Disney "Money Grab" and the future of Universal

[Metro West]

I've packed my own food to save money at Disney.
I've shortened my 10 day trips to 6, then 4, and now 1 to save money at Disney.
I've stayed off site to save money at Disney.
I've bought MNSSHP tickets instead of day tickets to save money at Disney.
Now? I'm going to Universal in October to save money at Disney.
They've simply priced me out. I can't afford Disney anymore.

I haven't stepped foot on Disney property in 11 or so years...and I live here. You are absolutely right about being priced out of the market. Lots of folks can't afford it any longer and its a shame.

 

[overdisney]

As a long time Disney fan beginning in 1972 I can say I am done with Disney's picking my pocket. Their concern for shareholders over guests is so blatant. The wife and I are planning a trip to Universal in Jan, We had planned on going to WDW for the 50th-- dropped that idea. Our last and final trip was in 2019 the crowds, the cost, the broken attractions, general lack of repair finally did it.

 

[Pooh's World]

Universal is so much more affordable. Really only reason to go to inflated Disney is every once in a while to try the new rides. Eiger and company are killing their fanbase with greed.

 

[maverik85]

My DH prefers the thrills of Universal anyway so works for us and their constant new rides and expansions, especially with Epic Universe coming will keep us going. We just went a few years ago and counted about 8 new attractions for our visit this fall, and we still have yet to make it to Volcano Bay. Whereas I went to Disney prior and there's only a few new attractions across the entire resort that would be new to me (primarily Galaxy's Edge and Pandora). I do want to return to check out all the new stuff once the 50th passes and the other current construction projects open. But I think we will probably only make it there every so often whereas Universal will probably be a place we visit every couple years or so. We're even already planning a trip next fall following our trip this fall to hit up HHN. Probably go back then a couple years later for Epic Universe. Hoping the new park and Disney driving people away will make them start competing more and focusing on the guest again more instead of cutting back.

 

[hsmamato2]

Many don't think Universal will be as good - I think they will be surprised - but I am concerned it will continue the trend of Universal being very busy and reduced availability. Already they dont seem to be able to handle the Dining needs of folks for a variety of reasons.

This is actually my concern.....

 

[MrBellatrixLestrange]

But there'll probably be other people queued up to replace us in terms of overall spend, so I doubt our (collective, not just my family) decision will influence their thinking too much. If the "legacy" fans drop away, they'll be replaced with new ones who won't be aware that they're paying more to get less and will carry on happily without that knowledge.

I've seen many posters express this but I don't really know why people believe it. The parks don't seem to be turning people away so while they may increase their revenue because the cost increase will only deter a small proportion of their customers despite what it may appear here they are losing customers. Long-term the impact might be beneficial or it may be a slow rot that only shows up 10 years from now, it's impossible to say, but at some point if they continue to prioritize short-term gains it will come back to bite them. Even the brands that seem the most invincible can rest on their laurels too long and only realize too late that they have irreparably diminished the brand.

 

[MrBellatrixLestrange]

This is what worries me. We just got back from 4 days at UO, after being there another 4 days back in April. The low price of the APs reeled us in, and I am loving the chance to go on a trip where I’m really only paying for food, airfare, and lodging because the park tickets are paid for. The AP hotel rates were great, and definitely influenced my decision to stay onsite.

But the announcement of EU has me worried that they’ll soon be hiking the prices to Disney level. I’m sure the new park will be great, but I’m not sure I want to see the current affordable awesomeness sacrificed for a “bigger and better” UO. I like that UO is the underdog and goes the extra mile to complete with Disney.

And it’s not just the prices themselves, as others have mentioned; it’s the value. If UO keeps up excellent customer service, entertainment, and overall experience, then I’ll pay more because it will be worth it. But I’m not looking forward to the day UO is as big as WDW and starts chipping away at what they provide, while still demanding higher and higher prices.

I'm hoping, perhaps naively, that the idea is to keep the price the same but be able to accommodate more customers to pay for the new park. I love what they have now and hope they don't end up taking away what makes it great to their customers with EU.

 

[tony67]

WOW - new pricing on APs at Disney is pretty crazy - and only the highest one is for non residents (although DVC can buy the second highest one)

When I saw 399 for the least expensive I though that was not bad at all - but its only weekdays, with blackout dates and FL Only.

I dont see Universal following suit, but I also expect price increases any time now.

I wonder if some of this is to drive those folks who had APs to buy 7-10 day tickets and just do more days at Disney so they can try to get value for Money.
1299 for a year when you have to make reservations, cant park hop till 2PM and all travel plans are somewhat up in the air seems totally crazy.

I really miss the non-expiring option on tickets - I do regret not buying a 10 day non expiring last time I went.
It seemed too expensive at the time

 

[ClapYourHands]

WOW - new pricing on APs at Disney is pretty crazy - and only the highest one is for non residents (although DVC can buy the second highest one)

When I saw 399 for the least expensive I though that was not bad at all - but its only weekdays, with blackout dates and FL Only.

I dont see Universal following suit, but I also expect price increases any time now.

I wonder if some of this is to drive those folks who had APs to buy 7-10 day tickets and just do more days at Disney so they can try to get value for Money.
1299 for a year when you have to make reservations, cant park hop till 2PM and all travel plans are somewhat up in the air seems totally crazy.

I really miss the non-expiring option on tickets - I do regret not buying a 10 day non expiring last time I went.
It seemed too expensive at the time

Yeah, I was considering doing Disney APs, not as a regular thing, but once in a while and just hitting WDW hard for 12 months (including big trips late summer first year and early summer second year). But being out of state, those prices are ridiculous! For a family of 5, there's just not nearly enough value.

I owe DD a trip because I had tickets and we had to cancel for a family death, and then got shut out from COVID closures, but I'm waiting until Disney brings back the full experience. Specifically, I really want the shows to return, and more character interactions. I'm not paying those inflated prices for a stripped down experience. Once things are a bit like the old WDW, I'll take DD and then we'll be done.

In the mean time, we've got UO seasonal APs, and we've already gone twice, brought my brother's family and made them APs, and I'm planning a HHN trip in a few weeks. Universal is getting allllllll my money.

 

[mousefan73]

I find this thread very interesting. We are yearly WDW people. It's normally my mom ( 70) and my kids and I. DH wont go. This year due to Covid it was just my DD and I. we did one week, split between WDW and 2 full days UO.

to keep it short when it comes to park tickets and what the parks offer, WDW still has more for us. Especially for my mom. Universal for her basically has much less comparted to WDW. She loves, HM, PPF, Nemo, the buggy rides and shows. people mover etc... But this comes with a possible bigger price in the future if we wants FPs... Themeing overall better at WDW. IOA at UO did have theming flare, but UStudios itself was like a Hollywood Studios, hot concrete.

Now what blew me away as a first timer with UO was the resort prices and what you get. We stayed at Portofino. Even with the possiblitly of staying again onsite at UO I need to really resconsider staying on WDW property agaion as we always did. MExpress is going away, nightly car parking etc.. My discounted room at Portofino was the same as Pop Century. the only draw for a WDW resort is Pop Century and the Skyliner.. We loved that. We also stay at Beach Club but when I see what we pay there vs. Portofino, I can get double the nights!!! If we go as a whole family we would do max 2 days UO and my mom can relaxed for 2 days at the resorts, theres plenty for her to do there. But I cannot say for us UO replaces a week long WDW trip. Even one week WDW I feel is often too short.

for us as much as Disney is screwing us and we are getting frustrated, for this family I cannot say we are in the position to say screw you disney we are only donig Universal, for us two different products that cant replace the other. Maybe a bit less of one in the future....

 

[maverik85]

I find this thread very interesting. We are yearly WDW people. It's normally my mom ( 70) and my kids and I. DH wont go. This year due to Covid it was just my DD and I. we did one week, split between WDW and 2 full days UO.

to keep it short when it comes to park tickets and what the parks offer, WDW still has more for us. Especially for my mom. Universal for her basically has much less comparted to WDW. She loves, HM, PPF, Nemo, the buggy rides and shows. people mover etc... But this comes with a possible bigger price in the future if we wants FPs... Themeing overall better at WDW. IOA at UO did have theming flare, but UStudios itself was like a Hollywood Studios, hot concrete.

Now what blew me away as a first timer with UO was the resort prices and what you get. We stayed at Portofino. Even with the possiblitly of staying again onsite at UO I need to really resconsider staying on WDW property agaion as we always did. MExpress is going away, nightly car parking etc.. My discounted room at Portofino was the same as Pop Century. the only draw for a WDW resort is Pop Century and the Skyliner.. We loved that. We also stay at Beach Club but when I see what we pay there vs. Portofino, I can get double the nights!!! If we go as a whole family we would do max 2 days UO and my mom can relaxed for 2 days at the resorts, theres plenty for her to do there. But I cannot say for us UO replaces a week long WDW trip. Even one week WDW I feel is often too short.

for us as much as Disney is screwing us and we are getting frustrated, for this family I cannot say we are in the position to say screw you disney we are only donig Universal, for us two different products that cant replace the other. Maybe a bit less of one in the future....

I do agree a lot with this. Universal is pulling some people over from Disney but I don't think they are a 1:1 trade. If you aren't big on thrills or get motion sickness easy (especially from screens) there isn't a ton that Universal offers otherwise. And as you stated, the theming at Disney overall is much better. However, Universal has really been stepping it up in this regard. The HP areas are some of the best themed environments, and even some of the simpler areas or revamps, like Springfield, look great (though could still be improved). I will be curious to see what sort of level of immersion and theming Epic Universe brings as it seems the whole park will be very detailed with theming and really immerse you in those worlds.
For us personally, Universal does have the bigger appeal for rides/thrills, cost, etc., but I won't count out Disney just yet, I just likely won't visit as frequently as Universal.

The hotels are the big area that Universal shines compared to Disney for sure. The included Express Passes for deluxe resorts is an amazing perk, but even the amenities and theming down to the value resorts beats Disney hands down. We stayed at Cabana Bay last trip for the first time and was blown away. The 50s theming was simple but very effective, much more so than the giant (often flat) theming of the value resorts at Disney. And the fact that there was a sand beach, water slide, and lazy river there, compared to the most basic pools at Disney's, it made it clear where the better lodging was overall. The DVC resorts at Disney are great and they do have some nice resorts overall, but the value and cost are night and day between the two.

 

[SusanDK]

Universal really appreciates their AP guest, give much better discounts on practically everything, and even have a passholder appreciation month.

What is offered during pass holder appreciation month?

Also, a friend told me that she met someone a while back who had some annual dining plan from Universal (flat fee for one year for some kind of dining). I've searched and never found anything about it. Does anyone know?

 

[tony67]

What is offered during pass holder appreciation month?

Also, a friend told me that she met someone a while back who had some annual dining plan from Universal (flat fee for one year for some kind of dining). I've searched and never found anything about it. Does anyone know?

I think there are larger room discount's, some hidden menu items, early entry. https://www.universalorlando.com/web/en/us/tickets-packages/annual-passes/appreciation-days

I think sea world had an annual dinning plan - never heard of one for UNI

 

[keishashadow]

WOW - new pricing on APs at Disney is pretty crazy - and only the highest one is for non residents (although DVC can buy the second highest one)

Disclaimer believe my numbers below are correct, info gleaned from these forums, haven’t verified.

Barring another price increase between the time we renew our DVC disc WDW Gold APs next year…

the price will be approx $810 PP vs the approx $650 I paid last go-round.

Sooo, Counting on fingers & toes, a $160 difference.

I could almost easily justify it, IF, i looked at it as a relatively normal annual price increase…then it would fall in area of $710. Nothing to see here, move along, ”just“ a $100 price gouge, offset by promised lower crowds.

In the past I’ve been a light user of the complimentary photo pass that is included. However, to now charge $100 extra for it is seriously over the top IMO


My DH talked me off the ledge, reminding me that we will be getting a minimum of 6 trips out of the current AP. the new pass will pay for itself in under two trips vs buying park tickets we ‘need’ for trips we will surely take.

That’s not the main point of my ire. It’s blacking out the Friday after Thanksgiving & opening up Easter. All the better for DVC to fill the far more ‘pricier’ rooms then. Shady stuff there.

Enough said. Just thot the die-hard U folk would appreciate the intel.

do I think that U will raise their APs in response?

of course they will!!! the parks follow each other’s leads, faithfully.

I’m speaking as one who not too long ago finally converted the last of her stockpiled AAA 7 day tickets she bought for $67 eons ago pre HP, to one with a bar code. still saving it for a rainy day as they won’t let me use it to renew my AP. so, yes, I have a bone or two to pick with U too lol.

I do think they will have the sense to pause to be sure the local covid numbers have finally plateaued. I just hope they don’t tweak the black out days or add any more confusing levels of APs.

 

[Going to WDW]

I agree. I think this is different. People are really fed up. It's not the charge for a FP system that was once free. It's the constant bad decisions over the past 5 years. This is just the last straw. Disney kept pushing to see how much they could get away with and I think they found their breaking point.
I have never been to USO... haven't even ever looked at the website... until this month. We own DVC, we go to Disney multiple times a year. We are going to keep our DVC, but vacation differently now. We might do an after hours party at WDW, and a few days at USO now. We will not be spending 10 days in WDW parks anymore... it's not the price, it's the value.

For us this was different this time --- we had bought flexible date Canadian tickets pre-pandemic which Disney had extended the expiry of to Dec2030 due to covid. I called 2 times to verify that new date was good .... it was all good until this week when they decided to give 4 weeks notice to the change of expiry --- in spite of the fact the Canada/US land border isn't even fully open. Apparently our tickets weren't actually good until 2030 --- they were only good until the date that WDW arbitrarily decided they couldn't be bothered to honour them. So VERY magical of them.

In the past couple of months we've seen them announce the end of Magical Express, no more free magic bands, make evening EMHs deluxe only, institute a paid fast pass system (Genie+ and Lightning Line), make parties twice as expensive while providing nowhere near the entertainment value for the price (so they are essentially "after hours" parties now), etc...

This IS different! Disney has made it fundamentally different this time. Our 10 day March break trip will be UO only. We will not be going back to WDW ever again! In the past we've gone back to Disney for onsite stay for 7 to 12 nights literally every year (aside from 1 year always deluxe) and always did the extra pay events at WDW like club level, dessert parties, holiday parties, after hours events, fireworks cruises, tours, cakes, Highway in the sky, etc... We are fully done --- they will not see another dollar from us ever!

We've always done a few UO days added at the end of the vacation. This will be our first UO vacation. I'm looking forward to it.

 

[Rusty2rules]

Here's the funny/sad part of all of this with Disney: I'm pretty sure they just don't care. Here's why: at their quarterly earnings statement back in April, they stated very clearly that the parks still made money even when they had a cap at 30% capacity. Show up, don't show up, it doesn't matter to them. Because for every one of us on this board that say "never again" (which, BTW, I think is hyperbole by many - they'll be back, they're just venting right now), there are at least 5 people who don't have any idea what Disboards are who will happily take our place. Until that changes, Disney will continue to charge more and offer less.

 

[tony67]

I'm pretty sure they just don't care.

This has been my general impression of Disney for a a very long time.
I had a couple of really bad stays among my numerous stays at Disney.
In all situations the manger of the hotel could not be less interested - in once case they avoided me completely because they knew they messed up royally . A follow up letter was also responded to with dis-interest.

As you said If I dont go someone else will - but that does catch up after time, so the answer is to squeeze more out of those that do come

And for those of us that have sworn off Disney - Im sure most still end up back there even if its for a couple of days.
If I do go back they will get a lot less money out of me - I sure as heck wont stay at one of their hotels again.

 

[Rusty2rules]

This has been my general impression of Disney for a a very long time.
I had a couple of really bad stays among my numerous stays at Disney.
In all situations the manger of the hotel could not be less interested - in once case they avoided me completely because they knew they messed up royally . A follow up letter was also responded to with dis-interest.

As you said If I dont go someone else will - but that does catch up after time, so the answer is to squeeze more out of those that do come

And for those of us that have sworn off Disney - Im sure most still end up back there even if its for a couple of days.
If I do go back they will get a lot less money out of me - I sure as heck wont stay at one of their hotels again.

That's how I feel about the trip I'm taking in a couple of weeks. I had originally planned 5 nights/6 days at Disney staying on-site at Coronado Springs. I finally got so fed up with them this spring I cut it back to 3 days at Disney, moved off-site, and added 3 days at Universal. I'm staying in a 2 bed/2 bath suite for less than half of what I was going to pay at CS. In another post I said never say never, but it would take something extraordinary to get me to go back to Disney. The only reason I kept this vacation and didn't cancel altogether is because I want to see Galaxy's Edge. After that, I can't even imagine what it would take to get me back short of a free stay. Mark this post. Ask me in seven years if I've been back. 10 years. My answer will most likely be no (never say never). I'm done. I'm over it.

 

[GatorChris]

Since the family has grown to 5, we don't do WDW anymore. Too much to get there. But when we did, the last four trips (2008-2012) were 8 to 10 nights so that we could do 8 or 9 days in Disney-exclusive parks. There was zero thought to going to Universal. Of course, since that time, Universal has Harry Potter WORLD, which makes it worth going to. But now in December, Instead of just doing 5-6 days at WDW, it's only 3 days, with 3.5 at Universal. That should never happen! Except Universal got almost as good as Disney with their rides and lands, plus (the biggie) they are the value that Disney used to be. I go to UO and feel like I'm getting more than my money's worth. At WDW, it averaged out to $1000/day (before food) for my family, and that was staying at a moderate. No way! Universal is the place to be for us right now. At least in Florida.

 

[maverik85]

T The only reason I kept this vacation and didn't cancel altogether is because I want to see Galaxy's Edge. After that, I can't even imagine what it would take to get me back short of a free stay. Mark this post. Ask me in seven years if I've been back. 10 years. My answer will most likely be no (never say never). I'm done. I'm over it.

This is kind of how I feel. I enjoy the parks greatly still for what they are but it's just too expensive. But I will likely still do periodic trips still to check out all the new lands and attractions. I haven't been since Galaxy's Edge or Pandora opened so I really want to see them. Plus Ratatouille, Tron, and Guardians of the Galaxy should all be great additions. However, I will likely just go for a few days to hit u p favorites and new stuff, versus the week long rips from prior. Universal has become our go to now.

Since the family has grown to 5, we don't do WDW anymore. Too much to get there. But when we did, the last four trips (2008-2012) were 8 to 10 nights so that we could do 8 or 9 days in Disney-exclusive parks. There was zero thought to going to Universal. Of course, since that time, Universal has Harry Potter WORLD, which makes it worth going to. But now in December, Instead of just doing 5-6 days at WDW, it's only 3 days, with 3.5 at Universal. That should never happen! Except Universal got almost as good as Disney with their rides and lands, plus (the biggie) they are the value that Disney used to be. I go to UO and feel like I'm getting more than my money's worth. At WDW, it averaged out to $1000/day (before food) for my family, and that was staying at a moderate. No way! Universal is the place to be for us right now. At least in Florida.

Universal has really been closing the gap in what they offer and the experience. Islands of Adventure was a big step forward in theme for them, and the Harry Potter took it to a whole new level that really competed with the Disney magic. Will be very curious to see how Epic Universe is when it opens as the whole park seems to be designed to that level. With them then having 3 theme parks and a water park, along with CityWalk and all the new additions to it, they are really becoming a true competitor. Before they were an after thought to most Disney trips, and I think a big part of that was how much they could offer with just one park for a bit and finally two. Then that was it for awhile. Now they are constantly expanding and getting new stuff all the time. I think they will keep closing the gap between the and Disney quicker and quicker.