Epic Universe expected to have $2 billion economic impact in first year

The Disney killer

I'm pretty sure Disney will be quite alive.

Oh I agree. I was just making fun of the people out there that think it’s going to kill or hurt Disney. Maybe a small dent, but nothing too bad. Two different markets for the most part.

For what it's worth, I'm visiting Florida this year at least in part because Epic Universe exists. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

(I also wanted to catch Weird Al live, so I figured two birds with one stone...)

$2B in a year. Chump change compared to Trump's $2B per day. Stupid tariffs. And stupid exaggeration.

Disney has some solid room discounts again, but they're typical of what was available pre-pandemic. Got a solid rate for my birthday weekend, which coincides with Independence Day.

And my pass renewal this year was brutal. About $900 for the Sorcerer's Pass, which is the one that blocks the two weeks around Christmas. I think that's about double what we paid in 2013, which had no blocks. On the plus side, the water park and golf upgrade was still only a hundred bucks, which is a steal.

That's nothing, I just forked over almost $1300 for Cedar Flags. (Gold Pass with all park add-on, Drink Pass and All Park All Season Fastlane.) Disney money for the Six Flags experience. But if I couldn't cut the line, I just wouldn't go, that's how I justify it.

(Sorry Travis)

I get it.

Tommy, it’s $1549 for an out of state WDW AP (unless you have DVC) so you still haven’t paid Disney money.

We also dropped the ~1400ish for a Cedar Flags "all-in" experience, but our local park is Kings Island and we've found it to be well-worth the money. All-park, FOL, food, drink, locker (for Soak City) from April til (now) December at a well-run park, yeah I can dig that. 4th year in a row we've done this.

We spent around $1350 for two passes. Prestige Pass, All Park add-on, All Season, All Park Drink and Dining. The Single use Fastlane with the Prestige Pass suits us fine. We can pick and choose which of the premium rides we get on each trip, and usually can get one or two of the others.

In our 60's, we don't rally power ride anymore.

We may try for Epic Universe next year.

I’ve got the whole suite at CP don’t remember what it cost but what sold me was that the FP was good for fall 2024 as well. 3 days at CP, 2 days at Knotts, and all of 2025, no brainer.

That's nuts with all of the add-ons, for a season that's barely half of a year. Hopefully you eat your weight in food and get a lot of laps in.

My $200 for a Six Flags all park pass, which I had been thinking was wasteful, suddenly seems thrifty.

To be clear, I still think even the Disney pass is valuable. A Disney cruise per person (family of four) comes out to about $350/person/day, and that only lasts three days or more. For a year of entertainment at four parks with a ton of concerts and special events, totally worth it. Sometimes all you need is to thank the Phoenicians.

I totally get it, especially if you live close enough to a park to see the fireworks. For me, Great Adventure is 90 minutes and $30-40 in tolls away; Dorney is about the same (less in tolls). So even $200 is a dubious proposition unless I'm pretty intentional about it this year.

Who said Cedar Fair is only half the year? They now have 1 all year parks and like 5-6 most of the year parks. I wouldn’t buy it just a summer that, I’m not sure I’ll get the FP next year, but with the 15 month window and my plans to go to Knotts (DL Magic Key holder) it made sense this year. Got to total up the cost per day to see if it makes sense.

I said it. Unless your mission is to travel around to multiple parks regularly (which is additional non-trivial cost), your local park is the one that matters most. And if it's in a place where it snows, it tends to be like 160 operating days.

Kings Island is my home park (I can hear the fireworks in the distance if conditions are right), and I still couldn't justify the all season dining. The gold pass dining plan is $145/pp. That would be $725 for my family, plus tax, and that doesn't even include drinks. What's a typical meal now... $16-$18? I'd have to eat 10 meals in the park just to break even, while sipping from one of those tiny plastic water cups. Actually more like 15+ if you account for the grossly inflated pricing.

No thanks.

I guess if you lived 60 miles away and planned on spending 5 or 6 full days in the park, I might be able to squint and make sense of it. But living nearby, most of our visits are around 4 hours. Partly due to schedules, partly due to the cost of food/drinks.