience. It happened to me on Christmas this year. Most of the coasters have to be above 40 for a period of time before then can run with guests. They run them empty to test and warm the tracks in some cases. The older the coaster it seemed the higher the temp needed to be for it to run. Christmas for example velicocosster was the first to open, hagrid was actually next (surprising given how many operations issues that ride has). Same thing was true at SeaWorld. There everythign was closed until at least noon on Christmas. Ice breaker their newest was the first to open.
Cold weather in Orlando is unusual but it does crippple the parks when it hits these lows. Christmas Eve BBTM didnt open with the park for the same reason.
Fido Chuckwagon
Well-Known Member
Disney has, and always will, primarily cater to families that have young children who are not tall enough for the thrill rides.
bcoachable
Well-Known Member
But, in their current mood, do not want to sell them annual passes…
(just a feeble attempt to get this thread back on topic).
DonniePeverley
Well-Known Member
Disgusting news.
Now we can look forward to annual passholders contributing to huge queues, bringing in picnics and drinks, and taking up space with their 'free tickets'. Whilst us poor international visitors will have to endure them causing the horrific crowds, paying massive amounts for hotels, merch, and restaurants - essentially meaning we get a terrible experience, whilst the locals get a freebie.
Now we can look forward to annual passholders contributing to huge queues, bringing in picnics and drinks, and taking up space with their 'free tickets'. Whilst us poor international visitors will have to endure them causing the horrific crowds, paying massive amounts for hotels, merch, and restaurants - essentially meaning we get a terrible experience, whilst the locals get a freebie.
donsullivan
Premium Member
Everything I've heard from sources I trust says that all of the operators have decided to change the model from selling as many AP's as possible to only making a finite number of passes available. If for example that (totally made up) number is 5,000 passes and they have sold 5,000 passes then the annual pass inventory is sold-out. They have no more available for sale. When enough people do not renew, they have inventory that can be made available for sale and they open up sales again. It's what happened at Disneyland recently when they re-opened sales briefly. They had gotten some back into inventory and opened up sales again until all the inventory was sold out and then they stopped again. Each operator does it in a different way. Disney just stops sales, Universal increases prices again (twice last year) when UOAP numbers get too high to slow sales.But, in their current mood, do not want to sell them annual passes…
(just a feeble attempt to get this thread back on topic).
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It is almost.like Universal is using Supply and Demand principles better and is working out for them.
donsullivan
Premium Member
Disney tried that approach for many years and it did not temper demand, so they had to try something else.
Sounds like you were unlucky. I’ve read similar things recently regarding Disneyland (so much is broken, everything is closed etc.)Just finished my first couple days at UOR and came back to update… we will NOT be Uni people now, we’ll definitely add a day to future WDW trips but I don’t see us ever giving more than a day to Uni compared to 4-5 at WDW.
The good… Velocicoaster is absolutely incredible, Hagrids is amazing, Hogwarts express was really cool, and the HP lands are stunning… that was it, nothing else compared to WDw in my opinion.
The bad… I was shocked how much was down for most of the last 2 days, we never got on Hulk because it was down, never got on Mummy because it was down, never got on Rip Ride Rocket because it was down, saw about 10 minutes of Bourne before it went down, Kong was down, Fast and Furious was down, got food but never got our drinks at Leakey Cauldron (they said a computer error lost the mobile drink orders, they refunded us)… maybe we just got unlucky because it was so cold and nothing was working but I’ve never seen so many rides down at one time at any park before.
For a first time visitor it made an absolutely horrible first impression. We left the park at 4 because we’d run out of things to do and the things we wanted to repeat had multi hour lines, likely because so few rides were running.
Looks like Disney will continue getting the vast majority of our money and we’ll use our UniAPs as an add on day to Disney trips.
WDW tried that and couldn't find the tipping point at which enough folks turned away that they could control the overcrowding.
If you think Uni's tactic should be implemented (better?) at WDW, then you want WDW prices to just keep going way up constantly until that tipping point is found.
Jrb1979
Well-Known Member
Then you have my local park where it doesn't limit season passes. The rumor is for this season they sold 500,000 season passes already. I know Disney and Universal are destination parks but it's mind blowing how they don't like AP holders as much as regional parks do.
Jrb1979
Well-Known Member
I have no problem with that. They should be doing that with Genie+ first.
Vegas Disney Fan
Well-Known Member
We were at WDW two weeks before, and a cruise the week before, but it’s not comparable because it was 70 and sunny during our Disney days and the weather was freezing for our Uni days.
Apples and oranges, it was frustrating for so much to be down though, soured my first experience.
Exhaustion likely played in as well, it was a long vacation and my patience level for issues and crowds was substantially lower by Uni than it was at the start in WDW.
Perhaps the best news of the week was no more parking fees at resorts, we ended up spending a couple hundred dollars on Ubers over the last couple weeks so next trip will include a rental car which will allow us to drive over for Velocicoaster and Hagrids whenever we want.
This was one of my big takeaways, if all of Epic is like the new stuff it’s going to be very impressive, UOR has 2 distinct feelings, the before HP stuff and after HP stuff. Bit of Jeckyl and Hyde. The one thing I forgot to mention was Spider-Man, that’s one older ride I thought held up well, very fun.
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Disney did both. They found the tipping point on admission and ancillary spending. This is why they struggle selling as much in park food and merch as they used to.
Disney tried to get the optimum of both worlds, and is not exactly thriving at either. The TEA is pretty reliable and the numbers of Disney there are not near what they would want. Universal Studios had parks higher attendance than Hollywood Studios. Universal never feels more crowded because there are things to do with the capacity well designed and operated.
It is not really "Uni's tactic." The law of Supply and Demand works for many. Disney has attempted to optimize both groups of frequent and infrequent and both groups are spending less.