Universal Studios Florida: What Do We Think About It?

[Brian G.]

There's a little bit of a chicken and egg happening in this discussion. I'd also be disappointed if I had an annual pass and couldn't make it to the parks after works. That's something we used to do regularly when we had Disneyland passes, but can't at Knott's (I realize that's not analogous to WDW/UOR).

But given how profit-driven the resort is (just like WDW, certainly), it certainly seems Universal does not feel like it's leaving money on the table. Of course, they could be wrong! But given the much smaller quantity of guests staying on-site, it wouldn't surprise me if they've found most guests cut out to CityWalk for dinner and are then ready to call it a night.

Universal can change that, but even if they opened up multiple high-quality (and expensive) restaurants and added a nighttime show this summer, I don't think it'd be like flipping a light switch. It would take some time for the resort to cultivate a culture that encourages guests to hang out deep into the night.

Universal is in a unique position since CityWalk is a part of the package - so I'd argue it's tough to invest in multiple high-class restaurants because it would start cannibalizing into CW. IOA already has Mythos, and USF has Lombards (which is rumored to be getting upgraded soon), and we'll eventually get the nighttime entertainment later this year - so I don't think it needs more than that.

And it's hard to compare to places like Epcot and MK since dining is a big part of Epcot's MO and MK is the #1 park in the world.

At the end of the day, it comes to numbers - and despite what we feel, ThrillData's data has shown there is no demand for the park to be open later.

 

[MrRoamer]

There may be less desire to be around later at night but the late openings and early closings only paints them in a bad light. If you're going to be open banker hours, my family that chose to take a vacation in the slow time (remember both UOR and Disney are trying to get people to do this) should not be punished. It is further exasperated by having one of their 3 main festivals going on at the same time.

Sure it may help them not staff as many people or use less electricity or whatever reasons they could use to explain it, but that does nothing to a family that is essentially being forced to buy Express Passes which in order to get everything done.

I've harped on it a dozen different times at least, but its my biggest gripe. You cannot at the same time Sell Time and also Take Time away from people, that is a dirty business practice and should not be encouraged. Taking Time comes in lots of different forms understaffing general operations, understaffing food operations, reducing ride capacity, opening rides late, closing down parts of or entire parks, poor maintenance, etc.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

I've harped on it a dozen different times at least, but its my biggest gripe. You cannot at the same time Sell Time and also Take Time away from people, that is a dirty business practice and should not be encouraged. Taking Time comes in lots of different forms understaffing general operations, understaffing food operations, reducing ride capacity, opening rides late, closing down parts of or entire parks, poor maintenance, etc.

Huh…this is such an interesting perspective. So basically saying that if the park finds cost-savings in ways that make experiencing the park take longer, they shouldn’t also be able to save costs by reducing time a guest can spend in the park?

I like this a lot.

 

[Brian G.]

There may be less desire to be around later at night but the late openings and early closings only paints them in a bad light. If you're going to be open banker hours, my family that chose to take a vacation in the slow time (remember both UOR and Disney are trying to get people to do this) should not be punished. It is further exasperated by having one of their 3 main festivals going on at the same time.

Sure it may help them not staff as many people or use less electricity or whatever reasons they could use to explain it, but that does nothing to a family that is essentially being forced to buy Express Passes which in order to get everything done.

I've harped on it a dozen different times at least, but its my biggest gripe. You cannot at the same time Sell Time and also Take Time away from people, that is a dirty business practice and should not be encouraged. Taking Time comes in lots of different forms understaffing general operations, understaffing food operations, reducing ride capacity, opening rides late, closing down parts of or entire parks, poor maintenance, etc.

There's a reason why ticket/hotel prices are lower than going during the busy season. What you're comparing it to is "Gotcha" tactics - but park hours are listed well in advance, along with refurbishments. While I'm not a fan of the late opening in USF, it does only impact 4 rides for an hour (everyone’s heading to the popular ones anyway) - and if a guest isn't pleased, it's nothing a trip to GS can't fix. The problem with having a park open 365 is that the slower season is also when they get basic maintenance done on rides.

Based on wait time averages this week, there is no need to get Express, either.

 

[Mad Dog]

Due to its unique, extremely close location, I've always treated CityWalk as an extension of the parks. CityWalk restaurants are mostly superior to those in the park, so if I'm going to have a sit down dinner, I'll generally walk out of the park to whatever CityWalk restaurant we're eating at. And then we'll walk back into the park after we eat. It's not a wee bit inconvenient. It's basically the same as walking from Minions to Men In Black. We basically treat CityWalk as a separate 'Restaurant Land'.

 

[Alicia]

Due to its unique, extremely close location, I've always treated CityWalk as an extension of the parks. CityWalk restaurants are mostly superior to those in the park, so if I'm going to have a sit down dinner, I'll generally walk out of the park to whatever CityWalk restaurant we're eating at. And then we'll walk back into the park after we eat. It's not a wee bit inconvenient. It's basically the same as walking from Minions to Men In Black. We basically treat CityWalk as a separate 'Restaurant Land'.

This is the basis for my theory that Celestial Park may stay open later than the worlds of Epic Universe. As the park’s own restaurant land. But we shall see.

 

[Mad Dog]

This is the basis for my theory that Celestial Park may stay open later than the worlds of Epic Universe. As the park’s own restaurant land. But we shall see.

'Restaurant Land', My copyright, just like my 'Kidzone Curse' that everyone copied..

 

[UniversalRBLX]

There's a reason why ticket/hotel prices are lower than going during the busy season. What you're comparing it to is "Gotcha" tactics - but park hours are listed well in advance, along with refurbishments. While I'm not a fan of the late opening in USF, it does only impact 4 rides for an hour (everyone’s heading to the popular ones anyway) - and if a guest isn't pleased, it's nothing a trip to GS can't fix. The problem with having a park open 365 is that the slower season is also when they get basic maintenance done on rides.

Based on wait time averages this week, there is no need to get Express, either.

According to Universal's pricing, today and the rest of the week (including this entire past month) were priced around the average ticket price of $144. Mind you, tickets only go down to their base price of $119 in September, but it's not like Universal sees this as their slow season. Universal only posts park hours (sometimes) 2 months in advance, by that point most guests have booked their trips.

This is the basis for my theory that Celestial Park may stay open later than the worlds of Epic Universe. As the park’s own restaurant land. But we shall see.

Not saying it's a bad idea, I just don't think it'll translate well to the public. But would love to be wrong as the new Celestial Gardens at Epcot are a great place to hang out, especially at night, and Celestial seems to be a far better version of that idea with actual water features.

 

[Jake S]

Universal only posts park hours (sometimes) 2 months in advance, by that point most guests have booked their trips.

I also think this is bizarre, but in my experience Disney does the same thing. Even Disneyland doesn't have hours published past April 10 at the time of this writing. I think most guests are comfortable with this tradeoff (shoulder season has shorter park hours/fewer crowds/more refurbs) — though, of course, I can understand why some would take issue with it.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I also think this is bizarre, but in my experience Disney does the same thing. Even Disneyland doesn't have hours published past April 10 at the time of this writing. I think most guests are comfortable with this tradeoff (shoulder season has shorter park hours/fewer crowds/more refurbs) — though, of course, I can understand why some would take issue with it.

Well, Disneyland is known to have consistent park operating hours. At least staying open to 10PM-12PM most nights (including weekends and in the middle of a suburb) ... and they only have a 1/3 of UOR's resort room capacity.

I know it's annoying to have to check for park reservations when visiting WDW, but at Uni you have to check park hours in case there's a buyout that day lol

 

[Jake S]

Well, Disneyland is known to have consistent park operating hours. At least staying open to 10PM-12PM most nights (including weekends and in the middle of a suburb) ... and they only have a 1/3 of UOR's resort room capacity.

I know it's annoying to have to check for park reservations when visiting WDW, but at Uni you have to check park hours in case there's a buyout that day lol

Fair enough, but Universal Orlando's main competition is doing the same thing and I don't really think it's a problem at either resort. And this may just be my ignorance, but I didn't even know park buyouts were a thing that impacted operating hours at Universal Orlando until I joined this forum a year ago. (These also happen at Disneyland, though I've generally found they don't have much impact on operating hours)

 

[Brian G.]

According to Universal's pricing, today and the rest of the week (including this entire past month) were priced around the average ticket price of $144. Mind you, tickets only go down to their base price of $119 in September, but it's not like Universal sees this as their slow season. Universal only posts park hours (sometimes) 2 months in advance, by that point most guests have booked their trips.

1. I can tell you whole-heartedly - that Universal views Jan and Feb (Outside of NYE, MLK Weekend, and Presidents Week) as one of the slower periods. Is it the slowest of the year? No.... and the data from their ticket prices, ThrillData's data continues to back that up.
2. Yes, the price is $144, which is what the cheapest price will be for a ticket until September - the slowest month of the year. The only time it's ever cheaper than $144 is September and parts of October - which data has shown are slower than Jan/Feb.
3. 2 months is more than enough time. Sure, it could be 3-4 but the point was it's not like these hours are just sprung on the guest last minute.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Fair enough, but Universal Orlando's main competition is doing the same thing and I don't really think it's a problem at either resort. And this may just be my ignorance, but I didn't even know park buyouts were a thing that impacted operating hours at Universal Orlando until I joined this forum a year ago. (These also happen at Disneyland, though I've generally found they don't have much impact on operating hours)

I can understand a buyout Mon-Thurs, but these Friday/Saturday closures at 6/7PM recently are dreadful. I like Orlando Informer, but these meetups have got to move from the weekend or start later.

1. I can tell you whole-heartedly - that Universal views Jan and Feb (Outside of NYE, MLK Weekend, and Presidents Week) as one of the slower periods. Is it the slowest of the year? No.... and the data from their ticket prices, ThrillData's data continues to back that up.
2. Yes, the price is $144, which is what the cheapest price will be for a ticket until September - the slowest month of the year. The only time it's ever cheaper than $144 is September and parts of October - which data has shown are slower than Jan/Feb.
3. 2 months is more than enough time. Sure, it could be 3-4 but the point was it's not like these hours are just sprung on the guest last minute.

This period historically was the quiet season, but it's not the case anymore. It's not crazy busy, but it's also a far bigger crowd than the 2010s.

I couldn't care less when Universal posts operating hours, they just need to stop with these short and inconsistent operating hours. There are people spending thousands of dollars to visit UOR, the last thing you want to do is book hotels/travel/etc., and find out your trip coincides with a Microsoft buyout.

 

[Brian G.]

I can understand a buyout Mon-Thurs, but these Friday/Saturday closures at 6/7PM recently are dreadful. I like Orlando Informer, but these meetups have got to move from the weekend or start later.


This period historically was the quiet season, but it's not the case anymore. It's not crazy busy, but it's also a far bigger crowd than the 2010s.

I couldn't care less when Universal posts operating hours, they just need to stop with these short and inconsistent operating hours. There are people spending thousands of dollars to visit UOR, the last thing you want to do is book hotels/travel/etc., and find out your trip coincides with a Microsoft buyout.

Andrew - seriously, I don’t understand that there are actual datapoints that show this not to be the case and you keep refuting it.

 

[Mad Dog]

It will be interesting to see if the new parade is a daytime or evening parade. If it ends up being a time significantly later than the previous parades, along with a new night show, that might change the evening hours dynamics for the park. This is something that's on my 'future indicators' list to keep track of.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Andrew - seriously, I don’t understand that there are actual datapoints that show this not to be the case and you keep refuting it.

I haven't had the time to download Thrill-Data's report for this year, but last year I did a very similar analysis and showed an uptick in wait-times for this time period. Just from my personal weekly visits to the park these past two months, it's definitely not a quiet season at all.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

It will be interesting to see if the new parade is a daytime or evening parade. If it ends up being a time significantly later than the previous parades, along with a new night show, that might change the evening hours dynamics for the park. This is something that's on my 'future indicators' list to keep track of.

My biggest hope is that they'd stay open long enough to have the nighttime show on off-nights of HHN season.

 

[MrRoamer]

There's a reason why ticket/hotel prices are lower than going during the busy season. What you're comparing it to is "Gotcha" tactics - but park hours are listed well in advance, along with refurbishments. While I'm not a fan of the late opening in USF, it does only impact 4 rides for an hour (everyone’s heading to the popular ones anyway) - and if a guest isn't pleased, it's nothing a trip to GS can't fix. The problem with having a park open 365 is that the slower season is also when they get basic maintenance done on rides.

Based on wait time averages this week, there is no need to get Express, either.

Edited: Wanted to state the ticket prices used here are for non-Florida Resident, non-AP. Also accidentally selected 2-Park 1-day. Apologies for any inconsistencies that may bring up but have to get back to real world so don't have time to fix

I hear what you're saying and some of these are assumptions, but the park hours may not have been posted correctly when the vacation was booked. Also, the discounts being applied I don't think correlate with what is the reduced capacity. The hotels have been long out of whack so I'm not going to consider that in any of this for simplicity sake. I am also not factoring in random downtime or anything like that. Also before going into the numbers stuff I want to talk about the only 4 rides being impacted. My son rides 4 rides at the Studios in order: ET, MiB, Villain-Con, Fallon. His 2 favorite rides are closed until late opening.

A 1-day ticket for today 02/29/2024 is $199, that same ticket in July is $209. The highest ticket price I see is December at $234. So for $10 less I can come now in the slow season vs the busy season with a decent savings vs the absurd don't wanna be here season. If we boil it down to strict numbers. If I said during the slow season they are open 8 hours a day and during the busy season they are open 12 hours a day. A family is spending $24.88 per hour vs $17.41-$19.50, making it more expensive hourly to be here now. (FYI if it is only 10 hours that would still be a lower hourly rate)

Families on vacation likely won't know how busy to expect the park and Express is going to be marketed to high heaven and back so they may have already bought those tickets, which today an Unlimited is $124.99 normal $94.99. Not to mention that this is one of the big 3 seasons so people are more likely to believe it to be busy than slow.

And you are absolutely correct they can head to GS to state their displeasure which there are 3 guest services locations all located at the entrances. GS would also likely be understaffed and so you are taking away further time from the customer, one having to find (IoA's GS wasn't listed on the app in the past), walk to one, and finally waiting in line to try to make a case for yourself that you shouldn't have to have paid what you paid.

I understand the need to be cost effective, but my point remains that you cannot both charge people for time and steal time from them. It makes the problems worse and makes it look like a gotcha tactic/money grab... which I can't totally argue it isn't.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

And you are absolutely correct they can head to GS to state their displeasure which there are 3 guest services locations all located at the entrances. GS would also likely be understaffed and so you are taking away further time from the customer, one having to find (IoA's GS wasn't listed on the app in the past), walk to one, and finally waiting in line to try to make a case for yourself that you shouldn't have to have paid what you paid.

Thank you for bringing this up, I have yet to bring it up in any of my recent displeasures of the resort, but they are still understaffed in this department (or at least not willing to staff properly). A good portion of GS requests are DAS related, so making people wait half an hour or so in the Florida sun is not a great experience.

Every time I've interacted with a GS TM they've been nice, they're just either understaffed or having to jump through inefficient/outdated processes.

 

[Brian G.]

I haven't had the time to download Thrill-Data's report for this year, but last year I did a very similar analysis and showed an uptick in wait-times for this time period. Just from my personal weekly visits to the park these past two months, it's definitely not a quiet season at all.

lol... I don't know how much analysis needs to be done when ThrillData pretty much has done it.

Either way, I'm not disagreeing that it's "not dead" or that it's "Not a Quiet Season" - but it's still the Slow season. The wait times and trends show that. The ticket prices show that. Hell, why do you think we have events going on now? lol You think Disney chose FARTs to happen in January-Feb to break attendance records?

I hear what you're saying and some of these are assumptions, but the park hours may not have been posted correctly when the vacation was booked. Also, the discounts being applied I don't think correlate with what is the reduced capacity. The hotels have been long out of whack so I'm not going to consider that in any of this for simplicity sake. I am also not factoring in random downtime or anything like that. Also before going into the numbers stuff

Yea - that's a big assumption, with an example that I don't believe has ever happened? lol

I want to talk about the only 4 rides being impacted. My son rides 4 rides at the Studios in order: ET, MiB, Villain-Con, Fallon. His 2 favorite rides are closed until late opening. A 1-day ticket for today 02/29/2024 is $199, that same ticket in July is $209. The highest ticket price I see is December at $234. So for $10 less I can come now in the slow season vs the busy season with a decent savings vs the absurd don't wanna be here season. If we boil it down to strict numbers. If I said during the slow season they are open 8 hours a day and during the busy season they are open 12 hours a day. A family is spending $24.88 per hour vs $17.41-$19.50, making it more expensive hourly to be here now. (FYI if it is only 10 hours that would still be a lower hourly rate).

I understand the need to be cost effective, but my point remains that you cannot both charge people for time and steal time from them. It makes the problems worse and makes it look like a gotcha tactic/money grab... which I can't totally argue it isn't.

In your case - you chose a 2-park, 1-day ticket - so you're math also doesn't add up because it doesn't take the value of the ability to hop between 2 parks within operating hours. Furthermore, in your example, the more likely scenario is someone who is on vacation and getting a longer-length ticket - which costs considerably less. But for the sake of the argument, the more apt comparison would be a 1-day, 1-park... (admittedly, it's hard to really do these comparisons because every scenario is going to be different but at least this is a baseline)

So if we use USF's 1-day for today vs Thursday, 3/28's $169 (the most expensive coming up)

$144 for 10 hours = $14.40 per hour
$169 for 12 hours = $14.08 per hour

So for 2 fewer park hours - a difference of 0.32 cents p/h...

The problem though, is we aren't paying for the hour. You're paying for entry. The same way a movie ticket is $15, no matter a 90-minute film or a 3-hour film.

Theme parks used to operate under the one price for all, and switched to In-Demand pricing to try to "lure and encourage" guests to come in the slower season. Even if it's $25 cheaper, it's still cheaper. The trade-off is you're paying $25 less to go during a less crowded time, and in this case, there are some seasonal closures. The trade-off for paying more is more park hours to make up for the crowds you're going to deal with. And that $25 in savings becomes bigger when you start paying for 4-5 tickets.