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Orlando Tourism Growth Set For Continued Growth

Orlando Tourism Growth Set For Continued Growth

by DeVore Design, July 27, 2015

It is more important now than ever before to make sure your vacation rental and hotel marketing is at its best, because as tourism grows so will competition.  Professional vacation rental photography can help increase bookings by 50% to over 100%.  DeVore Design offers narrated video walkthrough tours recorded in multiple languages, presenting properties with unique opportunities to reach new audiences.

There’s a shark-inspired roller coaster in the works here, a King Kong ride under construction there, multiple projects going up way down there and rumors floating around everywhere.

Orlando’s theme parks are in build-build-build mode, with major attractions set for grand openings — and competition for visitors — in the coming years. But strategies have changed and differ from company to company, industry observers say.

The vast construction project is easily visible from the Characters in Flight balloon ride. A bar themed after Indiana Jones pilot — Jock Lindsey’s The Hangar — is coming along.
“There have been times of similar level of construction, but I think what’s fascinating folks now is that it seems like both Disney and Universal are getting aggressive and being very public about it,” said Jim Hill, who monitors theme parks through Jim Hill Media. “We live in a TMZ universe: ‘Wow, look at that — who’s fighting who.'”

With so many projects in the works, it could appear that the companies are in a tit-for-tat battle. Are the executive mind-sets based on “I’ll see your Wizarding World and raise you an Avatar land?”

Not really, said Jeremy Schoolfield, editor of Funworld magazine, a trade publication of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions.

“It would be naive to say that everyone is not paying attention to everyone else, but when you really talk to the leaders of these companies, they have a vision for where they want to go, and that’s the most important thing to them,” Schoolfield said.

Central Florida companies are expanding in different ways, Hill said.

Executives see Walt Disney World as a “mature” theme park and has planned its future around satisfying its established customers, Hill said. Many of its additions are about increasing elbow room. For instance, Magic Kingdom’s Fantasyland expansion allows the potential of 5,000 more customers a day, he said, and the reconfiguration of Downtown Disney, including new parking garages, could ease strain on vacationers.

“It’s about making it that much easier for people to quickly park and get inside and spend money,” Hill said. But Universal Orlando is “still adding things to its arsenal — whether it’s Kong or Nintendo land,” Hill said.

The replica of Hollywood’s Garden of Allah Villas located next to E.T. on the park’s Sunset Boulevard is currently under renovations. No word from a company spokesperson about the construction’s purpose — just a routine update or if something more.

Universal Orlando’s new water park, Volcano Bay, will open in 2017. It will boast a volcano feature south of its Cabana Bay Beach Resort.

The Skull Island: Return of Kong ride at Universal’s Islands of Adventure theme park is expected to open next year. In May, Universal Parks & Resorts announced it will incorporate Nintendo characters into attractions, but it did not specify where. The resort also is building Sapphire Falls, a 1,000-room hotel set to open in 2016, and Volcano Bay water park, scheduled for a 2017 debut.

“Our goal is fairly simple. We want to continue to create great theme-park entertainment for our guests,” said Universal Orlando spokesman Tom Schroder. “We don’t want people to just come and go, ‘That was lovely.’ We want them to come and go, ‘That was incredible.'”

Hill says Universal has spent billions of dollars on additions that “are up front where people can see them.”

“The billions that Disney has spent on something like MagicBands or My Disney Experience are back-of-house, but at the same time … people coming to the resort who have done the MagicBands are going home and evangelizing to their friends about how wonderful the experience was,” he said.

At Magic Kingdom, changes to Central Plaza could help traffic flow. Other Disney World projects in the works include Epcot’s Frozen Ever After, set to open next year, and Animal Kingdom additions tied to the film “Avatar” and an after-dark waterfront show. The closing of major attractions at Hollywood Studios theme park has fans speculating about what will be built there.

“True to Walt Disney’s vision of a destination that will never be complete, we continue to make investments in new experiences for our guests,” said Disney World spokeswoman Jacquee Wahler.

Elsewhere, SeaWorld Orlando plans to debut Mako, a shark-themed coaster next year. Legoland Florida recently opened Heartlake City, an area featuring a small thrill ride and interaction with Lego Friends characters. Legoland operator Merlin Entertainments Group opened three International Drive attractions this year: Orlando Eye, Madame Tussauds Orlando and Sea Life Aquarium.

Central Florida has seen bigger tourism construction booms, particularly when two new parks were on the front burner. The late 1980s saw Universal Studios and Disney-MGM Studios go up, and expansion in the late ’90s produced Animal Kingdom and Islands of Adventure.

Today, an increase in self-promotion and more coverage in mainstream media have upped public awareness of theme parks, said Robert Niles, editor of Theme Park Insider website.

“I think theme parks are having to be more aggressive about doing things to freshen up the parks so they continue to have them be compelling destinations where people want to visit and spend money,” Niles said.

“They understand that they’re competing against the full spectrum of all entertainment options,” he said. “There’s a lot of other stuff that people need to spend money on, and if you can’t make the case that this is the best use of your money, then you’re not going to get it.”