Universal Orlando Resort Expansion News (Part 2)

[shiekra38]

How many academic journals do you read?

FINALLY, someone for my academic journal club

We meet Tuesdays at 3pm

 

[Orlandofan12]

As actually having a masters in the social sciences field, you also learn you can’t use just one source to back up your claims. I’d have been laughed out of my final project/thesis presentation if I only had google metrics as a source.

Indeed, which is why you can use various surveys, box office results, merchandise sales, etc. all of which draw the same conclusion. Potter is far from the height of its popularity and has significantly waned from the spotlight. I can't believe this is even being remotely questioned. People here act as if popularity is binary. Or as if we are still in 2010-2011 at the height of Potter fever.

 

[RevFreako]

Ok we are moving on from anything with President Donald Trump, ok y’all?

LET THEM FIGHT! LET THEM FIGHT!

 

[Scott W.]

Indeed, which is why you can use various surveys, box office results, merchandise sales, etc. all of which draw the same conclusion. Potter is far from the height of its popularity and has significantly waned from the spotlight. I can't believe this is even being remotely questioned. People here act as if popularity is binary. Or as if we are still in 2010-2011 at the height of Potter fever.

I don’t know. There’s More Potter merchandise now that I can ever remember. It may have been more focused before but it’s every where now.

 

[Orlandofan12]

I don’t know. There’s More Potter merchandise now that I can ever remember. It may have been more focused before but it’s every where now.

Just cause it's on the shelves doesn't mean it's being sold through in greater numbers. Right now, given the failure of FB, my guess is there was a lot of sell-in to be prepared, and now they're having trouble with sell-through.

Nonetheless, Harry Potter doesn't touch the likes of Star Wars, Marvel, Barbie, Cars, etc. in terms of global merch sales.

 

[Mad Dog]

The only thing that matters to Universal is that Potter areas gets big crowds in the parks, fills up it's HP restaurants and sells lots of merchandise on site. Gringotts and FJ, even though they are capacity monsters, get the two or three longest lines in the park on a steady basis. The night castle light shows are shoulder to shoulder crowds, even during the slow season. I really don't understand the argument. Potter is STRONG at Universal, and I've not seen anything but, and I don't even go during the high attendance times of year. All those other stats are really meaningless to the theme park experience.

 

[Orlandofan12]

View attachment 8496

Maybe they should license out a resort.

Interest != popularity, especially with regard to politics. In case it has to be said.

 

[Orlandofan12]

The only thing that matters to Universal is that Potter areas gets big crowds in the parks, fills up it's HP restaurants and sells lots of merchandise on site. Gringotts and FJ, even though they are capacity monsters, get the two or three longest lines in the park on a steady basis. The night castle light shows are shoulder to shoulder crowds, even during the slow season. I really don't understand the argument. Potter is STRONG at Universal, and I've not seen anything but, and I don't even go during the high attendance times of year. All those other stats are really meaningless to the theme park experience.

The argument is more macro than a single theme park. Anyway, I really shouldn't have compared Potter to another property and should've let its own trend speak for itself.

 

[Alicia]

I was just at the mall. Half of everything for sale is Harry Potter. I was shocked by how much that used to be exclusive to the parks can now be purchased in the real world. There's a market for it. People are buying it. People will be reading the books for generations to come. Why the hell are we having this conversation?

Fear Factor. Fear Factor is an IP that no longer holds any cultural significance, yet that remains in the park. Let's talk about that instead.

 

[Scott W.]

Just cause it's on the shelves doesn't mean it's being sold through in greater numbers. Right now, given the failure of FB, my guess is there was a lot of sell-in to be prepared, and now they're having trouble with sell-through.

Nonetheless, Harry Potter doesn't touch the likes of Star Wars, Marvel, Barbie, Cars, etc. in terms of global merch sales.

It’s on the shelves exactly because it’s being sold. People who select merchandise for stores aren’t stupid and they’re not all taking a punt on the off chance it will sell. They’ve be done their research unless you know better than Universal, Walmart, Pottery Barn, Primark and the countless other stores selling product.

 

[Nick]

You guys are MASSIVELY misusing this thread. This thread is supposed to be for fact based news about the new park and somehow we’re arguing about Potter v. Star Wars?

Take this elsewhere please.

 

[GoombaGoomba]

You guys are MASSIVELY misusing this thread. This thread is supposed to be for fact based news about the new park and somehow we’re arguing about Potter v. Star Wars?

Take this elsewhere please.

Yes! Thank you!

 

[quinnmac000]

To go back to the themeparkinsider article, it stated Steve Burke said that Universal will invest the amount it spent on all on NBCUniversal into the parks in the next 5 years (6.7 Billion to 23.4 Billion depending on what they mean all of NBCUniversal)...how much will be spent on this new resort. I'm pretty sure it the first campus even came to being close to either amount.

 

[Brian G.]

Guys... I believe we said it was time to move on...

So move on

 

[Orlandofan12]

To go back to the themeparkinsider article, it stated Steve Burke said that Universal will invest the amount it spent on all on NBCUniversal into the parks in the next 5 years (6.7 Billion to 23.4 Billion depending on what they mean all of NBCUniversal)...how much will be spent on this new resort. I'm pretty sure it the first campus even came to being close to either amount.

Actually, it's over 13 years starting in 2010. They're not spending $24 billion over the next 5 years. That'd be Disney.

 

[Griffin C]

Confirmed?

 

[Viator]

We've been talking about it more on the 4th Park/Site B Blue Sky thread, but yeah; that was from a Comcast Town Hall Meeting.

To just see if I'm right on the marker, they would likely need to focus first on that back of house stuff first before going vertical on the park itself, right?

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Actually, it's over 13 years starting in 2010. They're not spending $24 billion over the next 5 years. That'd be Disney.

Just to clarify a "media analyst" predicts they'll spend that much, while Burke has said it himself.

 

[Happytycho]

This isn't a perfect indicator because it also includes NBC spending, but here's the NBCUniversal CapEx numbers for the last 8 years, taken from Comcast earnings reports:

2011: 500 million
2012: 800 million
2013: 1.2 billion ("primarily reflecting increased investments in Theme Parks.")
2014: 1.2 billion ("primarily reflecting increased investments in Theme Parks.")
2015: 1.4 billion ("primarily reflecting increased investments in Theme Parks.")
2016: 1.5 billion ("primarily reflecting increased spending at our Theme Parks.")
2017: 1.5 billion ("primarily reflecting increased spending at Theme Parks, as well as real estate and infrastructure investment.")
2018 through Q3: 1.1 billion

Total: 9.3 billion

 

[quinnmac000]

This isn't a perfect indicator because it also includes NBC spending, but here's the NBCUniversal CapEx numbers for the last 8 years, taken from Comcast earnings reports:

2011: 500 million
2012: 800 million
2013: 1.2 billion ("primarily reflecting increased investments in Theme Parks.")
2014: 1.2 billion ("primarily reflecting increased investments in Theme Parks.")
2015: 1.4 billion ("primarily reflecting increased investments in Theme Parks.")
2016: 1.5 billion ("primarily reflecting increased spending at our Theme Parks.")
2017: 1.5 billion ("primarily reflecting increased spending at Theme Parks, as well as real estate and infrastructure investment.")
2018 through Q3: 1.1 billion

Total: 9.3 billion

So roughly increasing theme park budget up to 3 billion a year for the next 5