Why does Universal close early?

RandomPrincess

RandomPrincess

Keep Moving Forward
Disneyhead'71 said:
I do believe that in the near future, Universal is going to have to rethink their early park closings. If they are truely going to make the jump to destination theme park resort, both parks are going to have to stay open until at least 9pm most of the year. There are going to be more and more people staying at the resort, and they just need to bite the bullit and consider 9pm the regular park closing time except summer, where it would be 10pm. And Jan. where it would be 7pm. Otherwise, 9pm is the norm.

Also more activities in CityWalk like the Mini-Golf would be helpful. And more live music. A lot more live music.
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Disneyland still does Grad nights and they have bigger crowds then Universal Orlando. However they only close one park early, they have moved Grad nights to DCA and and it is from 10:00pm - 2:00am for Seniors only. Although the crowds start coming as soon as school is out for the day.
 
Z

zbsigpi

Member
I tell you what, if you don't like the fact that they close early then don't go! It will leave less people in the park for me when I go.
On a different note. Why worry about it, go to dinner, head to the pool relax and enjoy the poolside movie.
 
Next Big Thing

Next Big Thing

Well-Known Member
Disneyhead'71 said:
I do believe that in the near future, Universal is going to have to rethink their early park closings. If they are truely going to make the jump to destination theme park resort, both parks are going to have to stay open until at least 9pm most of the year. There are going to be more and more people staying at the resort, and they just need to bite the bullit and consider 9pm the regular park closing time except summer, where it would be 10pm. And Jan. where it would be 7pm. Otherwise, 9pm is the norm.

Also more activities in CityWalk like the Mini-Golf would be helpful. And more live music. A lot more live music.
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A bowling alley would be a nice addition. Splitsville is very popular at DTD.
 
Next Big Thing

Next Big Thing

Well-Known Member
zbsigpi said:
I tell you what, if you don't like the fact that they close early then don't go! It will leave less people in the park for me when I go.
On a different note. Why worry about it, go to dinner, head to the pool relax and enjoy the poolside movie.
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Why worry? Because people pay good money to get into the parks and to have 7pm or earlier closings much of the year hurts the brand.

People talk about how MM+ leaves no room for spontaneity or whatever you want to say. But Universal closing so early makes it even tougher on people as they have to rush from ride to ride. It makes it so it's almost necessary to buy an express to get everything done.
 
Z

zbsigpi

Member
Universal could be being very smart about this. If due to park hours I cannot get everything done that I want then I need to buy more ticket days And stay longer in their hotels.
 
JediMasterMatt

JediMasterMatt

Well-Known Member
Later closing times are a double-edged sword. For every bit of guest satisfaction increase you get - you also run into the issue with having less downtime for maintenance to do their work.

WDW's issues mostly stem from budget cutbacks in staffing for maintenance; but, you can also connect the dots that with fewer employees, there is even less getting done with extended hours - especially at the MK.

That said, Universal should be at least competitive to the WDW hours. Closing consistently 4 hours ahead of the competition is not a good image to uphold.
 
Z

zbsigpi

Member
I think between Universal and Disney it is the same monster just much bigger on Disney's side (# of parks, hotels, shear volume of guests ect) what was the Magic Kingdoms closing time before EPCOT? If EPCOT did not have Illiuminations what time would it of closed back then? I think Uni will eventually need to extend their operating hrs but if it works for them now good for them.
several of you have commented that it seems like a bad move on Uni's behalf not to extend their hours but I am sure Uni has a half a dozen people analyzing this exact subject.
 
TBrooker11

TBrooker11

Active Member
Well in my opinion a big part of it might be that Uni is not even drawing in half of the amount of people that MK is. We only have 2013 attendance numbers, but according to those MK outdraws both parks (Universal, IoA).

I have noticed the lighting in the parks at Uni kind of sucks when it gets dark, may have been just my opinion but it seems that way.

I am sure there are many reasons, maybe Uni knows it will never truly match the success Disney has, and the way they operate now brings in the most profit for them.

As far as the wait lines go, both Despicable Me and Gringotts are always 90+ minutes whenever I go. Shortest I have ever seen either was 60 for Despicable Me and 45 for Gringotts and they were both very early.
 
IAmFloridaBorn

IAmFloridaBorn

Well-Known Member
You people see harm in looking up the time of something closing before you go? The fact there may be something that is happening or changes? Wow. Trying to bad mouth a place because you were a lazy (I better not say that) but anywho... moving along.
 
JordanNite

JordanNite

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
ThatFloridaDude said:
You people see harm in looking up the time of something closing before you go? The fact there may be something that is happening or changes? Wow. Trying to bad mouth a place because you were a lazy (I better not say that) but anywho... moving along.
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Look, i was there for a week .... pretty much everyday that week it was closing at 6pm or 7pm (there was one solitary day it opened till 9) Not alot you can do about that.
 
GLaDOS

GLaDOS

Well-Known Member
JordanNite said:
Look, i was there for a week .... pretty much everyday that week it was closing at 6pm or 7pm (there was one solitary day it opened till 9) Not alot you can do about that.
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You posted on Wednesday of this week that you were there last week. I assume that means the 10-16/17, or somewhere in that range. According to Universal's website, Universal Studios Florida closed at 9PM on the 10, 11, 12, 13, and 17, and closed at 8PM on the 16th. It closed at 6 on the 14th and 15th. IoA did indeed close earlier, but IoA ALWAYS closes earlier. So you clearly did not look at the hours, because if you did your post is a boldfaced lie.
 
Next Big Thing

Next Big Thing

Well-Known Member
JoeCamel said:
They have a bowling alley at CBBR. They will be happy to bus you over and back on the shuttles that run often and anyone is welcome to bowl there.
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That is meant for hotel guests only as it's only a 10-lane alley. Not sure why they couldn't have another, bigger venue at CityWalk for non-hotel guests.
 
BrianV

BrianV

Well-Known Member
We've always checked how late each given park is open when we make plans, be it universal or disney. 6 is annoying, I agree. 7 is fine but a little early. Means that you stay until 7 and then head back to the hotel for dinner instead of eating in the park. 8 or 9 is better I agree.

Universal isn't alone on this. The MK often closes early for Halloween parties. Which means fewer people attend those days which makes them less crowded. Which actually means you can see more in less time.

Still waiting on august hours for universal.
 
BrianV

BrianV

Well-Known Member

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