Hogwarts Express Details

[danlb_2000]

Article with some details on the Hogwarts Express from press event.

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1724123/hogwarts-express-wizarding-world-of-harry-potter.jhtml

There is supposed to be a public announcement from Universal sometime today.

 

[WishIwasThere]

This sounds awesome. I wonder how long the train ride will take. It is not that long of a track (less than 1/2 mile by my estimation), so I suppose the train will just creep along to make the trip take longer.

 

[Scuttle]

It's so awesome to see a company pushing the envelope in the theme park business... Kinda reminds me of how another business down the road use to operate.

 

[BaconPancakes]

Meanwhile Disney can't even get their kiddie coaster up and running after 5 years of construction.

 

[lilclerk]

I kind of want to just ride the train back and forth all day. Is that weird?

Nah.

 

[RandomPrincess]

This sounds awesome. I wonder how long the train ride will take. It is not that long of a track (less than 1/2 mile by my estimation), so I suppose the train will just creep along to make the trip take longer.

Inside the Magic is reporting-

"The Hogwarts Express trains will seat roughly 200 passengers and the ride will last around 7 minutes."

Here are the rest of the details Inside the Magic is reporting -

"Guests will need park-to-park admission to enjoy the real journey aboard the iconic locomotive.

The Hogwarts Express experience will combine storytelling, live special effects, lifelike animation and state-of-the-art technology to take riders between the two parks. Guests will see two completely different experiences depending on whether they’re traveling to Hogsmeade or London.

The trip from Hogsmeade and Hogwarts to London and Diagon Alley will include Fred and George Weasley flying on broomsticks, Hagrid waving to the train, London streets, and Buckbeak the Hippogriff flying.

The trip from London and Diagon Alley to Hogsmeade and Hogwarts will feature the British countryside, Dementors, Hedwig, and Hagrid on Sirius’ motorcycle."

 

[danlb_2000]

This sounds awesome. I wonder how long the train ride will take. It is not that long of a track (less than 1/2 mile by my estimation), so I suppose the train will just creep along to make the trip take longer.

I am guessing it's going to be pretty short because they are going to want to keep capacity high. There are two trains with 200 capacity each so I am thinking they are going to want to keep the total cycle time under 10 minutes.

[Edit] Posted this before I saw the 7 minute number from Inside the Magic.

 

[danlb_2000]

Meanwhile Disney can't even get their kiddie coaster up and running after 5 years of construction.

It's only been 2 1/2 years, not 5.

 

[BaconPancakes]

It's only been 2 1/2 years, not 5.

ONLY?

 

[RandomPrincess]

ONLY?

It's not like they are building the Barnstormer an off the shelf exposed track ride with pretty much no theming. They have a whole mountain with a themed track, swinging cars that have never been used and indoor dark ride scenes as well. BTMRR in DL was closed for a year to have their track replaced and everything refurbed and new scene put in, this is the time table Disney works with.

 

[danlb_2000]

ONLY?

Only 2 1/2 in comparison to 5. I agree it's taking longer then it should, no reason to distort the facts to make it seem even worse.

 

[BaconPancakes]

It's not like they are building the Barnstormer an off the shelf exposed track ride with pretty much no theming. They have a whole mountain with a themed track, swinging cars that have never been used and indoor dark ride scenes as well. BTMRR in DL was closed for a year to have their track replaced and everything refurbed and new scene put in, this is the time table Disney works with.

The point is that Universal is creating an E-ticket in a year's time. Disney should be ashamed.

 

[WishIwasThere]

It's only been 2 1/2 years, not 5.

Ok, so 30 months...they built EPCOT (the entire thing) in 36 months.

 

[WishIwasThere]

The point is that Universal is creating an E-ticket in a year's time. Disney should be ashamed.

Give them more credit. The built two E tickets (for the same park) in a litlle over two years time, and are adding what is probably equivalent to a D ticket (Hogwarts Express) as well.

 

[Mike C]

Hogwart's Express is going to be arguably an E Ticket including the whole experience. I have a feeling this will be Universal's "Soarin'". (Both in wait times and popularity) The capacity is about the same, and it's good for all ages.

 

[danlb_2000]

Ok, so 30 months...they built EPCOT (the entire thing) in 36 months.

Again, I wasn't trying to defend the time the mine ride is taking, just trying to correct the exaggeration.

 

[danlb_2000]

Hogwart's Express is going to be arguably an E Ticket including the whole experience. I have a feeling this will be Universal's "Soarin'". (Both in wait times and popularity) The capacity is about the same, and it's good for all ages.

Hogwarts should have better capacity. The numbers I can find for Soarin' say that it has an 87 rider capacity per theater, 2 theaters and a 4:51 run time. So if we assume a 7 minute cycle time (to include load and unload) that would be 1491 an hour. Hogwarts is being reported to have 200 guests per train, 2 trains and a ride time of 7 minutes. So even if the cycle time was 10 minutes that would still be 2400 per hour.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

The Hogwarts Express will without a doubt be an E Ticket. And it has a 4 min. ride time/7 min. cycle time.

 

[danlb_2000]

The Hogwarts Express will without a doubt be an E Ticket. And it has a 4 min. ride time/7 min. cycle time.

Cool, thanks for the ride/cycle time clarification. So that will give this ride a capacity of 3200 per hour, that's pretty good capacity.

 

[Gabe1]

The point is that Universal is creating an E-ticket in a year's time. Disney should be ashamed.

I'm old enough to remember Disney rapidly expanding. MGM opened in just over 3 years.

I won't speak to AK though 'cause there still isn't enough in the park yet to have ever warranted a Grand Opening.