Galaxy's Edge popularity vs Potter's popularity

Rowlet

Active Member
I think the HP lands benefit greatly by having easily recognizable locations (Diagon Alley, Hogwarts), whereas the appeal of Star Wars is not found so much in individual locations. When you walk into Diagon Alley, you're immediately immersed in a location that has been meticulously detailed to resemble the same location you've seen in the movies. Galaxy's Edge isn't really based on anywhere in particular -- and certainly not based on a location you've seen in any movie. The appeal of Star Wars is mostly found in the characters and the spaceships (and the desire for a spaceship will be addressed with the addition of the hotel).

But as to your question about the numbers visiting each land, you can't really compare them directly, as comparing visitors to WDW to visitors to Universal is apples and oranges. I think the better question would be to look at the net gains of each park arising from the additions of the new lands. I would think that Universal gained a lot more, percentage-wise, from HP than Disney will gain from adding Star Wars.
 

UpAllNight

Well-Known Member
Star Wars has had 40 years to amass it’s fans.

Both will remain increadibly relavent for decades and decades to come, but Potter due to its nature of ‘closure’ doesn’t really have the grounds to expand beyond prequels and backstory.
 

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
I don't think the Grand Opening of Galaxy's Edge will reach the frenzied level of Potter for several reasons. 1. Star Wars has been in the parks for 25 years already. 2. The fan base is older and wiser and will logically avoid the Grand Opening period because of the crowds.

I believe that Star Wars has a larger fan base, but Potter has the teens and early 20s demo who are gleefully fanatical.

There also seems to be a lot of excitement brewing to see a young Albus Dumbledore in a wand battle with Gellert Grindelwald.

dumbledore-fantastic-beasts-2-1070065.jpeg


fantastic-beasts-2-johnny-depp-crimes-of-grindelwald-1070010.jpeg


J.K.'s Wizarding World is still growing.
 
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njDizFan

Well-Known Member
Star Wars has had 40 years to amass it’s fans.

Both will remain increadibly relavent for decades and decades to come, but Potter due to its nature of ‘closure’ doesn’t really have the grounds to expand beyond prequels and backstory.
It's true, fandom often attaches at an early age and SW has the benefit of having really 3 different generation's kids with their "own" trilogy. Not following too closely but isn't episode 9 going to be the current arc's closure? There after it will either be a new series or backstories and prequals also. So technically each franchise now has 9 movies? SW more spread out and Potter concentrated within 10 years...that I think is the main difference.
 

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
Not a fan of either, yet, I am excited about going to Galaxy Edge and I have enjoyed Potter as well. However, my opinion is based on a couple of things. Length of time the franchise has existed in a high caliber Fan Mode and because of that the fan base age parameters are much larger among the over 40 group, I would have to guess Star Wars will be the winner, just in sheer numbers that are still avid fans. I went to the Potter lands in Uni just about a year ago and even though it was still popular it didn't require a special front of the line pass to have a reasonable wait. It has to die off simply because it relies on a small cast of repeated people/personalities. Those people are now grown up and new ones are going to have to be found for it to keep that youth loyalty. That will not be easy.

Granted, like I said, I am not a fan of either and my opinion is based strictly on what I feel I have witnessed. I could be wrong, but, I really don't think so.
 

GoofGoof

Premium Member
Star Wars is a much larger IP than Potter. Besides the 9 SW movies (with huge box office numbers) there are several cartoon series, a bunch of books and video games plus all of the toys. Adults grew up with Star Wars and the newer generations of kids have the new movies plus the cartoons plus all the LEGO toys. My kids first introduction to SW was through legos. They wanted to see the movies at a pretty young age after playing with SW LEGO sets. Because of the toys and video games kids today are just as into SW as we were when the original trilogy came out. My kids have read all of the Harry Potter books and seen all of the movies. They enjoy them too, but the future of that franchise depends on how they develop future books/movies. The originals will always be classics but without new material the growth in appeal of the IP can not be sustained.

All that being said It’s hard to say Galaxys Edge will be more popular than Potterland just because SW is a bigger IP. The Harry Potter theme park lands are established and the appeal is wide (even with people who aren’t big Potter fans). The Potter lands transport you directly to locations from the books/movies almost like movie sets you can walk through. I think Disney is taking a bigger risk with Galaxy Edge by attempting to make the Land a brand new world within the SW Universe. It gives Disney a huge advantage in that they can be much more creative and imaginative with crafting the backstory and theme of the land without being constrained by the boundaries of the source material but it’s a risk that some of the detail goes over the average theme park guest’s head and they wish they could just go to Tatooine and see the Mos Eisley cantina like it appears in the movie.

I think we need to see the finished product before declaring a more popular land. Star Wars has an advantage going in, but Disney needs to make that pay off. Not having classic SW characters or locations is a risk. Having the millennium Falcon that I can walk into is going to go a long way towards capturing that nostalgic appeal.
 

RandomPrincess

Keep Moving Forward
I love Harry Potter and Star Wars! Star Wars has about 20 extra years on Harry Potter in terms of fan base.

Harry is really in it's second generation of growing up with the stories and those 2nd gen kids are young. But it is very popular at my kids Halloween events you see Superheros, Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Princesses. Those are the big 4 things in the Elementary school's costumes around here. In fact, I was surprised how many Potter costumes I saw this year, it may be my daughter is now in upper elementary so kids are starting to get into the books.

Star Wars has an extra generation on Harry Potter and definitely a more sprawling knowledge of it out in the world. Where at Potter you are more likely to have parents introducing their children to the wonders of Potter, Star Wars will have Grandparents who then introduced it to their kid who introduced it to the grandkids. I think it adds an extra layer of magic. To have grandpa out in the park with the family and really soaking in those memories of seeing the original trilogy in theaters.

Another issue is toys and marketing. I can't go buy my kids very much in the way of Potter toys but I can buy my kid any random Star Wars character in 100s of different ways. Being able to have items in your home to play with and love makes a huge difference in the long run. There is something magical about seeing a toy again you owned as a child. I was watching The Toys that Made us on Netflix and seeing many of the items we owned as kids or wanted and didn't have was hugely nostalgic. Potter has mostly failed on that count.
 

Magic Feather

Well-Known Member
Personally, Potter and GE both have factors that will contribute to their level of crazy.

1. IoA was the only Potter for a long time, GE will have another within a matter of months.

2. DHS’s will come second, so all of the crazy, gotta see it first-ers will be at DL

3. IoA has a solid amount of capacity to hold its own apart from Potter. DHS could probably fit in IoA’s lagoon (apart from GE), with a lack of Park-wide capacity.

4. GE has two worthwhile experiences. Potter has one plus two filler rides (one everywhere other than Orl).

5. For the most part, GE is more spread out with better crowd flow, kind of like the stretch in AK from the Entry Gate to the ToL. If the Oasis had buildings instead of animal exhibits and trees and the bridge to tree stretch was a bunch of ruins.
 

doctornick

Well-Known Member
Kids will still be reading Potter long after Disney kills the goose that lays the golden eggs.

I can understand the sentiment but am very skeptical about that happening. It reminds me of the countless "comic book fatigue" arguments that go on. And yet despite more and more comic book movies being produced, they have (overall) continued to have solid box office results and have been the most reliable genre of films. It seems pretty clear that quality wins out over some concept of fatigue and people having established connections with the source material/franchise is a benefit not a hindrance.

With one Star Wars film a year burn out the franchise? Who knows. If anything, I think the debates over The Last Jedi reflects how popular SW is and how passionate people are about it, which suggests that it's not going anywhere any time soon. I think as long as they continue to produce good films, the franchise will do fine.

That said, if we are worried about "killing the golden goose" with Star Wars, wouldn't that come into play with Potter as well? Fantastic Beasts has at least two more films coming and there are plans for as many as five films in that series. The first film did fine at the box office but was hardly a phenomena and that's after a couple of years gap for Harry Potter films (giving some time to build up demand).
 

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
No, no.... I mean I expect this to be a bumpy ride.

Funny, if the Fox deal goes through, Disney will own that*.

WRT which will be bigger? SWGEB is opening with two new E-Tickets. A generic new E-Ticket can generate a 4 hour queue by itself. This land will have two E-Ticket rides and will be Star Wars themed to boot. And, DHS will be adding a third simultaneous E-Ticket in MMRR. Forget about a line to get into SWGEB at DHS. There will be a line to get into DHS!

Plus, the two domestic parks have a big advantage with a larger customer base: more APs, more DVC, more hotel rooms. Both domestic parks have had recent upgrades and additions such that people who haven't been for a year or two or three will now have an extra excuse to go. Park attendance overall will skyrocket.

Everything the Potter Lands did, SWGEB is doing but more so.


*All About Eve allusion. "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night."
 

Jones14

Well-Known Member
My thought is that you don’t want to be anywhere NEAR I-4 come 2019. Four new E-Tickets (plus any secondary attractions that tag along) at competing companies based on three of the most popular IP’s EVER, three of which in the same park?

Just look at Christmas crowds this year and start ordering Xanax now.
 

doctornick

Well-Known Member
Anyway, this debate has been played out so much already. People aren't likely to change anyone else's mind on it. And the "evidence" is typically anecdotal as you can't really directly measure popularity, only by using secondary indicators (like box office, merchandise sales, wait times for rides, etc) that have many factors that impact them. That said, I'm still gonna toss in my two cents...

Star Wars is quite a bit more popular. It's multi-generational, it's time tested, it's consistently generated craploads of revenue. Fandom ranges from various extremes but most people are at least casual fans of the series and have some cultural awareness. Most anyone can tell you something about the Force or lightsabers or Jedi compared to stuff from Potter (it's tough to say the equivalent -- maybe like a Patronas spell or Dementors or Aurors).

I expect Harry Potter to remain popular, but I think long term it will be more like Hobbit/LOTR in terms of it's cultural penetration. Something the general public is aware us, many people have seen the films and could name some stuff, a lot of folks will continue to read the books but not like it has been in the past. I think its hardcore fanbase is much smaller than SW and is probably not growing like that of Star Wars which keeps adding in new generations. We'll see of course what happens.

That all said, I think WWOHP was a bigger phenomena than SW:GE will be, at least in terms of their openings for a variety of factors:
1. There was a huge pent up demand for Harry Potter "stuff" -- experiences, merchandise, etc that was completely unmet at the time of the land opening. That's why there was the massive line to see the park. Compare to SW where you already have theme park rides and experiences, where you have had continuous conventions for ages, where you could get pretty much every piece of merchandise you could want over the years. It was pretty easy to come up with merch for Potter since nothing really existed and going to Uni was the main way to buy most anything Potter branded. Meanwhile, I could go to Target today and find Star wars stuff in so many different departments -- toys, home goods, electronics, sporting goods, whatever.
2. People really want to "visit" the specific locations of HP. It works out so well for theme park lands. As many have mentioned, it doesn't work for SW since the locations themselves aren't the draw and they are varied and not iconic. The enthusiasm for visiting Batuu is not the same for going to walking the halls of Hogwarts. (I do think creating a Millennium Falcon ride where you are in the corridors of that ship is the closest equivalent for SW and think it is great they are going that route).
3. Potter works better as an immersive experience due to it being a place on Earth with just some different rules, but where the story often involves mundane things that translate easily (riding a train to school, eating/drinking, going to class or work) as opposed to a war torn alien worlds.
4. Having two different lands opening up close together will spread out the SW crowds more than HP where there was only one location for many years.

It's going to be an interesting thing to watch to be sure.
 

raymusiccity

Well-Known Member
I don't think the Grand Opening of Galaxy's Edge will reach the frenzied level of Potter for several reasons. 1. Star Wars has been in the parks for 25 years already. 2. The fan base is older and wiser and will logically avoid the Grand Opening period because of the crowds.

I believe that Star Wars has a larger fan base, but Potter has the teens and early 20s demo who are gleefully fanatical.

There also seems to be a lot of excitement brewing to see a young Albus Dumbledore in a wand battle with Gellert Grindelwald.

dumbledore-fantastic-beasts-2-1070065.jpeg


fantastic-beasts-2-johnny-depp-crimes-of-grindelwald-1070010.jpeg


J.K.'s Wizarding World is still growing.
Yup. I'm sure the Potter fan base is getting excited over that picture with the Model-T ;)
 

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