I agree. The lack of a daily parade, fireworks, and limited entertainment beyond the rides makes it unattractive and poor value for money compared to the Disney parks. I'm an annual passholder at both Universal and WDW.
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Harry Potter IS making a difference!!
- Thread starter MickeyMind
- Start date
I agree. The lack of a daily parade, fireworks, and limited entertainment beyond the rides makes it unattractive and poor value for money compared to the Disney parks. I'm an annual passholder at both Universal and WDW.
pax_65
Well-Known Member
What "dark ride" does Disney have that is as immersive and technologically advanced as Spiderman?
Nothing even comes close.
:shrug:
Alektronic
Well-Known Member
I was never into the Harry Potter stuff, never read a book, never seen the movies, except maybe once when it was on TV for free. I really enjoyed the WWOHP because of it's theming and use of technology.
But where Harry Potter is really making a difference is in sales and profit margins. This is the first place that I have been where the waits to get into a store to buy merchandise and just get into a restaurant is longer than the waits for rides.
When I went on the special passholder night for Harry Potter when the lastest movie opened. I went there just to go on the rides with little or no wait. But there were lines everywhere and I thought I was going to have to wait for the rides, but all the rides were 5 minutes. The long lines were for Butterbeer, 3 Broomsticks, and merchandise shops. Then I thought I might try the Hog's Head bar, it didn't look too crowded, but actually the line was out the door with about 50 people in line. The huge line was about 1 hour wait was for lanyards and special pins and they sold out early. I just can't believe the huge demand for the merchandise and food and drinks.
But where Harry Potter is really making a difference is in sales and profit margins. This is the first place that I have been where the waits to get into a store to buy merchandise and just get into a restaurant is longer than the waits for rides.
When I went on the special passholder night for Harry Potter when the lastest movie opened. I went there just to go on the rides with little or no wait. But there were lines everywhere and I thought I was going to have to wait for the rides, but all the rides were 5 minutes. The long lines were for Butterbeer, 3 Broomsticks, and merchandise shops. Then I thought I might try the Hog's Head bar, it didn't look too crowded, but actually the line was out the door with about 50 people in line. The huge line was about 1 hour wait was for lanyards and special pins and they sold out early. I just can't believe the huge demand for the merchandise and food and drinks.
lebeau
Well-Known Member
Exactly!
A lot of people seem to be missing the point of this thread. Whether or not you personally like Universal or Harry Potter is irrelevant. What you think will happen 5 or 10 years from now is irrelevant. The point is that right now, Harry Potter is more successful than anyone could have anticipated. So much so, that Disney is jealous.
pax_65
Well-Known Member
We buy our each of our kids (13 & 9) a special gift on every Disney trip we take... something special to remember the trip - some kind of souvenir, preferably something unique to that year's trip so they will see it and remember what a good time they had.
Our next trip is in May, and the kids already decided what they want. In everything we will see and do all around Orlando including all the Disney parks, my kids want... Harry Potter wands.
We plan on having butterbeer too, even though it sounds kind of gross.
Disney SHOULD be jealous. So let's go - create something new that blows our socks off!
How did you arrive at that conclusion?
With what uni is making on merchandise sales, Disney HAS to be jealous, they're selling $30 wands, $10 glasses of butterbeer, with the current bean counters in control of disney, I am sure there is jealousy that uni is making such profits off merchandise
disneyonmymind
Member
I am a HUGE Potter fan and LOVED WWoHP. Additionally I am a 19 year old male with a love of coasters unmatched by most things. That being said, I was left a little disappointed after my last UNI trip. The rides were fun (Forbidden Journey and Spiderman were amazing!) but aside from that I just didnt get the "I don't want to leave" feel that I get at the Disney Parks. It's worth noting that We were only able to visit IoA instead of both parks because thats all that time and money allowed, and I have done both parks before, but by the time my sister and I left the park we were just bored. While Universal has the thrills there is just SO MUCH more to do in other parks, even AK. And come on, stop pretending that Universal's theming is anywhere near the same level as Disney's, while the Wizarding World is the best as far as theming, being able to see the show building multiple times FROM THE LINE of the marquee ride is just disappointing. Just an opinion though. :shrug:
I know exactly what you mean by the "i dont want to leave " disney feeling, I get that especially at the mk.. Uni has alot to offer, but its also lacking, especially at the studios.. Uni needs more charm. I found it scattered here and there, but you find it in abundance at disney, and I think that is what mainly seperates the two.. Uni not only needs more rides, but it needs emotional connections to draw people back. HP is a start, but it needs more. All I hope is that by uni making hp, it will light a fire under mickey's a** and finally get him to create the kind of rides and attractions we love.
Monty
Brilliant...and Canadian
- In the Parks
- No
Careful, talk like that will get you accused of wearing "rose-coloured Disney glasses"!
It seems some people can't wrap their heads around the concept that there are people who don't enjoy what they enjoy and therefore have to denigrate any contrary opinions that might be expressed.
I enjoyed Harry Potter, I enjoyed Hulk, Spiderman was just "OK" and Rip, Ride, Rockit would probably be great if the ride vehicles didn't give quite as bone-jarring a ride and the headrests were padded, thrill rides don't have to be uncomfortable just to be thrilling, it would be quite thrilling with a better vehicle/track. The rest of Universal was at best "meh"... IMO the good isn't enough to warrant the cost.
lebeau
Well-Known Member
Not my conclussion. It's been reported by a few sources that Disney is jealous over the merch sales.
Not much of a stretch given the huge boom Uni has seen in merch and the fact that Disney's merch is sagging.
thelookingglass
Well-Known Member
They didn't really have much of a choice - that building is crammed into the only open space that area of the property had left.
Then maybe Disney should stop Wal-Marting their merchandise.
lebeau
Well-Known Member
Careful, talk like that will get you accused of wearing "rose-coloured Disney glasses"!
It seems some people can't wrap their heads around the concept that there are people who don't enjoy what they enjoy and therefore have to denigrate any contrary opinions that might be expressed.
I enjoyed Harry Potter, I enjoyed Hulk, Spiderman was just "OK" and Rip, Ride, Rockit would probably be great if the ride vehicles didn't give quite as bone-jarring a ride and the headrests were padded, thrill rides don't have to be uncomfortable just to be thrilling, it would be quite thrilling with a better vehicle/track. The rest of Universal was at best "meh"... IMO the good isn't enough to warrant the cost.
Hey, I expect people on a WDW forum to prefer Disney in general and WDW in particular over just about any option. You're perfectly entitled to your opinion. But at the end of teh day, it's kind of meaningless.
We get it. You're not a fan. You prefer Disney. Your vote has been registered.
That's not the point of this thread.
Monty
Brilliant...and Canadian
- In the Parks
- No
You're right, the point of the thread is that "Harry Potter IS making a difference!!" - I've never questioned that. What I have attempted to explain is that I don't believe it will last beyond the "novelty" factor of a new, highly hyped, attraction. Using myself as an example of the type of people who willingly forked out a fairly large amount of money to experience the phenomenon that is WWOHP and came away satisfied but have no interest in going back.
Fortunately, it isn't a vote. It's a discussion and I'm participating and contributing my opinion. The fact that you and others don't want to hear it or choose to try to discount it by throwing around words/terms like "bias" and "Rose-coloured Disney Glasses" or perhaps even labelling me a Fanboi doesn't actually provide any contribution to the discussion at hand.
But of course since my opinion differs from yours, you'll try some other tact to make it sound like Disney should be afraid of this monumental advancement at Universal... When it could very well be a flash in the pan that will fade into obscurity and have no lasting impact on Disney.
Oh.... And have a nice day! :wave:
lebeau
Well-Known Member
I really don't have much of an opinion on this. I've been to Uni once. I liked it. I prefer Disney. It'll be several years before I can personally get back to sample WWoHP (we have very yong kids).
So, no. I'm not going to discount your opinion. Like I said, you're entitled to it.
But you (and others) have posted your preference for Disney many times on this thread and countless others. Pretty much any time WWoHp or Universal comes up, you can count on a chorus of posts that basically amount to "I prefer Disney".
It's wonderful that a forum full of Disney fans prefer Disney. But I think even die-hard Disney fanatics should be able to objectively look at the success Universal has had with Harry Potter and say
!Have a nice day yourself. Sorry if I lashed out. Didn't mean to attack you personally. Just kind of tired of seeing every Uni/Potter thread hijacked.
OK, let's go there:
The Haunted Mansion's show building is visible from the queue, and you can also see it when facing the mansion by looking to the right of the exit.
Dinosaur's show building isn't completely obscured...if you look close enough you can see it.
Soarin's show building is completely visible from World Showcase and from various parts of Future World.
Though it is painted to look like a soundstage, Rock 'n' Rollercoaster's show building is completely visible.
You can see part of the Pirates show building from the train.
Splash Mountain's show building, though thinly themed, is also visible.
The unfinished "mountain" of Expedition Everest is visible as you drive up to the park and visible from the parking lot.
So let's desist with pointing out the visibility of the show building of Harry Potter, when Disney itself isn't perfect.
I think the disappointment with the show building visibility in Potter is that its visible from Universal's own designed optimum viewpoint - ie standing straight-on, viewing from the village.
All of the Disney locations that you list you have to go to some effort, or be in an "off-optimum" viewing position. Thats a different scenario in my opinion.
Universal obviously went to huge lengths in creating their land and did a nice job, so I was really surprised to see that. I'm assuming the money simply ran out at this point.
pax_65
Well-Known Member
Let's get to the part of the discussion that I care about, away from individual opinions on the quality of Uni vs Disney...
Is it your belief that Disney doesn't need to build anything to "answer" Harry Potter? That if they are just patient, the excitement over HP will fade and that in a year or two, Disney will have just as much share of the Orlando business (and merch sales) as it had before HP was ever built?
lebeau
Well-Known Member
Nice post. I believe this is where the conversation should be headed as well.
I would agree with this. Given a few years, I don't see people queueing 30 minutes just to enter a gift shop, or to see a wand demonstration. A single attraction will not hold the attention year after year. If it does, then they obviously are using magic on the guests LOL