Universal's New Park/Site B Blue Sky Thread

[zg44]

It's not.

I'm not saying it's going to ruin Universal! All I'm saying is that another park costs a ton of money. If 2 open around the same time, and one is significantly better than the other, well one is going to probably have a harder time breaking even, which could stall future development. That's all.

Disney had one major chance to stall Universal and prevent them from ever making a big surge... that was if they had locked up Harry Potter a decade ago and prevented that from ever going to Universal.

Now that Universal has Harry Potter and brought in Nintendo as well as seen its animation division take off with Illumination and a buyout of DreamWorks; Universal is pretty secure. They have more than enough IP to justify a 3rd park and the attendance rates justify it as well.

This is not the same theme park operator it was pre-2009 when it was underfunded and starved by a series of problematic corporate parents...

 

[Frogki]

Seriously - the Star Wars Hotel already means little in terms of overall attendance gains or losses at Universal, and you know why? Because that sort of experience is great, but no family I have ever met would even consider it based on the cost and the fact that the target audiences for the parks are not, at least as of now, mainly rich people. They are targeting families, and in some areas, massively nerdy fans - who have proven willing to spend in the past but with IPs which until that point, were untapped for extensive merch.
Any way you look at it, niche experiences like the Star Wars hotel will not make Universal regret making new and larger investments in the park because they will still get a large ROI.

 

[DoubleJ]

Disney had one major chance to stall Universal and prevent them from ever making a big surge... that was if they had locked up Harry Potter a decade ago and prevented that from ever going to Universal.

Now that Universal has Harry Potter and brought in Nintendo as well as seen its animation division take off with Illumination and a buyout of DreamWorks; Universal is pretty secure. They have more than enough IP to justify a 3rd park and the attendance rates justify it as well.

This is not the same theme park operator it was pre-2009 when it was underfunded and starved by a series of problematic corporate parents...

Perhaps.

All I'm saying is that building another gate at Universal is much riskier with Disney's current mindset.

It may be a runaway success for Universal. Time will tell.

 

[Imperius]

THERE IS NO RISK IN BUILDING A NEW PARK.

 

[DoubleJ]

Seriously - the Star Wars Hotel already means little in terms of overall attendance gains or losses at Universal, and you know why? Because that sort of experience is great, but no family I have ever met would even consider it based on the cost and the fact that the target audiences for the parks are not, at least as of now, mainly rich people. They are targeting families, and in some areas, massively nerdy fans - who have proven willing to spend in the past but with IPs which until that point, were untapped for extensive merch.
Any way you look at it, niche experiences like the Star Wars hotel will not make Universal regret making new and larger investments in the park because they will still get a large ROI.

The SW hotel is nothing more than a test bed. It has little in common with the project I'm talking about. Pricing is not an issue for this project.

 

[DoubleJ]

THERE IS NO RISK IN BUILDING A NEW PARK.

There is a risk to every investment in the world.

Didn't mean for this to blow up as much as it has. I don't care for confrontational discussion. I just wanted y'all to know that the pace and scale of new projects at WDW will be quite astonishing in the coming decade. Whether you keep that in mind or not, I don't care. Just saying.

 

[Imperius]

I was being a little much, but there is nothing Disney could do to make Universal lose money with their new park.

 

[quinnmac000]

You are also assuming Universal doesn't have some grand unique plan which in facts they most likely do.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

You are also assuming Universal doesn't have some grand unique plan which in facts they most likely do.

This.

If they didn't have a grand plan, then I would think that they wouldn't of bought that 475 acres for nothing.

 

[zg44]

The bigger risk at this point is not building a 3rd park given that attendance of the first 2 parks has nearly doubled over the past 10 years... and that's considering the parks were already profitable 10 years ago.

The only downside risk is if somehow the new park flops and attendance collapses down to an unimaginably low level of say 2-3 million a year. That's very difficult to imagine without some kind of botched opening and most of the park being broken.

Most likely, a new park would be profitable within a year of operation as long as it hits something like 4-5 million attendance in its first year; that's basically a half of what IoA/UO each pull in now. It's hard to imagine that not happening for the first major new park in Orlando in decades...

 

[Imperius]

Seriously though, if Disney has this grand plan it will bring more people to Orlando. Those people will see that Universal has a brand new park also with great lands based off of Dreamworks, Jurassic World, Pokémon, Fantastic Beasts and be like, were going there also. There is nothing Disney can do at this point to keep people in Disney 100% of their vacation any more.

 

[tyro]

Unless Disney is teaming up with SpaceX and building a working Death Star. I see Universal being very successful for the next 10 years at the very least.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

So that Park/Hotel combo you think will make Universal reconsider a 3rd park most likely will not be happening. Yes, the Star Wars hotel and the Marvel concept in Paris will act as test run, but that concept is a blue sky concept Disney has that they will use with Star Wars land.

Nothing Disney or Universal adds to their parks will demolish each others attendance.
Universal gained after Potter, and Disney still didn't lose customers. Same will happen with Star Wars and anything else Disney adds. Universal will still have people at their parks and not lose customers.

 

[zg44]

So that Park/Hotel combo you think will make Universal reconsider a 3rd park most likely will not be happening. Yes, the Star Wars hotel and the Marvel concept in Paris will act as test run, but that concept is a blue sky concept Disney has that they will use with Star Wars land.

Nothing Disney or Universal adds to their parks will demolish each others attendance.
Universal gained after Potter, and Disney still didn't lose customers. Same will happen with Star Wars and anything else Disney adds. Universal will still have people at their parks and not lose customers.

At this point, I think everybody else (SeaWorld especially) probably has more to worry about than Disney/Universal about each other. They're growing the market but also taking all of that growth. There's nothing left for anybody else in or around Orlando.

In that sense, the smartest thing Six Flags has done is stayed out of Florida...

 

[quinnmac000]

I would however argue those people who already were going to Universal would go to Universal anyways. The new park most likely would need to attract demographics with large disposable incomes more so than just retaining the same demographic currently. Disney is starting to do that with all the male IPs being the main focus of the parks.

I do think the star wars hotel potentially will hurt Universal at the same time hurt Disney parks. People will have to choose between the parks or for a room. At that price point, its really expensive for a very short experience.

With UniversalDisney getting in each others lane, that's why its important for Universal to diversify instead of just focusing on just the BIG IPs but on more niche which aren't being represented in any other theme park market. It doesn't need to be full land on one IP but even a toon lagoon version with a bunch of IPs represented could bring a lot of people who enjoy those IPs into the park that normally don't go to theme parks because they didn't have things that interested them. The Big money makers are assured to bring in the masses but not those who don't like mass marketed products.

 

[Brian G.]

Let's also not pretend that the SW hotel, which is being touted as a high-concept idea, is a risk itself. So Universal building a new, state-of-the-art theme park is a bigger risk than that of a hotel idea that we have no idea if people will pay the premium for?

 

[Ryan]

We can argue back and forth whether or not Uni should build the park, but do you really think they're just not going to? Really? Really?!

 

[bob albert]

Orlando is the fastest growing major city in america. Florida is growing in nearby areas in general. Universal and Disney could build new parks on that alone at some point. Also disney is not going to be a focal point for me an many other out of state visitors as long as they restrict the value seasonal passes to in state guests.

 

[Imperius]

Yeah. While the Star Wars hotel sounds great they are relying a lot of I'm sure underpaid "actors" to build the experience once there.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

The Star Wars Hilton Resort is far more of a risk to Disney than a 4th park to Universal is.