Disney v The Dolphins
While Disney have squeezed maximum mileage out of the Year Of A Million Dreams promotion in 2007 in Orlando, it will be fascinating to see if they can keep it up in ’08 in the face of a new marketing campaign from the Anheuser-Busch parks and their new Aquatica water park
This latter will see a new style of park when it opens in March as the featured attractions will include live animals – notably a lagoon of Commerson’s Dolphins – as well as the usual exciting array of slides and rides
In fact, Aquatica will offer a number of novel elements, including two side-by-side wave pools, two contrasting lazy river areas and the world’s largest children’s water-play structure, as well as more personalised service, like waiter service on their extensive sandy beach!
But it is not the park itself which may cause a few flutters in Mouse-land but the new ticket structure which Anheuser-Busch have unveiled for their range of Orlando parks, which include SeaWorld, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Adventure Island water park and their exclusive Discovery Cove park.
For the first time, A-B can offer their own all-inclusive ticket which looks highly tempting for the one and two-week visitor: The 2-Park Ticket – SeaWorld and Aquatica for a full 7 days (£49 at most UK ticket brokers) The 3-Park Ticket – SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and Aquatica for a full 14 days (£72 at most UK ticket brokers) There is even an Ultimate Ticket, combining Discovery Cove with the other three, for an impressive £175. And that’s all without considering the popular Orlando FlexTicket, which includes the two Universal Orlando parks and Wet ‘n Wild water park.
We have already heard anecdotal evidence which suggests some people are moving towards the 3-Park Ticket in preference to some of the longer Walt Disney World multi-day tickets, which would give Disney a real headache if that is the case.
And it will be intriguing to see if the big Anheuser-Busch marketing campaign pays off on the back of their inviting new water park.
However, the one thing in Disney’s favour is – SeaWorld’s own website. Trying to negotiate the myriad of arcane possibilities, Florida resident/non-resident, package/non-package, length-of-stay benefits (or not), is truly something of ludicrous proportions.
How anyone can make ticket choice SO complicated is truly amazing. But then, anyone who has tried to navigate around SeaWorld’s ‘new-look’ website has probably already found that already!