2023 Holidays at Universal Orlando (Nov 17 - Dec 31)

[Mad Dog]

I have no issue with the Universal Christmas stuff, except for their operational Grinch issues this year. I even think they're better than the Disney paywall stuff. I have a great time at Universal during the holidays. My concern, is that for some reason, Universal management underestimated the strength of the Holiday package they have, and failed to advertise and articulate it to the public properly 'this' year. Hopefully they get back on track in 2024, and advertise its' official dates and events in the summer so tourists can make the proper on site reservations for the 2024 season. If you don't tell people about something, far enough in advance to plan, than it's Universal's fault that people don't show up. Basic Marketing 101. That's really not asking for much.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

I have no issue with the Universal Christmas stuff, except for their operational Grinch issues this year. I even think they're better than the Disney paywall stuff. I have a great time at Universal during the holidays. My concern, is that for some reason, Universal management underestimated the strength of the Holiday package they have, and failed to advertise and articulate it to the public properly 'this' year. Hopefully they get back on track in 2024, and advertise its' official dates and events in the summer so tourists can make the proper on site reservations for the 2024 season. If you don't tell people about something, far enough in advance to plan, than it's Universal's fault that people don't show up. Basic Marketing 101. That's really not asking for much.

To be fair, I think they used Basic Marketing 101 haha…it just wasn’t about driving attendance between the last week of November/first week of December, it was all about preventing any sort of attendance slump that week before Thanksgiving.

 

[Brian G.]

I have no issue with the Universal Christmas stuff, except for their operational Grinch issues this year. I even think they're better than the Disney paywall stuff. I have a great time at Universal during the holidays. My concern, is that for some reason, Universal management underestimated the strength of the Holiday package they have, and failed to advertise and articulate it to the public properly 'this' year. Hopefully they get back on track in 2024, and advertise its' official dates and events in the summer so tourists can make the proper on site reservations for the 2024 season. If you don't tell people about something, far enough in advance to plan, than it's Universal's fault that people don't show up. Basic Marketing 101. That's really not asking for much.

I have no intel on this so this is just me spitballin'.

But I think they originally had another date in mind, i.e. Nov 10, but realized the park wouldn't be ready by then - so it threw everything off.

 

[Mad Dog]

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To be fair, I think they used Basic Marketing 101 haha…it just wasn’t about driving attendance between the last week of November/first week of December, it was all about preventing any sort of attendance slump that week before Thanksgiving.

yeah, that's what I speculated before. No Holiday stuff, no tourists booking for that week. So don't tell them. My conspiracy theory.

 

[IzzyB]

Exactly. The travel oriented businesses are all reporting strong demand and strong spending. I think WDW and Universal read the tea leaves wrong and paid for their lackluster 2023 effort with low crowds, and a reflection on their inadequate response to major capacity and operational issues, and big price jumps, in 2022 that turned a lot of people off traveling to their parks.

I don't know how they messed this one up. I mean all I hear about is how travel is up and I do feel it too. However, I will say it does seem down in Orlando. Flights in and out friends took were not full or anywhere close to full. And friends who have gone to the parks over Thanksgiving commented about how they were not as busy as expected. But Dollywood from the fan pages seemed massively busy at the same time. I know the resort we went to was fully booked and felt very busy. They had to move where the kids craft were being done and adding more tables because the smaller temp room was not cutting it. So travel overall seemed busy over Thankgiving.

Now I dont know what the village is, but for what Christmas is Universal can’t really do much better IMO. They give you a parade, a themed show, meet-and-greets and photo ops, holiday food options (the fire nog is great btw) and a bunch of music and decorations. I will say I’ve never been a fan of the Grinch show, but the fact is it’s there and it’s popular, so there’s really nothing overtly “Christmas” that they’re missing.

I disagree, I think they could use an additional show. While I agree that the parks do the same shows year over year, if they want to be better than sea world they could use more shows. Sea World has Sesame Street, Mrs Clause (new this year), O Wonderous Nights, ice skating, trees, and fireworks. Universal only has grinch, parade, and castle. Right? That is 6 vs 3. While I don't think they need to mix it up or care about a night club changing, I do think if they truly want to compete they would add more shows. HOWEVER, even though Sea World is better, I doubt attendance is better. So does it really matter? Only to us fans. Which is why I agree it is a financial decision and Uni doesn't need to change what it offers. Maybe every so many years add something and heavily advertise it and this will slowly bring up the offerings. But I don't think a wise financial decision is to add a bunch all at once.

Now I also agree with Mad Dog that they needed to advertise dates well in advance. As someone that plans in advance I always am looking for starting dates when planning my vacations so I know when I am at a location what I want to do/see will be open/available. Not giving dates of their holiday offerings well in advance was a mistake.

 

[Brian G.]

I don't know how they messed this one up. I mean all I hear about is how travel is up and I do feel it too. However, I will say it does seem down in Orlando. Flights in and out friends took were not full or anywhere close to full. And friends who have gone to the parks over Thanksgiving commented about how they were not as busy as expected. But Dollywood from the fan pages seemed massively busy at the same time. I know the resort we went to was fully booked and felt very busy. They had to move where the kids craft were being done and adding more tables because the smaller temp room was not cutting it. So travel overall seemed busy over Thankgiving.

I disagree, I think they could use an additional show. While I agree that the parks do the same shows year over year, if they want to be better than sea world they could use more shows. Sea World has Sesame Street, Mrs Clause (new this year), O Wonderous Nights, ice skating, trees, and fireworks. Universal only has grinch, parade, and castle. Right? That is 6 vs 3. While I don't think they need to mix it up or care about a night club changing, I do think if they truly want to compete they would add more shows. HOWEVER, even though Sea World is better, I doubt attendance is better. So does it really matter? Only to us fans. Which is why I agree it is a financial decision and Uni doesn't need to change what it offers. Maybe every so many years add something and heavily advertise it and this will slowly bring up the offerings. But I don't think a wise financial decision is to add a bunch all at once.

Now I also agree with Mad Dog that they needed to advertise dates well in advance. As someone that plans in advance I always am looking for starting dates when planning my vacations so I know when I am at a location what I want to do/see will be open/available. Not giving dates of their holiday offerings well in advance was a mistake.

Just a hunch - but I do anticipate some adjustments with Epic opening soon; especially with the Parade.

 

[Mad Dog]

Just a hunch - but I do anticipate some adjustments with Epic opening soon; especially with the Parade.

Ip's? That's what I'd guess....The parade is wonderful even with a few of the old IP's, but new stuff is a good marketing pull. I actually think Universal's Macy Parade is way more entertaining than the NY Parade that has gotten away from having much Christmas stuff.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I know HHN being extended threw a wrench in their schedule... but HHN's extension was announced in Early July. I'd imagine they would have known by then the holidays would be pushed back a week, but then again Universal doesn't know if Red Coconut Club will be open later today when you ask them lol

 

[Brian G.]

I know HHN being extended threw a wrench in their schedule... but HHN's extension was announced in Early July. I'd imagine they would have known by then the holidays would be pushed back a week, but then again Universal doesn't know if Red Coconut Club will be open later today when you ask them lol

I know it sounds easy as that but when one thing changes, it's gotta go through all the ladders of corporate before making its way back down. It's also possible they didn't realize they needed to make that change until a little later down the road, too.

Granted, this is all hypothetical - but yeah... lol

I tried to see what their usual announcement schedule was for Christmas the last few years (pre-COVID stuff, too) and it kinda zig zags so no way to really say what the MO is.

 

[Legacy]

All I want Universal to do is an absurd, Osborne-style Christmas-lights display, since the park’s structure mimics the old “Streets of America” layout, with periodic music programs. And carolers.

That’s it. Do that, and the Studios becomes my favorite.

 

[IzzyB]

All I want Universal to do is an absurd, Osborne-style Christmas-lights display, since the park’s structure mimics the old “Streets of America” layout, with periodic music programs. And carolers.

That’s it. Do that, and the Studios becomes my favorite.

I actually could see something like that effecting attendance as for many years that boosted Disney Studios numbers as that park was very sad at the time.

 

[Tbad556]

All I want Universal to do is an absurd, Osborne-style Christmas-lights display, since the park’s structure mimics the old “Streets of America” layout, with periodic music programs. And carolers.

That’s it. Do that, and the Studios becomes my favorite.

This has been my dream since 2015. Lights > projections. I'd pay for an upcharge holiday event if it was to the scale of Osborne lights.

Circling back, I will absolutely agree that Universal's holiday date releases this year were pretty sloppy and that continues with the fact that New Year's Eve is still largely unannounced less than a month out (though this is their norm for NYE). Especially since it's a different approach to the event this year from what I've been told -glances at the park hours-

 

[Brian G.]

Universal Orlando will host a variety of New Year’s Eve festivities that invite guests to bid farewell to 2023 and welcome 2024 with special experiences across the resort.

Ring in 2024 with New Year's Eve Festivities around Universal Orlando

Universal Orlando will host a variety of New Year’s Eve festivities that invite guests to bid farewell to 2023 and welcome 2024 with special experiences across the resort. THEME PARK FESTIVITIES This year’s in-park celebrations are expanding to include festivities in both Universal Studios Florida

www.insideuniversal.net

 

[GA-MBIT]

NYE at USF has consistently been pretty fun, I've gone the past few years with friends and it's a nice time with the DJ, Walk-around Christmas characters, and fireworks. I've been to Icon Park in the past but there really isn't a competition, especially after last year when they trapped some guests on the wheel and lost power totally. And I imagine any Disney park gets wayyy more crowded than either Studios park.

 

[IzzyB]

OK, looking to plan my first trip after Christmas and was deciding between Tuesday or Wednesday so went out to see the show calendar for that day and realize that Universals website is worse than Sea World which I honestly didn't think was possible. So downloaded app since it directed me to do that instead of getting show times on the website to then realize the app is also worse. Is there no way to see when shows are in advance before the day of the show? At Sea World I am so used to being able to see days in advance and plan out when I will get there based on the first show I want to see and then plan my day around that and the rides I know my kids will do. I was looking for Grinchmas, castle show, and parade times. I couldn't even get the Macy Day parade times for today never the less in the future. When I put in parade it tells me there are none today, I eventually found the parade at 5:30 today when I stopped using filters, but the castle show had no times under it.

Does anyone know when these shows normally happen? Are they they same every day?

 

[Mad Dog]

OK, looking to plan my first trip after Christmas and was deciding between Tuesday or Wednesday so went out to see the show calendar for that day and realize that Universals website is worse than Sea World which I honestly didn't think was possible. So downloaded app since it directed me to do that instead of getting show times on the website to then realize the app is also worse. Is there no way to see when shows are in advance before the day of the show? At Sea World I am so used to being able to see days in advance and plan out when I will get there based on the first show I want to see and then plan my day around that and the rides I know my kids will do. I was looking for Grinchmas, castle show, and parade times. I couldn't even get the Macy Day parade times for today never the less in the future. When I put in parade it tells me there are none today, I eventually found the parade at 5:30 today when I stopped using filters, but the castle show had no times under it.

Does anyone know when these shows normally happen? Are they they same every day?

Yes, I had a real argument, and I rarely ever argue, with the people at Guest Relations. We couldn't get the app to work on her phone properly, and neither could they. I voiced my issue with them hiding paper maps at that time, and then discontinuing listing show times on the few they put out. High tech is too often a few steps backward in the theme park world since they shifted reliance to confusing phone apps. And it takes a hell of a lot longer to find a show time on a phone app then it did when you just had to look for a show time on the paper maps. STUPID TREND. And its rare that any TM in the parks knows when and if a show will run ever since covid. Info is a mess there....Universal used to be soooo much better on that stuff before covid.

 

[IzzyB]

Yes, I had a real argument, and I rarely ever argue, with the people at Guest Relations. We couldn't get the app to work on her phone properly, and neither could they. I voiced my issue with them hiding paper maps at that time, and then discontinuing listing show times on the few they put out. High tech is too often a few steps backward in the theme park world since they shifted reliance to confusing phone apps. And it takes a hell of a lot longer to find a show time on a phone app then it did when you just had to look for a show time on the paper maps. STUPID TREND. And its rare that any TM in the parks knows when and if a show will run ever since covid. Info is a mess there....Universal used to be soooo much better on that stuff before covid.

Yeah SW you can only get paper at guest services and I did have issues finding their food booths information on the app, but when I asked was given a paper map. But the show times area on SW app is actually accurate and over the years has gotten easier to use and shows days in advance and can switch days easily. BUT their website also lists the information. Uni just directs you to a clunky app on their website with odd filters that don't seem to work with shows that don't always show a time. And I saw no way to look at future dates.

I don't mind the apps. I will say my kids miss maps, but they have now gotten used to no maps. But they really need to make their apps better if they are going to take away the map.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

OK, looking to plan my first trip after Christmas and was deciding between Tuesday or Wednesday so went out to see the show calendar for that day and realize that Universals website is worse than Sea World which I honestly didn't think was possible. So downloaded app since it directed me to do that instead of getting show times on the website to then realize the app is also worse. Is there no way to see when shows are in advance before the day of the show? At Sea World I am so used to being able to see days in advance and plan out when I will get there based on the first show I want to see and then plan my day around that and the rides I know my kids will do. I was looking for Grinchmas, castle show, and parade times. I couldn't even get the Macy Day parade times for today never the less in the future. When I put in parade it tells me there are none today, I eventually found the parade at 5:30 today when I stopped using filters, but the castle show had no times under it.

Does anyone know when these shows normally happen? Are they they same every day?

The Hogwarts shows are intermittent between dusk and whenever the park closes at like 6 or 7PM lol

I don't mind the use of an app as long as it's simple and updated... which SeaWorld somehow has managed to be the best at (excluding wait-times).

 

[OrlandoGuy]

Is there no way to see when shows are in advance before the day of the show?

I dont know but if you find out, let the Team Members know too

 

[IzzyB]

The Hogwarts shows are intermittent between dusk and whenever the park closes at like 6 or 7PM lol

I don't mind the use of an app as long as it's simple and updated... which SeaWorld somehow has managed to be the best at (excluding wait-times).

Gotcha, so it is every so many minutes. The park is open until 10 PM the two days I am looking.