Before the covid pandemic, people could buy a Disney World ticket in advance and decide on the day they visited which park they wanted to enter.
Yes, on very rare occasions, an individual park might reach capacity, but for the most part no advance planning was required,
Covid changed that; during the height of the pandemic Walt Disney (DIS) was forced to limit capacities. That meant the company had to know who was coming to each of its four Disney World theme parks in order to manage those capacities.
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Limited capacities at its parks in turn forced Disney to use a reservation system. In addition to a ticket, visitors needed reservations for the parks they intended to visit. People thus needed to plan ahead, which made Disney World trips much less flexible.
Disney has opted to keep that system in place even though covid restrictions have been dropped.
And while Universal Studios, Disney World's chief rival, has never used a reservation system, a move it just made suggests that it might be considering one.
Image source: Universal Studios
Universal Studios Surveys Its Customers
While Disney adopted the reservation system, Universal has resisted doing so.
Back when it had to limit the capacity at its parks, the Comcast (CMCSA) company simply made people wait to get in. Universal Studios Florida used a one-in, one-out policy where lines were sometimes long but everyone eventually got in.
Now, however, Universal Studios is building a new park, Epic Universe. That theme park is expected to see incredibly high demand, and using the current admission system -- even without covid-related capacity restrictions -- could be a problem.
To get ahead of the potential problem, the company has surveyed its customers about adopting a Disney-like reservation system, according to a report from Screamscape.
"Screamscape has learned that Universal Orlando has been sending out an online survey that asks a lot of questions about how people feel about the heavily disliked reservation system that has been in effect at Walt Disney World since 2020," the website reported.
"The speculation based on gathering public opinion on the topic is to find out what people hate most about Disney’s reservation system just in case Universal Orlando is perhaps planning on putting their own form of a reservation system into effect at some point in the future,"
Epic Universe Has Unique Features
Epic Universe is being built around themed lands that will operate a bit like Universal's current "Wizarding World of Harry Potter" lands at both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. These are immersive lands that are distinct sections of the park.
Once in a while Universal has controlled access to "Wizarding World" by having guests sign up for access times. Epic Universe is being built so each "land" in the theme park could use a similar system.
Screamscape says everything is on the table when it comes to controlling crowds at the new park.
"I think they may be thinking more ahead about how to handle the crowds at the new Epic Universe theme park when it opens in 2025," it reported.
"Opening a new park is always a challenge as you have high guest interest and intent to visit, mixed with a brand new park that may not be fully built out yet, and offer only a limited number of attractions at first.
"Certainly, one way to improve the guest experience for those who enter, and make sure they get to see and do everything they want to do, would be to limit your attendance levels at first via a potential reservation system.".
