Universal Orlando Resort Expansion (Part 1)

[NJBrandon]

Will the buyer be announced on the 18th, or will they keep it under the radar?

I'm assuming it'll be a public auction that you can follow online.

 

[Teebin]

Will the buyer be announced on the 18th, or will they keep it under the radar?

As the buy will be handled by lawyers and phone-in, it may not be known until days later.

I'm assuming it'll be a public auction that you can follow online.

Do you know who the auction group is? I can't find anything.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

If you have the right ips going into it it can go over huge, look at the increase of attendance that hp had at both parks. If it has nothing that interest people then for sure it will fail but if it sparks the people's interest it will be a hit with what they are doing with their quality they are putting out there.

What IPs would be the right ones though? I feel like all the good ones are taken, at least the ones that are attainable and can anchor a park.

Hard Rock park was a failure because of its location....it should have been built in Las Vegas.

California Adventure sucked when it first opened. IOA was not a failure, but not as popular as it could have been, but was severely let down by the useless "Universal Escape" marketing campaign

Fair enough. I would still think that this market is saturated though. Especially if a third park from Universal isn't unique from the others (pay admission, ride rides, etc.).

I imagine UNI could do well with a third theme park gate in Orlando. I feel it is really about keeping people on site for more days.

While that's definitely the goal, I think Universal could very well be happy with their current set up in stealing days from Disney and taking market share. As it stands, Universal is still not THE Orlando vacation yet, and the majority of tourists still don't spend their entire trips there. I think their current strategy is fine, taking away people's Disney days (which they can do very well with the two parks that they have). Adding another park with the hope of shifting the "Disney vacation" to the "Universal vacation" seems like setting themselves up for failure IMO.

 

[*Q*]

I suppose this goes without saying, but any bid that Universal makes for the land will almost certainly be done through a dummy corporation.

 

[Disneyhead]

^ I was under the impression that a buyer could step in before the auction, pay a lot more than asking, and end the whole thing. Perhaps not. Question is, how high could it go? 500 million, 800?

The price as it stands is what is owed on the loan ($250M is the rumored amount) which is significantly under market value. The bank could accept that or even a short sale, but they know the value of the land is far higher than the owed sum. So they will take it to auction.

I suppose this goes without saying, but any bid that Universal makes for the land will almost certainly be done through a dummy corporation.

IDK, Universal has recently made it known that they see an opportunity in Orlando for aggressive expansion.

 

[Disneyhead]

Sorry, double post.

 

[UK-Trigg]

I know a lot of brits who used to do 2 week Disney holidays who now do a 10 day 4 day split. Add in the water park and a plethora of new attractions and this will probably not only increase the amount of days people spend at uni but also increase the amount of people doing so, recent annual pass increases could also work in Uni's favour.

I just spent 14 days at uni and didn't set foot on Disney property even though I'm an AP holder, probably my last Disney annual pass I hasten to add.

Will be interesting in the coming years to see how the dynamic changes but I do worry about crowding, if they don't/can't expand their offerings whilst dramatically increasing hotels then we could end up with a similar problem that Disney has and see huge price increase after price increase to try and keep the crowds at bay, although for very different reasons.

I genuinely think if the upturn continues at such a staggering pace then a third get will turn from a pipe dream into a must, although avatar, star wars and toy story could indeed swing the pendulum once more.

exciting times ahead in theme park land.

 

[Hockeyman55]

I know a lot of brits who used to do 2 week Disney holidays who now do a 10 day 4 day split. Add in the water park and a plethora of new attractions and this will probably not only increase the amount of days people spend at uni but also increase the amount of people doing so, recent annual pass increases could also work in Uni's favour.

I just spent 14 days at uni and didn't set foot on Disney property even though I'm an AP holder, probably my last Disney annual pass I hasten to add.

Will be interesting in the coming years to see how the dynamic changes but I do worry about crowding, if they don't/can't expand their offerings whilst dramatically increasing hotels then we could end up with a similar problem that Disney has and see huge price increase after price increase to try and keep the crowds at bay, although for very different reasons.

I genuinely think if the upturn continues at such a staggering pace then a third get will turn from a pipe dream into a must, although avatar, star wars and toy story could indeed swing the pendulum once more.

exciting times ahead in theme park land.

What is interesting with this being your last WDW AP is that you are also a DVC member. I wonder how many other DVCers will be taken the same route

 

[UK-Trigg]

What is interesting with this being your last WDW AP is that you are also a DVC member. I wonder how many other DVCers will be taken the same route

I will still use my DVC and am still happy I purchased it, even though I only have the bear minimum points it had afforded me multiple trips a year for the last few years both at Disney and Uni.

I'm currently planning for May and will go to Disney parks as I have a new partner who's never been and my AP will still be valid.

That said though I can see me banking points and not going every year like I have in the past, I am also more than happy to stay DVC and not visit Disney parks as I do still enjoy the resorts and restaurants.

We will probably do the typical 10 day 4 day split but if I was traveling solo I would definitely spend more of my time at uni than Disney.

As for other DVC owners, many a staunch Disney and I guess they will go regardless, this is the way Disney sees it and it is the very reason we are are where we are today.

 

[Nick]

What is interesting with this being your last WDW AP is that you are also a DVC member. I wonder how many other DVCers will be taken the same route

It's easy to be a DVCer and not go to the parks. The hotels are what the sell you on to begin with. Just need a car and you could spend a week at Disney w/o ever going in their parks.

That's actually more my style vacation anyway. Have a few days of simply doing nothing, go to Uni a bit, SW, I-drive. And in the scheme of things all of that is pretty damn close to WDW anyway.

 

[Teebin]

It's easy to be a DVCer and not go to the parks. The hotels are what the sell you on to begin with. Just need a car and you could spend a week at Disney w/o ever going in their parks.

That's actually more my style vacation anyway. Have a few days of simply doing nothing, go to Uni a bit, SW, I-drive. And in the scheme of things all of that is pretty damn close to WDW anyway.

And you do this and live in Orlando? Or was that an example?

 

[Nick]

And you do this and live in Orlando? Or was that an example?

It was an example. I've never actually done that, but know many who do.

I will say my family does own into DVC though. We bought in years and years ago when it was still a good deal and we lived up north. We slowly migrated down, moving several states until we finally hit Orlando. We rarely use DVC on the parks anymore (sometimes short stays). Mostly we use the points for cruises or to go to Disney's DVC's in Hilton Head, Vero Beach or Aulani (yes, we have done all of those) since we live so close to the parks.

 

[Jon84]

A huge expansion will mean bigger changes for the domestic market balance, as I see people deciding between WDW or UOR for shorter trips.

For International visitors, I'd personally still visit Orlando for 2 weeks, I may spend an extra 2 days in UOR, but I'd still have my UOR AP which I had before (others may have a 14 day UOR ticket), and a 14 day WDW ticket.

The only extra money UOR may get out of an international visitor may be food and souvenirs.

 

[Jon84]

I know a lot of brits who used to do 2 week Disney holidays who now do a 10 day 4 day split. Add in the water park and a plethora of new attractions and this will probably not only increase the amount of days people spend at uni but also increase the amount of people doing so, recent annual pass increases could also work in Uni's favour.

I just spent 14 days at uni and didn't set foot on Disney property even though I'm an AP holder, probably my last Disney annual pass I hasten to add.

Will be interesting in the coming years to see how the dynamic changes but I do worry about crowding, if they don't/can't expand their offerings whilst dramatically increasing hotels then we could end up with a similar problem that Disney has and see huge price increase after price increase to try and keep the crowds at bay, although for very different reasons.

I genuinely think if the upturn continues at such a staggering pace then a third get will turn from a pipe dream into a must, although avatar, star wars and toy story could indeed swing the pendulum once more.

exciting times ahead in theme park land.

This could be very true for repeat visitors. There are still many many many families who have never been, and once their kids are old enough they'll make their once in a lifetime trip.

It would be very interesting to see survey results that show what the split of repeat and once in lifetime visitors are.

I think sometimes on the forum we lose sight of first time visitors being that we are all multiple visitors. On OU we get alot less new users who are planning their first ever trip. Some of the other forums, they have newbies daily, asking newbie/repeat questions everyday.

 

[amityboattours]

I'm a UK visitor and we did a trip this August for 8 days, spending 2 days at Universal and 6 at Disney. After upgrading our 2 week £120 (Approx $180) Universal tickets to Universal Power Pass AP's for $30, we are heading back for 2 weeks of JUST Universal in Feb 2016. We're staying 2 weeks at Cabana Bay for about £750 ALL IN after discounts (Approx $1200).
We went to Guest Services at Disney and were told that it would cost us about $400 to upgrade our 2 week Disney tickets to AP's, which is a hell of a lot more money (That's before the current rise too).
I'll be honest, I am mostly SO looking forward to not having to plan 14 days of which park I will be at on which day, having to wake up at 05:00 UK time to book Fast Passes, make sure we're up for rope drop every day to ensure we get on a decent amount of rides etc. I'm just gonna chill and not feel guilty when we need a pool day to recover!
A small part of me will probably find it strange to have made such a long journey and not head to WDW even once, but I think that financially and from a POV of just 'felling like it's a vacation instead of a military planned operation', I think our future now lies exclusively with Uni, with Disney maybe done every 3 years, or after a new major attraction opens there (which could be even longer!).

 

[IzzyB]

I think it is safe to say that after Nov 18th we should know whether Uni ever plans to open a 3rd gate. Because if they are, I would think they would buy this land since it is a bank auction. I agree with others, no one will know what they plan to do until after the 18th.

 

[GadgetGuru]

Obviously, there's a ton of speculation about all of this. That being said, there's a lot of different ways this could happen. Universal could buy a (large) portion of the land after the sale from the buyer. They could buy the whole plot and then sell a (small-ish) portion of the land in order to help finance the purchase.

It'll all be done through a series of dummy corporations and it will be impossible to know who bought the land for what for a very long time. If the media finds out the plans, that will drastically change the buyer's ability to cheaply develop on it for the intended purpose.

 

[Teebin]

^ So, if Comcast bids on it, and doesn't get it, we may never know that they bid on it at all. That will be a vague unjudgeable pisser huh?

 

[Teebin]

So, I decided to google "street view" travel from the the Universal overpass down to this property that is coming up for auction. I was surprised at how few stop lights there were and how fast it was to get there. The only thing I was mortified by was how Universal Blvd drives right by the Orlando Eye. This had me deflated for a moment until I made the curve and traveled halfway down the property to the center of the convention center property. When I turned back looking across the land in question, I was pleased to see that the Eye was but a speck on the horizon:

 

[s8film40]

So, I decided to google "street view" travel from the the Universal overpass down to this property that is coming up for auction. I was surprised at how few stop lights there were and how fast it was to get there. The only thing I was mortified by was how Universal Blvd drives right by the Orlando Eye. This had me deflated for a moment until I made the curve and traveled halfway down the property to the center of the convention center property. When I turned back looking across the land in question, I was pleased to see that the Eye was but a speck on the horizon:

I suppose the Skyplex thing would be an even bigger eyesore viewable from this property. Which makes it even more interesting since Universal has recently been so opposed to this.