Attendance Tracker

Always the worst part of my Universal Orlando vacation is that the parks were closed by 6/7.

 

If it closed at 6 it was because of a buyout.

 

Sure, but looking at the IoA times schedule, the park has been open all month until 8 outside a handful of days where it closes at 6 or 7. Tells me those are absolutely buyout days

 

Gotcha. That is good. There's no reason these parks should be closing before 8 o'clock otherwise. But I understand that it's hard to say no to a company throwing a bunch of money at you

 

So ... more anecdotal evidence about Disney ...

Grog Grotto mugs were announced Monday as coming out Tuesday. Most leaks say 800 a day this year. First day was the nightmare you'd expect--some AP even got trespassed for threatening CMs because he showed up at 9:10 and couldn't get a wristband for a mug. But Wednesday ... you could still walk up and get a mug as of like 4 pm. Thursday, they were available as late as 7, maybe 8 pm. Despite the facts guests can now buy 2, not just 1, mug. Many potential reasons why, but fairly clear the market for overpriced Haunted Mansion tiki mugs isn't what it was the past few years.

Orange and Seminole County schools out today--the two most densely packed, most well-off counties in the area. Not surprisingly, HHN was a madhouse last night--kids can stay out late. But MNSSHP was actually very reasonable. Not quite an early September crowd, but 20 minute lines on Pan and walk up at 10:16 and still see the fireworks reasonable. It should have been packed with Orlando schoolkids.

We can continue to debate Galaxy's Edge all we want ... but something is up here. It's not just Star Wars.

 

Disney has become too expensive. I think its that simple

 

I love these mugs! Here's what it for those who haven't seen it:


I think Disney may have saturated the market for it this year-where as previous years they were much more limited and got onto ebay for large sums, it looks like they're not moving quickly on there either. Also, it's a slightly different version than last years, and it's also now has an ornament and pin sporting a similar design.

Disney saw a buck to make and now is squeezing every penny from it. People get tired of it.

 

I think in hindsight we'll realize the price hikes around 2 years ago set off a preference cascade that we're still living through. That seems the point where APs I never thought would give up Disney finally hit the breaking point.

 

I'm *really* interested to see where Uni goes with its prices in the next few years. I know they'll be tempted to jack up APs when EU opens, but I would hope they take a look at the marketplace and realize the benefits of keeping them (relatively) cheap compared to the Mouse.

 

They shouldn't keep day prices in line with Disney either. It's a fools errand

 

It is such a difficult issue of perception... a lesser price can imply a lesser park to some.

 

I can't imagine the amount of people that would choose to pay 20-30 dollars more for a more expensive park because they think that means it's a better part is statistically significant.

 

I would agree with you that Disney has pushed things beyond immediate repair. Perhaps Universal will be content to hold prices at more doable levels.

 

I think a lot of the Universal pricing structure for 1 day passes is to get as much as they can from the Disney day visitor that's only going to Universal for one day of Potter. But for those Disney day trippers that are willing to visit more than one day, Universal's multi day deals are very value oriented to entice those visitors into multiple day visits at Universal. .

 

I still think when Volcano Bay came around and they created an entirely new AP for it was the day their passes stopped being cheap. I wouldn't at all be surprised to see them do something when EU opens up. Epic Universe is technically going to be another resort, and I could see them create a 2 Resort Pass.

 

Their passes are still *way* cheaper than Disney. I don't see them gating EU behind another pass option. VB is just a different animal.

 

I don't really consider them all that much cheaper, $360 (2 park Uni) is less than half of $699 (Gold Disney) for half the parks. Which now Disney is finally dumping money into like they should have been, is more important.

VB is a different animal because Uni wanted it to be a different animal and saw a way to milk people and call it a "Water Theme Park" or what ever happy nonsense they decided.