MCA Transportation Blog

Partner Hotel Program Offers Guests More Options And Benefits
When Booking Vacations at Universal Orlando Resort.

ORLANDO, FL – Universal Orlando Resort launches new Partner Hotel program to give guests a wider selection of hotel options as they plan their Universal vacations.  Guests staying at Universal partner hotels  also get several additional benefits as part of their stay.

Universal Orlando’s three on-site Loews hotels – the Portofino Bay Hotel, the Hard Rock Hotel and the Royal Pacific Resort – already provide a range of accommodations in the deluxe category with room rates starting at $199 per night.  The Partner Hotel program offers guests a wider range of pricing options and features value and moderate categories.

“We want to give our guests as many value-driven options as possible when it comes to planning a Universal vacation,” said Gretchen Hofmann, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Universal Orlando Resort.  “Our partner hotel program combines attractive pricing with special benefits to give our guests even more choices when planning a Universal vacation.”

Chosen based on quality, reputation and proximity to Universal Orlando, the nine Partner Hotels are within three miles of Universal Orlando Resort.  Guests of the partner hotels receive a variety of benefits at Universal Orlando plus complimentary transportation to Universal Orlando Resort throughout the day and to Universal CityWalk at night.  To take advantage of the additional program benefits, guests will receive a key card sleeve upon check-in at one of the partner hotels that will explain the benefits of the program;

• 15% off merchandise on purchases over $50 at select venues
• 15% off food and non-alcoholic beverages at select locations in both theme parks
• 10% off food and non-alcoholic beverages at select CityWalk venues
• Golf reservations including complimentary transportation to select area courses offered through the Golf Universal Orlando Program.  

“We are excited to be a part of the program and for the opportunity to have a higher level of partnership with a destination such as Universal Orlando,” said Jim Haughney, vice president, operations, and general manager, at the Doubletree Hotel At The Entrance to Universal Orlando.  “Our guests have always raved about Universal’s theme parks – and now we can offer them an even better experience.”

Hotels participating in the program are:

Comfort Inn Universal Studios Area
6101 Sand Lake Road
Orlando, FL 32819

Doubletree Hotel at the Entrance to Universal Orlando
5780 Major Boulevard
Orlando, FL 32819

Embassy Suites International Drive/ Jamaican Court
8250 Jamaican Court
Orlando, FL 32819

Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Orlando International Cove
7495 Canada Avenue
Orlando, FL 32819

Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott near Universal Orlando
5614 Vineland Road
Orlando, FL 32819

Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites at the Entrance to Universal Orlando
5905 Kirkman Road
Orlando, FL 32819

LaQuinta Inn & Suites Orlando Convention Center
8504 Universal Boulevard
Orlando, FL 32819

Sheraton Studio City Orlando
5905 International Drive
Orlando, FL 32819

Residence Inn by Marriott Orlando Convention Center
8800 Universal Boulevard
Orlando, FL  32819

For more information on the new Universal Partner Hotel program, please visit www.universalorlando.com.

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After a year in which it let guests into its parks for free on their birthdays, the Walt Disney Co. will hand out more free tickets in 2010 — but only after making people earn them.

Disney this morning announced a new marketing campaign, “Give a Day, Get a Disney Day,” through which it will give one-day, one-park tickets to people who volunteer at select charities.

With the program, which replaces the company’s “Free on Your Birthday” campaign this year, Disney is continuing its strategy of using discounts and promotions to lure vacationers amid a still-challenging economic environment. But it also marries the approach with a socially conscious message.

Disney says its goal is to get 1 million people to volunteer a day of community service in 2010. It also says the supply of free tickets will be limited: The promotion will run until the last ticket is distributed or Dec. 15 of next year, whichever is earlier.

For more details, click here.

While Walt Disney World’s Fantasyland expansion and Universal Orlando’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter will both be anchored by big new rides, some of the secondary attractions could prove every bit as important to the future of the resorts.

Elaborate sets where guests can dance with princesses and a wand shop where the souvenir wands choose their buyers mark the latest efforts by Disney and Universal to make their parks more interactive with visitors. They are also among the earliest attempts to extend that interactivity beyond traditional rides and shows and into every corner of the sprawling resorts.

“Interactivity” has become a big buzz word in the amusement industry in recent years. Disney, Universal and other parks are trying to create more experiences that can be personalized by individual guests — something that is vital if they are to remain relevant to a generation of children accustomed to being part of a story, rather than simply watching it unfold.

“Kids whose concept of entertainment is defined by video games are looking for something very different in a theme park than previous generations whose concept of entertainment was defined by television or movies or radio,” said Robert Niles, publisher of the Web site themeparkinsider.com.

Participation

Disney World, in particular, has emphasized interactivity in its attractions. Most of its new additions in the past few years — from Toy Story Mania!, a ride in which the images and effects vary based on where guests aim pull-string shooters, to Turtle Talk With Crush, where the animated turtle from Finding Nemo holds real-time conversations with children — incorporate interactivity.

The resort’s biggest additions this year have been American Idol Experience, in which guests participate either by performing themselves or voting for their favorites, and the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure, in which they must solve a series of clues scattered around one of Epcot’s national pavilions.

“Today, more than ever, we believe that guests bring with them a greater expectation to be an active participant in our stories,” said Jon Georges, a senior show producer with Walt Disney Imagineering.

Disney is not alone. Universal, for example, just opened Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, a $45 million roller coaster where the most compelling attribute isn’t the 90-degree lifthill or the 65-mph top speed — it is the ability for guests to select their own soundtrack and then buy “rock videos” of their ride that can be uploaded to sites such as YouTube and Facebook.

SeaWorld Orlando has long sought to focus on guest interaction, though primarily in wildlife interactions. Experiences range from a simple splash from Shamu to swimming with Beluga whales or handling penguins.

In the cards

Now, Disney and Universal are trying to extend interactivity into two theme-park staples: character meet-and-greets and retail stores.

In its expanded Fantasyland, Disney says, it plans to “reinvent” the traditional character greeting. The plans call for walk-through sets allowing guests to meet Cinderella in her chateau, Sleeping Beauty’s Aurora in her cottage and Beauty and the Beast’s Belle at the Beast’s castle. Disney says the three princesses will do much more than sign autographs and pose for photos. At Cinderella’s chateau, for example, children will help prepare Cinderella for the ball, dancing rehearsal waltzes with her or taking up shields and swords to serve as her honor guard.

Disney says the princess attractions, which are scheduled to open in 2012, are still in “very early” stages of development. But other experiences will include helping the good fairies throw a 16th-birthday party for Aurora — children will get to design their own birthday cards and then present them to the princess — and joining Belle in a story performance in a castle library. More characters from the films, including villains, may also be incorporated.

“These will provide extended interaction time with each of the three princesses — Cinderella, Belle and Aurora — and will allow us to deepen our storytelling within highly themed environments in the Fantasyland expansion,” Georges said.

At Universal’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter, fewer details have been released so far about “Ollivanders,” a magical-wand shop.

But Universal has said it will be a faithful re-creation of the shop made famous by the first Harry Potter book — and the movie that followed — in which Harry Potter tries out several wands and one suddenly comes alive in his hand. Universal says guests who buy wands will get the same experience themselves