CineSational: A Symphonic Spectacular

[OrlandoGuy]

It's mostly because Universal's decisions, like this one, causes the results to be self fulfilling. They never give any of these shows, and late evening closings, a chance to be impregnated in guests minds/habits. That Six Flags analogy might have made some sense when Universal only had three hotels, but it makes very poor business sense with all the on site hotels filled with guests that are focused to on site activities.

And, keep in mind, March, as I said above, is prime tourist season. No reason not to run the shows in March with the Spring Break crowds.

To you or I as huge fans, it doesn’t make sense.

To an exec who’s in the cable business sitting in Philadelphia seeing revenue come in hand over fist, the operation as is makes a lot of sense.

And I don’t mean to write this off as the “well it’s a business and they gotta make money” that we all hate as a scapegoat when the parks make tough decisions. I mean it more as a fundamental difference in the way the Universal parks are run/viewed compared to Disney.

 

[TheGentTrent]

Real talk: Is this a chicken or the egg scenario for Universal?

Let's face it. There is never an evening where the nightshows at Disney aren't crowded because the expectation is that there is always one available (which is part of the reason Animal Kingdom has again struggled retaining people without Rivers of Light). Universal guests don't have that same mindset. A lot of people leave around dinnertime regardless of whether Cinesational is playing or not. So is it really worth it for Universal to pay to keep the parks staffed for a couple of extra hours so they can do the show every night when the lines for most rides are around 15 minutes or less?

 

[Jake S]

Real talk: Is this a chicken or the egg scenario for Universal?

Kind of, yeah. I don't think it's possible for Universal to achieve the same level of affinity people have for Disney writ large, and I suspect Universal feels the same way. That's not to say there aren't big fans (we're on the Inside Universal forum, after all), but it is qualitatively different than how people think about Disney, Disneyland and Disney World.

Do I wish that Universal was more ambitious in its competition with Disney? Yes. Do I wish they more aggressively to win the hearts and minds of would-be theme park goers? Sure. But ultimately, Universal is choosing a different lane and it's clearly working for them. That's no bad thing.

I do think all this is why it's a bit silly to see people engage in wish casting about Universal "taking down the mouse" or "eating Disney's lunch." Universal isn't interested in that, really, and it shows in how they operate their parks.

Anyway, I've come to the conclusion that I prefer the Disney experience to the Universal experience despite my immense frustrations with the ways Disney is *censored* up its product. But I do really appreciate the many ways Universal is trying to do its own thing, even when that doesn't align with what I want.