Galaxy's Edge popularity vs Potter's popularity

Disneyhead'71

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
AEfx said:
Well of course, just like you can go into Wal-mart in Orlando and find tons of off-brand Mickey stuff. They know there are tourists there to see Potter so they stock it heavily. Wait until SWL opens - I am absolutely positive you will see the same store have even more Star Wars stuff. Heck, there is enough Star Wars merchandise out there I have no doubt someone(s) are planning actual non-Disney owned retail locations that just will exist in Orlando that will be only selling Star Wars merchandise.
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IDK, it was the Barnes & Nobles on Colonial across from the Fashion Square Mall. Not really tourist central. And it was around the time that Ep. VIII opened, so SW hype was in full swing.
 
AEfx

AEfx

Well-Known Member
mergatroid said:
I'm not sure why a non Star Wars fan is less likely to buy say a Star Wars mug, than a non Harry Potter fan is to buy a Harry Potter mug?
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Especially when almost all mass-market Potter merchandise is focused around a small core of a few characters, mostly one main character, or Hogwarts "factions", whereas Star Wars has a couple of dozen "main" characters , many dozens of more secondary characters, as well as a wide swath of locations, events, etc. to draw from.

It's not a criticism of Potter, it's just the scope is totally different. While they have tried to rebrand the Potter universe into "The Wizarding World of JK Rowling" or whatever, even "Fantastic Beasts" is already diving back into the Potter stuff - it's connections to those stories and characters that are always going to be central, even if Harry Potter himself doesn't appear.
 
AEfx

AEfx

Well-Known Member
Disneyhead'71 said:
IDK, it was the Barnes & Nobles on Colonial across from the Fashion Square Mall. Not really tourist central. And it was around the time that Ep. VIII opened, so SW hype was in full swing.
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Well, that kinds of explains it. It's a bookstore. In Orlando. Harry Potter is really the only literary franchise of any mass market significance aimed at general ages (they probably had a bunch of Game of Thrones stuff, too, but that is aimed mostly at adults).

Go to national chains like Wal-mart. Toys R Us. Entire sections of stores are devoted to Star Wars merchandise. The two just don't compare.
 
AEfx

AEfx

Well-Known Member
Frizzball said:
But again most of those items would not be saleable in a merchandising environment which is supposedly supposed to be in world. I agree that there is much more merchandise to be made from Star Wars but how much of that is it possible to market as an item that someone on Batuu in whatever year they're setting this in would be able to buy?
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So now you just want to talk about the land itself and the specifically themed shops and only unique in-universe stuff? Okay. Just the obvious stuff and stuff we know about -

Build-a-Droid.

Build-a-Lightsaber.

Encase yourself in carbonite trinkets

Star Wars dolls and figures (notice young Jyn has a stormtrooper doll in "Rogue One" - they exist in SW, I'm sure they will be here)

Costume pieces (helmets, belts, etc.) - Imperial, Mandalorian, Rebel, First Order ("surplus" junk dealers in Star Wars sell this stuff)

Kid-friendly blasters and other equipment with dozens of possible designs

Star Wars housewares (glasses, plates, utensils) as seen in the films

Small items like communicators, droid callers, thermal detonators, etc. made in any way from kid-type plastic to adult-collectable quality

I could go on and on...it's a lot more than wands and robes.
 
F

Frizzball

Active Member
AEfx said:
So now you just want to talk about the land itself and the specifically themed shops and only unique in-universe stuff?
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If you'd read any of my posts in full you'd realise that's what I've been talking about this entire time:
Frizzball said:
My feeling is that to Disney it's not going to matter that Star Wars is arguably the larger IP because HP beats it hands down in terms of saleable merchandise. Disney limiting the land to only 'in world products' is not the same as Universal doing the same simply because there are vast scores of Harry Potter related artifacts that are astoundingly recognisable and saleable to a much higher degree than the items crafted on Batuu that Disney are going for. Their construct-a-droid station at $100 a pop is past the point of impulse purchase. Universal wins out because the shops of Diagon Alley are a key feature in the books and their products can therefore be cannon and thus desirable. Olivanders wand shop is popular enough that it has a wait time to enter even on quiet days. In the HP worlds at Universal the shops themselves are attractions.

Ultimately this difference in merchandising is I think going to be the key as to which is deemed the larger success.
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Frizzball said:
But how much of that stuff can they sell in Batuu? My argument isn't that Star Wars is a less merchandisable franchise it's that the positioning of goods as in universe products works out more in favour of HP since it has more to offer in that respect.
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Dave Z

Dave Z

Well-Known Member
My son followed both Harry Potter and Star Wars I-III, so I asked, his reply Star Wars wins out.
I agree, We are ready planning on going down to WDW about 2 months after opening.
 
danlb_2000

danlb_2000

Premium Member
mergatroid said:
I'm not sure why a non Star Wars fan is less likely to buy say a Star Wars mug, than a non Harry Potter fan is to buy a Harry Potter mug?
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I think the difference is that Harry Potter takes place in our world where Star Wars doesn't. So a Gryffindor t-shirt doesn't seem out of place in a highly themed Harry Potter Land, but a First Order T-shirt would seem out of place in a highly themed Star Wars Land. I personally believe that if "main stream" merchandise isn't in the land when it opens, it will start showing up within the first six months.
 
Disneyhead'71

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
danlb_2000 said:
I think the difference is that Harry Potter takes place in our world where Star Wars doesn't. So a Gryffindor t-shirt doesn't seem out of place in a highly themed Harry Potter Land, but a First Order T-shirt would seem out of place in a highly themed Star Wars Land. I personally believe that if "main stream" merchandise isn't in the land when it opens, it will start showing up within the first six months.
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Like "Disney Characters" in EPCOT Center?
 
Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
Disneyhead'71 said:
Like "Disney Characters" in EPCOT Center?
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Cute... however, Disney Characters were in EPCOT Ctr. almost from day one... if they weren't there then. They wanted to keep it to a minimum at the time, but, Mickey is way to much a corporate Icon to be left out completely.
 
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RandomPrincess

RandomPrincess

Keep Moving Forward
JK Rowling keeps a tight reign on everything Potter. There are no major costumed characters from the books in the parks. You can't go buy a Hermione doll etc.
danlb_2000 said:
I think the difference is that Harry Potter takes place in our world where Star Wars doesn't. So a Gryffindor t-shirt doesn't seem out of place in a highly themed Harry Potter Land, but a First Order T-shirt would seem out of place in a highly themed Star Wars Land. I personally believe that if "main stream" merchandise isn't in the land when it opens, it will start showing up within the first six months.
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Or maybe right outside?
 
Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
marni1971 said:
It was due to pressure from guests.
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It really doesn't matter how it got to happen, fact is, it did and very shortly after the place opened, yet we have all been told how out of place those characters, toon or otherwise are in Epcot because they never used to be there. Be it pressure from the outside (and I think pressure is a bit exaggerated) or they just decided to put them there. It doesn't really matter. They have been there a long time.
 
brb1006

brb1006

Well-Known Member
Goofyernmost said:
It really doesn't matter how it got to happen, fact is, it did and very shortly after the place opened, yet we have all been told how out of place those characters, toon or otherwise are in Epcot because they never used to be there. Be it pressure from the outside (and I think pressure is a bit exaggerated) or they just decided to put them there. It doesn't really matter. They have been there a long time.
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As Martin said, blame the visitors who felt Epcot wasn't Disney enough at the time.
 
Disneyhead'71

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
brb1006 said:
As Martin said, blame the visitors who felt Epcot wasn't Disney enough at the time.
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Well, when EPCOT Center opened the only Disney Parks anyone had every visited were castle parks. So to expect more of the same is logical.

Unless they tuned into one of the approx. 3,000 specials detailing what EPCOT was all about.
 

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