Universal Raises Ticket Prices for 2015

[Mockingjay]

I always like to remind people when they complain about ticket prices for a theme park that movie tickets run around $10 for most theaters (some even more), and for that you get 90-120 minutes of sitting in a seat in the dark. You can spend 10-12 hours in a theme park actually DOING things that require more staff, more operating costs, etc. (and doing them as many times as you want), so a theme park ticket even at $100+ is still a better entertainment value. When people stop coming, they'll stop raising prices.

And with this thought in mind, people aren't likely to change their habits and stop coming to the parks anytime soon just because the 1-day ticket price has crossed the $100 threshold.

Another way to think about this is that the majority of visitors to the Disney World or Universal Orlando Resort are tourists that will be visiting the resort for multiple days at a time (theoretically). So essentially what both resorts are doing with forcing the 1-day ticket up past the $100 mark is forcing the locals in the area that like to visit the park one day at a time without laying out money for an AP to either visit less or upgrade to AP status to get them in the door to purchase food, beverage, and other merchandise and collectibles (which is where the real money is at).

So let's all calm down and just think of this from a profitability and cash flow point of view. If you have more locals on the monthly payment of the AP for Universal let's say, that would increase their Free Cash Flows by what percentage? 1%, 2%, 5%? If they were to increase their free cash flow by that amount, think of all of the other renovations and new park experiences that could be created just by getting locals that would normally buy a 1-day ticket on just the day they would visit to now a monthly payment plan where they have the possibility of visiting more often and purchasing that food, beverage, and other merchandise. Even if they don't visit any more often then they did when they were still buying a 1-day ticket per visit, the customer is still going to perceive it as a value and buy it and Universal's FCF will still increase.

 

[shiekra38]

And with this thought in mind, people aren't likely to change their habits and stop coming to the parks anytime soon just because the 1-day ticket price has crossed the $100 threshold.

Another way to think about this is that the majority of visitors to the Disney World or Universal Orlando Resort are tourists that will be visiting the resort for multiple days at a time (theoretically). So essentially what both resorts are doing with forcing the 1-day ticket up past the $100 mark is forcing the locals in the area that like to visit the park one day at a time without laying out money for an AP to either visit less or upgrade to AP status to get them in the door to purchase food, beverage, and other merchandise and collectibles (which is where the real money is at).

So let's all calm down and just think of this from a profitability and cash flow point of view. If you have more locals on the monthly payment of the AP for Universal let's say, that would increase their Free Cash Flows by what percentage? 1%, 2%, 5%? If they were to increase their free cash flow by that amount, think of all of the other renovations and new park experiences that could be created just by getting locals that would normally buy a 1-day ticket on just the day they would visit to now a monthly payment plan where they have the possibility of visiting more often and purchasing that food, beverage, and other merchandise. Even if they don't visit any more often then they did when they were still buying a 1-day ticket per visit, the customer is still going to perceive it as a value and buy it and Universal's FCF will still increase.

If you think about it they probably make more in the long run on Multi Day tickets...they are in the parks more and buy more throughout their trip...many are staying on site as well...

Even us AP holders spend a good amount everytime we go...The one day one park is just an added bonus IMO, Universal could probably care less about it..

 

[UNIrd]

The resort additions are what makes Universal's price increases easier to stomach. And it's been that way since 2009.

 

[anihilnation]

I just renewed our 3 power passes ... was about $435, so a definite bargain.
In any case I agree, none likes to pay more, but at least at Universal we are getting more.

As many point out, they want people to buy multi-day tickets ... this is quite interesting, because it shows both Universal and Disney are promoting themselves as resorts rather than themeparks.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

I just renewed our 3 power passes ... was about $435, so a definite bargain.
In any case I agree, none likes to pay more, but at least at Universal we are getting more.

As many point out, they want people to buy multi-day tickets ... this is quite interesting, because it shows both Universal and Disney are promoting themselves as resorts rather than themeparks.

The thing is, though, you're not really getting more. You're getting more new stuff but at the end of the day both parks at UOR are smaller than Magic Kingdom yet they're the only Orlando parks charging three digits like Magic Kingdom is. Like I said in the Disney ticket increase discussion, it doesnt matter all that much anyway because the only people who buy 1-day tickets are domestic out-of-town travellers who don't know any better and foreigners who still think this is cheap. But looking solely at the price of 1-day 1-park tickets, Universal is actually charging Magic Kingdom prices for less attractions...not that that's right or wrong, because 1-day 1-park tickets are all but obsolete anyway. But that's just a fact.

 

[Disneyhead]

UOR has more rides and capacity than Epcot, DHS, and DAK combined.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

UOR has more rides and capacity than Epcot, DHS, and DAK combined.

Yes I understand that, but those parks are still under $100. Ticket price increases are always inevitable and justifiable but I would not argue that one park's price hike is more "fair" than another's at this point.

 

[fryoj]

There is an $8 difference in price between Magic Kingdom/IOA/UO and DHS/AK/Epcot. The difference in price is so insignificant that its not even worth discussing. For all intents and purposes, all of the parks are the same price. So if you want to argue that Magic Kingdom is a better deal than the UOR parks, then I'd argue that the other Disney parks are a rip off. Not that I'm saying that any of them are rip-offs, just that if you want to make comparisons, you have to look at all of them.

 

[Brian G.]

Just would like to point out that I never said "Fair", but "easier to swallow". I think the prices, although inevitable, is still tough to chew on.

 

[kimlovesfl]

The thing is, though, you're not really getting more. You're getting more new stuff but at the end of the day both parks at UOR are smaller than Magic Kingdom yet they're the only Orlando parks charging three digits like Magic Kingdom is. Like I said in the Disney ticket increase discussion, it doesnt matter all that much anyway because the only people who buy 1-day tickets are domestic out-of-town travellers who don't know any better and foreigners who still think this is cheap. But looking solely at the price of 1-day 1-park tickets, Universal is actually charging Magic Kingdom prices for less attractions...not that that's right or wrong, because 1-day 1-park tickets are all but obsolete anyway. But that's just a fact.

The Magic Kingdom is smaller, in acreage, than both parks at Universal; not by much, just a few acres, but it is smaller, but MK does indeed have a lot of attractions stuffed into barely more than 100 acres.

 

[Frank Drackman]

It's tough for me to think in terms of a one day ticket, but I want to start there.

If I had to buy a one day, one park ticket, I think it would most likely be for the Magic Kingdom and I think it edge out the studios at UOR because there are more days at MK where the park hours are longer then they would for a day at USO. I will say though that I have not been to the Magic Kingdom in some time (post LMA, pre-mine train) and I have no idea what FP+ has done to the standby lines while at UNI, I know they have a lot of rides with great capacity, so I know I can get a lot done if ride count is important for that one day.

Now, as a FL resident, that lives far enough from Orlando that I tend to stay overnight when I drive to Orlando. Our version of a 'stay-cation' is to run to Orlando for a weekend maybe around once a quarter. So I like to have an AP for one of the Orlando resorts.

Not sure how longs it's been, but the last time we had Disney AP's we had renewed just before one of their price increases where they started charging adult prices for kids on the FL res. AP's. Somehow all the stars aligned that year and we planned a UNI vacation, on faith, I bought AP's for the family for the trip (in all fairness, UNI does not have a child's priced AP either but the price increase it was going to add for WDW was way too much to stomach).

Now I agree that the one day price is a way the make added days sound cheaper. I assume when we decide to go to WDW again, I will be better off buying some package deal from them. For a day in the MK, we will probably go to a not so scary party as they tend to be less $ than a one day ticket and the queues for the rides tend to be light as most folks are there for the Entertainment. So i just see us going to one of the parties before will would spend multiple nights at WDW. Now, in years past, this option has been hard to stomach because of the cost of one party at the MK compared to the AP HHN ticket where we go early in the event, the ticket has been good for two weeks (I think, might be more), but we have fit in two to four nights over the past few years, so UNI has gotten my funds (this year w/ Cabana as got my hotel nights)) so we haven't' even done a not so scary since our passes expired.

I imagine for Disney, we could have dropped from the pass w/o block out dates to save some funds and I'm not sure we would want to go to the parks during some of those black outs dates...but UNI has shown my family a great time for our visits and we are happy just visiting them currently. The first year we had APs, I bought a preferred for myself, the power pass for my wife and daughter. This gave me the discounts and the self parking and we just restricted our trips to be around UNI's block out dates.

When our renewal came up, the renewal rate looked like such a bargain that I upped the family to preferred. I just renewed for us. After tax, the FLRes renewal was 170.39 each...same as last year...so it just feels these days, UNI and Disney have gone in different directions when it comes to AP's and there bennifits.

I know I have spoken with folks on 'holiday' on some of my visits. The ones I have spoken with seem to be using the Orlando Flex ticket for visits to UOR, Sea-World, and BGT and I imagine the high cost of a one day ticket (at any of those parks) helps make bundles such as the flex tickets look like great deals as well.

 

[Macfr3ak]

The thing is, though, you're not really getting more. You're getting more new stuff but at the end of the day both parks at UOR are smaller than Magic Kingdom yet they're the only Orlando parks charging three digits like Magic Kingdom is. Like I said in the Disney ticket increase discussion, it doesnt matter all that much anyway because the only people who buy 1-day tickets are domestic out-of-town travellers who don't know any better and foreigners who still think this is cheap. But looking solely at the price of 1-day 1-park tickets, Universal is actually charging Magic Kingdom prices for less attractions...not that that's right or wrong, because 1-day 1-park tickets are all but obsolete anyway. But that's just a fact.

just want to bring out the key fact is that VAlue means AP perks.. UOR did not increase AP prices and kept perks the same.. while Disney increased AP prices and REMOVED perks... you have to be missing a large part of your brain to not understand that and i dont mean that offensively just seems like the argument is pretty obvious and every Disney passholder should be upset in some capacity.. disney keeps taking but not giving.