The Fall of Disney Parks (Part 2)| How Universal Will Become the New Industry Leader

[Music] [Music] [Music] [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 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 the golf resort and the fort wilderness campground 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 in a disney hotel creating a truly insulated experience you wouldn't have to worry about a car rental or transportation at 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 jpeg 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 the 60-day fast pass 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 lets you into the disney parks an hour earlier before everyone else it 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 is just disney movie posters in french oh wait did you meet these cartoon murals who 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 [Music] what exactly he's a buzzword 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 at 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 ruin 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 is trying to narrow in on this one very specific market and not appeal to a broader base worse 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] 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 designed as 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 in the crowds 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 ryze 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 why their 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've 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 making a mini'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 to 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 clickbait 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 talk to your 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 velossa coaster 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 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 and 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 adventurous campus and wonder why bourne 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 stuntacularis focused more on creating a quality show rather than promoting the ip 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 has long gone however 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 disney's 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 additions 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 that 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 the 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 with 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

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Length: 27min 11sec (1631 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 04 2021