Universal Orlando starts pitching Epic Universe with details about Celestial Park

'Cause in M'erica if you don't keep up with the Jones' you are a big loser.

Why do they have to "catch up?"

Comcast? Cause Comcast keeps looking at how reliable that Parks & Experiences bottom line is at Disney, especially when Ad Revenue at Cable and Broadcast is ever falling?

Uni Parks 2022 7.5 B up 49.3%
Dis Parks 2022 32.5 B up 36%

fyi Dis 2017 was 18.4 B

Hence why also

Volcano Bay, Cabana Bay / TX Kids Park / Vegas Horror / UK Park / flirting with buying Port Adventura again

That doesn't answer the question at all. Why do they have to make more/less/same as their competition? For what purpose?

While I tend to discount “this is the end of Disney” talk I do think this park will mark a sizable change in the market.

First, the park looks gorgeous and is opening with a full slate of rides, more then IoA opened with. We probably need to go back to the 70s to find a park opening in this country with as many choices. I can’t wait to go there.

But getting back to the main point, Universal has never been a full week destination to most folks, as stated by the parks executive within 2 min of the start of the video, they are now targeting week long stays. That’s important, because the average American can only take a week off at a time. Instead of choosing a week long trip to Universal and Disney/Sea World/Beach they are trying to join Disney as the only option to spend an entire week at one resort. If they can convince more families to make that leap it will hurt Disney’s bottom line. If they give those families a better time then Disney, and siphon repeat visits instead of the mouse it will hurt more. If Epic is as epic as it looks, it might make Universal the premier resort in FL. It won’t kill Disney but it will be the end of an era where the mouse was main driver of visitors and potentially start a resort war. Which will be great for us.

I totally disagree. I don't think it's an either/or situation, or even a 0.2-sum game. The annual passenger count at MCO hasn't been flat or negative, maybe ever, so as the attraction count has grown, so has the number of people coming here. People were making this same prediction when both Harry Potter lands opened. It never materialized. Disney's bottom line will be just fine. The reverse has been true as well. Disney opening Pandora, Star Wars, Toy Story, New Fantasyland has been great for Disney, but not at Universal's expense.

If any case is to be made about harm to the business, it would be for SeaWorld or any other off-property minor attractions that exist where they do by proximity, as "add-ons."

I'm with Jeff. Rising tides, boats, etc.

Showing my age, but remember when it was possible to comfortably do Universal, Disney, and all the water parks and Downtown Disney in a week?

Is there still an "everything but Disney" ticket? I remember something like 15 years ago I bought a ticket good for 14 days at SWO, USF, IOA, and BGT (and I think their water parks). It was a pretty good way to make a week out of being in Orlando and not going to Disney. If that thing exists and Universal pulls out of that deal, then that feels like a pretty big "peace out" to the SEAS (oops, I mean United whatever) parks.

My wife and I did all 4 Disney parks, Sea World, and Universal the week that Covid let itself be known. I remember my mom warning us about a new virus which we were annoyed by because she did the same thing when we were on our honeymoon with SARS. Ha ha.

There are nearly 22 million people in Florida...and the state is still growing. Sometimes we travel up to Orlando for long weekends...and don't visit any of the big parks. I think Sea World, as long as it continues to redefine itself with rides, and the rest of the second and third tier attractions in Florida have a market in Floridians...even if the out of state visitor never ventures off Disney or Universal property.

ApolloAndy:

Is there still an "everything but Disney" ticket?

Nope. I think that died between Potterverse 1.0 and 2.0. I know it wasn't around in early '22, but not sure how much farther back you have to go. It was a great deal though.

That doesn't answer the question at all. Why do they have to make more/less/same as their competition? For what purpose?

Not sure what you missed, but when you are one of the biggest media conglomerates in the world, and your main competitor is making 30B plus a year in a segment reliably and growing it, and you also are in the same segment but only making roughly 20% of the same money, and a bigger % of your revenue is tied to ad sales that are falling of a cliff, because you own way more cable channels and etc then them, and you don’t have ESPN to prop the numbers up. You need to start finding areas of growth.

Cable channels and internet service are not high growth areas. Building resorts and overcharging for accommodation and food are, because the previous owners didn’t invest much until they realized how much Potter paid off. I bet Uni time shares are just around the corner. Hell they finally realized they should build a Hotel in Hollywood instead of having another parking lot.

Sharpel007:

When... You need to start finding areas of growth.

Why? What happens if they don't? The theme park wing of NBCUniversal has become more and more valuable for as long as it's been part of the company. It has nothing to do with Disney. It's. Not. Zero-sum.

Jeff:

Why? What happens if they don't? The theme park wing of NBCUniversal has become more and more valuable for as long as it's been part of the company. It has nothing to do with Disney. It's. Not. Zero-sum.

Well they certainly can’t remain stagnant. You know as well as anyone that they have to continue to keep adding the ‘wow’. That’s just the nature of the theme park industry.

I think the point Jeff is trying to make is that they're going to make additions based on their own goals and strategy rather than trying to chase the mouse directly.

PhantomTails:

I think the point Jeff is trying to make is that they're going to make additions based on their own goals and strategy rather than trying to chase the mouse directly.

Yea. I get that too. As they should. IMO, universal’s customer is slightly different than Disney. In that their base would skew older like teens and 20 something that have outgrown Disney. Disney will always have the market cornered on the families with kids under 12 crowd.

My point is that the versus arguments for literally anything are rooted in fandom and not any actual business state or intention. For the last few years, every time someone announced a new electric vehicle, some idiot in the press fueled by click-bait calls it a "Tesla killer," as if the only possible outcome is that one replaces the other. That's stupid. The Model Y is still one of the best selling cars right now, despite a bunch of other new cars that are also selling fairly well. That's not a zero-sum game either.

So Universal doesn't have to grow their business because of Disney, and Disney isn't at risk because Universal grows their business. We've been watching this dynamic now for three decades in Orlando. Aside from the stagnation in the Vivendi days off Kirkman Rd., both resorts have only moved in one direction, and not at each other's expense.

Orlando is more of a co-op than anything else. Building a new park will likely just cause a revenue increase at the other parks. I would imagine that visitors to Epic will stop by another non universal park whilst they are visiting.

Sure, someone might change their plans and do Universal instead of Disney because of the new park. But there is going to be someone else to replace them. Or someone else who flipped the other direction.

Even when I was there in December, it was for Uni/SW/BG. But I did pop over for the Christmas event one night and also dinner at Jaleo on another night, along with some chocolates from the chocolatier. So in some fashion everyone made a few bucks while I was in town. I would imagine that this is more typical of the average guest than limiting their visit to strictly one little world and not venturing out anywhere else.

So Universal doesn't have to grow their business because of Disney, and Disney isn't at risk because Universal grows their business.

You acted like I said Disney is going to get "hammered", or some other silly thing. I never said Disney was going to lose anything, or has to react.

They just have whole decades and billions in investment start.

I just pointed out that roughly 75% of Comcast revenue is coming from areas of contraction or stagnation.

Its also why the Disney Parks are getting more cash, cause ABC, Cable, and ESPN are in freefall.

Buying more Cable Channels or etc has already been done and not worked out, building more parks and hotels is giving better returns.

Im also talking Macro, not Orlando Micro.

But if you think someone at Uni Parks is in some Ivory Tower, and their CEO and shareholders are not edging them with their elbow about how industry wide envious they are of their main competitors parks and resorts revenue, crowds, occupation rates, you are delusional.

I am just saying the one great thing Eisner did is mature and expand the Parks and Resorts division in the 90s and early 2000 at considerable rate, and they continue to invest Billions fairly wisely, as much as people bitch about it. And parks that once lost money now make $.

For the last few years, every time someone announced a new electric vehicle, some idiot in the press fueled by click-bait calls it a "Tesla killer," as if the only possible outcome is that one replaces the other.

Where did I say Epic would kill or replace WDW? I have only been talking about matching revenue.

They are just trying to make as much money as Disney does, and get hotel rates and lengths of stays like Disney.

We've been watching this dynamic now for three decades in Orlando. Aside from the stagnation in the Vivendi days off Kirkman Rd., both resorts have only moved in one direction, and not at each other's expense.

Again I'm not talking about just Orlando, Im talking about the whole division, its clear they are building furiously at pace not seen since Eisner. Beijing just opened, and Phase 2 is in 2025 and set to have 6 hotels (in Asia again a step behind TDL opened in 83, USJ in 01 / DLHK in 05, DLSH in 16) TX kids park, Vega horror attraction, 400 acres in UK, and obviously Epic and 3 Hotels.

I have no idea what you're talking about. It muse be the delusions.