A Day of Comparisons

On Monday, members of our group participated in several different activities.  One group of students enjoyed some time by the pool and visited Epcot and Hollywood Studios again.  Another group traveled to one of Walt Disney World’s primary competitors, Universal Studios, to do some comparative research (and to have a little fun, too!).  The group had its radars turned on in search of differences between the two entities, and we noticed quite a few.  We’ll say more about that in a bit.  First, we want to describe the second of the three major projects on which our students have been working during our time here.

Comparing Throughput

One of the things our students noticed as they experienced lots of attractions is that some lines move more quickly than others.  The line at Tower of Terror (Hollywood Studios), for instance, moves much faster than the line at Kali River Rapids (Animal Kingdom).  Another way to say this is that the “throughput” (the number of people that can pass through the ride in a given time frame) is greater for one than it is for the other.  Our students did lots of timing and counting at each of these rides, and they were able to estimate each ride’s throughput and compare their estimate to the official number given by Disney.  Their work on this project involved some fun data collection and some neat statistical analysis.

Two Different Universes

In one sense, Walt Disney World and Universal Studios are very similar -- they offer entertainment via rides and shows, they have lots of food options, and there are many, many opportunities to shop.  While they certainly fall into the same broad category of amusement parks, there are some noticeable differences between the two.  Here are a few that stood out:

1. Locker Use.  At WDW, riders with backpacks and bags just carry them on the rides with them.  At Universal, however, there are some rides where this is not allowed.  In these cases, riders must store their belongings in nearby lockers (which are provided free of charge for short periods).  The automated, fingerprint-based locker assignment system is pretty neat but it does cause delays at the little kiosks, especially when users are unfamiliar with the system or have trouble with the touch screens.
2. Visible Backstage Areas.  We learned on our tours that WDW goes to great lengths to hide backstage areas and anything that might distract from the “show.”  For instance, they noticed that part of a backstage building could be seen from one place on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride, and so they installed a rock façade on that part of the building to make it blend in with Splash Mountain.  Further, they do all of their regular maintenance (cleaning, painting) during the overnight hours when the park is closed.  The situation at Universal is quite a bit different.  There were many places where we could see behind the scenes, and we saw a worker doing some painting while we were there.  This doesn’t make Universal an inferior park at all, rather it just points out a difference in approach.
3. FastPass vs. Express Pass.   Each park has its own system for getting through some lines faster.  WDW’s FastPass system has a number of complexities involved, but the basic gist is that any park guest can request FastPass admission to several attractions.  This allows the guests to bypass the regular line at a certain time of day and avoid the longer waits.  Universal’s system is the Express Pass, and it is similar to the Fast Pass system in that users can bypass the normal lines.  The primary differences are that at Universal, there are no return times associated with the pass and that guests must purchase this privilege unless they are staying at an on-site hotel.   Disney’s FastPass system is available to all guests free of charge, but those guests staying on-site are able to access the FastPass system 60 days ahead of time, while day guests (not staying at an on-site hotel) are only have access to the system 30 days ahead of time. This represents an interesting philosophical difference in approach between the two parks.
4. Park Hopping.  WDW consists mainly of four major theme parks and Universal Studios has two.  In each case, guests can pay for the privilege to go from one park to the other on the same day -- to hop parks.  At WDW, park hopping requires a bit of effort -- it often involves monorails, buses, or ferries.  This, of course, takes time away from being in the parks themselves.  At Universal the two parks are side by side, and walking from one to the other is easy.

We should point out again that these differences are not meant to imply that one park is better than the other.  Each one has parts that are more appealing to certain demographics than the other.  Each park has different goals and strategies.  One nice distinction that came up in our discussion was that Universal is a very nice theme park, and WDW is a very nice “themed” park.