Enchantâmes
Active Member
New Orleans Square is the best themed land IMO.
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FLE, best land ever?
- Thread starter td1129
- Start date
unkadug
Follower of "Saget"The Cult
As much as agreeing with you pains me, I think you have a point.
Enchantâmes
Active Member
I'm so glad we agree on something.
luv
Well-Known Member
FLE isn't even the best land in WDW, much less in all of Orlando or everywhere.
It doesn't beat HP, if that's what the OP was implying.
So, I can't say I was looking forward to anything after seeing it. I really didn't see it except for the first couple minutes.
I am not a huge HP fan. But anyone who isn't impressed with all the HP stuff at Uni has to be deliberately, purposefully unimpressed. It really is amazingly well done and FJ is a fantastic ride. You do NOT have to be a fan to have a WOW kind of experience.
It doesn't beat HP, if that's what the OP was implying.
I went to the first HP movie, but (like at most kid movies), I slept through most of it. I was there as the parent/aunt/person who drives and pays. It was a child-centered afternoon.
So, I can't say I was looking forward to anything after seeing it. I really didn't see it except for the first couple minutes.
I am not a huge HP fan. But anyone who isn't impressed with all the HP stuff at Uni has to be deliberately, purposefully unimpressed. It really is amazingly well done and FJ is a fantastic ride. You do NOT have to be a fan to have a WOW kind of experience.
javy2004
Active Member
gotta agree with this now that i think about this. i like being able to go down these narrow streets going into restaurants and shops and the best dining experience i've had was eating at blue bayou with my gf on my last trip. the land feels timeless. Carsland and WWoHP are amazing amazing lands still, but i love NOS's timelessness which i feel these lands don't quite have.
I had only seen the 2nd film in theaters way back when when i visited the WWoHP July last year. i wasn't too informed on it other than knowing that the forbidden journey was a new ride there. I was blown away by the theming and see hour+ lines at gift shops and tasting the butterbeer (I had 3) and taking it all in. I have since seen all 8 films (loved it, Alan Rickman as Snape made it really easy for me to get into it, as i'm pretty bias towards films with him in them) and i can't wait to go back and see what USO does with HP2.0 and just 'get it' more. i didn't even know what a muggle was back then lol.
I had a memorable moment riding FJ with my mom (my 2nd ride, her 1st) and the ride freezing with a gigantic spider in our faces and hearing my mom laugh nervously trying to stay relaxed with this thing in front of us (if it was a rat she would have lost it lol) ... very funny moment for us
ParentsOf4
Well-Known Member
I really thought we were going to love WWOHP. I enjoyed all the movies and the kids read all the books. In the end, we were rather disappointed:I am not a huge HP fan. But anyone who isn't impressed with all the HP stuff at Uni has to be deliberately, purposefully unimpressed. It really is amazingly well done and FJ is a fantastic ride. You do NOT have to be a fan to have a WOW kind of experience.
- Crowds, crowds, crowds - This is good for Uni and an incredible sign of its success but having to struggle just to walk through the land significantly detracted from our enjoyment.
- Prices - Everything was way overpriced, worse than the Mouse.
- Butterbeer - Seemed to taste like cream soda with butterscotch added in. We are fans of cream soda and so the butterbeer was enjoyable but nothing special, a real letdown after reading all the hype. We all agreed that we'd prefer a bottle of top-notch cream soda over butterbeer.
- Three Broomsticks - Sorry, little touches aside, it felt too much like the restaurant it replaced. And the food was underwhelming.
- Dragon's Challenge - We were really disappointed that they had done almost nothing with Dueling Dragons. We weren't expecting much, just some good theming to tie it in. Instead, the entire queue and ride felt like 2008, a real let-down after reading so much about the wonderful theming at WWOHP. (Updated 11/22: My original post was too harsh on the queue. There have been some modest changes to the queue to tie it in to HP. I think I was too focused on what hadn't changed on my first walkthru to notice what had changed. However, the ride itself is still stuck in 2008.)
- FJ - Yes, can you believe it, DW and I were not impressed. Thought the queue was wonderful, although the entrance was very dark, lots of crowding, poor layout, lots of people bumping into each other. I appreciated the original ride technology but was overwhelmed by the experience. So much going on, being pulled this way and that just as I started to "get" what was in front of me. The first time we exited, we felt confused more than anything, along the lines of "what did we just see?" We ended up riding it 6 times over 5 days, largely because we wanted to like it and see if our opinions changed. Overall, I prefer TOT, Spiderman, or Mummy.
Antonio Tucker
New Member
I personally did not like WWHOP. I thought it was cramped and was appalled at how lazily they tried to tie their existing attractions to Harry Potter. The themeing was great and the Forbidden Journey was amazing, but I just don't see the big deal.
Spike-in-Berlin
Well-Known Member
I just took a look, it's behind the berm and mostly a lake. Now of course outside the berm is not THAT problematic because SM is also outside the berm, but the lake? It takes up more than half of the area.
spacemt354
Chili's
I have to say my family and I had a similar opinion as well. I'm a huge Harry Potter fan. Read all the books, seen all the movies, and with the universal praise the land had been given, I had very high expectations going to see it for the first time. And to be honest, I was impressed as a fan that they recreated a lot of things from the book, and just seeing the Three Broomsticks, or the castle, or Hogsmeade I thought was pretty cool.
People on this site have given Disney World so much criticism for the FLE because they claim there is hardly anything "new" and they are using land that was once occupied by 20k, so hence it can't be considered an "expansion"
From my view, Disney followed the same format that WWoHP used. Dueling Dragons was the exact same thing. Literally didn't change one aspect of the ride, minus the queue. Same goes for Flight of the Unicorn (er, I mean Hippogriff) I compare that to what Disney did with the Barnstormer. They revamped the themeing, changed the style a little bit, but it's the same ride. So, there was only 1 new ride in this whole land. And yes, I thought FJ was awesome. It was for sure my favorite in IoA, but probably 3rd overall in Orlando behind ToT and Haunted Mansion.
So we all were a little underwhelmed. Maybe it was becasue we went in with too high exptectations, but with all the crowds, the prices, and only 1 new attraction, it didn't leave us with the feeling that we "have" to come back. We'll wait for HP2, which from what has been said, sounds fantastic.
Now to the OP's point, if I was underwhelmed by HP, and the FLE imho followed the same format, I can't say that the FLE is the best land ever. And I haven't been to either Carsland or TDS, so I can't say those are the best if I haven't been there.
Right now, from what I've visited, I would give that title to Asia in AK. Fantastic themeing. An E-ticket, a D-ticket, a walk-through, a show, a very nice dining option. It has it all, so for me that takes the cake.
Nailed it.
unkadug
Follower of "Saget"The Cult
When you repurpose the land where the old Skyway restrooms are, fill in the lake and dig another drainage pond elsewhere( Which was done twice for the FLE) there is quite a bit of room. The restrooms could be rebuilt in the expansion better utilizing available space.
JungleTrekFan
Active Member
What two “lakes" were filled in? 20K does not count as a lake or a retention pond, it was a pool for an attraction.
And that pond you reference is actually a vital connection for the many waterways across property, sooo it can’t just be filled in. The only real land to expand is the land behind the speedway (or even better the speedway itself) for now. If MK ever gets a handle on its Cast parking issue, maybe the former tomorrowland theater location will be able to be used again.
Ohh and to add to the HP land discussion, i loved Hogsmeade Village, it was very true to the feel of the movies and books. But I was underwhelmed by everything else. the slight retheming of Dueling Dragons and Flight of the Unicorn was just a poor excuse to save money and not build well themed attractions. FJ has its ups and downs, most of the que is well done, but other times it completely destroys the movie and books portrayal of Hogwarts Castle.
HP, like Star Wars, is not a small enough idea to only make 1 attraction out of, or even a mini land, they deserve their own parks IMO. But i am interested to see how universal goes about WWoHP Part 2, and even the California version of the Wizarding World.
Todd H
Well-Known Member
I've never seen a single Harry Potter movie. Never read any of the books either. And I thought WWOHP was amazing.
unkadug
Follower of "Saget"The Cult
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/expansion-plot-maps.594623/
Note that later on in the thread, Martin adds another Tomorrowland expansion plot...the parking lot!
BTW Jungletrekfan - that pond is nothing more than a drainage pond, not a vital transportation link for anything....it could very easily be moved and the land be re-purposed.