Ep. 395 - Bonus - It's Going to be Epic: Why You Might Want to Visit Universal Before or After a Disney Cruise with Unofficial Guide Author Seth Kubersky

00:00.00 Seth Kubersky So have you been having morning mimosas that all right? We're all hung over. Let's do it. 00:01.19 dclduo Oh no, no thank god thank goodness all right? all right here we go welcome back everybody to this week's bonus episode of the dcl do podcast brought to you by my path unwinding travel and no Sam Today she had to take our son over to his religious school. He's getting ready for his bar mitzvah so she is doing that this morning but I am joined by a fabulous guest. Let me start by welcoming. Seth Kaberski to our show the author of the unofficial guide for universal orlando and so ah, Seth welcome to the show. 00:36.26 Seth Kubersky Thank you so much for having me on. It's great to talk to you and mazel tov. 00:42.98 dclduo Thank you, thank you one I was I was trying to remember this morning Seth you were on some of our very very earliest episodes. Ah, it's been a while? Yes, yes, yes, exactly exactly. 00:47.17 Seth Kubersky Um, it's been a minute. Yes I I lot its changed in the world since then so it's great to get to talk to you again. 00:59.25 dclduo Well Seth we wanted to have you want to talk a little bit about like why a Disney Cruise line fan might want to visit universal orlando before or after a cruise I have lots of reasons. Potentially why but you're the expert you write the book on it. Um, why don't we start actually there with um tell folks a little bit about the unofficial guide you write and like. Just your your breadth of experience I think with all themes things theme park in Orlando but especially universal. 01:25.67 Seth Kubersky Ah, absolutely thanks. Um, so ah, me personally I did not start the unofficial guide series the unofficial guide books ah date back to the 80 s ah created by Bob Salingja who are ah are. Original author and still with us as our publisher. Um, and then he was joined by lentesta and together over the years they did the unoffish guide to Walt Disney World and Disneyland and I came in a little more than ten years ago um and ah, came in first to start helping with the Disneyland book and eventually I helped create our unofficial guide to universal Orlando ah, and so now I yeah I do the Disneyland book the unofficial guide to universal Orlando and we also have a Las Vegas book that I work on and. Basically the whole ethos of the unofficial guides was ah back in the day there were no critical. Ah objective ah guidebooks to the theme parks. The only the only Disney book you could buy was the official guidebook from bernbaum. 02:32.26 dclduo Oh. 02:35.71 Seth Kubersky And while that was a great book with nice pictures and and some nice descriptions of the rides. It did not tell you if something was bad or if something was boring or if you know something was skippable. The bermbound had to make everything sound like it was the most amazing thing ever. So we were the first book to say you know. 02:42.81 dclduo Right. 02:55.60 Seth Kubersky Most of the things at Disney are pretty good, but some of the things are not and also ah talk. Ah, honestly about the crowds and how the crowds work and how they're manipulated and how ah you can do something use something that we kind of came up with called the touring plan which we've. 03:10.54 dclduo Are. 03:13.39 Seth Kubersky Evolved and ah refined over the years um to avoid the crowds and to see a lot more of the park in a day ah by not just kind of blindly wandering around but by having a scientifically planned out agenda. 03:28.13 dclduo Yeah, well I I got to put a big plug in here for both the guides and the touring plan website. So we we have I think we have all the guidebooks in our home including for Disney Cruise line which you know we're supposed to be experts ourselves but you know we we always find something. 03:33.38 Seth Kubersky E. 03:39.29 Seth Kubersky Excellent. 03:45.00 dclduo Interesting and new there. But also love touring plans for kind of building your travel schedule through these parks because I think things have gotten even more complicated probably since the's when these books started so it's always nice to have some way to cut through the complicating stuff or the complex stuff. But yeah, so Seth how how. 03:53.26 Seth Kubersky This. 03:59.98 Seth Kubersky Yeah. 04:04.57 dclduo How long have you been writing the Universal Orlando guide. 04:07.99 Seth Kubersky Ah, oh so we came out with the first edition of the universal orlando guide when the Diegan Alley opened at ah universal orlando so I think the first edition was. It's on my shelf right? behind me but I don't have my glasses I think it was 202014 was the first edition of that. So um, yeah, we're coming up on this 2024 edition I think is the the tenth now I lose track. Um, and and this this ah 2024 edition is is. 04:28.40 dclduo Okay. 04:39.14 dclduo Ah. 04:43.36 Seth Kubersky Big one but the 2025 edition is going to be huge. We're going to have to add a lot of pages to that just to keep up with what universal is doing. 04:44.56 dclduo Yes. 04:51.53 dclduo Yep, and we we will be talking a little bit more about that later in the show because they're adding a whole nother gate. Ah so yeah, and you I mean just just for everyone out there. You're also a a Disney fan I think ah so yeah. 05:01.72 Seth Kubersky Oh absolutely I got to say I moved to Orlando originally ah I grew up in New Jersey and went to college in Virginia for theater and came down to Orlando intending to work for Disney because I was always a big Disney fan the unofficial guide books. I used to read them as a kid and you know take them out of the local library and plan Disney World trips that my family could not afford to actually go on so I would plan out imaginary trips for fun. Um, so I've always been a huge dude. 05:28.79 dclduo Ah. 05:33.44 Seth Kubersky Disney Fan I came down here wanting to work for Disney and just by a circumstance ended up as a universal employee instead. Um but I have always ah you know had annual passes to Walt Disney world and ah I've got a magic key to Disneyland but that might be lapsing pretty soon. 05:51.15 dclduo Yeah, we feel your pain. We feel your pain. Yeah. 05:53.13 Seth Kubersky Ah, yeah, um, but I am definitely a fan of Disney and I'm ah, especially a fan of the Disney Cruise line ah first cruise I ever went on was carnival and so that kind of set my bar and when I went from that. To my first Disney Cruise it just it. It opened my eyes to what cruising could be um I I got to say I feel like my homeship is still the Disney magic because we spent ah almost a month on the disney magic putting together. Our. 06:20.26 dclduo Nice. 06:27.55 Seth Kubersky Our trips include we did a transatlantic on that that was nearly two weeks which was if you ever get a chance to do a Transatlantic or repositioning go for it because it's a really different experience than your typical you know four day or seven day out and back. 06:30.61 dclduo Nice. 06:43.52 dclduo Yeah, now. Yeah we with that is high on our bucket list to do one of those transatlantic sailings for sure. Um, yeah. 06:45.64 Seth Kubersky Um, yeah, um, so yeah, I'm a big fan of Disney Cruise line and Disney. Absolutely. 06:56.60 dclduo So Seth um, one thing I thought we could talk about is sort of why a Disney Cruise you know you're on a Disney Cruise you're obviously a Disney fan but you and you got that time before and after the cruise a lot of people like to get in to Orlando a few days ahead of their crews and spend some time at the parks and. 07:01.90 Seth Kubersky Easy easy. 07:11.39 dclduo Some folks do the opposite on the back end of it I will tell you our best recommendation is do the parks first always because the cruise is so relaxing. You end your vacation relax not the opposite. It's also a little annoying when you walk into eateries and have to pay for things again. but um but I want to talk to you about like why you know folks might want to take. 07:23.13 Seth Kubersky This is this is. 07:30.94 dclduo A day out of their touring and maybe head over to universal or more than a day. Um, maybe let me start with what what do you think the like the biggest differences are between Disney and universal right now in terms of the the theme parks like what is it. 07:33.00 Seth Kubersky Um, yeah. 07:43.71 Seth Kubersky Um, sure I Honestly I think the biggest difference between them right now is complicated and annoying versus just go and do what you want to do? um you know. 07:45.89 dclduo Thrill rides versus not is that you know what? what is it that makes these 2 parks I think very different. 08:01.82 Seth Kubersky Disney has been backing off on some of their pandemic era ah complications and like you know if you're buying a park ticket now and it's a date specific ticket. You don't have to worry about a park reservation which is night. 08:07.87 dclduo Yeah. 08:17.30 Seth Kubersky Those of us who are annual passholders. We have some good to go days where we can just use our pass like the old days but there's still you've got to check the calendar. You've got to see what you're eligible for and um and then once you're there at the park or actually at 7 in the morning on the day you wanted to go to the park. You've got to be. Hammering your phone to try to get your virtual lines if you want to go on guardians or Tron and you've got to you know decide if you're going to spend the money on genie plus and then try to spend all day on the phone trying to get optimal genie plus return times and it's It's a lot of frustration. Ah, it's a lot of hoops to jump through and it's a lot of spending your day trying to refresh Disney's app on your phone. You don't have any of that at universal particularly if you're staying onsite in 1 of their top on-site hotels. You've got an express pass. That's just going to let you use their equivalent of lightning lane anytime you want without a reservation and you know you don't you can walk from 1 park to the next or take a train from one part to the next in a fraction of the time it takes to even use. 09:31.30 Seth Kubersky Skyliner from epcot to hollywood studios. Um, it's just a much more walkable. Ah, the scale of it. You know I always compare the scale. Ah and the walkability of universal orlando is much closer to Disneyland Resort than it is to the Walt Disney world resort um and 09:44.50 dclduo The. 09:49.29 Seth Kubersky You know, especially if you are coming off of a very relaxing cruise vacation and you don't want to follow that up with spending half your morning on a bus trying to get from all-star resort to animal kingdom lodge and you actually go past Africa on the way you know, um, it's It's a a lot more low-key relaxed. Ah you know you you have early entry privileges if you stay on site but you can also sleep in and just show up when you want and not worry about the ah the lines. The reservations. The. 10:12.93 dclduo Um, and. 10:26.47 Seth Kubersky The hoops to jump through. 10:29.35 dclduo Yeah I I I echo that I love the walkability of Disneyland and I'd say universal Orlando and we actually visit universal hollywood not too long ago and they're both just you know, very very walkable. They're very compact parks. Um, what about pricing Seth Nice by perception. But I don't. 10:32.80 Seth Kubersky It is easy. 10:43.00 Seth Kubersky And. 10:46.52 dclduo Follow this closely but my perception from a lot of folks out there is that universal is a less expensive park to visit at least from a ticketing standpoint. But what are your thoughts on sort of the the cost of a touring day because universal I think also. And I don't know if a nickel and dime I mean Disney certainly is nickelling diming too. So yeah, what? What do you think about the overall cost of a ah park day at universal and disney. 11:07.66 Seth Kubersky There was a time when universal did compete explicitly on price and they've backed up they backed off a little of that and in some places depending on what day you're going and what type of ticket you are going for. Universal can actually be more expensive than Disney um, on a a one day say a one day one park ticket um roughly equivalent um between one of the universal parks and the magic kingdom which is the most expensive one day tickets. Ah um. 11:27.17 dclduo Interesting. 11:45.61 Seth Kubersky I believe like animal kingdom and and epcot they charge a little less for the the one days. But if you're going to look at ah a one day park hoer ah universal actually charges more for their one day park hopers than Disney um, based on the fact that I know I that ah. They want to get the people who are coming for Harry Potter and just want to see Harry Potter in a day and ride the train back and forth so they know they can charge a premium for that one day park copper however, when you go out to looking at ah, 2 or 3 or especially four or five day trips um 12:07.39 dclduo Depth. 12:23.22 Seth Kubersky And especially if you're adding on the water parks at both resorts universal for a longer stay. Ah definitely winds up to be significantly cheaper than Disney um, can you know if you compare the longest stay. You know? Ah, ah. Universal offers tickets ah versus the same number of days at Disney ah definitely cheaper at universal if you're staying for like five days 12:52.60 dclduo And and what about I mean a big question for folks, especially if your time out coming in. You know to orlandover from out of town is you know where to stay and the cost of hotels might again my perception on the cost side of things is universal hotels might be less expensive than Disney and come with more perks. 12:58.21 Seth Kubersky Is. 13:11.26 dclduo But I don't know how they compare to dis some of Disney's resorts you know in terms of moderate deluxe. You know those sorts of things. 13:13.71 Seth Kubersky Yeah, um I would say that while the top hotels at universal can be very pricey if you're looking at the Porto Fino and the hard rock hotel during a peak season. Um, you're going to be paying about as much as. You know for a room as you might play pay at the Waldorf or the 4 seasons. You're not going to pay as much as you would pay at the grand floridian and you're going to get what I would consider much better service. Low's hotels operates. Ah universal. 13:40.56 dclduo Are. 13:51.69 Seth Kubersky And they are a you know a world renowned you know five star kind of operation whereas Disney's Disney's hotel operations today are not what they were ten years ago or twenty years ago and especially if you are coming off of. 13:56.85 dclduo Who. 14:05.53 dclduo Are. 14:10.75 Seth Kubersky Ah, Disney Cruise line where I feel like their hotel operation on the cruise line is still maintaining the standards that Disney had in the 80 s and the 90 s ah and you're if you're used to that kind of high level of guest service and then you come over to a. Very expensive room at Disney World I don't think you can expect anymore that same level of guest service. Ah universal universal isn't perfect. 14:37.59 dclduo Um, interesting. 14:41.40 Seth Kubersky Especially at the lower end resorts when you have ah you know a big event happening and you get everyone trying to check in at the same time they can get overwhelmed. They can be understaffed. Um, but I think the value proposition is much better at the Universal resorts I Urge anyone who is. Used to staying at um Allstars or pop to look really carefully at Endless Summer Ah it ah just on on a ah ah price Basis. It's sometimes you know, ah, 50% less. 15:07.50 dclduo Um, who. 15:17.85 Seth Kubersky And you're getting you know all of the onsite perks for universal, you're getting direct bus service to the parks that takes maybe 6 minutes to get there from the hotel. Um, and you're getting a ah really nice hotel with with some nice amenities. Um, you know the moderates at. Universal have the kind of perks that the deluxe have at Disney um, like you know cabana Bay Beach Resort there's an there's a a lazy river around the pool and you're not going to find that in any disney on-site hotel. 15:48.53 dclduo Um, you won and they give you I think you mentioned this earlier. They give you things like early entry and fast pass or max pass. Don't don't you get max pass if you're staying at some of the top tier resorts Express pass. 15:56.89 Seth Kubersky Yeah, yeah, they call it express passover there and it is included in every room at ah Portofino Bay Hard Rock hotel and royal pacific which are the 3 top resorts the ones closest and. All all within walking distance of the park gates and the great thing is that if you get one night in the hotel that express is good for the whole day that you check in and the whole day that you check out until park closing. So and they'll let you um, show up and. 16:26.74 dclduo Oh nice. 16:33.80 Seth Kubersky Get your hotel key which you know uses your express pass. They'll let you drop off your bags and get all that at 7 in the morning if you want um and you can take advantage of the hour of early entry which gets you into 1 of the parks Harry Potter areas an hour before. 16:41.69 dclduo Wow. 16:52.56 Seth Kubersky The right bureau public which if you take an advantage of it is the best way of riding Hagrids magical creatures motorbike adventure because that one always has a long line and then at every other Ride. You'll be able to use that express pass and skip the regular standby line. And you don't have to make a reservation. You don't have to book it on your phone. You just show up and as many times as you want to ride that if you're a hotel Guest. You've got it unlimited all day. 17:23.70 dclduo Do do they sell those as take so like like let's let's say that you're you're at the you know're staying at Disney it's I think it's only like about a half hour from disney to universal at at the you know right time of day even with a little bit of traffic. Um, but like at universal hollywood. 17:29.29 Seth Kubersky Is it. 17:38.62 dclduo They actually sold ah early entry for you know Mario Land um do they stood? yes. 17:43.69 Seth Kubersky Yes, they do which is great for taking advantage if you want to ah play the games ah without being mobbed and ah and getting a ride on a mario cart without waiting 2 hours there is no there is no um 17:52.74 dclduo Yes, do they do the same thing it okay go ahead. Yeah. 17:59.36 Seth Kubersky Way to just buy early entry into universal orlando ah you can stay at one of their on-site hotels and there are certain ah good neighbor hotels where if you buy a package through universal's travel department. Um. You can get in early ah but typical way that people do it is by just staying on site. Ah you can purchase the express passes if you're not staying in 1 of those 3 hotels. Ah, you know the equivalent. Yeah ah on the the slowest day. 18:24.40 dclduo Okay. 18:37.49 Seth Kubersky Ah, the year is going to cost you around one hundred and fifty bucks and in a busy time they can be worth you know over $300 um, so if you got a couple people in a room and you're staying one night and getting two days worth of express passes the passes you get. Are worth way more than you you would pay for one night in the room. 18:59.40 dclduo And how I guess how long Seth would you recommend someone visit universal orlando you know if I think about Disney World man that feels like at least a 4 or 5 day proposition. Um you you can do it and you can do it in less time if you just want to hit some mar at attractions. But how long do you think people need to really get. 19:04.87 Seth Kubersky Isn't. 19:15.61 dclduo Kind of through the Marquee attractions at Universal Arlando right now. 19:17.28 Seth Kubersky You know people try to do both of the parks in one day and what I say is that if you do that you can either see all of the wizarding world and just a couple highlights of the rest of the park or you can see most of the rest of the parks and. Not a lot of Harry Potter ah but you can't really do both of the parks comprehensively in in one day. Um I recommend one day per park or we also have in our books, some park hopping plans that ah kind of flow you through. You you know half of 1 park and then take the train over to do the other do half of the other park and then flip flop on your second day. Ah so two solid days to do the 2 existing theme parks. If you're a water park fan. We really recommend ah spending a day or at least a morning at. Volcano Bay because it really is you know in in terms of our our reader surveys and our our reviews the top theme park water theme park in town. Um, and if you want to take it slower. You can definitely spend 4 and even five days on site. Um. If you're staying at 1 of the nicer resorts. They all have activities from you know a hawaiian luow to opera singers at the portoino. There's you know a club where they have ah live performances at at hard rock. Um, so. 20:51.86 Seth Kubersky Definitely things that you can easily occupy you for four or five days and they they've explicitly said that when ah epic universe opens in 2025 they are looking for a full week of your vacation. They're going to want that full seven days and if you make it over to Disney for one day. Maybe. 21:04.20 dclduo Wow. 21:11.38 Seth Kubersky Okay, they'll let you go but they're they're planning on putting their their hooks into you and getting that full week out of you. 21:21.77 dclduo I also want to put a plugin here for one second we were talking off air Seth um I have done both parks in a day but I've done it with a v I p tour ticket add on which yeah yeah. 21:30.33 Seth Kubersky Ah, and that's the way to go if you can't afford it. Absolutely. 21:33.54 dclduo which which universal does a little bit differently than Disney because it's it's you buy your ticket and then there's like an add on. So if I had to put it in terms of so Disney's vp tours. You're buying out an entire tour of I forget how many slots it's like 10 slots or something like that and then you're paying per hour minimum I think of 7 hours 21:45.42 Seth Kubersky And. 21:51.20 dclduo Very pricey I think it's up to $700 an hour now maybe 8 800 yeah and and so very pricey but what what universal Orlando is doing is they offer that option but they offer another option which is if you don't mind being put with a bunch of other people. We're just going to sell out a tour. 21:51.76 Seth Kubersky Yes, yes. 22:07.70 dclduo On a per head basis instead of you buying the whole thing on a per hour basis and so I don't know ends up being about ah I think I've seen it as low as maybe like two hundred and eighty dollars to you know few hundred dollars to to get it as an add on and then you get all the benefits of the vip tour you can you get the express pass all day. 22:15.48 Seth Kubersky Yeah. 22:25.66 dclduo And you know we we did that as a family in universal orlando and road I think every marquee ride plus some of the greatest hits rides. You know the men in black and a lot of rides over in the um, the marvel area. You know that sort of thing. So I think it's actually. You know we got a lot of people listening out there who like to sell concierge on occasion if you're selling coniscieurge on Disney Cruise line this ticket ad on is kind of a screaming deal to get all of the major marquee rides and the existing 2 parks done in a day and in my opinion. 22:52.39 Seth Kubersky Yeah, ah the the private Vip tours are little ah too rich for my blood and but I have been on the group Vip tours and it's not a huge group. You're not going around with a giant. 22:57.65 dclduo Yeah. 23:07.49 Seth Kubersky You know a tour group of twenty thirty people it's It's usually 10 or 12 people tops and um, you know it starts with included valet parking. They give you a nice ah continental breakfast. Um and the guides are super knowledgeable and um. It is. You know it's a group they will listen to kind of the group consensus about things to do you can make requests and um, you know it's not necessarily strictly customized just to you? Um, but they throw in little things. Um, you know you might get. Taken ah into the queue of men in black and get to like see the animatronic aliens and sign the guest book or they can ah you know take you on a ah tour behind the scenes of mummy or I've done transformers and been able to go into the booth and see how everything runs um and. 23:49.24 dclduo Yep. 24:00.89 Seth Kubersky At disney basically your tour guide gets you into the lightning lane sometimes that lightning lane can still be a twenty thirty minute wait depending on things are how things are backed up universal those tour guides are genuinely back during you onto the rides and like. 24:15.11 dclduo Yep. 24:20.62 dclduo Step. 24:20.71 Seth Kubersky Cutting you in front of everyone and it is even rides like hagrids that doesn't have any express option any other way. Ah they those Vip tour guides can work their magic and get you right on. 24:33.96 dclduo Yeah I I So we got to do the on the floor of men and black. We got to do standing under the track of the mummy while the car rolls through it's it's it was so cool and we still got to do all this other stuff and and I I want to just pick up on something you said I think is so important. 24:38.22 Seth Kubersky Yes, isn't that great. 24:51.00 dclduo Universal you get breakfast you get lunch I think you can get a discount in. Um there I fear it' what do they call their universal sort of downtown Disney equivalent or Disney Springs equivalent city walk I think you get a discount on dinner at citywalk and your vip pass is an express ah is ah an express pass for the rest of the the day and so. 24:54.70 Seth Kubersky Um. 24:58.22 Seth Kubersky Yeah City walk. Yep. 25:06.46 Seth Kubersky Yeah, yeah. 25:10.68 dclduo If I compare that to what Disney offers none of the meals are included at Disney um I'm sure parking at some level might be included I don't know but you know if you got an annual pass or something. It's already taken care of um, but you don't get the meals and ah the vip tour doesn't get you anything once it's done like unless you've bought. 25:27.00 Seth Kubersky This is. 25:30.40 dclduo Genie You're not getting through any of those lines and yeah, the backdoor access to these things. It is not walk in stand in line. It is walk in and get on the ride. You will be the next people on the ride is kind of their promise that they they make at the beginning of the tour and so I think yeah. 25:43.53 Seth Kubersky Yeah, they they really do make you feel like a vip and ah and during most of the year the vip tour um is not an insane amount more than just buying the unlimited express you know I think. 25:56.86 dclduo Yeah. 25:59.92 Seth Kubersky I think that for what you get out of it. It's worth paying. You know a hundred or so more per person over the price of express to upgrade to vp during Halloween horror nights. However, it is they sell out. They jack the price up, but it is worth its weight in gold. 26:05.34 dclduo Yeah. 26:17.51 Seth Kubersky Because Halloween Horror night's lines are scarier than anything inside the haunted house. The queue outside is way more frightening than anything inside and your express pass only cuts that 2 hour wait down to about an hour ah whereas a vip tour is basically if you want to go on a busy night and see everything in the park. That's the only way to do it. 26:38.90 dclduo Yeah, yeah, for sure, let's let's talk about that for a second Seth because I want to sort of you mentioned Halloween horror nights. Um I want to talk about some of the special things and compare. You know if you're there at a holiday time. You know you've got Mickey's not so scary. You've got Halloween horror nights. 26:44.28 Seth Kubersky M. 26:54.81 Seth Kubersky And. 26:56.40 dclduo But that also raises a question for me around like what I feel like Disney is made for families with young children and all ages can enjoy it right? Universal how would you say they do with. 27:03.85 Seth Kubersky M. 27:09.15 dclduo The younger crowd because I view them as much more like a thrill ride park and like I'm excited that my 10 year old son loves those rides but when he was younger we were sort of like no no know if it's going to be the right thing for him right? Um, how do you compare the sort of the who's this for. 27:24.30 Seth Kubersky Yeah, um, you are right? that ah universal does lean into their thrill rides. They have higher height requirements. They have things that go upside down and make you empty your pockets and put everything in a locker. Ah I guess now we have tron that makes you do that. But um, you are right that it skews. 27:35.30 dclduo Yep. 27:41.96 Seth Kubersky Older. However I think people sometimes underrate the attractions that are there and the accommodations that are there for kids right now. The. What used to be kid zone is a construction zone and but it's coming back as dreamworks land and it's going to have a lot of franchises that really appeal to kids. you're going to have Shrek ah you're going to have trolls um you're going to have ah Gabby's tree house I think that's the name of it. Um, you're going to have kung fu panda um, a lot of really popular ips ah with playgrounds and rides that are designed for little kids no matter what you do universals got a lot of rides with height restrictions though and. You know, ah Disney um, there's a lot of rides at Disney that you can take an infant on. Um, you know they'll let you can go on the haunted mansion or pirates or it's a small world and there is no lap bar. There is no restraints. Um, this is also how we get people jumping out living with the land and trying to take a cucumber home with them. 28:36.89 dclduo The. 28:50.94 Seth Kubersky Um, universal even the kitty rides like the Sius Trolley Train yeah you know they pin you into the seats with restraints on everything which means that you know the littlest kids are not going to have a lot to ride you know past the Karasooal and the ah. 28:58.16 dclduo Yeah. 29:09.50 Seth Kubersky The 1 fish 2 fish dumbo ride. There's not a lot that that you know little little little kids can ride. But I think that universals playgrounds for little kids are better than the playgrounds at Disney Disney you've got the boneard. 29:24.90 dclduo And. 29:26.21 Seth Kubersky Got the casey junior splash area and not a lot else except for some splash pads. Um whereas universals got um, a sous playground for little little kids which is really really well done. Um, they've got ah the popeye playground area for kind of. Slightly older kids with slides and climbs and then they've got camp Jurassic for ah you know the kind of elementary age kids and honestly that I think that's fun for me and the net climbs the caves all like. I think that is up there with Tom Sawyer island but you don't have to wait for a raft get there. Um, the flip side of this is there are a lot of rides that you know kids will not be able to go on it does create fomo when the older sibling is allowed to go on a ride with with mom and dad. Ah, but there was 1. 30:17.90 dclduo Yeah. 30:19.78 Seth Kubersky 1 kid who's just too short at disney they have a child swap system where basically you know one person waits outside the ride with the kid and then has to wait till the other one's done and then answer your question of the. 30:36.44 dclduo No, that's fine. 30:36.45 Seth Kubersky I'm so sorry you're gonna have to edit this one alexa off? Oh my God apologies. So I'm gonna back up just a little and you can edit it after right. 30:42.94 dclduo No no worries. Yeah yeah, yeah, go for it. 30:53.66 Seth Kubersky I don't remember exactly how I started off so I'm gonna ah yeah, yeah, 1 big way where I think that. 30:58.25 dclduo You're you're talking about the child swap system if you want to start there? yeah. 31:05.69 Seth Kubersky Universal is friendlier to families with little kids than Disney is the child swap system. You always get fomo created when there's an older sibling parents can go on a ride but there's a kid who's too young and at Disney they require 1 parent to wait outside the ride with the younger kid and then they. Have to go through the lightning lane afterwards and that can really add time into your day universal system is they've got a child swap room built right into every ride that has a height requirement and it's this quiet area. They usually got a Tv or some games to play with and. 31:38.10 dclduo Yep. 31:44.70 Seth Kubersky Ah, it lets 1 parent ride and then they can immediately just swap out right there and be on your way and if you've got 1 kid who's kind of intermediate age. Um it lets that kid ride twice with ah 1 parent each time It's a really great system and ah. I think a huge improvement over the way that disney does child swap. 32:05.42 dclduo Yeah, that that is a great a great system I mean I I sort of view disney as like introducing our son to various levels of rides and attractions and coasters and then once he was riding things like Tron or. Ah, guardians or space mountain or those sorts of things. It's like okay, let's let's go test the waters over at universal and I'll just my my tip is if you're headed to universal and you you're wanting your kid to experience thrill rides I'd absolutely started hagrids because I think hagrids is the most accessible of the thrill rides that they have over there. 32:22.72 Seth Kubersky Me. 32:40.32 dclduo It's an actual coaster, not screen based ah but I wouldn't start with Hulk or Velocico or so like like that. Yeah. 32:43.44 Seth Kubersky Um, no, you got to work work your way at Hulk and Veloccoaster ah hulk because it's got an amazing opening launch and it's got a little bit rough over the years even since it's rebuilt. 32:54.53 dclduo Yeah. 32:57.86 Seth Kubersky Um, and just veloca coastaster because it is one of the most intense coasters on Earth especially that Mososaurus role at the very end ah gets me every time and I've been on coasters all over the place. Those are not starter coasters that you you work your way up to those. 33:05.87 dclduo Um, yeah. 33:11.10 dclduo Yeah. 33:15.67 Seth Kubersky Ah, but Hagrids is a great family friendly coaster that you know, almost everyone really enjoys that even people who don't typically like coasters ah mummy is another great choice. Um, and and green gots If you're someone who's mostly a dark ride fan and don't like big drops. Um. 33:25.99 dclduo Yes. 33:35.53 Seth Kubersky You know Green Gotts has got a ah little drop at the beginning and a little launch at the end. Ah but it's mostly dark rides. That's another good transition. 33:43.40 dclduo Outside those throw rides Seth ah what are the attractions you you mentioned? there's some yeah you didn't use the word hidden gyms but like what what are the underrated attractions there like you know ET pops to mind is like one of the original kind of attractions there. But what are some of those underrated ones. 33:53.20 Seth Kubersky Um, yeah. 34:01.23 Seth Kubersky E T is the last ah ride that is still basically opening day untouched and it honestly it could use some touches it it could it could use some some polish and some love. But I'm glad it is still there. It's very much like um. 34:10.74 dclduo Um, yeah. 34:18.22 Seth Kubersky Peter Pan's flight on acid. Ah um, but I think the hidden gems at universal are the entertainment. A lot of people go to universal for the big rides. Um, and they have some of the best performers some of the best scripts. Um, if there are is. 34:19.18 dclduo Um. 34:25.58 dclduo Or. 34:37.66 Seth Kubersky Is ah, kind of a one two punch ah 2 attractions that actually empty out into the same gift shop and are both well worth doing the born stuntacular on one hand and the horror makeup show on the other ah born I think. 34:46.23 dclduo Yes. 34:54.37 Seth Kubersky You know I love me some Indiana Jones but the Indiana Jones stunt show at Disney has gotten kind of tired over the years and bo manages to take really good high impact stunts and fight choreography and mix it with this ah digital backdrop technology. 35:01.72 dclduo Um, man. 35:12.16 Seth Kubersky Where you can't tell who's really on stage and who is a digital character. It's really flawless the way that they do the effects in the stunts and then on the other hand, the harm makeup show that show has been going also more or less sinces opening day and it is still funny because they have great great performers. Who are given space to improvise and play with the audience and no matter how many times I see that you know the clips. Ah you know they're still talking about the Tom Cruise mummy movie ah some of some of the video clips need to be updated, but ah, the jokes just do not get old. 35:49.85 dclduo You know hey they had iger on the cruise line gold mickey's well chepec was Ceo so you know every every so once once in a while you need the update but ah so. 36:00.52 dclduo Ah, we haven't done the horror makeup show. We've heard nothing but good things about it though. So now that you've mentioned it again I'm going to have I'm going to have to put it on our top of our list is to be. 36:02.17 Seth Kubersky Oh that that is that is one of those sleeper hits that you know, no one goes to the park for the first time just to see the horror makeup show. But once you discover it. It's one of the very few theme park shows. You can go into and see over and over again and it's it's still funny. 36:23.69 dclduo Yeah I also like the ah some of the rides that universals come up with that are game based are just really fun. Like I mean I enjoy men and black. We had a blast on the mario cart ride out in hollywood which will be coming to I'm assuming coming to universal Orlando with the new gate. 36:27.27 Seth Kubersky It. 36:33.17 Seth Kubersky Oh yes. 36:40.83 dclduo Um, and they had they had that new villains ah ride that they opened recently right. 36:41.65 Seth Kubersky Um, yeah, they transformed the street where you first entered the park from just 1 despicable me ride to a whole minyan land and they replaced. The Shrek four d theater with villain con minion blast which is um at least the first theme park ride I've been on where the the person is the ride vehicle. You are your own ride vehicle you stand on a moving so a moving sidewalk. 37:10.66 dclduo Um. 37:13.77 Seth Kubersky Ah, kind of like a luggage ah retrieval at the airport because it can go around curves and stuff and you just stand on the moving walkway with a wireless blaster gun and shoot at screens and you know make things explode it is ah it is fun and. Once you sign into the app and create an avatar and customize your gun. Ah, it does get a little addictive to try to chase the high score and um, you know see your whole ah progress in history and collectibles. Um, so that is fun. Um, but. It is so chaotic when you have something like men in black. You know you've got 6 people in a car. Ah at this, you've got sometimes a dozen or more people. Ah in any 1 scene all shooting at the same screen at the same time and just trying to figure out. Whose target is who's and what is going on. Um, you know the frame rate sometimes gets a little choppy and it's it's very very overstimulating. Um, so ah, it's it's worth doing. But I think it's telling that. 38:20.20 dclduo Yeah. 38:27.53 Seth Kubersky Even though it's the new hot ride. It gets shorter wait times ah than the despicable me simulator that's been around for over a decade. That's right next door. Um, that's it. That's good news though if you want to try to improve your score because you can usually get in and out. 38:35.70 dclduo Wow Wow I will say. 38:46.55 Seth Kubersky In ah well under half an hour any time a day. 38:48.84 dclduo Oh wow! Wow yeah I mean I will say what I do like about that ride the mario land like universals done a really good job of um, not just gamifying the ride but gamifying the whole experience a bit with those you know the bands in the Mario land that will come. You know to Orlando at some point right? I mean you're. 39:00.34 Seth Kubersky Moved. 39:06.25 dclduo You're chasing like your team's high score. You're trying to score points. You got to you think you almost have to have the band and play the games or to get into the bowser Junior you know challenge. Ah so. 39:14.87 Seth Kubersky Absolutely yes and I think you are going to see that ah becoming more and more right now they are working on upgrading the magical windows in the wzing worlds of Harry Potter both diaganalie and hodsmead. 39:25.87 dclduo Oh okay. 39:29.53 Seth Kubersky Select windows that have been closed off. They're installing new sensors and the reliable rumor is that they are going to release a new wave of interactive wands. Um, that are still compatible with the old technology but add Bluetooth. So that they can pair with your phone and that it will be able to track you to ah have customization to have as you say more gamification because you know the ah the interactive ones in Harry Potter 39:49.99 dclduo Ah. 40:02.42 Seth Kubersky I Think they were brilliant that when they came out. They came up with a system that basically just has a little I R reflective bead on the end of a piece of a resin. There's no battery. There's no electronics whatsoever inside the wands. Um, which was brilliant because you don't have to worry about recharging them or you know. 40:09.71 dclduo Um, yeah. 40:20.59 Seth Kubersky Ah, plugging them in or anything or anything going wrong? Um, but it limited how much depth there could be to what they do. Ah so by coming out with these new wave interactive wands which are going to be standard in the new park. You've got the. Ah, as you say the power up bands in hollywood are going to be compatible with ah what they're installing in Florida and there's going to be a lot more just a lot more interactivity and activities to do and then I think we're going to see. Some similar chochke that you've got to pay for to get the most out of the land for how to train your dragons and ah for dark universe when when the rest of um, the park comes online. 41:09.89 dclduo Nice. Yeah I I I Really enjoy that kind of piece of it. My son loves it right? He loves people to like oh I got the high score on this that sort of thing that that's really cool, but before we dive into? yeah. 41:17.77 Seth Kubersky Yeah, and I will say that I just just say 1 more thing. Um you know Disney does that too. They have their magic band plus um and they have games that are tied to that but I almost feel like. 41:27.17 dclduo Yeah. 41:34.21 Seth Kubersky Disney tried that came out with a few things like the bounty hunter game and then kind of let it stagnate and they've done that with a lot of things over the years they've introduced like if you remember the ears that lit up that were supposed to synchronize with ah you know all these things that they've come out with my pal mickey. 41:38.89 dclduo Um. 41:45.31 dclduo Yes. 41:51.45 dclduo Who. 41:53.36 Seth Kubersky Um, you know all of these interactive things that Disney's come out with that have kind of faded away and then they come out with a new thing to spend money on. Um and I like that at least universal seems to be iterating and adding more depth. Ah, while. 42:04.13 dclduo Um, yeah. 42:12.72 Seth Kubersky Hopefully still maintaining some backwards compatibility. 42:14.25 dclduo Yeah, the the best I ever saw Disney do it which is now closed is the star cruiser because you had to you know, use your band and everything was a big game and all that sort of stuff. But yeah, it never never made its way into the parks in the way that it did in that experience. So yeah, yeah, exactly. 42:21.62 Seth Kubersky Ah. 42:29.71 Seth Kubersky R I P Halcyon Hopefully we'll see some of those elements ah come into the the parks someday the R and D that went into that hopefully will not die in order just to get a tax right? off That's that's what I pray. 42:44.16 dclduo Yeah, yes, we can hope we can hope well Seth before we get to something I think universal is doing really really right? which is their new gate that they're getting ready to open in 2025 I just want to ask you like is there any place where you think universal ah needs to improve. Ah, that that you'd like to see them improve the experience. We've doing so say singing the praises but where the where the places they might need to put in a little tlc. 42:58.42 Seth Kubersky Um, oh ah, you know. 43:06.00 Seth Kubersky Um, for a long time. Ah, there was a lot of understaffing, especially in food and beverage coming out of the pandemic. Ah, and so efficiency of. Ah, the rides have always been very efficient. You know for theme park but food and beverage for a while was was pretty rough. That's improved. Um I think that there could be tighter integration between low's and ah the parks themselves. Um because lows is ah a separate entity. Ah, there are some things that like a lows concierge can't help you with if it involves something inside the parks and vice versa. Um, and you know just being able to have like at Disney you have 1 magic band. That's your your hotel key card and your theme park tickets. Ah, you know universal you got you got to get a lanyardd to go to universal because you're going to end up with at least 2 or 3 different cards that you've got to wear around your neck and be ready to pull out in a given time. Um, and you know universal sometimes ah disney. I feel is very lockstep in terms of messaging and universal sometimes ah the left hand doesn't know what the right hand's doing in terms of communication and depending on which department you ask the policy might be different. Ah you know on any given day. Um. 44:32.14 Seth Kubersky So ah, that's kind of like a behind the scenenes thing that ah you know in terms of get just you know making sure everyone's on the same page in terms of different departments sometimes it universal doesn't happen as as smoothly as it does at Disney. 44:49.41 Seth Kubersky And and the last the last thing sorry the last thing is the integration of getting you from the airport to ah the parks. Ah you know Disney when they gave up on their magical express I think they made a big mistake. Um and universal. Ah. 44:49.61 dclduo Ah, War has. 44:57.75 dclduo Um. 45:07.73 Seth Kubersky Hopefully this bright line ah train that right now goes from the Orlando airport to Miami is going to expand expand west and on its way to Tampa will hopefully stop right now outside of the new universal campus. And if it does that that will take away one of the big friction points for guests coming to universal. 45:35.64 dclduo I'm curious to the 1 question I had that you may have a sense of especially with ah I know touring plans Lyn loves to track ride downtime like how do the how does universal compare with disney in terms of like the marquee attraction downtime. My sense is they're up more than Disney. 45:42.90 Seth Kubersky Easy. 45:51.34 dclduo A bit but I don't know. 45:51.71 Seth Kubersky Yeah I mean I I I don't have the exact numbers in front of me but I know that especially a select Marquee attractions I'm looking at you rise of the resistance um are. 46:03.35 dclduo The. 46:07.59 Seth Kubersky Ah down in the mornings almost more often than they are up. Ah Hagrids is not without their its problems. There are plenty of mornings where hagrids does have a delayed opening. Um but a lot of you know, ah some of the really still. 46:11.76 dclduo Yeah, um. 46:26.29 Seth Kubersky Technologically sophisticated attractions like Harry ponder and the forbidden journey are remarkably reliable in terms of their uptime. Um, you know there there are bad days at universal I've been there. There was ah a day not too long ago where they had a power outage and. The majority of the parks were just shut down because there wasn't electricity. Ah, but um I I find that ah universal has generally been. Fairly reliable at least a lot more reliable than they were in the old days universally got a bad reputation in their first few years of being very unreliable King Kong Jaws earthquake those things would break down all the time. And the the first few years of the parks and that's what people remembered universal for broken rides. Um, but honestly, ah, you know when they opened ia they tested those rides hard for months and months before opening Iowa to make sure they were reliable. Um, and. 47:17.80 dclduo And. 47:31.20 Seth Kubersky I Think we're going to see the same thing with Epic Universe You know we're seeing rides testing now more than a year before the park opens so they're going to. They're going to have those kinks ironed out so that when Grand opening day comes around ah the the stories is not going to be about how. 47:37.38 dclduo Wow. 47:51.13 Seth Kubersky There's long lines because the rides are broken. 47:52.38 dclduo Well speaking of epic universe I mean I've been following at a very high level. They're opening this new park. Epic universe I know that they're expanding Harry Potterland as a part of it I know that they are bringing Mario Land in I'm less familiar with the other 2 lands that they're kind of. 47:59.99 Seth Kubersky It's just this. 48:04.31 Seth Kubersky Is he. 48:11.39 dclduo Building out there but like what what is happening with epic universe I know it's slate open twenty twenty five but like what's happening there. What kinds of rides attractions have you heard about that are coming and what do you think that that will do to the sort of the overall kind of proposition of visiting universal Orlando. 48:12.42 Seth Kubersky Smith. 48:26.61 Seth Kubersky Sure, um, you know it's funny because those of us who are like deeply involved in theme parks. You know we've we've been following permits and construction filings and aerial photography for like years and years on this. Um, and. You know they had this big splashy debut this rollout of the parks concept and the central hub ah details and a lot of people who are just vaguely aware of theme parks now are really paying attention. They're like what is this epic universe thing all about. Um, so this is universal trying to basically build the first theme park the first Orlando theme park of this millennium. You know everything else was twentieth century this is truly the first twenty first century theme park in Orlando ah, and. It involves kind of a hub and spoke um, typical to the sort of like the traditional disneyland model. Ah, where you walk into their equivalent of main street and the hub is going to be called celestial park um, and they they talk about putting the. 49:27.37 dclduo Oh. 49:40.53 Seth Kubersky Garden or the park back in theme park very lushly landscaped very garden like ah reminds me a bit of Shanghai disneyland in the way that it's very expansive with lots of shopping and dining and retail but also just. 49:48.77 dclduo He. 49:59.36 Seth Kubersky Pretty places to relax and take pictures and a carousel. Um, but it's also got the park's most thrilling ride starfall racers which is a pair of dueling launched Intoman Roller coasters. Ah that I think it's going to kind of almost give ah velocacoaster a run for its money as the top. 50:15.99 dclduo Wow. 50:19.70 Seth Kubersky Top roller coaster at universal and then from that central hub if you go all the way to the back. You've got a luxury hotel that's going to be integrated right into the park with its own entrance very much like you see it and Disneyland Paris or in Tokyo Disney Seas ah but what we don't have in any of the parks here that kind of integration and ah a bellagio style water fountain show that will um you know be accompanied by fireworks and put on a big show every night and from there you'll branch off. Into the four discrete lands and it's not going to be where sort of universal now where one section sort of blends into the other this is going to be four completely immersive worlds where everything else is blocked out once you're in there. And as you mentioned it's ah super Nintendo world which includes the mario cart ride. We've already got in um California the yoshi ride they've already got in Tokyo I'm sorry Osaka in Japan and also the new donkey kong mine cart ride which is the first. 51:29.40 dclduo Oh wow. 51:31.97 Seth Kubersky First roller coaster that looks like it jumps off of the tracks just like in Donkey Kong country it's a very clever system with a cantilily verd coaster where the the track that looks like it's broken. That's a fake track that's just for show the real track is hidden underneath. 51:34.16 dclduo I Saw this? yeah. 51:49.42 Seth Kubersky Ah, and the car is connected to that by a hidden boom. So it really creates the illusion that you're flying through the air and that is coming to Japan this year and will be part of the land. So when we. 51:55.98 dclduo Wow. 52:04.94 Seth Kubersky It opens when Nintendo opens in Florida it will be the biggest and most complete ah Nintendo land to open anywhere in the world. Um, as you mentioned ah more Harry Potter if you don't have enough Harry Potter already and this one is ah called Harry Potter a wizard world of Harry Potter ministry of magic and it's it's kind of a little confusing. You're going to walk into the wizarding World Paris from the 1920 s like you see in fantastic beasts. Ah, but then you will walk take the Flu network. 52:19.76 dclduo Um. 52:33.21 dclduo Yes. 52:39.38 Seth Kubersky To end up inside the ministry of Magic London set as a sequel happening right? after the end of ah Harry Potter and the the deathly hollows the final Harry Potter book and movie. Um. For ah, a ah dark ride inside the ministry of magic and so they're going to combine both fantastic beasts and ah classic Harry Potter into one land and then the the 2 remaining lands are how to train your dragon. The isle of Burke. 53:01.33 dclduo Wow. 53:17.60 Seth Kubersky Ah, it's going to have a dragon-themed indoor show and roller coasters and a water ride and then the one that I'm most excited for dark universe based on the classic monsters but they've given been given a modern update. So it's now Dr. Victoria Frankenstein ah 53:35.11 Seth Kubersky A descendant of Victor Frankenstein and she has created a new monster. There's a dark ride called the frankenstein experiment which uses the kuooka robo arms from forbidden journey but instead of domes like simulator scenes. It's real physical sets and animatronics. 53:35.12 dclduo Um, ah. 53:54.17 Seth Kubersky Ah, mixed with digital projection backgrounds kind of like the way they make the Mandalorian so you know things that look like huge scenes that are a mix of physical and practical but you won't just be sitting in front of a projection screen being shaken around. 54:08.10 dclduo What that is such an improvement over that Harry Potter track shit because I think those screens are what make people a little a little sick to their stomach. So yeah. 54:13.34 Seth Kubersky Yeah, a little so absolute you know I think they were a huge um innovation at the time to be able to have that ride be able seem seemingly stop in front of us ah screen to use the carousels and have multiple screens going around. It's incredible. The way it works Um, but it is ah definitely and induces a lot of ah sawdust pink sawdust having to be sprayed on the belt at the end of the ride lot lot of protein spills happen because of that for sure. 54:30.65 dclduo Um, yeah. 54:38.58 dclduo Um, yeah. 54:44.92 dclduo ah ah yeah is is the epic universe gate like because like right now one of the things we talked about at the beginning of the show. It's really nice is the walkability. Is it going to be is it going to be as accessible to the other 2 parks as those 2 parks are today and are they going to be connected in the background in some way. 54:51.97 Seth Kubersky A. 55:00.81 Seth Kubersky Yeah, so ah, the new property is a couple miles south of where the existing universal is the new property is going to have 3 hotels on site. Ah one that's got an entrance directly into the back of the park. 55:05.59 dclduo Um, ah. 55:14.27 dclduo Great. 55:16.31 Seth Kubersky And 2 that are very short distance from the front gates of the new park. Um, but in addition to that they are building. They're upgrading kirkman road which is the main road that runs directly south from the original universal from the parking garage directly south into the new. Campus and they're building dedicated bus lanes going down the center of it that'll have their own traffic signals so they won't have to stop for red lights and they're going to be electrical buses supposedly and they're going to have a fleet of them to constantly circulate. Ah I mean right now they do a similar thing for the endless summer hotel which is also offsite. It's kind of about halfway between these 2 new properties. Um, and that bus trip is about 6 minutes door to door and I've never waited more than 5 minutes for a bus. 56:03.37 dclduo Um. 56:08.17 dclduo Oh wow. 56:10.50 Seth Kubersky It's going to be a very similar situation. You know there was speculation early on. Are they going to build a monorail. Are they going to build a sky car. Honestly, a fleet of electric buses. Um that you know does not have to stop for. You know, high winds. Ah, the way the sky car does. 56:25.76 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 56:27.96 Seth Kubersky Or does not trap people up on a beam the way the monorail has um I think it it makes sense and you know from what we've Seen. It's going to be quicker to get from the old universal to the new universal than it is to get from. Epcot to Hollywood Studios or to get from Magic Kingdom to epcot. 56:49.81 dclduo Wow! So a bit of a departure but a bit of an improvement over the Disney model. So um, yeah, very interesting. What what do you think this will I mean obviously this is going to raise ticket prices right? I mean it can't it can't not raise ticket prices. 56:56.75 Seth Kubersky Yep, yeah I You know if you are hoping that your existing annual pass is going to suddenly include a whole new theme park without your ah your charge going up. No, that's not going to happen. 57:09.20 dclduo Ah. 57:11.50 dclduo Which it would. 57:12.83 Seth Kubersky Ah, you know universal has always had much less expensive annual passes than Disney and um, a lot more benefits and I think we're going to see that gap tight and I think they're they're going to know, especially the annual passholders are really devoted and want to be the first ones in there. 57:16.51 dclduo Yeah. 57:30.25 Seth Kubersky That's even if they sell annual passes for the first few months or you know they're going to want to squeeze every penny and there probably is going to be a reservation system whether it's a reservation system for the park itself or even reservations you know, timed entry into the individual lands. We see that. 57:33.52 dclduo Yeah, well. 57:49.18 Seth Kubersky Ah, they do that in Japan just to manage capacity and they've done it in hollywood too with a super Nintendo world when that gets overwhelmed. So I think they're they've kind of designed this park so that the portals that are your entry way into each of these 4 main themed lands can be closed off as need be so they can control traffic very carefully. 58:11.60 dclduo Wow wow! What's it's interesting to I mean expect the ticket prices to go up. But if I rewind all the way back to the beginning of our show when you're talking about the comparison between ticket prices at Disney and universal and they're you know a close and sometimes universal is a little bit more expensive. Um, you know. 58:17.23 Seth Kubersky And easy. Yeah. 58:29.79 dclduo Increase those prices and suddenly you know is it that universal is a 3 theme park you know, um, or a 3 Yeah 3 park kind of you know overall resort while Disney's a 4 park resort. You know those sorts of questions in the ticket price disparity I don't I don't know how to think about that I mean my sense is universal also has a. 58:40.50 Seth Kubersky Me. 58:48.38 dclduo Maybe a lot more rides ah in the 2 parks. It has. 58:50.14 Seth Kubersky Yeah, well see that's the thing if you ah start comparing like I always say ah the Disneyland resort with its 2 theme parks has about the equivalent number of attractions as all for Disney parks. 58:58.21 dclduo Her he. 59:05.81 Seth Kubersky Put together the density. There's nothing that beats the density of especially Disneyland park. Um I think that ah when you look at not just the headline or attractions at universal but they're going to be putting in a lot of interactivity that's going to suck up time. You know if you want to play those. 59:07.20 dclduo Yep. 59:25.77 Seth Kubersky Nintendo games. Ah you can easily spend 2 or 3 hours punching blocks and doing all the key challenges so that you can make your way into bowser's bowser junior's cave and I think that ah you know we're going to see those kind of must-do activities that are you know, either paywalled. Ah. 59:42.80 dclduo With. 59:44.26 Seth Kubersky So that there's going to be. You know there's going to be both ah you know explicit increases in price because I think that universal is going to want almost as a prestige effect. You know like a halo effect you want they want to be seen as the premium product. They can charge a premium because they're going to say this is the number 1 theme park. In town. Maybe even in the world and you're going to. You should pay extra to experience it? Um, so they you know? Ah I think they're going to want on that side. Um, and ah also just to control. 01:00:09.30 dclduo Oh. 01:00:20.33 Seth Kubersky Ah, there's going to be a lot of demand. Um, especially that first summer that it's open especially that first Halloween season that it's open. Um, so ah, you know I I think um, no better way to control demand than by increasing price right. 01:00:26.84 dclduo Oh Wow yeah. 01:00:38.48 dclduo Yeah, yeah, well that has certainly been the Disney philosophy at Disneyland that much is for sure. So yeah, well Seth it has been an absolute blast chatting with you about universal orlando ah, let me rewind us 1 more time and just give you a second to sort of plug. Ah, where folks can. 01:00:39.76 Seth Kubersky New eggs. Yes, yes, yes for sure for sure. 01:00:56.15 dclduo Find the book where they can follow you I Know you've got great coverage of the theme parks even outside of the book. So yeah, where where can folks find you and where can they get a copy of the book. 01:01:04.66 Seth Kubersky Absolutely um, you can find us first of all at the unofficialguides.com where you can get a copy of any of our books shipped directly to you and then um. On top of that on all the social media platforms I am at S Kuberski S K U B E R S K Y and the unofficial guides are at the unofficial guides so we are out there on all of the major platforms reeling and posting and storing. Um, at all the parks. 01:01:38.72 dclduo Yeah, and I just want to say one more time. Fantastic resources. We love the philosophy of touring plans and the unofficial guides giving you kind of that unvarnished opinion about the parks. The attractions. You know what? the what your visit's going to be like it's something we try to do on our show with the cruise line and so just really appreciate them bringing that. Same ethos to to their coverage and so Seth just thank you so much for taking the time out of your day on a Saturday to spend a little time with our audience and we yeah, we really really appreciate. It. 01:02:05.92 Seth Kubersky My pleasure. This is a great conversation and I would love to come back and talk to you more sometime soon. Hopefully hopefully. 01:02:14.40 dclduo Yeah, maybe we we can do it in less than 2 years is ah.