The Universal Orlando advantage

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Brian Noble said:
Add it all up, and the costs of going to Orlando are a cool $3K plus attraction tickets. In light of that, the $300 difference between Disney and Universal+Busch really isn't that important---it's less than 10% of the total vacation price.

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Posts like this really drive home the point that I need to appreciate being single while I still am :) For about that budget I spent 2 weeks in Japan last year. My Germany trip this year was about that much overall, too (could have been less but I splurged on the hotel in Berlin)

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rOLLocOASt said:
While I don't disagree, I'm a big fan of the 10 day non-expiring park hopper.

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I still have 4 days left on a 6-day non-expiring parkhopper. I'm definitely a fan of this approach, if you can get it. Given that I get to Disney about every 10 years, those 4 days could last me a while. :)

I like the Disney parks, and definitely see the appeal, but like Jeff I'd rather be doing the Universal and Busch parks most of the time.

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kevin38 said:

Disney's model is is to get families with $100,000 a year in income (or more)that increases per cap spending .Reducing ticket prices would get us low class,low income people in the park who eat picnic lunch's out of our cars ,eat breakfast before we get there, and eat dinner after we leave.But you can't get any of our money if you do not get us in your park.

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I am curious about your source for this information, or is it just conjecture? According to the US Census Bureau the median family income in the US is just over $65k per year. Your idea asserts that Disney only wants business from folks in the top third income range. I would have to disagree.

A casual visitor will possibly follow your idea, but the folks Disney really wants are the ones who see Lake Buena Vista as Mecca. People save for years to spend a week at Disney. These folks buy into the hype and buy then everything in sight.

The most recent push at families provided low-cost off-season packages. Remember the family of four for $1500 push? You can't beat that - especially if you drive there. Hotel and passes. For a little more they added "fast" food. Add in more you get "sit down" food. Really not a bad deal.

Targeting only families with income over $100k misses a very large part of the market. And honestly, as a member of that group, I have never been targeted by Disney - and I am a former annual pass holder.

They're certainly not targeting the high end when they're building hundreds (thousands?) of rooms on-property that go for $79 a night in the "value" season. All-Star and Pop Century are huge, and I think Pop Century is only partially finished.