Diagon Alley reviews thread

K

khale1970

Well-Known Member
Discussion reopened...

Yes, it is a cash grab for at least some guests. No other way to define the one ride that requires an add on purchase in a park that otherwise includes every other ride with the price of a one day admission. That it's a great ride and the add on purchase comes with other benefits doesn't change that, it just gives the cash grab more value. Whether intentional or not, it's a brilliant money printing machine that UNI built. That it's innovative and quality enough that some don't see it as a such just shows how good the folks at UNI really are. I applaud them for it.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
khale1970 said:
Discussion reopened...

Yes, it is a cash grab for at least some guests. No other way to define the one ride that requires an add on purchase in a park that otherwise includes every other ride with the price of a one day admission. That it's a great ride and the add on purchase comes with other benefits doesn't change that, it just gives the cash grab more value. Whether intentional or not, it's a brilliant money printing machine that UNI built. That it's innovative and quality enough that some don't see it as a such just shows how good the folks at UNI really are. I applaud them for it.
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It is not much of a cash grab when a supermajority of customers were already purchasing the necessary admission.
 
seahawk7

seahawk7

Well-Known Member
Disneyhead'71 said:
First and foremost, HE was NOT built as a cash grab by Universal. It was also not built as simply a transit utility. It was built because it is an iconic component to the Harry Potter lexicon. After they decided to build it, there was much hand wringing as how to deal with the park admission issue. This is the exact reason with Disneyland's monorail, that although it travel through DCA, there is no stop inside DCA. There has never been an in-demand attraction that straddles two separately gated theme parks. The original plan was to allow 1 Park pass holders to ride, but they wouldn't be allowed to leave the station and would have to re-queue and return to the park that they started at. Because of capacity concerns surrounding DA's first season, they decided to require the 2 park pass with parkhopper as a way to limit demand. I wouldn't be surprised if after DA's first year, they try the other plan.

As for pre-loading the boarding platform, they performed many tests as to how they could have the platform cleared and staged to where boarding guests would not see the train arrive and guests unload. It was determined that there was no way possible without absolutely killing capacity. Instead of a 7 min. cycle time they were looking at 12 mins. That simply wouldn't work.

And as to complaining about seeing the cables, I really don't see this as any different than seeing the lift chain on BTMRR or Everest. I think that as a whole, UC did a superb job of creating cinema quality theme park magic while tackling logistical and operational challenges.
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Thank you for the explanation. :) It's good to know it was for logistics.
 
K

khale1970

Well-Known Member
I'm glad y'all like it. I'm glad some guests don't mind spending another $40 for one ride when they didn't normally get the park to park option before. Whether a person is a pixie duster, a wand stroker, or just a tourist, willing buyers and willing sellers arriving at a mutually agreeable price is what makes the world go round. I don't question the person who pays a premium for MNSSHP or for HE if they see value in it even if I know that both are a way for a company to grab more cash from a guest's pocketbook.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
khale1970 said:
I'm glad y'all like it. I'm glad some guests don't mind spending another $40 for one ride when they didn't normally get the park to park option before. Whether a person is a pixie duster, a wand stroker, or just a tourist, willing buyers and willing sellers arriving at a mutually agreeable price is what makes the world go round. I don't question the person who pays a premium for MNSSHP or for HE if they see value in it even if I know that both are a way for a company to grab more cash from a guest's pocketbook.
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Once again, only about 25% of the people inside the parks on any given day before the Hogwarts Express had a single park ticket. That is very few people who are put into the position of having to decide to pay more.
 
Tom Morrow

Tom Morrow

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
seahawk7 said:
Remember me?
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The Hogwarts Express alone is not worth the extra admission. People are blowing it out of proportion calling it an E ticket. Great concept. Worthy addition. Very convenient. But not worth the extra admission if that's the only reason for paying.
 
Timekeeper

Timekeeper

Well-Known Member
Some people have brought up the question of whether HP will continue to offer a relevant group of attractions in the years to come. Are they forgetting the general premise of the attractions at UOR? Every attraction is based on a movie or other entertainment property. Same goes for many of the attractions at WDW. And many successful attractions are based on movies/properties that are quite dated. For example, Song of the South was released in 1946, but I don't anticipate Splash Mountain being demolished anytime soon. Similarly, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released in 1938 and WDW just opened a new attraction based on the characters from that film.

Should anyone really be worrying about the future relevance of amazing attractions based on strong books/films/characters in the years to come?

There are plenty of theme park guests who have never even seen the Despicable Me or MIB movies, or an episode of the Simpsons or the Twilight Zone, or Song of the South, etc. And yet they still enjoy the rides.

Ride the movies ...whether you've seen the movies or not. Why worry about something that has already proven to be a non-issue?
 
HTF

HTF

Well-Known Member
Disneyhead'71 said:
First and foremost, HE was NOT built as a cash grab by Universal. It was also not built as simply a transit utility. It was built because it is an iconic component to the Harry Potter lexicon. After they decided to build it, there was much hand wringing as how to deal with the park admission issue. This is the exact reason with Disneyland's monorail, that although it travel through DCA, there is no stop inside DCA. There has never been an in-demand attraction that straddles two separately gated theme parks. The original plan was to allow 1 Park pass holders to ride, but they wouldn't be allowed to leave the station and would have to re-queue and return to the park that they started at. Because of capacity concerns surrounding DA's first season, they decided to require the 2 park pass with parkhopper as a way to limit demand. I wouldn't be surprised if after DA's first year, they try the other plan.

As for pre-loading the boarding platform, they performed many tests as to how they could have the platform cleared and staged to where boarding guests would not see the train arrive and guests unload. It was determined that there was no way possible without absolutely killing capacity. Instead of a 7 min. cycle time they were looking at 12 mins. That simply wouldn't work.

And as to complaining about seeing the cables, I really don't see this as any different than seeing the lift chain on BTMRR or Everest. I think that as a whole, UC did a superb job of creating cinema quality theme park magic while tackling logistical and operational challenges.
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This! All of this!! GOLD!!
 
JediMasterMatt

JediMasterMatt

Well-Known Member
What about those poor diehard Toy Story fans up I-4? They are being forced <pun> at gun point </pun> to purchase park hopping tickets for BOTH Hollywood Studios AND Magic Kingdom!!

Only with a park hopper can they experience the full majesty of the Toy Story Theme Park Experience.

Think of the horror... being forced to pay money to go to Disney's Hollywood Studios.
 
seahawk7

seahawk7

Well-Known Member
Tom Morrow said:
The Hogwarts Express alone is not worth the extra admission. People are blowing it out of proportion calling it an E ticket. Great concept. Worthy addition. Very convenient. But not worth the extra admission if that's the only reason for paying.
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Well I will see the status of whether it is a premium ticket ride or transportation or whatever it will will be called when I get to go 10 months. I'm a little disenchanted with the Disney parks anyway.
 
Timekeeper

Timekeeper

Well-Known Member
JediMasterMatt said:
What about those poor diehard Toy Story fans up I-4? They are being forced <pun> at gun point </pun> to purchase park hopping tickets for BOTH Hollywood Studios AND Magic Kingdom!!

Only with a park hopper can they experience the full majesty of the Toy Story Theme Park Experience.

Think of the horror... being forced to pay money to go to Disney's Hollywood Studios.
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What about the die hard Little Mermaid fans? o_O

They don't even have a train/tram to get them between Voyage and Journey. They have to take a bus, like the second-class citizen that the Park Hopper ticket prices make them out to be. :eek:
 
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K

khale1970

Well-Known Member
Y'all are making a faulty comparison to Little Mermaid and Toy Story. You can ride every Toy Story ride and do every Mermaid attraction without buying a park hopper. You just have to get multiple day single admission tickets and go on different days. No park hopper required. You can't do that for the HP rides. With multi day single admission tickets, you can't ride HE. You have to get the park to park. And that will cost you $40. No issue if you would have bought it anyway. If you wouldn't have, you submit to the money grab or no HE for you.

I'm not sure why this bothers the wand strokers so much. UNI was brilliant with this. They monetized the HE while balancing the crowds in the two parks and providing something of value (a quality attraction). Don't diminish that achievment just because it forces some percentage of the guests to spend an extra $40 per ticket that they wouldn't have otherwise.
 

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