Universal Orlando Price Increases (General)

[Parkscope Joe]

It would be a nightmare for HHN, but I don't think we need to worry about that lol

HHN doesn't have unused Express capacity to spare for this anyway. It's a very specific product offered in a very specific way. Universal absolutely wants you to do one $120+ purchase over one or two $25 ones.

 

[Evan]

I believe what Joe is trying to convey is that there is no other option for Disney. It’s just LL.

With Universal, they’re offering this in conjunction with their normal Express offerings. They’d prefer if you invested in that, but if you’re adamant that you just want a specific attraction, you gotta pay.

Right, but I guess in my mind, the scarcity at Disneyland feels like it would be a higher price.

With Kong already included in the (albeit very expensive) regular option, and being a ride most people these days aren’t jumping at the bit to experience (subjective opinion), the price point seems like a “maybe we’ll catch a few stragglers on the fly paper, but the majority will fly right by” kind of situation.

Is it even worth the implementation, at this price point? I mean, I guess that extra $600 a day they’ll get is something … (exaggerating of course)

 

[Brian G.]

Right, but I guess in my mind, the scarcity at Disneyland feels like it would be a higher price.

With Kong already included in the (albeit very expensive) regular option, and being a ride most people these days aren’t jumping at the bit to experience (subjective opinion), the price point seems like a “maybe we’ll catch a few stragglers on the fly paper, but the majority will fly right by” kind of situation.

Is it even worth the implementation, at this price point? I mean, I guess that extra $600 a day they’ll get is something … (exaggerating of course)

I don’t think we really can compare and properly assess since at the end of the day, this is a test run - and we’re not exactly sure what they’re testing for.

 

[RFRees]

Standby capacity is what I am referring to. It's already limited as it is at Epic Universe and Hagrid, I can't imagine the impact on a ride like Donkey Kong or Mario Kart.

I just think all these mini-upcharges add up over time and people really despise them. If they do this at HHN... good lord. I also think it encourages the park to exaggerate wait-times, especially later in the evening when some of the ILL attractions are ideal to hit up.

Not just exaggerate wait times, but also artificially inflated. Why not run only one train on Stardust, instead of two or three, then the waits are longer and you sell more single use Express? Inflate the time from 10 minutes to an hour, people are still willing to wait in the line, and a bunch will be willing to pay the $15. Why care about throughput or capacity at all, if our ROI is higher on longer wait attractions? Sure some guests may be unhappy, but we're making more money!

Anything that incentivizes inflation of wait times and micro transactions in theme parks is bad news imo.

When Express bundles all the attractions at a higher price point, typically these are sold before guests even see the wait times (when the guest purchases a park ticket). With a la carte Express, it's essentially an impulse purchase when you see the shock of the wait times at the queue (which again, could be exaggerated or artificially inflated as there's a financial incentive to do so).

This was one of the things I appreciated about Universal compared to Disney. I'm really sad to see this being introduced.

And no, don't wait and see on this. Make your voice heard; if you're not happy about this being introduced, tell Universal.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Not just exaggerate wait times, but also artificially inflated. Why not run only one train on Stardust, instead of two or three, then the waits are longer and you sell more single use Express? Inflate the time from 10 minutes to an hour, people are still willing to wait in the line, and a bunch will be willing to pay the $15. Why care about throughput or capacity at all, if our ROI is higher on longer wait attractions? Sure some guests may be unhappy, but we're making more money!

Making up more people to get mad at?

 

[RFRees]

Making up more people to get mad at?

I'm not typically one to believe in conspiracies. But when corporations are incentivized to do the wrong thing, it definitely makes me suspicious.

 

[DeadSexeh]

Not just exaggerate wait times, but also artificially inflated. Why not run only one train on Stardust, instead of two or three, then the waits are longer and you sell more single use Express? Inflate the time from 10 minutes to an hour, people are still willing to wait in the line, and a bunch will be willing to pay the $15. Why care about throughput or capacity at all, if our ROI is higher on longer wait attractions? Sure some guests may be unhappy, but we're making more money!

They won't be doing that kind of stuff because it doesn't make business sense. 1 train capacity or hyper inflated wait times is going to upset customer base. When you have upset customers food and merch sales will drop, people will not book a return trip. Making this change will probably have no tangible impact on guests. Adding a skip the line in the 1st place will cause a tangible difference in your day but a week like this won't be noticeable.

On a side not I like that the price point is kinda steep as that is how I think these systems should be. Very high barrier to entry to minimize the effect on normal day guests.