Universal Studios beating WDW

[calisota]

http://dudisneyana.info/comcast-keeps-g ... s-expense/

I've never been to universal Studios in Florida. Is it possible it'll get bigger (and better) than WDW?

Greg

[KeithS]

Is it possible it'll get bigger (and better) than WDW?

Comcast/Universal have made some very good franchise purchases in recent years including getting Harry Potter, Simpsons, and Jurassic Park rights. They also had a very quick build program in place which meant they appeared to have new rides coming on line at a much quicker rate than Disney. But Universal Florida has a land problem which really restricts their expansion (similar to the issues Disneyland faces). So now that they have built a lot of new stuff in the two parks, I can't see many more new attractions coming soon. Universal have recognised this and announced plans to build a water-themed park a mile or two down the road from the other parks but that won't be up and running for quite a few years.

In the meantime, Disney will bring two huge franchises online, with the Pandora themed land in Animal Kingdom, and the new Star Wars land in Disney Hollywood Studios - that's going to have a big impact on the public's perceptions of the Universal vs. Disney debate. WDW also has a lot of expansion capacity all within its integrated ecosystem, so I don't think Universal will ever be bigger than Disney.

The best thing of course is that this healthy competition and battle to out-do one another means better theme park experiences for all of us!

[calisota]

Just as a follow on from that.

http://dudisneyana.info/epcot-will-be-d ... k-by-2020/

An interesting question for everyone:

If you were doing a round-the-world visit every Disney Park trip but had to leave one out for some reason, which one would it be?

For me, probably Hong Kong since it's the one I've visited the most.

If you had to leave one out of WDW in particular, which one would it be?

Difficult but i would say the Magic Kingdom because it is sort of replicated in the other parks.

Greg

[mushu mama]

If you were doing a round-the-world visit every Disney Park trip but had to leave one out for some reason, which one would it be?

Having been to Paris now... Paris. Because its Disney but not as we know it... only park I've ever been screamed at by a CM for absolutely nothing. My high school french was not up to the task of dealing with an irate Parisian table cleaner.


If you had to leave one out of WDW in particular, which one would it be?

I couldn't leave one out... I haven't seen any of them yet.

And on a side note: I find it increasingly weird that so many 'locals' talk about walking around Epcot or visiting a particular 'country' as if they have actually been to that actual country. I was having this discussion with someone on Periscope only a couple of days ago... when the bloke said he was in Germany, I asked ( tongue in cheek) if he was in the real Germany of the Disney Germany because he was talking like he was actually in Europe. I acknowledge that it might be the closest a lot of visitors to WDW get to visiting Europe or Asia, and there are apparently authentic things to buy, so for some that would be close enough anyway, but I do find it odd.
Don't get me wrong, I look forward to walking/eating my way around the world in a day when I go next year.

[calisota]

Having been to Paris now... Paris. Because its Disney but not as we know it... only park I've ever been screamed at by a CM for absolutely nothing. My high school french was not up to the task of dealing with an irate Parisian table cleaner.

Wow. A week spent in either Disneyland or downtown Paris and I never had a bad experience. I was expecting to have something happen too, given all the stories I'd heard.

Are you sure it wasn't something you did?

Greg

[mushu mama]

Are you sure it wasn't something you did?

Greg

Well, technically, it was something that the cleaner thought I wasn't going to do... ie: clean up my table before leaving. It was pouring - POURING - outside so we stood up to shake off our overcoats, and gather our belongings before we were going to take our tray of lunch left overs to the bin... when we stood, he let us have it both barrels... even one of his workmates came over and tried to calm him down but he was having none of it. We tried to explain, but he didn't speak English so we just put our rubbish in the bin as we'd intended to and turned and walked away with him still grouching away behind us.
Was very unpleasant.
However, we did enjoy the rest of the park. And the people in Paris proper were hands down the nicest we encountered.

[calisota]

Okay, that does sound a little over the top. He must have been having a bad day, not that that is much of an excuse.

Greg

[KeithS]

If I had to miss a park, I think it would be Paris too. I love the look of Paris but I was disappointed in its upkeep and the rudeness of the guests (the cast weren't rude to us, but they were disinterested in the whole place).

The other factor against Disneyland Paris is the distance - if I was doing a tour and leaving one park out, I could easily go Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, Anaheim, WDW and then home. That makes a nice trip - if I left any of those out and substituted Paris, the journey just becomes a lot more complicated. (Sorry Paris!)

If I was travelling to WDW and had to leave out a park, then I may have to skip Magic Kingdom too for the same reason as Greg has mentioned - there isn't enough unique experiences there; whereas the other parks all have something extra to offer.

[Mel]

I'd miss Paris too. It was pretty, but the other guests were rude and I couldn't get use to the smoking. I also did it on my own and couldn't speak French so it was a bit awkward at times.

I think I'd miss the Studios in WDW. It's been 13 years since I was last there though so right now I wouldn't want to miss anything!

[calisota]

Wow, things are looking a bit sad for Paris at the moment. It's seems to be a cultural thing (smoking, rudeness, other guests) rather than the facilities. I thought Hong Kong would have been missing out simply because it doesn't offer as much as the others.

Greg

[mushu mama]

Wow, things are looking a bit sad for Paris at the moment. It's seems to be a cultural thing (smoking, rudeness, other guests) rather than the facilities.

Greg

I didn't find the locals rude, but there were other rude guests.

Honestly, the smoking wasn't even registering with us by the time we were at the Paris park ... after 5 weeks in Germany, where everyone smokes like a chimney and everywhere we were a little desensitized to it by then.
That said, we loved both countries and if I ever make it back to Europe, they'll be on my list to revisit.

[calisota]

One of the reasons I find Paris being on the bottom of everyones list a surprise is that it has to be the Park in the best location if it is part of a longer trip. All the others seem to be slightly more of a special trip type situation but Paris is such a great stepping stone for the rest of Europe.

Or maybe I'm just strange in that for me Disney Parks tend to be part of a trip rather than the reason for the trip.

Greg

[churros]

The smoking in Paris is certainly huge and the CMs are not even in the game when it comes to being 'onstage' or cleaning up the food courts. But I had far more problems with the pushing, queue jumping and other unattractive behaviours of the guests in HK and I've said it before that these behaviours were not there on my previous 2 trips.

[calisota]

Bad behaviour by mainland Chinese when they travel seems to be hot topic these days. Chinese New Year is big here, probably because they can drive to Luang Prabang but I'm yet to see the truly horrible behaviour I read about in other places.

Mind you, things like pushing and queue jumping (a queue? What's a queue?) seem to be an Asian thing.

Greg