Comcast has set the TV world aflame in the last few years with its purchase of NBCUniversal and its yet-to-be-finalized deal to acquire Time Warner Cable. But there’s another industry that Comcast is looking to be a serious player in as well: theme parks.
Comcast, which already had $2.2 billion in revenue last year from its theme parks and resorts unit, isn’t shying away from horning in on the territory long dominated by Disney, either. The company's Universal Studios is “investing hundreds of millions of dollars into theme parks in California and Florida.” While it is investing in new attractions for its Universal Orlando Resorts, it also building “the largest hotel construction project in North America: [an] 1,800-room, 1960s-themed Cabana Bay Beach Resort,” of which Comcast is sharing the bill with Loews Corp., the Philadephia Inquirer reports.
Six hundred of the rooms will open this month, with the rest scheduled to open by year's end. With that, Universal will have 4,200 rooms, a 75 percent increase from the 2,400 it previously boasted, but NBCUniversal chief Steve Burke says the complex could have between 10,000 and 15,000 hotel rooms in time.
The company’s growth is not hurt by its association with the Harry Potter franchise, the brand that helps define an entire generation of consumers. Universal's planned improvements will include a hefty expansion of its popular Wizarding World of Harry Potter park in Orlando. Things are headed in a similar direction in Southern California where Comcast’s Universal Studios Hollywood announced last year a 20-year plan to improve the theme park there.
"We don't have to win," Thomas L. Williams, chairman and chief executive officer of Universal Parks & Resorts, said about the company’s competition with Disney. "We just have to get our share. We feel like we have a lot of room to grow."
Meanwhile, Disney is making changes and improvements of its own to continue growing its market share and improving visitor experience. The brand is expanding its rollout of its MyMagic+ wristbands to its Disney World parks that allow visitors to shop, eat, and reserve a space in ride lines, among other things, all without carrying around their wallet or a watch, Bloomberg Businessweek reports. The brand's $1 billion investment in the technology is a "complete game changer,” Douglas Quinby, vice president for research at PhoCusWright, a travel consulting firm, told the site.
The bands also work as tracking devices so the park knows where vistors are headed, which allows for it to deal with staffing issues at restaurants, rides and other gathering places, and even allows employees—spoiler alert!—dressed as characters know where to stand. Access to the band's data allows the characters and staff to greet children and their families by name, or wish a special someone "happy birthday" before even speaking to them, though such actions could be viewed a bit intrusive.
“When you make [the logistics] easier, people tend to spend more time on entertainment and more time on consumables—be that food and beverage, merchandise, etc.,” Disney CFO Jay Rasulo said in a November investor call. “We do expect this to be a … growingly positive impact on our business in the years to come.”
Another positive impact for the park is rising ticket prices, as Disney raised its 10-years-old and up daily park pass to $99, the second ticket price jump in less than a year, The Huffington Post reports. For guests ages 3- to 9-years-old, a daily pass costs $93.
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