Cj1990 Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 It will definitely see an insane spike in attendance. A lot of people can't afford the opportunity to travel to see the eastern WWoHP. It's going to be insane. So I've been thinking, universal could totally capitalize on offer in WWoHP fast passes. Totally separate package. Strictly limit the offered amount of passes, and charge a nice price. I know I would absolutely pay for that! Especially with how busy it will be. Even offer an advance sneak peak at the land. The Ellen show just gave away a month early sneak peak for one of their 12 days giveaways Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 I would imagine they will follow Orlando's model and only offer WWoHP access with the VIP tour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garet Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 I would imagine they will follow Orlando's model and only offer WWoHP access with the VIP tour. I never liked that USJ made the Harry Potter rides part of the 7 fast-passes at the expense of other rides that get bumped into the multiple option tickets of choosing 1 of 3. I'd much rather have Hollywood Dream on it's own or Jaws or BTTF (since it has no single-rider) than have Flight of the Hippogriff be mandatory or a wasted ticket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coastrmndn Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Had anyone heard about a soft opening in January? It used to be posted on the parks Wikipedia page, but you can't always trust that, of course. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizarding_World_of_Harry_Potter_(Universal_Studios_Hollywood) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coastrmndn Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 According to a few employees at Universal, these are Forbidden Journey reservation tickets (Fast Pass!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garet Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 ^ Are they definitely fastpass for the ride or timed entry's to control how many people go into the HP area? I know USJ makes people get timed entry tickets if they haven't got a 5 or 7 pass and didn't USO also give timed tickets at one point? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarmor Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 Yes, you are correct. Universal Orlando did have return time tickets and I don't see why this wont either . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jray21 Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 Makes perfect sense to me to have those. Size wise, how does it compare to the original one in IOA? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimaster1227 Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 ^^Universal Orlando still uses return time ticketing during peak periods for both parks' Wizarding World areas. When the lands each first opened return time tickets were more common but after the initial rush died down each time, the system was used sparingly depending on the expected crowds. I'd imagine Hollywood will follow this example moving forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 Makes perfect sense to me to have those. Size wise, how does it compare to the original one in IOA? Based on the virtual tour available, it looks like it's almost identical...minus Dueling Dragons of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Top Thrill Dragster Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 (edited) Universal Studios Hollywood just became the first major park in North America to implement dynamic pricing on single day tickets. https://store.universalstudioshollywood.com/PurchaseTickets.aspx Right now it's limited to purchases online. At the gate price is $95. 1-Day tickets range from $80 to $90 if you select a date you intend on visiting. $95 for a 1-day ticket valid for any date through 12/31/2016. A ticket for grand opening of the Wizarding World is $90; $199 with a Front of Line Pass. Edited December 27, 2015 by robbalvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnome Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 ^ disney should take note Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 It will certainly be interesting how dynamic pricing pans out for them and the industry. I've been waiting for awhile for this to happen in the US in this manner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KBrylczyk Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 Funny. Caesars introduced dynamic pricing and it ended in them declaring bankruptcy because they got too greedy. Universal is owned by Comcast. Not surprised at all by this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 (edited) Like myself, for those who don't know what this is... Dynamic pricing, also called real-time pricing, is an approach to setting the cost for a product or service that is highly flexible. The goal of dynamic pricing is to allow a company that sells goods or services over the Internet to adjust prices on the fly in response to market demands. Changes are controlled by pricing bots, which are software agents that gather data and use algorithms to adjust pricing according to business rules. Typically, the business rules take into account such things as the customer's location, the time of day, the day of the week, the level of demand and competitors' pricing. With the advent of big data and big data analytics, however, business rules for price adjustments can be made more granular. By collecting and analyzing data about a particular customer, a vendor can more accurately predict what price the customer is willing to pay and adjust prices accordingly. Dynamic pricing is legal, and the general public has learned to accept dynamic pricing when purchasing airline tickets or reserving hotel rooms online. The approach, which is sometimes marketed as a personalization service, has been less successful with online retail vendors. Dynamic pricing can be contrasted with fixed pricing, an approach to setting the selling price for a product or service that does not fluctuate. Just so others like me, know what this is all about. EDIT TO ADD: After reading through this explanation, I realized I do indeed understand (somewhat) this pricing system. I just didn't know what they actually called it. Took a while, but I understand. Edited December 28, 2015 by Nrthwnd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 (edited) Not even close to a fair comparison. Caesars went bankrupt because of the debt that resulted from taking the company private. Plus, hotels have ALWAYS had dynamic pricing on their rooms and table games depending on the season, weekday vs. weekend,events in town, etc. Plus, the max price of a ticket is still less than Disney (going as low as $80---a great deal by modern major theme park standards), so it's hard to say it's greed when historically USH has always matched Disney after Disney raises prices. Greed would be using Potter as the opportunity to cross the dreaded $100 mark and making that the flat price. Edited December 27, 2015 by Jew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 Didn't Sea World offer dynamic pricing this fall? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJeXeL Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 They still do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KBrylczyk Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 Not even close to a fair comparison. Caesars went bankrupt because of the debt that resulted from taking the company private. Plus, hotels have ALWAYS had dynamic pricing on their rooms and table games depending on the season, weekday vs. weekend,events in town, etc. Plus, the max price of a ticket is still less than Disney (going as low as $80---a great deal by modern major theme park standards), so it's hard to say it's greed when historically USH has always matched Disney after Disney raises prices. Greed would be using Potter as the opportunity to cross the dreaded $100 mark and making that the flat price. I'm talking about entertainment options, not hotel rooms. They started dynamic show ticket prices a little time after Britney showed up and it REALLY upset a ton of customers. One day a ticket would be $85 and the next morning the same ticket would be listed at $250 for the same performance. Not the same show, the same performance. As in a Wednesday night show would shift prices on the fly, not prices change between a Wednesday show and a Friday show. High Roller has gone from $45 to $10 to $25 to multiple package deals to who the heck knows what anymore. The pricing for the damn wheel even changes depending on what property you purchase a ticket at. They lost a lot of potential revenue because it turned customers away to the multitude of other entertainment options in this city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 Universal is owned by Comcast. Not surprised at all by this. "Sorry, to see this ride in 3D you have to have to be on a two-year contract with a $10 monthly glasses fee." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KBrylczyk Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 ^ Don't give them any ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 Not even close to a fair comparison. Caesars went bankrupt because of the debt that resulted from taking the company private. Plus, hotels have ALWAYS had dynamic pricing on their rooms and table games depending on the season, weekday vs. weekend,events in town, etc. Plus, the max price of a ticket is still less than Disney (going as low as $80---a great deal by modern major theme park standards), so it's hard to say it's greed when historically USH has always matched Disney after Disney raises prices. Greed would be using Potter as the opportunity to cross the dreaded $100 mark and making that the flat price. I'm talking about entertainment options, not hotel rooms. They started dynamic show ticket prices a little time after Britney showed up and it REALLY upset a ton of customers. One day a ticket would be $85 and the next morning the same ticket would be listed at $250 for the same performance. Not the same show, the same performance. As in a Wednesday night show would shift prices on the fly, not prices change between a Wednesday show and a Friday show. High Roller has gone from $45 to $10 to $25 to multiple package deals to who the heck knows what anymore. The pricing for the damn wheel even changes depending on what property you purchase a ticket at. They lost a lot of potential revenue because it turned customers away to the multitude of other entertainment options in this city. Well, they had a 12% increase in revenue for the 3rd quarter vs 2014, so perhaps that dynamic pricing played a role in that? The company was going to declare bankruptcy no matter what, since it was buried under debt from the ill-timed purchase of all the shares to go private. My point was, implying that dynamic pricing will lead to the bankruptcy of the company is no way a fair comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajfelice Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 I'm very interested in seeing how Universal does with this new pricing strategy. It has been around for a long time now with hotels, movie theaters, ski resorts, golf courses, sporting events, and a variety of other entertainment options. This is far from a gamble or a financially irresponsible decision. Theme parks obviously are feeling the squeeze from increasing crowds more and more, so there needs to be some actions taken to attempt to control or smooth out crowds. Or at least take advantage of some extra revenue when demand is increased. Of course it would be very difficult to make a Wednesday be as busy as a Saturday or a Tuesday in January be as busy as a Tuesday in July, but dynamic pricing has the opportunity to at least do some smoothing of the significant differences in crowds between the days of the week or peek/off-peak season. I look forward to seeing how everything plays out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 (edited) Dynamic Pricing can take different forms. It has been around for many years in many industries, but advanced technology allows econometric modelling to be done in real time to maximize profits. Prices can be set by day of week or seasonally. Or the prices can be adjusted in real time on the fly, daily or even hourly. Examples of dynamic pricing in the industry include Cedar Fair's approach to Fast Lane pricing, but even before today's technology dynamic pricing in the form of couponing/offers only available to use at specific times/days, when demand is low. as ajfelice pointed out in his post, it is not about evening out the crowds on every day, it is about bringing in incremental revenue on slower days. You can not increase yesterday's attendance or income at a park, but you can positively affect today and tomorrow. BTW here is another thread started last year about Dynamic Pricing Edited December 27, 2015 by larrygator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeoplemoverMatt Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 It's hard to say they're screwing people over by doing this when all that's changing on a day-to-day basis is how much the 1-day ticket is being discounted by. To take weekdays down to $80 from $95 is a pretty big cut by theme park standards. That doesn't say "greedy" to me. It says USH is trying to maximize revenue by doing a better job of selling the off-peak days on the calendar. That's what we should prefer parks look to do rather than just upping the cost of admission across the board on everybody. It'll probably eventually lead to the $100 mark being crossed on peak days, holidays, etc, but Magic Kingdom already breached that mark with their $105 before tax price. It's not as unprecedented as it may seem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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