WDW’s crazy ticket prices

UOR is becoming more and more a formidable alternative to Disney. Not yet. But they used to basically live off Disney’s scraps, and now people plan vacation exclusively for UOR and skip Disney. With Epic Universe, this will only continue a trend.

Disney doesn’t need a fifth gate, though. They need to add attraction capacity to their existing gates. Other than MK, it is ridiculous how FEW rides there are at the moment at the other parks.

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Arizona, surely?

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When Epic Universe opens, that will definitely appeal to younger families since… Super Mario!

Disney is going to need to bring it to compete with UOR before long.

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Yes, exactly my point.

While I would love that, I don’t think most guests would agree 3 months out of the year. :joy: (Although arguably it’s more tolerable than Orlando …). Anaheim is too close to here to be economical. But Texas-ish would be optimally located.

Ah yes, I agree with this. And their water parks need some TLC.

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Central Louisiana… Once apon a time, Disney was considering land about 40 minutes from my house. Greedy politicians got in the way.

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I’d opt for this over TX

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How about doubling the size of DLP? Let the Europeans have our own Disney World. Then we wouldn’t need to cross the Atlantic. Which would be good for the climate.

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Yep. The gap is tightening already I think, especially on a per park basis. But to make another big jump, Epic Universe has to attract new guests (or better yet, steal from the Mouse) and not just cannibalize from the Studios and IOA. Going with younger kid-friendly IP’s to accomplish that is probably a good play. And Epic will have plenty for teens and adults too. The better the rivalry, the better for all of us.

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I’m really looking forward to Epic Universe! It should be a lot of fun.

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Well this is the most astute observation I’ve read all day.

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We have one of those in VA. When I was 8 I thought it was the most incredible place on the planet. The last time I went all I saw was trash and rust and really dirty water.

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This. Dining is a big part of my vacation experience sand I just can’t get excited about Bubba Gump and margaritaville, especially when they’re not much cheaper than citricos or a&c. The in park dining is abysmal, minus butterbeer and butterbeer ice cream.

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Did a little research on the Orlando Theme Parks market share since 2009. This is based on attendance, with Sea World being the other competitor not listed:

Disney World Universal Orlando
2009 74.9% 16.0%
2012 71.3% 20.8%
2017 69.3% 25.0%
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It’s not a public good though, it’s a luxury item. It’s not intended to accommodate everyone who wants to go.

And another park location (not just adding to DL or WDW) is incredibly capital intensive, and (from a financial/stockholder perspective) unnecessary when you have room to increase prices/profit at/from your existing capital.

Like it or not, this is basic capitalistic economic principles at work. The price was low when demand was low (post 9/11, post 2008 financial crash) and now that demand is up, prices are rising.

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If that were true, Henry Ford would have produced a single motor car and sold it to a single buyer for millions of dollars.

And Walt Disney wouldn’t have bought land in Florida.

There’s a tendency amongst company fanboys to justify everything the object of their attention does. My other obsession is Apple and I see this on Apple forums — you dare criticise anything Apple has ever done and you’ll be savaged from all directions. (They also lionise Steve Jobs in the way that Disney fans lionise Walt.)

There is massive global demand for really high quality theme parks. There’s money to be made. UOR has noticed this. They built the world’s most expensive rollercoaster only a few years ago and didn’t stop there. They can see there’s money on the table and they’re aggressively out to get it.

Meanwhile Disney has turned Future World into a quagmire and is apparently leaving it to rot. And they’re showing no enthusiasm for completing Tron and getting it open — and that’s not even a new coaster.

For the 50th anniversary what did we get? A hot mess on the Castle, a monstrous set of carbuncles in World Showcase lagoon, and some “gold” statues that will interact with as yet unreleased Magic Bands.

Meanwhile UOR gave us VelociCoaster.

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I see this as nothing but a good thing. UOR growing both 1) pulls guests away from crowded WDW and 2) makes WDW either drop their prices, up their game, or start losing customers.

Unfortunately, the growth in demand has so far kept up with this dynamic, such that WDW is sleeping at the wheel, as @sanstitre_has_left_the_building describes:

But that won’t last forever, and WDW will start to lose customers / potential profits / both if they don’t respond.

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This is actually not a good representation on southern seafood, its a bit embarrassing

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Their enthusiasm right now seems to be profit based and I truly feel they are loosing in the long term if they keep this crap up. Their biggest competitor, IMO is Universal. And they are definitely stepping up their game to compete rather than be a side show like a lot of amusement parks that surround Disney.

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My mom grew up in picayune MS frying catfish at the local fish house. I still have family in MS and LA and my dad would convince anyone that VA is a southern state with his catfish and flounder.

So thankfully, I do know good southern seafood. Which is prob why I don’t love Bubba gumps

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