Uncle Sorcerer
10-21-2009, 10:19 AM
By Robert Niles: A Theme Park Insider reader e-mailed me after reading yesterday's story on Universal Orlando's financial report (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200910/1482/):
Just a comment about Universal numbers.
I actually find it amusing that UO attendance is down. Maybe if they gave NBC/Universal employees some incentive to visit, we'd go there instead of Walt Disney World! NBC/Universal employees only get a small price break for a one-day pass. We pay the same as the public for multi-day tickets.
No wonder most employees skip Universal Orlando when taking their families to Orlando.
Honestly, I look around at my location and can see countless employees who have gone to Disney in the past year or two and NOT gone to Universal. Looks like our own company would bribe us to go with a free employee ticket... then we'd buy tickets for our family members along with food, merchandise, etc. Oh well.
My mother, my sister and I have worked for Disney in the past, and I recall generous employee and guest sign-in privileges at the theme parks. It surprises me to hear that Universal doesn't offer the same.
Which prompts me to ask... what's the policy at other companies that own theme parks? (And I don't mean just parks employees, but also employees in other divisions of companies that own parks.) Do NBC/Universal employees get a better deal in Hollywood, since there's no joint ownership of that park? What about Anheuser Busch employees? (I suspect whatever benefit they got will soon change, with the sale to Blackstone.)
And if you do get into parks free, based on your employment or a family members, how much do you end up spending on those parks anyway, as a result? Is free employee admission a loss or a loss leader for the parks?
More... (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200910/1484/)
Just a comment about Universal numbers.
I actually find it amusing that UO attendance is down. Maybe if they gave NBC/Universal employees some incentive to visit, we'd go there instead of Walt Disney World! NBC/Universal employees only get a small price break for a one-day pass. We pay the same as the public for multi-day tickets.
No wonder most employees skip Universal Orlando when taking their families to Orlando.
Honestly, I look around at my location and can see countless employees who have gone to Disney in the past year or two and NOT gone to Universal. Looks like our own company would bribe us to go with a free employee ticket... then we'd buy tickets for our family members along with food, merchandise, etc. Oh well.
My mother, my sister and I have worked for Disney in the past, and I recall generous employee and guest sign-in privileges at the theme parks. It surprises me to hear that Universal doesn't offer the same.
Which prompts me to ask... what's the policy at other companies that own theme parks? (And I don't mean just parks employees, but also employees in other divisions of companies that own parks.) Do NBC/Universal employees get a better deal in Hollywood, since there's no joint ownership of that park? What about Anheuser Busch employees? (I suspect whatever benefit they got will soon change, with the sale to Blackstone.)
And if you do get into parks free, based on your employment or a family members, how much do you end up spending on those parks anyway, as a result? Is free employee admission a loss or a loss leader for the parks?
More... (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200910/1484/)