Harry Potter mistake? ood for Disney?

[ParentsOf4]

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There is just simply no more land at Universal for them to play with on an expansion like this. And the execution of this - the train ride - it is ingenius.

I agree. Jaws was primarily a victim of it's size and location. As you and PirateFrank suggest, the decision to add more HP in US and to connect the two HP lands with a train is likely to be a brilliant business decision. Give guests a reason to spend more time and money at Universal.

I enjoyed Jaws (the ride) but it had limited appeal to the under-40 crowd. I thought 'Jaws' (the movie) was one of the greatest ever but the movie means nothing to my teenaged children and their friends. Although 'Jaws' is generally considered the first summer blockbuster, it really is more of a "grown-up" movie in today's Hollywood: wonderfully acted and directed, interesting characters, and well-paced. It's really a movie about adults for adults. Since those days, Hollywood has learned to appeal to younger audiences by creating movies with tweens and teenagers as the main focus. There are few movies that appeal to my children's generation that do not have similarly aged characters in leading roles.

Personally, I wish they could have replaced something else but, professionally, I believe it was the right decision. Once the new land opens in a few years, we get to find out if this was indeed the case!

More HP at Universal should actually help WDW. It gives people an extra incentive to head to Orlando and should increase the number of vacationers in the area. What do you do on a week's vacation after spending 2 days at Universal? Why, head to WDW of course!

 

[xdan0920]

I guess it's an even situation.


Disney closes Snow White. Universal closes JAWS. But I don't understand why a still powerful attraction would've been closed. Snow White is a minor attraction, that's being enhanced to a bigger attraction. :shrug:

-WondersOfLife


The last original pavilion. :king:

Snow White is being turned into a princess M&G.

Jaws is being turned into part 2 of the WWoHP.

I think Universal is taking the bigger better step.

 

[WondersOfLife]

Snow White is being turned into a princess M&G.

Jaws is being turned into part 2 of the WWoHP.

I think Universal is taking the bigger better step.

Technically.. Snow White is being turned into a coaster AND a meet and greet :animwink:

-WondersOfLife


The last original pavilion. :king:

 

[xdan0920]

Technically.. Snow White is being turned into a coaster AND a meet and greet :animwink:

-WondersOfLife


The last original pavilion. :king:

Fair enough. Though the reason MK could do that is because they had the open space, thanks to having 20000 leagues closed and sitting empty for 20 years. Universal does not have that luxury.

WWoHP2 still wins, in a landslide.

 

[ParentsOf4]

Fair enough. Though the reason MK could do that is because they had the open space, thanks to having 20000 leagues closed and sitting empty for 20 years. Universal does not have that luxury.

WWoHP2 still wins, in a landslide.

I'm not sure I agree. Universal is expanding its most popular land. WDW is expanding its most popular land and adding another land in another park. You can argue (please don't on this thread) which expansion is "better" but I don't think Universal wins "in a landslide".

Personally, I'm more excited about the expected Universal expansion but I fully understand if others are more excited about the WDW expansions. Please, try to avoid posting which expansion is "better"; that topic has been hashed about several times and it's really a matter of opinion.

I do wonder if the following is the case:

- Universal opens WWOHP Phase 1 - WDW "responds" with Fantasyland expansion.
- Universal announces WWOHP Phase 2 - WDW "responds" with Avatarland.

Would Disney be building these 2 new expansions if Universal hadn't out-maneuvered WDW on HP? I don't know, this is a rhetorical question. Unless someone has insider's information on Disney's decision-making process, anything we post here is pure conjecture.

 

[marni1971]

WDW is now in a knee jerk response due to Potter phase one being bigger than expected and phase two taking them off guard. And it ain't over yet.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

IOA was as crowded last week as any one of the Disney parks... That's the first time I've EVER seen that happen.

US was manageable... Crowds were noticeably thinner. Obviously they have seen the sizeable difference too... Hence HP coming to that park also.

But the crowd level at IOA... HOO BOY. I'd be shocked if they weren't popping bottles of champagne almost daily in the front offices.

 

[GLaDOS]

WDW is now in a knee jerk response due to Potter phase one being bigger than expected and phase two taking them off guard. And it ain't over yet.

Question, how could Phase II catch them off guard when everyone online knew it was a forgone conclusion?

 

[marni1971]

Question, how could Phase II catch them off guard when everyone online knew it was a forgone conclusion?

Because that's the heads in the sand mentality.

If an educated fanboy in the UK knew about phase 2/3 almost a year ago, you can bet those at TDO that should have known did so too.

This is the company remember that scrapped 2 major refurbs and 2 new E Tickets since they thought Potter phase one would go mostly unnoticed by the general public.

Another part of the same company is now rushing through multiple responses to the west coast version. It's so chalk and cheese looking at east and west Mouse.

 

[Megavolt]

Question, how could Phase II catch them off guard when everyone online knew it was a forgone conclusion?

This is TDO, if they had WWoHP, they would not want to add anything to any of the parks for at least a decade, if not two. :lol:

 

[ParentsOf4]

This is TDO, if they had WWoHP, they would not want to add anything to any of the parks for at least a decade, if not two. :lol:

Your post makes me wonder what would have happened if WDW landed HP.

Would UO be in desperate straits or would they have been able to find another winner? I lean towards the former. HP has turned into lightning in a bottle. I doubt UO would have been as successful adding something else.

If WDW had landed HP, would there be a FLE? Would there be a Avatarland? I'm not sure about these 2 but I'm pretty sure WDW would not have "bothered" with WWOHP2. If you are an HP fan, you are fortunate UO has HP, not WDW. It's not that WDW would have done a bad job with WWOHP1 but I just don't see the larger WDW feeling the "need" to create WWOHP2. On the other hand, UO has seen what WWOHP1 has done at IOA and wants to double-down their bet at US.

 

[Bairstow]

I'd love to know what Disney had in mind for their original pitch to J.K. Rowling.
Perhaps it was going to be a slightly-improved version of Journey into Narnia at MGM.

 

[Ravenclawdia]

I do think Universal not getting Potter would have been an enormous detriment to them, but I will always, always be glad that they got it. Harry Potter is my life and I cannot imagine WDW doing it the justice it deserves or the justice UO has given and continues to give it, considering Disney's treatment of other franchises.

 

[Megavolt]

Your post makes me wonder what would have happened if WDW landed HP.

Would UO be in desperate straits or would they have been able to find another winner? I lean towards the former. HP has turned into lightning in a bottle. I doubt UO would have been as successful adding something else.

If WDW had landed HP, would there be a FLE? Would there be a Avatarland? I'm not sure about these 2 but I'm pretty sure WDW would not have "bothered" with WWOHP2. If you are an HP fan, you are fortunate UO has HP, not WDW. It's not that WDW would have done a bad job with WWOHP1 but I just don't see the larger WDW feeling the "need" to create WWOHP2. On the other hand, UO has seen what WWOHP1 has done at IOA and wants to double-down their bet at US.

From the way I understand it, we have the basic ride that HP would've brought to WDW in TSMM. The only difference is the theme of the ride.

 

[xdan0920]

I'm not sure I agree. Universal is expanding its most popular land. WDW is expanding its most popular land and adding another land in another park. You can argue (please don't on this thread) which expansion is "better" but I don't think Universal wins "in a landslide".

Personally, I'm more excited about the expected Universal expansion but I fully understand if others are more excited about the WDW expansions. Please, try to avoid posting which expansion is "better"; that topic has been hashed about several times and it's really a matter of opinion.

I do wonder if the following is the case:

- Universal opens WWOHP Phase 1 - WDW "responds" with Fantasyland expansion.
- Universal announces WWOHP Phase 2 - WDW "responds" with Avatarland.

Would Disney be building these 2 new expansions if Universal hadn't out-maneuvered WDW on HP? I don't know, this is a rhetorical question. Unless someone has insider's information on Disney's decision-making process, anything we post here is pure conjecture.

You are conjuring up more of this then there is. The point we were talking about was turning Snow White into a M&G vs turning Jaw into WWoHP2. That is all. There is no question which is a more impressive transformation.

 

[baymenxpac]

I do think Universal not getting Potter would have been an enormous detriment to them, but I will always, always be glad that they got it. Harry Potter is my life and I cannot imagine WDW doing it the justice it deserves or the justice UO has given and continues to give it, considering Disney's treatment of other franchises.

that right there may be the most damning conviction on the last 10 years of the disney brass' strategy. i'm not a "the past is ALWAYS better" kind of guy, but could imagine ever reading a sentiment like that back in the late '80s-late '90s? and ravenclawdia, i'm not saying you're wrong. i'm just saying that that's a scary, and probably accurate, assessment of the situation.

i love disney, and i've been an apologist at times for them, but i do believe if WWOHP would have been at WDW, we would gotten something comparable to what IOA has now....and then nothing for a long time.

 

[Ilovewishes]

I'm not a massive Potter fan and I'm not a massive IOA or US fan either. I am not enamoured with Hogsmeade, I think the Three Broomsticks was a severe disappointment and I refuse to brave the 2 hour queue for Ollivanders Wand thingy. I think its silly that you can only see things like Hagrid's house or the flying car if you go through the queues and the fact that you only see Buckbeak from the car of Flight of the Hippogriff really annoyed me!

That being said, we ALWAYS go to IOA and Universal and the past two years, we have been among the masses flocking straight to FJ. It is fabulous. I love that ride.

As for HP being split between IOA and US, my little circle is ecstatic! We always wanted the Hogwarts Express to be a real train (we were brought up around steam trains so its a big thing for my family!), not just some fibreglass construction that doesn't do anything. To be able to ride it from one park to the other would be amazing.

And another ride like FJ would just be the icing on the cake.

Now all they have to do is let us into the Great Hall and see a bit more of Hogwarts and maybe I will believe WWOHP is worth the hype.

 

[ParentsOf4]

You are conjuring up more of this then there is. The point we were talking about was turning Snow White into a M&G vs turning Jaw into WWoHP2. That is all. There is no question which is a more impressive transformation.

Thanks for the clarification, sorry I misunderstood the scope of your point. That was my mistake. I agree with you that when comparing the anticipated Jaws replacement with the announced Snow White replacement, the Jaws replacement (which I assume will be WWOHP2 and will have at least one spectacular attraction on par with FB) does win in a huge landside.

 

[sc123tx]

does anyone have any information that if the hp ride were to come to wdw it would be a tsmm type ride?


Martin, what were the two supposed e-ticket rides that were scrapped? if you cannot say, at least what parks were they supposedly going to be built in? thanks

 

[marni1971]

does anyone have any information that if the hp ride were to come to wdw it would be a tsmm type ride?


Martin, what were the two supposed e-ticket rides that were scrapped? if you cannot say, at least what parks were they supposedly going to be built in? thanks

An E Ticket based on the design but not the theme of TDS JTTCOTE, and the M:I coaster in DHS. Plus Imag 4 (they knew they had to get this one right) and the 16 month Space Mountain refurb.