Universal Orlando Resort Expansion (Part 1)
- Thread starter ReelJustice
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- May 5, 2012
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Diagon Alley is successful and as far as attendance and spending for the year it's up across the board. I like to think the late phased marketing strategy is a great idea. They can stretch the crowds over 2-3 years slowly rather than slamming all everything for 1. It's a long term growth strategy. You also have to remember that capacity is up for the entire resort especially in USF because of DM and Transformers. That evens crowds out more rather than them flocking to just one land like in IOA.
- Oct 14, 2012
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Agree 100%, it definitely is a success. Im not arguing that.
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Its not something I can just throw out there...I guess I dont expect anyone to believe me. I thought Id throw out what I saw to start a discussion, but whatever. If thats not what people want to hear then we'll leave it be.
If the store numbers are down, it is because everyone is waiting in line to get on Gringott's 
- Feb 15, 2012
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No one will provide data because, well, it's secret. I try to provide insight as much as I can, and people that know me know that. The proposed question was Comcast's expansion plans because somehow Diagon alley was missing targets, and that's not the case, and there are no changes to a highly ambitions expansion plan.
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2014-06-03/business/os-theme-park-attendance-20140603_1_seaworld-orlando-blackfish-nick-gollattscheck
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-06-16/business/os-theme-park-attendance-20110616_1_theme-park-universal-orlando-s-islands-tea-report
Attendance up 30% in 2010 at IOA and 14% at Universal Studios in 2013. So a 44%+ increase at the entire resort in the past 4 years. The executives have clearly laid out a plan for the resort that started with Potter and will continue to increase attendance figures for the next several years. "It's all part of the plan"
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-06-16/business/os-theme-park-attendance-20110616_1_theme-park-universal-orlando-s-islands-tea-report
Attendance up 30% in 2010 at IOA and 14% at Universal Studios in 2013. So a 44%+ increase at the entire resort in the past 4 years. The executives have clearly laid out a plan for the resort that started with Potter and will continue to increase attendance figures for the next several years. "It's all part of the plan"
One thing reading through this, lets not confuse shop/food outlet/park sales targets, with the word budget.
Sales Target - Forecasted money coming in via retailer
Budget - Allocated money to spend on projects.
While the $ spent will be important, they'll be looking a lot of other KPI's (Key Performance Indicators)including the profit margins. Real world example being that retailers make naff all on Apple Products due to low margins, but make a big margin in the accesories. Even selling an accesory at half price with an Apple product can make more margin than the iPod/Phone/Mac being sold with it.
They'll be making forecasts based on previous years, footfall, advanced ticket sales. If they have their supply chain tight enough, they'll be making big enough profits on merchendise despite lower than expected footfall.
Also, if stores in DA are not hitting targets, they'll be a certain amount if offset by the fact they won't need as many people on shift at a one time as expected either.
Sales Target - Forecasted money coming in via retailer
Budget - Allocated money to spend on projects.
While the $ spent will be important, they'll be looking a lot of other KPI's (Key Performance Indicators)including the profit margins. Real world example being that retailers make naff all on Apple Products due to low margins, but make a big margin in the accesories. Even selling an accesory at half price with an Apple product can make more margin than the iPod/Phone/Mac being sold with it.
They'll be making forecasts based on previous years, footfall, advanced ticket sales. If they have their supply chain tight enough, they'll be making big enough profits on merchendise despite lower than expected footfall.
Also, if stores in DA are not hitting targets, they'll be a certain amount if offset by the fact they won't need as many people on shift at a one time as expected either.
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Fact: UOR attendance has been up significantly since the expansion opened, so much so that USF has consistently been beating Disney parks.
Fact: UOR guest spending is significantly up, so much so that Kong's budget has been expanded from what was given the final go ahead.
Fact: UOR hotel occupancy is in the 90%'s.
I think they're pretty happy with Diagon.
Fact: UOR guest spending is significantly up, so much so that Kong's budget has been expanded from what was given the final go ahead.
Fact: UOR hotel occupancy is in the 90%'s.
I think they're pretty happy with Diagon.
Proof UOR is finally on WDW's level: the #1 Universal board online has degenerated into a MAGICal, Laughing DISBoard type place.
For the record, I don't know Mr. Durden IRL (as far as I know), but he has a pretty solid record on here, his reports jibe with what others are saying and what I've seen first-hand--extended queues for shops have rarely if ever been used. (Except the ice cream shop, which was oddly built without one.) Willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, and if true, raises an excellent point. If the arguably #1 IP in the world right now, with limited merch elsewhere, can only sell X amount, how many shops could a Spongebob or Star Trek be expected to support? Certainly one, but can any IP support a full-on mini mall?
Probably only one. And luckily, none of the upcoming plans call for something of Diagon's merch/food and beverage overload. They're rides with minilands around them.
- Oct 14, 2012
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I think that sums it up pretty good. Jungle Skip has an exceptional insider track record. And it all makes sense considering the large capacity of the Studio's & Diagon. Diagon isn't the small area that Hogsmeade occupies in a park (IOA) dominated by narrow walkways. Most of HP1's area is occupied by the two coasters. And, as been said before, Diagon has double the capacity of Hogsmeade, not to mention a lot more shops that are more spacious than Hogsmeade. And the clincher is the 90%+ hotel occupancy rate.
- Oct 14, 2012
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I dont remember disputing any of this, but I would very much appreciate if you would point out to me where I contradict any of this information. Diagon Alley is an A+ expansion. All Im saying is that based on what I have heard and seen, Universal expected A++. Its not like the place is a failure. It has just not met expectations. You are assuming that not meeting insanely high expectations means failure but thats not what I am saying at all, and its foolish for anyone to come to that conclusion based on what I have posted so far.
Fact: Diagon Alley is a resounding success and is by no mean a flop, I agree.
Fact: Certain shops (particularaly Wiseacres, the dump store which in theory should always be busy) are consistently not making their budget (which is Universal's word for sales targets just to be clear)
Fact: Hours have been cut in EVERY area of the park, including Diagon, because the amount of work needed is not as much as Universal was expecting.
These two things that I am absolutely 100% sure about only solidify the less "scientific" factors that may lead one to think DA isnt meeting expectations, such as low waits for a brand new ride with piss-poor capacity and lack of people in the extended queues for everything at Universal including exisiting attractions. Yes, I know Universal handles capacity very well, no need to remind me, this is just anecdotal evidence that goes along with the facts listed above.
At this point, I just want to let it be known that Im not lying or making this up--Im defending my credibility as a poster more than anything here. But I will say that your counter-points have all been very general ideas that dont contradict with anything Im saying so its hard for me to just step down. I also dont mean to be snarky, but is the source you refer to your sales goal information for the same one that told you Gringotts was not having severe technical difficulties? Because if I recall correctly, I did say TMs were not able to work when they were expected and the land would open a few weeks late, to which you also shot down rather aggressively but ended up being wrong about.
None of you have to believe me, but I stand by my assertions. This used to be a good place for legitimate discussion but has turned into a place where apparently everyone designed Universal and gets very defensive if anything REMOTELY negative is said about the place (and thats a stretch because I love Universal more than any place in the world and only critique it because I want it to be better). In any case, I apologize for opening that can of worms a page back and trying to start a discussion.
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Thanks, SeventyOne. I too would like to see a more balanced and less one-sided view on things brought back here like it was when I joined.
FYI, this entire statement is factually contradicted by my sources...
Ok, back to the expansion theme of this thread...
I recently saw something so contradictory to the so-called 5th hotel plans that were published by Parkscope recently. What I saw seemed more boutique in size and at least "one" of the buildings seemed to be executed in the Texas "mission" style (think outlines of Antojitos). Other buildings appear to have mansard style roofs and the overall layout was completely different. Nothing at all like RP.
So, there be the contradiction for yeah, and I have no idea which one is correct.
I recently saw something so contradictory to the so-called 5th hotel plans that were published by Parkscope recently. What I saw seemed more boutique in size and at least "one" of the buildings seemed to be executed in the Texas "mission" style (think outlines of Antojitos). Other buildings appear to have mansard style roofs and the overall layout was completely different. Nothing at all like RP.
So, there be the contradiction for yeah, and I have no idea which one is correct.
Tyler; I understand your point better after your last posting. Saying that it's an A+ rather than an A++ narrows the argument down considerably. So basically we're all saying it's a resounding success, but we're discussing how advanced the success actually is. This is probably something we'll know more about when the Universal executives qualify the Q3 numbers like they did last year when they mentioned Transformers/Springfield translating into a 25% Studios' growth for the period of time it was opened in 2013, which translated into a 13%+ gain for the entire 2013 year. So it will be interesting to see what the actual numbers end up being....Concerning the shops, as another poster has said, I would think the merchandise in a couple of shops, primarily the joke store, is something that isn't going to fly off the shelves. Myself, I wondered why, even before opening, that the joke shop had such a prime location. I don't think it will ever do real good unless they dumb down the merchandise to more normal goods. But then again, sometimes it takes a while for things to take off. We were at Universal when the Despicable Me store opened a month before the ride. Every time we stopped by it was slow and when we talked to the clerks they were very talkative about how poorly the store was doing and how disappointed they were with the customer interest. But after a while it just took off and now I would think it's one of Universal's best store's for sales per square footage (no facts on this though). So, on some of these Diagon stores, it may take some time before they get the right mix of merchandise and find their niche customer. In retail, if you don't have the product your customer wants, sales will suffer. So these store sales may have less to do with the number of people that are in Diagon then what merchandise they have. But this is just a guess on my part since I won't be there until September and I'm going by what other's are saying concerning what merchandise is in the Diagon stores......The big positive here though is the excellent occupancy rate of the hotels, especially considering they almost doubled the number of hotel rooms available when they opened Cabana Bay. Hotel's are a terrific profit generator. WDW would die to have numbers in the 90's percentile.
Wasn't TD the one who was proclaiming his insiders were telling him that Transformers was failing right before Tom Schroeder came out and said that attendance was up 20%?
- Oct 14, 2012
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No, that was speculation on my part before the thing opened...I took it right back as soon as I was proven wrong. Nice try though :thumbs:
EDIT: I was snooping around about info for Diagon and found someone who seems to agree with me and looks to be quite high up in the theme park community...http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=35993&start=10660
If you dont know what youre talking about don't blindly agree or disagree, please.
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- Jul 18, 2008
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I know it's in our nature to try and speculate but there's way too many factors to consider that aren't, like the fact that the capacity at the Studios has improved greatly in the past 5 years and especially now with Diagon Alley and Hogwarts Express. The waits for all the attractions this month have been extremely healthy.
There haven't been extremely long lines for Mine Train either or New Fantasyland, well, ever.. but I'm sure MK will be happy with their profits and cool 17 million visitors as usual.
There haven't been extremely long lines for Mine Train either or New Fantasyland, well, ever.. but I'm sure MK will be happy with their profits and cool 17 million visitors as usual.
It's something that we won't know for sure until 3Q info comes out. I've heard everything is great, and I've heard it's fallen short of the bar they set. Personally, the info that it's all going to plan is coming from people that are more reliable then the "fallen short".
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