Didn't want to derail the Water Park thread anymore but didn't want to pass on what has become a pretty interesting conversation, so I figured I'd start a thread on Universal's Crowding Patterns. Here's what we've gathered, for the most part, so far regarding crowds at Universal the past week or so…
While crowds definitely seemed to pick up since the first couple days of "peak" season (which were remarkably slow for the time), Universal is still struggling to keep huge amounts of visitors in the parks during the holidays. They're open until 11 for the next few days but I think that that's overkill since the place empties out considerably after the holiday parade. What do you guys think?
@Mad Dog, I was actually thinking the opposite to your line of thought. I think hotels are actually a huge reason why the crowds seem to thin so early. They shot themselves in the foot with this free unlimited Express thing. As it stands, from 8 am to 11 pm, it is pretty hard not to experience everything either park has to offer, and with Express it's very possible to do both parks in one day, even on the busiest days. I mean, if you can get on every ride in just a couple of hours, the only reason a hotel guest would stay is to see the parade and then go back to their room and get to bed early so they can wake up for Early Entry the next day.
Now, I realize that Cabana Bay and Sapphire will be the majority of rooms and not offer Express, but they still offer Early Entry which is a huge perk. Not only does this allow you to get the busiest attractions out of the way in a minimal amount of time, it also makes it so you have a considerable head start on the rest of the crowds. Every theme park pro knows that the parks at opening are the key to making the most of your day, so if you're in the park even BEFORE opening, you're able to hit a good amount of rides with next to no waiting. That's another way to speed up a guest's day and give them less reason to stay late in the park.
Furthermore, the whole point of having hotels is to keep people on property longer. So, if a guest has three days to enjoy the parks, there's no need to go commando. If you don't ride everything by the time the nighttime parade rolls around, there's no need to keep going if the guest figures that they have plenty of time to catch up on what they missed the next day. Staying at a hotel just makes for a more relaxed vacation and therefore eliminates the need for guests to be in the park later.
So all that being said, I don't think that more hotel rooms are the key to keeping people in the parks--taking them away from Disney World, sure, but it doesn't help their goal of keeping people in the parks and maximizing potential spending time. Now, I am by no means an expert, insider, or anything like that…I just see patterns in crowding and do a little bit of thinking. I think that at the end of the day, Universal is doing a good job getting people inside the gates, but don't need to go through such extensive measures during peak times such as having the parks open for 15 hours.
That's my rant lol. What do you guys think?
Aaah... while I don't have any understanding of Universal's marketing ideas... I believe a wee bit of national would be good. I have seen both pictures of a packed Uni and an empty Uni these past few weeks. I am not sure what to make of it.
Sorry, I've been too busy writing to spend much time in the parks this month, though I know Thanksgiving was softer than expected. The data I've seen from the first half of this week was weird, mostly in line with peak season predictions but with some weird dips. Keeping my eye on it...
Well, those are from the peak time of day. At the busiest point in the day, the park reached projected capacity levels, but it seems to have a tough time maintaining them. I'd be willing to bet if you checked that app now it would look like it's just a regular night. I'd bet it's been pretty moderate in terms of crowds since the parade, and it'll probably empty out even more considerably after the fireworks. I think that even though they seemed to have bounced back from where they were last weekend, their extensive hours are overkill.
When I checked the morning and early afternoon several times previously today the numbers were very similar to those times, nearly identical. I did a check at 8:05 at the Studios when the parade started and the numbers were apx. 70- 80% of the above times. But I think you're pretty right on at most evenings at the Studios. Generally it seems it drops like a rock. But I was a bit surprised when I was there in September. It seemed like Diagon helped to increase the evening show crowds. There were many more people than I had ever seen in the springs & falls I usually went. But, then again, nothing like the Disney evening crowds. It's my feeling that Universal won't get really good night crowds until they get another couple of hotels built. That'll make it more convenient for people to stay after 6:00PM.
While crowds definitely seemed to pick up since the first couple days of "peak" season (which were remarkably slow for the time), Universal is still struggling to keep huge amounts of visitors in the parks during the holidays. They're open until 11 for the next few days but I think that that's overkill since the place empties out considerably after the holiday parade. What do you guys think?
@Mad Dog, I was actually thinking the opposite to your line of thought. I think hotels are actually a huge reason why the crowds seem to thin so early. They shot themselves in the foot with this free unlimited Express thing. As it stands, from 8 am to 11 pm, it is pretty hard not to experience everything either park has to offer, and with Express it's very possible to do both parks in one day, even on the busiest days. I mean, if you can get on every ride in just a couple of hours, the only reason a hotel guest would stay is to see the parade and then go back to their room and get to bed early so they can wake up for Early Entry the next day.
Now, I realize that Cabana Bay and Sapphire will be the majority of rooms and not offer Express, but they still offer Early Entry which is a huge perk. Not only does this allow you to get the busiest attractions out of the way in a minimal amount of time, it also makes it so you have a considerable head start on the rest of the crowds. Every theme park pro knows that the parks at opening are the key to making the most of your day, so if you're in the park even BEFORE opening, you're able to hit a good amount of rides with next to no waiting. That's another way to speed up a guest's day and give them less reason to stay late in the park.
Furthermore, the whole point of having hotels is to keep people on property longer. So, if a guest has three days to enjoy the parks, there's no need to go commando. If you don't ride everything by the time the nighttime parade rolls around, there's no need to keep going if the guest figures that they have plenty of time to catch up on what they missed the next day. Staying at a hotel just makes for a more relaxed vacation and therefore eliminates the need for guests to be in the park later.
So all that being said, I don't think that more hotel rooms are the key to keeping people in the parks--taking them away from Disney World, sure, but it doesn't help their goal of keeping people in the parks and maximizing potential spending time. Now, I am by no means an expert, insider, or anything like that…I just see patterns in crowding and do a little bit of thinking. I think that at the end of the day, Universal is doing a good job getting people inside the gates, but don't need to go through such extensive measures during peak times such as having the parks open for 15 hours.
That's my rant lol. What do you guys think?