Frozen Ever After

[Scott W.]

I wonder what changed? Are the rides too complex now that it causes things to move back so much? Just seems like all parks are now doing this. Like 4 things are opening "summer 2016" in Orlando (Soarin, Frozen, Kong, and Mako) and none of them have opening dates yet. It seems like an entire industry change because I remember HP 1 had sold packages way in advance and then couldn't make that as an opening date and had to limit the packages to work with soft openings. So since that point Uni hasn't had far in advance opening/packages either. It seems like since that point no one has had advance dates.

I don't understand it either. I would have thought with the advances in construction that attractions would be easier to build now than ever. Fair enough rides are more complex but Mako is probably no different than any other coaster unless they're planning something overly ambitious for the station and queue.

No doubt though that the level of theming has been put up a level since Harry Potter first opened but I would expect most of the time is spent in planning which shouldn't really make a difference to us from when a ride's PR release is out to the public.

 

[Hatetofly]

Frozen is the furthest behind schedule it appears fwiw

 

[IzzyB]

Frozen is the furthest behind schedule it appears fwiw

Yes, from everything I heard I knew this was the furthest behind. I was just curious what changed industry wide to change dates from 6 months out to sometimes not even a couple days in advance of opening.

 

[Mad Dog]

Yes, from everything I heard I knew this was the furthest behind. I was just curious what changed industry wide to change dates from 6 months out to sometimes not even a couple days in advance of opening.

This is probably why Disney wasn't pushing it during their marketing ads the past couple of months.

 

[Hatetofly]

Yes, from everything I heard I knew this was the furthest behind. I was just curious what changed industry wide to change dates from 6 months out to sometimes not even a couple days in advance of opening.

I wish I could answer that with an informed approach but I'll instead just take a wild guess. I think theme parks and their parent companies are now holding off on announcing of opening days to avoid three major issues. The first major factor is people either holding off or postponing their vacations. Parks in Orlando are seeing incredible attendance increases which is great but their are other factors to that. One being they have to compete with much more difficult numbers vs LY (last year) and another being planned capacity issues.

If everyone knew that Kong was opening on May 25, 2016 months ago, Universal would be an absolute ZOO on those days and given its popularity over the last several years capacity would almost certainly be reached. This means people would be turned away and thus losing the resort money overall. By releasing an opening date closer to grand opening it closes the window for people to push back vacations and thus not overloading the resort nor allowing the second quarter to take a negative hit in the eyes of the stockholders.

Think back to Hogsmeade when people held back on visiting. IOA was a ghost town just weeks before grand opening. In fact I'm pretty sure attendance in 2010 was down over 1 million guests from the previous year from Q1 and Q2 alone. Fast forward a few years to Diagon Alley and now insert Transformers. It was built for a multitude of reasons but maintaining the 2013 attendance figures was an obvious goal for that attraction in hopes of avoiding the fallout at Hogsmeade.

The second major factor is attractions have become much more advanced in recent years which leads to increased chances of delays or initial downtimes. IMO Universal learned a huge lesson with Gringotts and Diagon Alley. When they were forced to push its opening back into Q3 of 2014 it costs the resort and comcast untold millions in profit dollars. I think that alone changed the way they will handle opening dates going forward. In addition I also believe they will go as far as changing their internal time lines. I think going forward they will build in 30-60 delay windows into the time line to avoid future issues like they experienced with Gringotts. So while the Grand Opening day may be June 15th for Kong for operations, UC date may be May 15th. This way issues can be worked out long before guests or more importantly profits are affected negatively.

The last major factor is increased competition. The theme park wars are on ladies and gentlemen and while Universal has struck first, well actually Universal has been striking everyone else on an all out assault for years but thats a different convo, were going to see that change in 2016 and more importantly over the next decade. Universal is taking away from Disney and SeaWorld's market share in both attendance and hotel occupancy. It has in a sense totally changed the balance of complete power in the Orlando Market. And while I'm not debating Disney is still the kings of the market, I will debate that all companies are changing their business model in an ever increasing competitive market. Changing that business model may involve withholding opening dates longer than usual due to reasons I've outlined earlier or it may be a tactic to see what the competition is doing before spilling your beans. In the end its all very fun to watch the initial pawns being moved on a grand game of theme park chess that is sure to last the next decade.

 

[IzzyB]

^^^ I agree with all your points. I thought Hogsmeade change a lot because of the massive grand opening which while seemed like a good thing, but in reality having that many people wait in that long of a line was a PR mess. So waiting on dates to spread out crowds is a good idea. I also think you are really right with ops having built in window. I think that is why Kong sounds like it could soft way earlier than people thought originally and way before the projected grand opening because of this extra time built in. Smart move by all of them to not give opening dates so early.

Thanks for your opinion!! You make very good points and sounds pretty on point.

 

[UNIrd]

^^^ I agree with all your points. I thought Hogsmeade change a lot because of the massive grand opening which while seemed like a good thing, but in reality having that many people wait in that long of a line was a PR mess. So waiting on dates to spread out crowds is a good idea. I also think you are really right with ops having built in window. I think that is why Kong sounds like it could soft way earlier than people thought originally and way before the projected grand opening because of this extra time built in. Smart move by all of them to not give opening dates so early.

Thanks for your opinion!! You make very good points and sounds pretty on point.

I don't think it was a PR mess. Quite the opposite, actually. This photo alone made headlines:

 

[Nick]

I don't think it was a PR mess. Quite the opposite, actually. This photo alone made headlines:

That photo is framed and hangs on the wall within the Events Ops offices in USF to this day.

 

[epcyclopedia]

Frozen is the furthest behind schedule it appears fwiw

And I maintain its due to the original ride system problems the original opening team discovered way back in the day... But the new team came in, ignored any history, went off what the ride specs said it should be able to do (which it doesn't and never has) and now are up a creek without a paddle (and a flume that moves too quickly and the inability to cycle vehicles fast enough to meet OHRC).

 

[rhino4evr]

I don't think it was a PR mess. Quite the opposite, actually. This photo alone made headlines:

Looks like a mess to me. Seeing this makes me NOT want to go.

In fact I remember vividly that I was in town this weekend and considered going, but came on this very website that morning and saw the lines/read the reports, and decided to stay home.

 

[Mad Dog]

And I maintain its due to the original ride system problems the original opening team discovered way back in the day... But the new team came in, ignored any history, went off what the ride specs said it should be able to do (which it doesn't and never has) and now are up a creek without a paddle (and a flume that moves too quickly and the inability to cycle vehicles fast enough to meet OHRC).

Good insight into the potential problems trying to adapt a theme change to an old system.

 

[rhino4evr]

And I maintain its due to the original ride system problems the original opening team discovered way back in the day... But the new team came in, ignored any history, went off what the ride specs said it should be able to do (which it doesn't and never has) and now are up a creek without a paddle (and a flume that moves too quickly and the inability to cycle vehicles fast enough to meet OHRC).

Yeah, the idea that they could take an old ride like this, and make a new "state of the art' attraction with old bones was always really suspect to me. Why they didn't just choose to rip out the entire ride and start fresh is mind numbing. No doubt their ambitions were probably way too high for such a flawed attraction.

 

[Mad Dog]

Sometimes when you try to do something on the cheap, it ends up costing you way more money than anticipated.

 

[IzzyB]

Looks like a mess to me. Seeing this makes me NOT want to go.

In fact I remember vividly that I was in town this weekend and considered going, but came on this very website that morning and saw the lines/read the reports, and decided to stay home.

Not just that but people standing in the heat for as long as they did was reported and while HP brought attendance up really high, opening day was a problem. They would much rather spread out the crowds so that people RETURN. Many of those people may not return because of how hot they were, how long they waited, and how crowded it was once they got in. Therefore while HP opening was popular and changed Uni forever, they do not want a repeat ever of that day.

 

[Scott W.]

That photo is framed and hangs on the wall within the Events Ops offices in USF to this day.

Does it look like this?

 

[Hatetofly]

There is a funny store about those lines, nothing I can share, but rest assured the highest of the high loved that line

 

[Mad Dog]

Does it look like this?

Great PR for marketing though. I'd think that convinced quite a few tourists to schedule a vacation to see what attracted those throngs of people. It elevated Universal to a Disney type interest level at that period in time. ..........Funny thing. Universal did it a little different for Diagon, plus with Studios having more space the outside lines weren't that kind of length. So, reading the message boards during the Diagon opening, people were generally commenting that Diagon must not be as popular as Hogsmeade since it didn't draw a crowd line like the Hogsmeade opening. Perception is a strange thing at times.

 

[rhino4evr]

Does it look like this?

Can you imagine if you were just a "regular" tourist, who had booked your vacation months ago on that weekend? I would have gone to Disney instead.

 

[Honor_Knight]

I don't think it was a PR mess. Quite the opposite, actually. This photo alone made headlines:

I was actually in this line, and if you look REAL close, you can see me right....there!

 

[Mad Dog]

I was actually in this line, and if you look REAL close, you can see me right....there!

Would you like to share your observations and feelings from that day? I'm sure it would be interesting, pro or con.