The Fall of Disney Parks (Complete)| Disney Genie and the Rise of the Universal Experience

[Music] i hate to continue to be negative but the last few years of disney leadership really is inexcusable this is a video i've been wanting to make for a while but the announcement of disney genie and the blatant attempt to rip people off has really provoked me to write this script if you've watched my videos i criticized the new additions to the disney parks time and time again because they just don't meet the standards of entertainment and quality that disney was once known for however what i haven't really talked about is the continued degradation of the overall disney experience continuing to decline in quality while also raising prices to ridiculous levels not that bob iger isn't also at fault but ever since bob chapeck took on the role as chairman of disney parks and resorts in 2015 he has slowly chipped away at the overall quality of the experience that guests are receiving taking on the ceo role in 2020 though jpeg has in such a short period of time absolutely taken a sledgehammer to the parks policies such as the continued use of the park reservation system the cutting of hotel perks and the now soon to be implemented disney genie indicate a future of choosing money over the actual guest experience it's insane to me that the disney parks which are as popular as they are because of their legacy of unique and interesting experiences with exceptional guest service included are allowed to move away for what makes them so exceptional people spend an exorbitant amount of money on disney parks and resorts because the quality is so high and unique however if you take that away it absolutely will deter people from coming lifelong customers people who have always perceived disney as setting the industry standard are now paying higher prices for far less how do you expect to keep these people coming back bob chapeck the narrative is already changing quite quickly people love the disney parks but why stay in a disney hotel when it's ridiculously overpriced and all of the perks have been cut off-site hotels are far cheaper and the perks of a disney hotel no longer really exist there's just no incentive but better yet people looking to vacation are finding that other experiences are more affordable other experiences that also offer more fulfilling and interesting attractions while also reducing the stress of having to plan out every single second of your day i see it everywhere online people are taking notice of how the universal experience is offering more for less cost and the future of universal parks looks incredibly bright does disney really have anything interesting in its new slate of attractions i don't really think so the disney parks have been damaged with incredibly expensive but underwhelming additions and it seems that they will only continue to go down this path i'm not saying that universal parks don't have their issues but they're certainly doing a lot more to impress as of recently today i'm interested in talking about the downfall of disney as an industry leader the continued poor additions to their parks as well as the blatant attempt to rip people off for as much money as possible not only hurts general interest in the company but their relationship to their loyal consumers as well meanwhile universal parks on a rise in a way that we haven't seen before i'm interested in breaking down how they will step up to become the new industry leader over the next decade or so [Music] [Music] before we really begin if you agree with the points i made in the intro i strongly recommend leaving a like on the video and hitting the subscribe button if you enjoy my content i think as fans of the disney parks it's important that there's as much vocal criticism as possible of bob schapec and the blatantly anti-consumer changes that he's enacting at the parks and resorts do i monetarily benefit from you sharing the video sure and i'll be transparent about that however i primarily produce videos because i'm interested in the theme park experience when i see how poorly the disney parks are being changed i think it's important to get that message out there we as consumers have the power to change the narrative and highlight the many issues of poor management i hate self-promotion because i personally find it annoying but if you have any interest in creating a wider discussion about the many problems of bob chapeck i encourage you to share this anywhere you can whether it be facebook twitter or any other platform where people might be interested if people are more vocal about how poor fit jpeg is for the company we wouldn't have something like disney genie that really works as a segue into what i want to talk about first [Music] [Applause] i think it's important to start the video with disney genie why because it will fundamentally change the park experience maybe for better but i predict most likely for worse why does disney genie exist and what does it actually do well if you haven't visited disney parks lately they're crowded so crowded in fact the disney parks continue to break attendance records up until 2020 for obvious reasons disney doesn't release their numbers but the themed entertainment association or t for short uses their own estimations and are generally considered to be pretty reliable here's a quick rundown of the 2019 attendance estimations disney california adventure 9 million people disease hollywood studios 11 million people epcot 12 million people disney's animal kingdom 13 million people disneyland jumps from here to 18 million people and the magic kingdom finishes first at a whopping 20 million and just short of 21. that's obviously a ton of people and if you've been to disney over the last decade i'm sure that you've seen the ridiculous crowds from a financial perspective it's obviously great for disney to have so many people paying for tickets merch and food however from the guest experience standpoint it's miserable and disney knows that while disney world introduced fastpass in 1999 for some of its more prominent attractions the idea was that guests who spend less time in line were more likely to spend money on food and merch not only did this benefit disney's bottom line but it was a positive guest experience because it used a paper ticket system and worked on a first-come first-served basis when you arrived at an attraction however the system would evolve at walt disney world with the introduction of my magic plus and the magic band in 2013 if you've used the disney magic band you'll know that it works as a tap point wristband and that works for park admission and if you're staying at a disney hotel it also works as a room key and can be linked to your credit card or debit card to make purchases through the resort with this the new fastpass plus system was introduced allowing you to tap your magicband at a fastpass line for entry the new fastpass system was also done online allowing you to reserve passes for up to three attractions 30 days out or 60 days out if you were staying at a disney hotel after those three passes were used guests could continue grabbing one at a time if they were available for the rest of the day why introduce the magic band though well first its collectible nature made it a reliably selling merchandise item second magic bands could be used to link photos to memory maker also introduced in 2013. memory maker is a virtual photo program that allows guests to access and download on-ride photos meet and greet photos and photos taken by photographers around the parks it's quite expensive at around 200 for a year of access but for many people it's worth it as a better alternative to buying each individual photo taken around the parks obviously the use of a magic band incentivizes people to purchase this service third and most important disney executives believed that if people could pay through magic bans they would spend a lot more because they weren't keeping track of their financial activity this backfired completely for two reasons first you couldn't use your magic ban to actually pay for things unless you were staying at a disney resort second disney executives were extremely foolish to think that people would spend recklessly if they couldn't see their account as with debit cards or mobile pay some people spend responsibly and others do not the magicband itself didn't change the spending habits of people who manage tight budgets estimated costs seem to have the my magic plus system somewhere between 1.5 to 2 billion in development and rollout that's a pretty expensive investment and reportedly wasn't seen as a success within the company while profitable the cost isn't seen as worth it more importantly though magicbands changed the way people visited walt disney world with the availability of both fast passes and dining reservations in advance a whole travel agent industry was created just to navigate the system disney was no longer spontaneous and required planning and strategizing in order to do what you wanted to do visiting walt disney world became more about competing with others to grab high demand reservations ultimately leading to a negative guest experience as attendance has continued to increase demand has only made the process worse is the system a failure well kind of again it generates profit but not to the degree that executives believed it would unexpectedly though it also created a system that people have to navigate if they wanted to even enjoy their vacation in contrast i want to briefly touch on max pass at disneyland resort it was introduced as a 10 per day cost and ended at 20 dollars but it was essentially a virtual version of the paper fastpass system it was received well because guests had to be in the parks to use it and it still worked on that first come first serve rule set its success highlights how my magic plus was not a sustainable system and so that's where disney genie comes in [Music] let's circle back around to the question why does disney genie exist it's actually quite odd that disney offered its free fastpass system for so long when other parks saw how successful it was for disney they implemented their own paid versions and i'm completely surprised that it took disney this long to switch however i do see a fair number of good reasons for why the system stayed in place first the additional 60-day booking system for the fast passes incentivized people to stay at disney resorts second i firmly believe that disney strategically released a certain number of fast passes to maximize the time that people were out of lines i remember going to epcot from 2017 through 2019 on days that were completely dead and test track would still have a 90 minute wait i know that epcot absorbs its crowds pretty well but this still seems excessive disney's fastpass system is done on a 10 to 1 ratio what that means is that for every 10 fastpass parties that they send they send only one standby party this artificially inflates the way times of attractions dramatically and can be used as a deterrent to keep people out of line for example in my previous video i mentioned how i've waded through an entire queue for cementor's mine train from the actual entrance side without fast pass it's about a 40 minute wait however when fastpass is added into the equation the wait time settles somewhere around two and a half hours that's a pretty dramatic jump for the people using fastpass they're obviously waiting less in line and spending more time buying merch and food for the people who can't get any big attractions or who don't understand the system they're stuck with the long and inflated standby cues i'm quite sure that seeing a three-hour wait for slinky dog dash is discouraging and so what else do they have to do well they can shop or dine i have absolutely no proof that disney used their system to achieve this but i am fully convinced that this is what happens so to come back and answer the question disney genie exists to give disney more control over where you go in order to maximize your spending at the park how does that work well the new system being implemented can be confusing so let me break it down and see what it's doing you have lightning lane disney genie [Music] disney gd plus and individual attraction selections a lot of people think that lightning lane is its own separate thing but it's simply just a rebranding of the fastpass line to avoid confusion with the fastpass branding disney decided to rename that system causing well further confusion disney genie on the other hand is completely free to use it's a program designed to better control crowds at the parks by dispersing them with recommendations on where to go disney genie allows you to express your interests and will use park data such as crowd levels and wait times to recommend attractions and dining options disney genie plus is a paid upgrade to this feature for 15 a day at walt disney world or 20 at disneyland resort disney genie will give you a selection of the next available return times for lightning lane disney is essentially marketing this as a different version of the max pass system however what it doesn't include are the e-tickets with the highest demand those instead allow lightning lane access with additional up charges and those prices can vary day by day hour by hour for example you can pay 15 to have lightning lane access for a decent chunk of attractions but you'll have to pay extra per person to rise something like rise of the resistance or seven dwarfs mine train let's say that it's a sleepy thursday afternoon with low park attendance and you want to ride mine train perhaps that'll be a 10 up charge if you want to use the lightning lane however if the park is busy on a holiday weekend perhaps disney sees that demand is high and decides that they want to charge you 30 to ride it's really just a more limited version of the max pass system but with additional charges for high demand attractions you're paying more and getting less maybe this sounds fine to you though maybe you think to yourself well this sounds pretty expensive this would deter people from joining those lightning lanes and so will increase the movement of the standby cues i think that sounds like a reasonable assumption but take into account the disney genie is using park data to maximize spending for example the app might see that mine train is currently at a bit of a lower weight and so we'll use that data to send everyone in the park over there however because they have now made it artificially busier they can also charge higher prices for lightning lane and incentivize people to buy it because of how long the line is disney itself has also said that disney genie will recommend places to eat for example you've waited for big thunder mountain and its next recommendation is space ranger spin on your way there dizzy genie might recommend cosmic rays but maybe the sales for pecos bill isn't the strongest that day and so it sends you there instead you're obviously not required to eat there but for the unseasoned disney guest it's really not in dizzy's interest to recommend what they think will lead to your best experience they might market this that way but it's really an attempt to move you where they want you to go the final problem with this new system is that even if disney genie was really used to spread out park crowds better it still doesn't solve the overcrowding issues if everyone uses it a lot of people are very vocal about never paying for it but i'm sure that there are many who will if there are so many people paying for this new system then the same issue with fast pass plus arises the standby qs will come to a halt and nothing really changes except that people are now paying for what they got for free before in addition those extra up charges for the attractions with the highest demand can be stacked on top of this essentially disney genie either aims to capitalize on the capacity issues of the parks or just simply makes you pay to alleviate it regardless of how it actually operates the fact is that disney's just simply too crowded and they've done absolutely nothing to fix this why isn't disney adding a whole suite of high-capacity attractions to magic kingdom why were people eaters like ellen's energy adventure or the great movie ride replaced instead of new attractions being brought elsewhere into the parks why does the newly finished hollywood studios still feel like it doesn't have enough to do the problem is that disney only wants to do the absolute bare minimum to achieve guest satisfaction hollywood studios could benefit from a ton of new attractions and yet disney won't build them why was new fantasyland so focused on meet and greets and not more attraction heavy the answer is obvious and simple disney doesn't want to pay for new attractions and their maintenance costs sure they're building things right now but they don't appear to be in any hurry instead of actually addressing capacity issues in their parks disney genie is designed to take advantage of this problem by milking your wallet instead [Music] i've spent a lot of time highlighting the issues of disney genie because it fundamentally changes the park experience and continues to show disney's disregard for guest experience for many people this is the final straw among many other changes over the last few years to the disney parks before we continue though i want to reiterate the central theme of this video which is that as disney parks and resorts decline universal comes in to take their place for example when theme parks in florida reopened after the 2020 shutdown they enacted a series of safety measures including limiting park capacity at disney parks they implemented a reservation system for multi-day tickets and for annual passes at universal it was simply a first-come first-served basis and if a park reached capacity only people who bought tickets were allowed admission both systems weren't great but were understandable considering the circumstances however now that vaccine availability is easy to access in most parts of the united states disney and universal ease their capacity restrictions and yet disney still has a reservation system and only allows park hopping after 2 pm there are two reasons for this first knowing the data on park reservations indicates crowd levels and so gives park operations an idea of how many people they will have to staff second the reservation system allows disney to spread out those crowns for example when remy's ratatouille adventure opens october 1st 2021 disney can potentially limit the number of reservations open to pass holders perhaps disney thinks that people who will purchase a ticket to be there will also spend more on merchandise and food in the park whereas passholders may only show up to ride the ride and then just leave later i'm not saying that this is actually the scenario that's playing out but disney is fully capable of running things this way the reservation system while not the worst thing to have can still make a trip to the parks a headache you're not allowed to do what you want to do instead letting disney's data dictate that for you however with universal parks there's simply nothing like this you're allowed to walk into whichever park you choose from here i'd like to segue into universal's version of fastpass known as express pass universal system isn't the most straightforward as there are different tiers to choose from but the fundamental difference between it and disney is that universal express pass works for every single attraction other than the newest additions like hagrid's or velocicoaster universal express is also prohibitively expensive and have looked at past prices on peak days that go for 300 a person that sounds like a ridiculous rip-off but it's actually great for the guest experience first if you want to pay a ridiculous sum of money to skip the lines you can do so however because the cost is so prohibitively expensive it limits the number of people actually purchasing the service and so allow standby queues to stay shorter and move more consistently i think that's a great trade-off in addition i believe that universal doesn't use the same ratios as disney sending one standby party for every 10 fastpass instead it seems that universal attractions tend to just alternate between the standby and express lines also allowing the standby cues to move more quickly i can also tell you that it's well worth it while it may be expensive i've used express before and have never waited more than 20 minutes for any single attraction in my opinion this is the system i think disney should have went with if you want to pay to skip the lines you can do so but it also creates a far better guest experience for everyone else by keeping the standby cues constantly moving i was even advocating for this when disney still used fast pass plus because of how ridiculously long the lines would be inflated using the free system ideally i think that park should get rid of line skipping altogether but that's unrealistic if you're going to have a system like this universal express has proven that parks can make massive profits while also creating a better experience for everyone else i think it's also important to note that the three premier universal hotels which are the hard rock portofino bay and royal pacific also include unlimited universal express for the duration of your stay for the price of a disney moderate resort you could be getting a deluxe experience at universal with express included which is a ridiculously good deal [Music] so with disney resorts becoming so prohibitively expensive it's no wonder that people are looking to stay at off-site hotels or even universal ones i frequently see people express that because universal hotels are cheaper and are offering more amenities that they are choosing to stay there when visiting disney also incentivizing them to add universal park days as well i have to admit that i wouldn't want to stay at a universal hotel to go to disney but this is a common narrative and it's becoming a popular thing to do [Music] so what's actually happening to disney resorts and why is this deterring people from staying first disney is of the belief that regardless of what they do or what they cut people will still come to their parks and stay in their hotels when walt disney world opened in 1971 disney executives maintained the belief that any competing attraction in orlando was a good thing and that anything that drew tourists to the area would also result in a visit to the magic kingdom however when michael eiser stepped in and became ceo in 1984 he realized how disney could tap into other markets and offer higher quality versions of those experiences when walt disney world opened it contained only the polynesian the contemporary and the fort wilderness campground [Music] however as epcot had just opened in 1982 and eisner had plans to bring disney mgm studios to the resort in 1989 walt disney world was truly becoming a huge destination in and of itself with so few hotels eisner rapidly expanded the resorts with unique and well-themed ideas giving guests options that ranged from value to deluxe and everything in between in addition to this disney also provided transportation to the different parks and created the so-called disney bubble where you could never really have to leave disney property and could spend all of your money there it sounds cynical but this was back when disney guest service and resort theming was exceptional quality additions were being added to the disney parks and disney itself was experimenting with more varied experiences such as water parks and pleasure island's nightlife yes disney was expensive but you were also getting a top-tier experience in 2005 dizzy introduced magical express a free bus service that took you to and from orlando international airport if you were staying at a disney hotel creating a truly insulated experience you wouldn't have to worry about a car rental or transportation and disney wouldn't have to worry about you leaving their property magical express is well loved and if you haven't heard disney announced that the service would be ending in 2022 this is just one of many money grubbing policies enacted through bob chapeck the disney parks and resorts have reached a point where disney has arrogantly concluded that it is too big to fail regardless of what they do their parks and resorts will always be full and they have absolutely no problem letting you know that in 2018 disney announced that it will start charging for resort parking which isn't a deal breaker for a lot of people but it's an unnecessary and anti-consumer practice that reveals an outright cynical perception of the disney consumer it quite literally does nothing other than line disney's pockets with more money and perhaps it would be fine if you knew it paid for a perk or a service but that's definitely not the case in fact with the cutting of the magical express and the loss of this 60-day fastpass reservations with the introduction of disney genie hotel perks are being lost quickly in addition to these disney offered extra magic hours until recently which was a perk that let you into the disney parks an hour earlier before everyone else and was a great way to ride a large number of popular attractions however they now renamed the perk to early theme park entry and reduced it to half an hour before other park guests which is really just about a 15 minute head start to jump into a line granted deluxe hotels would get something called extended evening hours but that's limited to just them so if you take away all the perks and amenities why stay to disney resort a clear answer is the theming and quality of the rooms and service however bob chapek has decided that things like that no longer matter take for example this disney's riviera resort is designed to capture the magic of europe that walt disney fell in love with once upon a time upon arrival you'll be welcomed home by a palm tree-lined boulevard and the striking facade of this resort hotel from the grand archways and porticos to the tower and terraces disney's riviera resorts is a modern masterpiece of imagination with each detailed drawing upon the influences of europe and the mediterranean elegance awaits you inside the main lobby is appointed with a mix of modern and classic 20th century furnishings you'll also discover a unique art collection celebrating beloved disney characters and icons influenced by master artists who found inspiration along the european riviera so for reference here's what the riviera and its architecture actually looks like also this so-called unique art collection it's just disney movie posters in french oh wait did you mean these cartoon murals who who wanted this did you really think that you could build this bland corporate hotel and slap the word riviera on it and call it theming it seems clear to me that absolutely no one who designed this hotel had ever looked at a picture of the riviera much less been there for good measure let's throw in some pictures of walt disney because what exactly he's a buzz word in your marketing it's not just the riviera either though the new grandestino tower at coronado springs has the same lack of theming problem and if you've seen the concept art for the now cancelled reflections a lakeside lodge i mean what even is this i know that disney loves to throw around words like inspired and imagined but would you really pay upwards of 600 a night for this bland corporate template of a hotel with tacky cartoon implementation if you're going to remove all the perks and make your hotels prohibitively expensive couldn't you be bothered to at least make them unique or theme them or something it's not just these new additions but the renovations to other resorts as well if you want to theme a hotel around popular ips like the all-star movies or the arts of animation that's fine because that's what you were going for however can we please not run the polynesian with moana rooms this hotel has an interesting and unique aesthetic with a lot of really cool potential if you chose to allow it the volcano pool looks great let's expand on that idea but no i suppose we're going to do this tacky and obnoxious room refurbishment instead i can't imagine that this appeals to anyone other than elementary school children it's really odd to me that disney's trying to narrow in on this one very specific market and not appeal to a broader base we're still well i think you know what's coming next up until the announcement of disney genie disney's most vehemently hated blog post was the incredibles refurbishment coming to the rooms at the contemporary yeah wow great move bob jpec you're really playing 4d chess over here i'm sure that the business and convention class that stays at this hotel is really looking forward to this as a potential disney guest let me ask you this are you willing to pay 800 a night for a room decorated with what i saw described as rooms to go kids [Music] this is absolute insanity and disney leadership is so hilariously out of touch with what people actually want that i can't even begin to understand how this decision was made disney leadership completely and truly believes that they can do anything and build as cheaply as possible and their audience will remain loyal they're in for a very serious awakening [Music] foreign the video quality isn't the greatest but this is a large animated figure of the indominus rex chasing a ride vehicle in the new jurassic world adventure that just opened with universal studios beijing when was the last time you saw a disney attraction shoot for this level of ambition and scale when was the last time that you felt an attraction's budget justified the actual experience over the last decade or so universal has received a lot of negative feedback for its over-reliance on simulators and screen-based experiences i think that screens and attractions can be a useful tool when used to convey action or when used in a way that supplements the actual physical environments however criticism was justifiably present universal relied far too heavily on adding cheap and underwhelming additions to its parks a trend that disney decided that they wanted to pursue as well people seem to think that disney likes to do its own thing but the majority of additions to their parks under iger and chapek have really reflected a desperation to emulate what universal has been doing with the wizarding world and harry potter and the forbidden journey opened in 2010 at islands of adventure disney went into panic mode universal parks were on the verge of slipping into obscurity and yet they instantly stole a significant chunk of disney's orlando market share not enough to threaten their business but enough to make them concerned in response disney leadership believed that it could draw people away from universal by also implementing their own popular ip into their parks however it appears that they never really understood their competition i made the case for this before in another video but i still think that adding pandora to animal kingdom is not a stupid idea it's a franchise that quickly lost its relevancy and yet it works really well as a land in addition to animal kingdom why well pandora absolutely does not emulate the success of the wizarding world instead it's great in its own right because it was conceptualized with animal kingdom's design philosophy in mind but this land is a fluke it shouldn't have been the success that it is and we're lucky that this poor idea turned out so well again i've already discussed this at length in another video you can see my full breakdown there but that's just a quick point for something so nuanced after pandora opened though disney would copy and paste some props and build some cheap rides with the opening of toy story land at hollywood studios how would they emulate the immersion of potter well they would ask the cast members to call you a toy when speaking to you because it's also supposed to be immersive they really don't get it do they however disney had yet to play their ace in the hole they were going to bring star wars to both california and florida and this would be the most ambitious project ever created the star wars franchise is ridiculously popular and couldn't possibly fail and yet galaxy's edge didn't draw on the crowns that disney thought it would disney went all in on theming it to their sequel trilogy and people ended up hating that before the land itself even debuted the light itself also feels lifeless and dull and if it wasn't for rise the resistance i think it would be publicly perceived as a failure sorry but i don't visit theme parks because i want an expensive shopping mall for a franchise that you've killed my interest in as with pandora i've already gone into a lot more detail with this in another video so if you want to see me rip into the creative bankruptcy of disney leadership and see whether new attractions seem boring and unfulfilling i'll post a link in the video description however another reason that disney attractions continue to under deliver is because they've still tried to emulate universal on how they're designed they figured that they can keep maintenance costs down by relying far more on screens and projections i'm sure that with as many animatronics as disney has the costs for maintenance must be pretty great however that's exactly what i expect disney to deliver on that's the experience that i want and that's what i expect out of the perceived industry leader yet here we are replacing classic attractions like the great movie ride with a bunch of barely themed walls mickey and minnie's runaway railway is just boring chaos it's a ride that throws you into random scenarios it's not very engaging and it consists almost entirely of projections smugglers run i thought that people would love to pilot the millennium falcon and yet it's boring it doesn't do much and it's not very engaging web slingers is also another attraction i've talked about at length in another video but i think you see the point that i'm making disney has pursued popular franchises and has created attractions that exist primarily as screens and projection effects they look too universal and took the wrong lessons fundamentally misunderstanding why the wizarding world works as a creative expression the harry potter franchise is popular but the actual lands themselves are concerned with guest experience first and the money comes later universal also pursued the screen based route for a number of different attractions because it was cheaper and yet they reversed course because they take their guest feedback seriously meanwhile disney is producing click-bait attractions that rely on the popularity of a brand rather than the actual ride experience itself ironically that's incredibly damaging to disney's brand when you visit a top tier theme park you expect experiences that should blow you away when disney continues to fail to deliver it puts a big dent into reputation [Music] let's go back to the jurassic world franchise universal also identifies heavily with the incorporation of its ip into its parks as you can see on screen here this is the new jurassic world version of the previous jurassic park the ride a universal hollywood the attraction was completely rethemed and added a lot of interesting and impressive animatronic figures as well as fully redoing a lot of the physical sets it may not be as impressive as the new beijing attraction but it still shows a dedication to creating an incredible guest experience to build on top of that islands of adventure just recently opened the velocicoaster not only is it unique and a favorite of coaster enthusiasts but the theming itself goes far beyond what is required for what is already an exceptional attraction now obviously disney would never build a coaster with this level of intensity but they've certainly built coasters with great theming like big thunder mountain or expedition everest yet recently we've gotten the boring seven dwarfs mine train and i don't anticipate that tron or guardians will be anything special i fully expect them to under deliver let's draw back to jurassic world though perhaps you thought to yourself well the jurassic world theming leads to inherently interesting attractions how can something like the indominus rex not be an impressive figure well first kong skull island is a perfect example of how you can make dinosaurs boring by putting them on a screen the jurassic world attractions really are great because universal realizes that people want real and physical attractions sure they put in screen based portions when they can't convey certain narrative beats physically but like forbidden journey these new jurassic world attractions understand the importance of experiencing something in a physical space moving away from jurassic world though universal hollywood also premiered the secret life of pets off the leash i'm sure you're getting sick of me referencing my other video essays but i've also done an analysis of this as well and i've concluded that this attraction is an instant classic it's just a really well designed and engaging experience that takes from a lot of design elements found in older dizzy and universal attractions it focuses on densely populated scenes with well-constructed sets with physical effects like runaway railway it's appealing to a younger audience and yet it's far more interesting in execution i remember when universal opened hagrid's in 2019 now i remember getting off and thinking to myself this is the best attraction that universal has built in at least a decade i thought to myself that if universal could continue to build attractions like this and not race through new york or fast furious then this would be the turning point for universal parks and you know what it absolutely was even not moving away from screens universal attractions have at least continued to innovate how they use them for example with avengers campus recently opening a disney california adventure the land itself includes a number of underwhelming shows the stunt work is fine but you would think that the marvel franchise would deliver something far more impressive and bombastic in contrast universal studios florida quietly opened the born stuntacular which really is what the marvel entertainment should have striven to be the impressive technical effects aren't apparent on camera they look far better in person so take that into consideration with the footage you're viewing however what born delivers is a technically impressive show that manages to convey action through its use of special effects and advancements in screen technology it looks far more convincing in person but the way the physical actors blend into the on-screen action is truly innovative for a theme park show i see something like avengers campus and wonder why born is doing far more impressive stunt work is using high budget effects to achieve convincing action why doesn't avengers campus have an indoor show where something similar could be done using the marvel heroes marvel itself is a popular franchise and yet born which as a franchise has lost its relevancy is acting as a lesson in how to really go above and beyond in theme park entertainment that's a really great transition into my point here universal creates attractions almost exclusively based around ip and yet people don't mind because the actual attraction experience comes first let me say it again born is no longer that relevant but you can see the spectacular is focused more on creating a quality show rather than promoting the ipa that it's based on that's the fundamental difference that disney doesn't understand it's not about the popularity of the brands or the characters but rather the actual effort that goes into the experience it's why people are taking notice that disney's new attractions are devoid of entertainment or substance and this allows universal sparks to continue to look increasingly appealing [Music] i stated earlier that disney leadership holds the arrogant belief that no matter what they do people will come regardless disney has become a cultural institution and a visit to walt disney world has become a milestone in the life of the american family they can enact anti-consumer policies remove any reason to even visit their hotels and people will still come as they continue to raise prices disney attractions are no longer meeting the disney standard of quality and entertainment that they once were and yet disney believes that this is just fine they could continue building cheap attractions and plenty of people will still come because the parks are riding off of a reputation that is long gone if disney continues to alienate its core fans the people who have allowed disney to become such an impressive force in the cultural zeitgeist then that directly affects their largest market if the people who visit disney once or twice in their lifetime are being told that it's not worth it and that they should be taking a trip to universal instead that consumer demographic is now no longer reliable let's go back to the park attendance numbers provided by t in 2019 both universal studios florida and islands of adventure saw over 10 million visitors each combined the attendance of both parks saw just over 21 million visitors in total just magic kingdom by itself saw almost that same number disney parks are seemingly untouchable however i do firmly believe that they're still in a lot of trouble it's slowly happening but i think that the lifelong disney consumers are beginning to lose loyalty to the company and its parks especially considering just the policies put into place and the attractions of the last few years the disney product has never looked so unappealing when you build new things people will absolutely come to check them out but if they're not the quality or are not as fulfilling as people expect them to be will they come back [Music] the major thing keeping universal from taking disney's market share is that it simply isn't large enough yet with four theme parks two water parks and over 30 different hotel options the public perceives walt disney world as a great place to spend a multi-day vacation however while universal's florida parks do offer great experiences people just aren't staying as long because there's only two a lot of people vacationing often treat universal as an additional experience to their disney vacation but don't necessarily choose it as their primary one however universal is expanding quite rapidly in 2017 they opened volcano bay which is certainly more impressive than disease aging water parks which have had very little added to them over the years universal has also rapidly expanded its hotel offerings with the more recent editions of cabana bay sapphire falls aventura and the bayou priced end of the summer resorts while universal hotels don't meet the theming standards of eisner-era disney hotels they're certainly offering better perks and amenities than what disney is doing and for cheaper again universal's premier tier of hotels also includes unlimited express which is an exceptionally good deal and perk to staying there universal hotels also continue to offer early park admission allowing you to get into the parks an hour early experiencing the attractions that usually have the highest demand such as hagrids however universal will become a far stronger competitor to disney over the next few years super nintendo world will likely lead to a large boost in attendance for universal hollywood it will certainly work as an excellent anchor for universal's epic universe when it opens in florida if you've watched any videos of the land or its mario kart attraction you've seen what a top tier experience this is if the rest of epic universe follows an attraction and land quality disney will have a lot to lose in the concept art for the park you can also see a grand hotel attached but the land that universal owns near this new park is also the perfect space for at least two or three other hotels as well as another shopping and dining district when this park opens i believe that it won't just put disney's new park additions to shame but will also create the public perception that universal orlando as a multi-day destination is just as feasible as disney it certainly won't ever be as large as disney property but it's enough to really have people question whether disney is still the top of the industry it's really not just attraction quality though universal parks while understandably expensive also don't feel like they're trying to shake every last penny from your pockets do universal parks have their problems sure but it appears that their focus is on guest experience and attraction quality if epic universe delivers what it promises and the studios can get more top tier attractions that aren't screen based i firmly believe that disney executives will be taken by surprise disney and universal are competitive outside of orlando but it's really this specific market that serves as the most important battleground if universal orlando can be perceived as a better place to spend your money than walt disney world how will that affect other parks and resorts in california and across the globe this will be an interesting development and i predict it'll take at least a decade or so to really see where these things shake out however if it leads to the ousting of disney leadership and a revival of the park experience then i think that consumers win i know i went over it earlier but if you enjoy this type of content i strongly recommend leaving a like on the video and hitting the subscribe button with bell notification to be alerted when new videos are released if you're frustrated with disney parks and leadership then i also recommend sharing the video around we as consumers have the power to change the narrative and public perception realistically i don't expect to have a huge influence but i think that every little bit helps [Music] you

Channel: Poseidon Entertainment

Views: 466,127

Keywords:

Id: 1ewaAaXCyC8

Length: 50min 8sec (3008 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 25 2021