Universal Lack of Announcements Thread

[Ryan]

I'm dying that on top of all of this, Universal just still won't freaking announce the attractions that are coming in THIS YEAR. What are they waiting for? Disney's own damn attractions aren't opening until fall and that's not exactly stopping people from coming... everything that the company is doing right now is just baffling.

 

[Nick]

I'm dying that on top of all of this, Universal just still won't freaking announce the attractions that are coming in THIS YEAR. What are they waiting for? Disney's own damn attractions aren't opening until fall and that's not exactly stopping people from coming... everything that the company is doing right now is just baffling.

We still don't even have actual confirmation from Universal that T2's replacement is Bourne. I feel like their logic is flawed about holding announcements because of worrying that people won't book. I feel like having certainty on what's to come gives the consumer more confidence in you. Right now, we're roughly 5-6 months from Potter opening and they've hardly acknowledged that it exists and we still don't have a name or an opening period besides "Summer" - None of that inspires confidence. And at the same time we just found out pretty much an exact date for when Dockside is opening NEXT YEAR(!).

It's just all so odd. I'm not surprised anymore because Universal is gonna Universal, i'm just disappointed.

 

[Ryan]

I would agree with that if it was 2018. But this is the year that all this stuff comes out! What the heck are they waiting for? Supercharged ain't exactly going to sell vacations like crazy.

 

[Nick]

I would agree with that if it was 2018. But this is the year that all this stuff comes out! What the heck are they waiting for? Supercharged ain't exactly going to sell vacations like crazy.

Maybe you misunderstood what I meant by 'certainty'. I meant, if i'm booking a vacation to Orlando for this Summer and I see that there's a new Harry Potter ride opening in '2019', how is the average tourist or even the HP fan supposed to feel confident about their booking dates if they want to be there when the new ride is actually OPEN?

Basically, i'm agreeing with you.

 

[Ryan]

Sorry I was also agreeing with you, but just adding on to your point.

The thing is: Universal marketing is dumb.

 

[GadgetGuru]

The thing is: Universal marketing is dumb.

Universal marketing is extremely dumb. Disney has a constant tidal wave of social media stuff and announcements coming up. An entire fan community has built up around the stream of small announcements that Disney gives.

The Universal fan community is several orders of magnitude smaller than Disney’s. I can name 6 Disney forums and this is the only Universal forum I can think of.

If Universal did a better job creating a stream of content and announcements, they could build a much bigger fan community.

Plus, I’d have more stuff to talk about. That would be fun.

 

[ragerunner]

Sorry I was also agreeing with you, but just adding on to your point.

The thing is: Universal marketing is dumb.

I wish I could give this post 50 likes. I really think their marketing strategy is not helping them at this point.

 

[Nick]

Universal marketing is extremely dumb. Disney has a constant tidal wave of social media stuff and announcements coming up. An entire fan community has built up around the stream of small announcements that Disney gives.

The Universal fan community is several orders of magnitude smaller than Disney’s. I can name 6 Disney forums and this is the only Universal forum I can think of.

If Universal did a better job creating a stream of content and announcements, they could build a much bigger fan community.

Plus, I’d have more stuff to talk about. That would be fun.

The crazy thing is we heard that D23 2017 threw Universal's plans up in the air and made them rethink everything. The only thing that has happened (new - F&F was already under construction) since D23 is Potter and we still don't have a name. KidZone, Shrek, and FFL are still open and TL Theater and Sindbad theater are vacant.

Meanwhile, Disney has another D23 Expo this August.

 

[ragerunner]

The crazy thing is we heard that D23 2017 threw Universal's plans up in the air and made them rethink everything. The only thing that has happened (new - F&F was already under construction) since D23 is Potter and we still don't have a name. KidZone, Shrek, and FFL are still open and TL Theater and Sindbad theater are vacant.

Meanwhile, Disney has another D23 Expo this August.

It does feel like they might be running out of time to build product that will compete well with Disney over the next few years.

So 2019 is potter and Bourne.

If they want to open 2 new attractions by early summer of 2020. They need to get moving pretty soon. Jurassic coaster for IOA? But not seeing much for Studios - which needs a real hit soon. Maybe SLOP?

Then you have 2021 not that far way. If they have any plans to do something big that year it would probably need to start by fall of this year.

Maybe it’s just their marketing strategy but it feels like the ‘ship’ is having some captain issues.

 

[Nick]

It does feel like they might be running out of time to build product that will compete well with Disney over the next few years.

So 2019 is potter and Bourne.

If they want to open 2 new attractions by early summer of 2020. They need to get moving pretty soon. Jurassic coaster for IOA? But not seeing much for Studios - which needs a real hit soon. Maybe SLOP?

Then you have 2021 not that far way. If they have any plans to do something big that year it would probably need to start by fall of this year.

Maybe it’s just their marketing strategy but it feels like the ‘ship’ is having some captain issues.

Eh, they're fine as far as having things for each year. One of these years - likely next year or 2021 - will see VB get an expansion, JP Coaster likely 2020, and Probably something at USF in 2021. They then follow all of that up with a brand new park so it's not that bad, it's just the way they handle their marketing that drives us all crazy.

 

[Andysol]

One of these years - likely next year or 2021 - will see VB get an expansion

One would hope. The VB expansion could just as easily become the next current FFL, KZ or Shrek. Just because we want it to happen doesn’t mean it will.

Hell, they've had the VB expansion plans ready since before it opened and even alluded to starting an expansion as soon as it opened.

The whole “VB in 2020” or “VB in 2021” that seems to be tacked onto everyone’s projected timeline has zero weight with me, and I don’t know why it would with anyone else.

 

[Nick]

One would hope. The VB expansion could just as easily become the next current FFL, KZ or Shrek. Just because we want it to happen doesn’t mean it will.

Hell, they've had the VB expansion plans ready since before it opened and even alluded to starting an expansion as soon as it opened.

The whole “VB in 2020” or “VB in 2021” that seems to be tacked onto everyone’s projected timeline has zero weight with me, and I don’t know why it would with anyone else.

I’m certainly not counting on it, but VB is a bit different since it hasn’t added capacity since opening day. From a money standpoint, it would make sense they would want to up capacity so that there’s more people spending money in the park.

 

[Andysol]

I’m certainly not counting on it, but VB is a bit different since it hasn’t added capacity since opening day. From a money standpoint, it would make sense they would want to up capacity so that there’s more people spending money in the park.

Oh, I agree completely. But that same argument could’ve been made fall of 17’. And if not then, fall of this year. Yet here we are...

 

[JungleSkip]

Sorry I was also agreeing with you, but just adding on to your point.

The thing is: Universal marketing is dumb.

It’s less marketing and more the management team who are only used to crisis. They don’t know how to handle being successful

 

[Imperius]

It just baffles me that they come out saying they are going to spend all this money then keep Kid Zone open. Their reasoning can’t be they think Pokémon/Nintendo isn’t long lasting.

 

[JungleSkip]

It just baffles me that they come out saying they are going to spend all this money then keep Kid Zone open. Their reasoning can’t be they think Pokémon/Nintendo isn’t long lasting.

I mean, they’re in the process of building a huge park/resort in China and starting a new park in Orlando. That’s a ton of money.

The idea that they’re waiting because they’re unsure of Pikemon’a Longevity is nuts. There’s other reasons that make more sense than that

 

[shiekra38]

I mean, they’re in the process of building a huge park/resort in China and starting a new park in Orlando. That’s a ton of money.

The idea that they’re waiting because they’re unsure of Pikemon’a Longevity is nuts. There’s other reasons that make more sense than that

It's like IOA/USJ all over again....At least we got MIB out of it though

Also, Universal marketing is not dumb

 

[Legacy]

It’s less marketing and more the management team who are only used to crisis. They don’t know how to handle being successful

This.

The current management team are the same people who cut their teeth through the Blackstone years. Their perception of things is extremely narrow. They'll find a system that "works," overdo it, then blame the system itself when it fails. They're then gun-shy because they don't have another "system." Before screens, it was coasters (Rocket, Mummy, Gringotts). Before coasters, it was "scoops" (Spider-Man, Transformers, "Van Helsing"). Before scoops, it was stunt shows (Water World, Sinbad, Fear Factor).

Sticking to an initial belief in an idea and
Iterative progression has never really been Universal's culture.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Blame management's hesitation for what would be considered marketing's fault.

For example, when the entire Scream fiasco was happening with HHN, marketing had to redo everything (billboards, commercials, all that stuff), which caused that sort of hatred of marketing from fans because Uni wouldn't announce anything.

And I can bet you that marketing did not want to market Supercharge as much as they did, but top brass wanted them too. Cinematic should have at least shared ad space with it. I believe the reason why 'marketing' is hush hush on Potter coaster is because they haven't heard nor do they have the permission to announce anything yet.

 

[Ryan]

I think you guys are focusing a bit too narrowly on the separate departments from my statement. While brass and marketing are separate, yes, the fact is that Universal marketing itself is bad because of these decisions. Purely from a marketing standpoint, these are awful, myopic choices.