Another Price Hike ?
Universal Orlando: Universal increases day tickets by $1 just one week after it had already put the price up to keep in line with Disney.
From Rob P
Posted June 11, 2012 at 7:32 AM
Is this price war between Universal and Disney reaching absurd proportions now that the former has increased ticket prices by just one dollar only a week after it had already imposed increases ?
Okay we have to assume that they can't stand Disney stealing a march by increasing it's own tickets but is this going to get out of hand ? Will Disney respond by amending their own pricing structure again and then sit back awaiting Universal's response ?
We're the ones suffering here so someone somewhere has to put a stop to this churlish rivalry at the box office.
Go to the Orlando Sentinel for confirmation.
Hold on Rob, I am at Stub Hub buying tickets for Jim Parson's Broadway appearance for Harvey ... $305 each ... Okay, now on the price of theme park tickets I think that ... Ooops! My friend is calling me on my I-Phone ... He just got us Springsteen tickets and they are ... $162 each ... All righty now for theme park ticket prices, I must say that ... What is it honey? ... I'm sorry Rob, my wife is talking to me about the one-day lift ticket costs for next December's trip to Colorado ... How much? .... $82 each ... Off season ... Wow ... The price of discretional spending related to personal entertainment is not cheap.
I have to agree with TH. We get the 10 day Disney ticket when we visit . It's apx. $30-$32 per day. Universal's 14 day ticket was even considerably less. That's a minor amount compared to the vast amount of entertainment offered by Disney & Universal in their parks. I pay considerably more for 3 hours at a sporting event or concert. Most tourists are buying multi day tickets or package deals, so the one day ticket cost isn't usually relevent concerning vacation costs. And Florida locals get a tremendous buy on annual passes, so they really shouldn't complain. I'd rather the parks add excellent new attractions then go cheap on prices. My only complaint is when they don't improve the parks. But it seems that Disney & Universal are on a maintainence & building improvement plan now, so that's good for the future of theme parks.
From Rob P
Posted June 11, 2012 at 11:59 AM
Hold on guys...don't shoot the messenger....I'm not complaining about how much our theme park tickets cost. In fact I'm on record here on TPI advocating price rises that continue to give us both excellent entertainment and value for money.
No.....what I was discussing was how does a spiralling price battle get checked before it gets too silly and spirals out of control.
The point being that Universal happily set it's prices last week and you don't do that without some degree of forward planning surely.Then, simply because Disney followed suit, they had second thoughts and hiked them up again by just one solitary dollar.
There's a potential now for Disney to rattle the Universal feathers next week and increase their tickets by 50 cents.
It's churlish,unnecessary and not worthy of Universal to start a silly price war.
But it's still good value for money for all that......as is seeing the excellent Jim Parsons on Broadway for $300. Are Broadway tickets that much ?? Wow. Our West End tickets are only about $100.
We paid $500 for two tickets to "Wicked" on Broadway. Great seats though, third row center.
It's not THAT bad considering what you pay for other stuff.
At this point neither want to be outdone by the other which is just stupid. Disneys 1 day gate price is irrelevant to me because when I visit it is usually for a week at a time(hence the reason I only go to WDW evry 3 years or so). In my opinion a family is much more likely to make Universal a day trip than WDW. And yes Universal raising their price $1 just to match Disney makes them look bad.
From Rob P
Posted June 12, 2012 at 3:51 AM
Rob : we paid $23 to see "Wicked" here in London and on Friday we're off to see the Wizard of Oz and those cost us $22 each ( on a 2 for 1 deal admittedly ). For $500 I can get 14 day passes for both Universal and WDW.
WOW!!! Those Wicked tickets were cheap!! £90 each when I went (they were a gift for my birthday though...and price is no object for presents for me hahaha)
Kind of a PR fail for Universal there though. raising by $1 to match Disney....I thought you were better than playground games Uni!! :-))
Tickets for all entertainment are expensive I agree, because the suits know if you want them - you'll buy them, period.
£125 for Madonna in July - I have paid £190 in the past too, but I'm a huge fan and so I pay it....and the dudes in the accounting office at Livenation rub their hands together in glee! :-)
We did the theatre scene in London on a visit many years ago. Back then the theatre in both London & NYC were nowhere near present pricing. Almost all entertainment & sports venue pricing has increased much greater than the inflation rate during the last 25 years. London is a great city, in a great country with really friendly people. I've played soccer with and against many expatriot Brits over the years and everyone, without exception, was a class person.
Oh Rob you flatter us Londoners!! :-)
...but thanks! It is a great place to live (mostly - the daily commute is a struggle, but thats true anywhere I guess)
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