Epic Universe Ticketing Info, Advice, & Speculation

[Mad Dog]

with the tremendous caveat that i have no idea how well they have or have not sold these three-day packages, i think there’s potential for negative guest sentiment by using this strategy. people don’t like it when they can’t just buy the thing they want to buy.

i don’t want to overstate this — i doubt anyone seriously interested in visiting epic universe will swear off the resort because of this. but they may delay trips, perhaps for years.

i’m sure they considered incentivizing visiting the other parks different ways. offering discount admission to non-epic parks would have been my preferred strategy, but again, i’d want to take a hard look at the data before committing to anything.

Yeah, I agree. Plus, when they make it 'complicated' to buy tickets, it has to hurt getting people to make plans after the opening two months. I think the package stuff, though probably real short term profitable...is long term negative.....and has the potential to create a very negative perception in the public's eyes....

 

[belloq87]

with the tremendous caveat that i have no idea how well they have or have not sold these three-day packages, i think there’s potential for negative guest sentiment by using this strategy. people don’t like it when they can’t just buy the thing they want to buy.

i don’t want to overstate this — i doubt anyone seriously interested in visiting epic universe will swear off the resort because of this. but they may delay trips, perhaps for years.

It's certainly annoyed me and my travel party, who have already decided to delay our originally-planned November trip to next January. They like to plan far ahead, and they will not sign-off/commit to plans when there's any uncertainty, even as I've communicated that the tickets we want will almost certainly be available by then.

i’m sure they considered incentivizing visiting the other parks different ways. offering discount admission to non-epic parks would have been my preferred strategy, but again, i’d want to take a hard look at the data before committing to anything.

Alternatively, they could have made different investment choices (particularly at USF) over the last couple of years and heading into the next couple of years.

If there was an MIB-level attraction (to compare to Universal's strategy when IOA opened) opening late this year or early next year (or had opened last year), perhaps they wouldn't have to resort to ticketing structure gimmicks (or your proposed discounts) to try to preemptively boost attendance.

 

[fryoj]

Our view is a little distorted here as we are enthusiasts who have been to the main parks and only need to see Epic. Your random family that hasn't been to Uni, or only goes once every couple years, is going to want to go to all of the parks. 1 day in each park is how, I'd assume, most non-regulars would book it. Those are also the people that are going to be booking hotels, eating at the parks, buying merch, spending the most money. They are going to milk that as long as they can.

 

[Jake S]

Your random family that hasn't been to Uni, or only goes once every couple years, is going to want to go to all of the parks. 1 day in each park is how, I'd assume, most non-regulars would book it. Those are also the people that are going to be booking hotels, eating at the parks, buying merch, spending the most money. They are going to milk that as long as they can

if all that is true, why force guests to make a decision they’re already apparently going to make? if the answer is to squeeze as much out of their biggest fans as possible, i think that’s a long term mistake.

 

[fryoj]

if all that is true, why force guests to make a decision they’re already apparently going to make? if the answer is to squeeze as much out of their biggest fans as possible, i think that’s a long term mistake.

This isn't about their biggest fans. They are after the casual big spenders. The vacationing families. That's who those ads are targeting. Those families aren't committed yet. If you let the locals, AP's, and the "coming no matter what" crowd to buy whatever they want, there's a risk of pushing the families out if they are thinking they'll hit capacity. They gave their biggest fans the opportunity to get single day tickets already with the AP sales.