Universal Kids Resort - Frisco, Texas

[rabbitsmoon]

Efteling to UKR is such a stark comparison. Granted, one has been building up for 75 years, and European parks seem to offer better value on average than their US counterparts, so it's not really fair.

But it is an interesting cultural comparison. I love how much being at Efteling feels like being at a really nice public park. Everything in the fairytale forest is so cool, and it's even better because it's swathed in greenery. They make a real effort to be ecologically minded, and it shows.

Meanwhile, UKR sprouted in sprawl of north Dallas. I guess we shouldn't be surprised there's so much concrete.

 

[TexasMidway]

Meanwhile, UKR sprouted in sprawl of north Dallas. I guess we shouldn't be surprised there's so much concrete.

I think that's where a lot of the frustration lies as well. UKR was supposed to provide more of an escape from the concrete jungle of DFW.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Efteling to UKR is such a stark comparison. Granted, one has been building up for 75 years, and European parks seem to offer better value on average than their US counterparts, so it's not really fair.

It's not a comparison anyone should be making. Does Eftling have the same reduced capacity of the Texas park? No, so it has more money per day they can make to reinvest and pay off projects. Kaatsheuvel also doesn't have the same economic or social cirucmstance that Dallas-Fort Worth has. Lets look at Disney+ pricing as an example: in America is $11.99 a month, in India it's $0.84.

But it does support the argument they should have contracted this out and they would have had a much better result. Any of the European operators, even Merlin or Six Flags (and I’m not trying to be mean, they just know how to design better to the budget they had).

Six Flags should not operate this park. This is ridiculous.

 

[rabbitsmoon]

It's not a comparison anyone should be making. Does Eftling have the same reduced capacity of the Texas park? No, so it has more money per day they can make to reinvest and pay off projects. Kaatsheuvel also doesn't have the same economic or social cirucmstance that Dallas-Fort Worth has. Lets look at Disney+ pricing as an example: in America is $11.99 a month, in India it's $0.84.

Also, even though it's a private company, The Efteling Nature Park Foundation controls all the shares and reinvests the profits directly back into the park. Worlds away from a park run by a publicly-traded, multinational media conglomerate.

I'm a proud Texan, but it's hard not to be jealous of the way they do things over there sometimes. If I could pick one thing to steal from the Netherlands, though, it would probably be the bike lanes.

 

[Disneyhead]

Rando Blogger: "It looks like a prison!"

Me: "Tell me you've never seen Jurassic World without telling me you've never seen Jurassic World."

 

[MAC]

I’m at Efteling right now and can wax poetic for days (other than the heat dome). Efteling is an impossible benchmark. They are building a world class destination park on a regional budget and doing so splendidly.

But it does support the argument they should have contracted this out and they would have had a much better result. Any of the European operators, even Merlin or Six Flags (and I’m not trying to be mean, they just know how to design better to the budget they had).

A lot of the positivity relies on Universal Kids being the first exposure to a regional kids park, because it doesn’t otherwise hold up to any of them in either cost or quality. It just has a lot of recognizable IP. Preying on naivity of the clientele. It will probably be successful, unfortunately, as a result.

Efteling is one that I'd love to get to if I'm ever in the Netherlands. Going back ~15 years now, it's one that's always intrigued me. A company I worked for had a bit of work there and was hoping to go there, but no luck. Hope you're having a great time!

 

[Jake S]

It's not a comparison anyone should be making. Does Eftling have the same reduced capacity of the Texas park? No, so it has more money per day they can make to reinvest and pay off projects. Kaatsheuvel also doesn't have the same economic or social cirucmstance that Dallas-Fort Worth has. Let’s look at Disney+ pricing as an example: in America is $11.99 a month, in India it's $0.84.

Is Efteling in India?

 

[brianlo]

Six Flags should not operate this park. This is ridiculous.

Sorry, I didn’t mean operate, contracted out design work. Six flags would obviously be a last resort, but they are able to produce more for the dollar figures mentioned.

It's not a comparison anyone should be making. Does Eftling have the same reduced capacity of the Texas park?

Interestingly they do have environment unique visitor limits and are capped at 5M.

As I lead with though, it’s not a fair expectancy, they are totally different products.

But it’s more about dollar for product. The grand hotel and Danse Macrbe are <100M for the package. Symbolica still is in the wheelhouse of 50-60M inflation adjusted. And no, I have absolutely zero expectation that UKR should remotely be building those type of things for the product they were making. But it speaks to the gap in Universal destination designers whom were cozy with their 7.5B budget, not being able to do much of anything at 550M. It wasn’t an issue with the budget, it was an issue that the designers had.

Neither major destination operator in Florida can build anything of quality within the price range of regional parks, so I’m confused why they tried. Contract it out or don’t get into the game.

 

[brianlo]

Is Efteling in India?

Disney plus costs more in Netherlands and Western Europe than the US. We can probably just put that rickety argument to bed.