People Waiting at WDW for Harry Potter?!

[Pumbas Nakasak]

So Universal is lying??

From their website:



Also been confirmed with a friend who works for Loews Hotels.... So, what is it??

Well at time of reserving my room it was stated 1 Express entrance per day

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

So Universal is lying??

From their website:



Also been confirmed with a friend who works for Loews Hotels.... So, what is it??

Well at time of reserving my room it was stated 1 Express entrance per day


And from the site:

Stay steps away from the magic and excitement! Staying on-site is the best way to experience all that Universal Orlando Resort has to offer including The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™! Make the most out of your vacation and enjoy exclusive benefits in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™:

• Early Park Admission† to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™, one hour before the park opens
• Skip the regular lines* at participating attractions throughout both Universal Orlando theme parks – A FREE BENEFIT WORTH UP TO $70 per person, per day^

 

[Disneyson 1]

The thing is, though, no matter how amazing I think WWoHP is, the line will probobly be down to Toon Lagoon by July and Jurrasic Park by August... which is still an amazing thing, considering this is the line for just the LAND, not even the ride.

 

[hrcollectibles]

They still have the headline wrong.

And they are still referring to it as a theme park

 

[Dizmentia]

No matter how small, there shouldn't be a wait to get into a land PERIOD, no matter how small. Let's see how this pans out...

Back in 1993, when it was new, there was a wait to get into Mickey's Toontown at Disneyland in California. Crazy, I know, and not in the same league as Harry Potter by any means, but there was a line to get into the land!

 

[hrcollectibles]

As someone who knows several people who were working there... those reports are not true. secondly the wait did die down to 10 hours by about noon... mind you storms and heat caused some to leave but it stayed pretty steady for most of the day and there was still a decent line until close. Yes, the majority of the wait was to get into the potter section, it has a capacity and once reached people cannot come in till others leave, this helps maintain a good guest experience. Try to downplay it all you want... name one time you have seen a line like that at disney... name just one... i dare you. ill give you 20 years to work with

Even if the wait was down to 10 hours....No Land should have a wait like that. And I could think of a lot better ways to spend 10 hours of my vacation

 

[RobGraves]

Anybody that uses the term "game changer" when referring to this area has got to be younger than 16. I just can't see a mature adult thinking like this.

yeah... nice one, im 30 and have worked in disney parks and other disney divisions on both coasts and at universal in many different capacities.

I probably know a hell of a lot more about this than you do. There are probably only 4 people on here who have more insight than me. Lee, Eddie and a couple others.

It definitely is a "game changer" because it will bring more people to universal property... here imagine this... for a second... you are a Disney fan, but you know that there are people out there who HATE Disney, the company, the image, etc... there are many of those people who LIKE and are fans of Harry Potter... they will come to see Potter and not give two winks about visiting Disney. Lots of families with Teenagers and Adults who will spend a lot of money. This will bring universal a greater share of the market, and with the things lined up for the future of the area, will keep bringing them back.

remember, all it took ws a small stone for david to topple goliath. Disney's attitude of invincibility will put it at risk... I mean, unless your idea of plussing attractions is covering things up with tarps? right ToT and SSE?

 

[RozFan]

Well at time of reserving my room it was stated 1 Express entrance per day


And from the site:

Stay steps away from the magic and excitement! Staying on-site is the best way to experience all that Universal Orlando Resort has to offer including The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™! Make the most out of your vacation and enjoy exclusive benefits in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™:

• Early Park Admission† to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™, one hour before the park opens
• Skip the regular lines* at participating attractions throughout both Universal Orlando theme parks – A FREE BENEFIT WORTH UP TO $70 per person, per day^

from riding the attraction many times before the grand opening i dont think i saw any signage for express pass(i could be wrong though). i know there are three seperate line but i thought they were for castle walkthrough, single riders, and stand-by.

 

[Captain Chaos]

Well at time of reserving my room it was stated 1 Express entrance per day


And from the site:

Stay steps away from the magic and excitement! Staying on-site is the best way to experience all that Universal Orlando Resort has to offer including The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™! Make the most out of your vacation and enjoy exclusive benefits in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™:

• Early Park Admission† to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™, one hour before the park opens
• Skip the regular lines* at participating attractions throughout both Universal Orlando theme parks – A FREE BENEFIT WORTH UP TO $70 per person, per day^

That's great... Extra Magic Hours... Disney been there.. Disney done that.. Still doesn't allow for Express Pass on HPatFJ...

 

[Captain Chaos]

from riding the attraction many times before the grand opening i dont think i saw any signage for express pass(i could be wrong though). i know there are three seperate line but i thought they were for castle walkthrough, single riders, and stand-by.

Forbidden Journey DOES NOT allow Express Pass.. No one can say differently.. Their website even says so... NO EXPRESS PASS FOR FORBIDDEN JOURNEY.. My opinion, that is an epic fail...

 

[corrwill]

Here was our break down from Friday...we parked around 8:15, got into IOA at around 10, got into WWoHP a little after 4, got a Butterbeer at 5:20, and got on the ride at about 7:30. Considering people still wait 1-1.5 hrs for Toy Story Mania EVERY DAY...the 2 hr line for the Harry Potter Ride was short ha ha.

Oh normal lines for Spider-Man and Hulk were at about 1 hr so...Just giving you all a break down.

 

[unkadug]

yeah... nice one, im 30 and have worked in disney parks and other disney divisions on both coasts and at universal in many different capacities.

I probably know a hell of a lot more about this than you do. There are probably only 4 people on here who have more insight than me. Lee, Eddie and a couple others.

It definitely is a "game changer" because it will bring more people to universal property... here imagine this... for a second... you are a Disney fan, but you know that there are people out there who HATE Disney, the company, the image, etc... there are many of those people who LIKE and are fans of Harry Potter... they will come to see Potter and not give two winks about visiting Disney. Lots of families with Teenagers and Adults who will spend a lot of money. This will bring universal a greater share of the market, and with the things lined up for the future of the area, will keep bringing them back.

remember, all it took ws a small stone for david to topple goliath. Disney's attitude of invincibility will put it at risk... I mean, unless your idea of plussing attractions is covering things up with tarps? right ToT and SSE?

It's nice to know that you think so highly of yourself, but anyway I digress.

Your use of "game changer" refers to Universal day to day operations. Others have been using it to refer to theme parks in general. That is what I take exception to.

 

[RobGraves]

the ride itself is an amazing piece of work.. and the use of an omnimover style system to keep capacity high and lines moving quick was an intelligent step forward. I went on the ride with low expectations... as i said i have my own issues with universal and some of its previous management... however... My words after getting off were quite clear.

"this is the 21st century haunted mansion"

i mean that as far as fun, innovation, tone (though potter is darker) and rerediability, also detail.

 

[corrwill]

I will say WWoHP is really really cool, but ALL DAY people were saying how at Disney this and that would NEVER happen yadda yadda yadda. No matter what, Universal will ALWAYS be compared to Disney. There were many Universal fails throughout the day and if you are a fan of Disney you can easily see them ha ha. Disney are the Pros at this stuff guys and they always will be.

 

[ThreeCircles]

remember, all it took ws a small stone for david to topple goliath. Disney's attitude of invincibility will put it at risk... I mean, unless your idea of plussing attractions is covering things up with tarps? right ToT and SSE?

Universal, and its fans, said the same thing when IOA opened. :ROFLOL: Oh, wait, it *did* get 400,000 more visitors than Busch Gardens Tampa last year.

It will help Universal but it isn't going to change the theme park business of central Florida. When the publicity dies down, when Rowling & Co. isn't there to draw people in, things will fall back into their normal routine. And Universal still won't crack the top five US theme parks.

 

[joel_maxwell]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wodMBJH-uK8

Wow. At least the narrator got the park right.

I don't think CBS would leave the apostrophe out of World's twice. :lol:

:lol:

I don't believe it is a Photoshop job. CBS news website isn't really run by the news department. The news department just furnishes the stories. The website comes up with the headlines and teasers.

The page has since been revised.http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6595564n&tag=contentMain;contentBody

Ah... wonder where they outsource that too?

I took the screencap myself. It's real.

I stand corrected. At first glance this AM, it looked like someone was having fun.

 

[misterID]

wow wow wow to some of you...

I see that there is a hatred towards Universal from some of you. Well guess what? Universal just gave Disney a kick in the pants with Potter. I was there opening day, and while it was hot, I have to say that Universal did a GREAT job with keeping the line organized for the most part, had managers and team members near the lines with water and drink carts, there were costumed character performers also doing meet and greets throughout Seuss Landing, Marvel Superhero Island, and Toon Lagoon, not only entertaining guests walking through the rest of the park, but the people standing in the line.

I rode Spiderman, and all three water rides, and all of the wait times for EVERY other attraction in the park were between 5-30 minutes. Very comfortable waits for everyone. I personally think Universal did their very best handling this situation, and I don't think DIsney could have done it any better. I was there. I saw, and even talked with some of the managers and workers. They were all very accomodating and friendly.

As for Potter's 'stay-ability'? Come on guys...look at Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Star Trek, James Bond, Indiana Jones....all of these are different movies/books/attractions that have and have had staying power for a very long time. Just because the Potter book series is finished, and the last two films are on their way does not mean that Harry won't be relevant in 10-20 years. Universal based Suess Landing off of the works of Theodore Giesel...his books came out decades ago, and to this day millions of children still read them and know who the Grinch and the Cat in The Hat are...I think it's quite possible the same may be said about Harry Potter years down the road.

Disney missed out on this one in my opinion. I personally hope this really does give Disney the kick in the pants it needs to start building some new amazing cutting edge attractions here in Orlando again.

Oh, and I heard that the entire Potterland cost around $250 million. The Forbidden Journey ride alone cost almost half of that.

Great post. And nice to hear from the people in this thread who were actually there.

 

[raven]

There is nothing Disney can make that would be competitive for at least a decade. nothing as culturally penetrative and significant. They dropped the ball. The apologists who cant see that are delusional. period.

Didn't Disney just buy Marvel? Wait.

Disney was foolish not to give it to her, too. That will go down as one of the dumbest decisions they've made in history.

Disney doesn't need Potter. They did the right thing.

Disney would have tried to keep it too "family friendly" which is great and all, but this ride NEEDS that edge to it. Universal did great with it. While there are certain groups of people unable to ride (too obese, young children, motion sickened, etc)...

"Sorry son. I know you love HP and have the Halloween costume, all the toys, movies, have a HP themed bedroom and even had a HP birthday party. But you're only a kid. And even though small children like yourself all around the world love HP, they aren't allowed to ride."


I'm sorry. Who dropped the ball?

Disney prides it'self on making family friendly attractions. They know that when families are on vacation together that they want to experience as much as they can as a family. Through the years they have added some more thrills to the mix but they've always strived to make them accessable to as many types of guests as possible. It's the fans that want them to build the bigger thrills, not Disney.

If the park isn't open 16 hours then you cannot have a 16 hour line.

I still find it funny how any park can post wait times like that. I was at AK today and the line for It's Tough to be a Bug was 5 minutes...even though the attraction loads every 10 minutes. :veryconfu

P.S, you're not only paying for the 1 new ride ad the 2 re-themed coasters, but also for access to the shops, the Owlry, the 2 street shows, the Olivander's show, the amazing line for Harry Potter (rumored to match or even excel the great theming of the ride itself), the cool special effects in the shop windows, the THEMED BATHROOMS (yes, Moaning Myrtle is in the bathrooms of both sexes!)... oh yeah, and the rest of the park, including the award-winning Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, the classic Jurassic Park Ride, and tons more!

I mean, do you complain you want your money back if you pay $80 to go to the MK, stake out your spot in front of the castle all day to see a semi-new fireworks show and an old parade you've already seen?

Nice how you quoted nearly all of the things to offer at IOA but when it came to list the things at MK you decided on only 2.

From what I understand not everyone can ride the New Harry Potter ride due to their Size. I was listening to a podcast where the host was not able to experience the new ride because he was too big for the pull down harness...he is not Huge. he is 5'10 and weighs about 230...And apparently they were pulling people out of the line they (the cast members) thought were too big to ride and had them sit in a seat, and if they had to force the harness down they did not allow the guest to ride

Bet that got them a lot of return visitors and possitive feedbacks. :lol:

Man. I wish I was that Lone Palm bar playing my drinking game when this was taken. Imagine how smashed I could've been taking a drink every time I saw a pack. :lol:

 

[RobGraves]

also the kuka arms have a weight limit, by limiting the size of the rider, they prevent breakdowns due to overload.

 

[WDWNeighbor]

You could use that same argument with Disney attractions, too. I mean, "Splash Mountain"??? Who the heck is B'Rer Rabbit or B'Rer Fox, anyway? I know who they are but my 7-YO daughter simply thinks it's all got to do with the ride versus some story.

What about Tom Sawyer's Island? Now, I don't want to compare the Harry Potter series with any Mark Twain classics, but I'm sure you see my point. MK alone has based probably 80% (if not more) of their attractions based on their characters so it's not a far stretch for IOA and WWoHP to do the same.

Judy

I agree with you wholeheartedly... but the big difference I see is that Disney puts one ride toward something like Splash Mountain -- they didn't build an entire land complete with shops that sell things only true fans or those that are at least familiar with the books and movies would understand (i.e. butterbeer, etc.). From what I understand, the Harry Potter-related merchandise is 75% of the new area, with shop after shop and themed restaurants. Disney might sell one Splash Mountain t-shirt and focuses most of its merchandise on the big characters and popular movies.
That is where I think Universal is taking a huge chance -- unless they built it with the intentions of updating every 10-15 years.
I really hope it succeeds though and I hope my son loves it one day. I really do love HP and I really do enjoy Universal! I am not a Disney snob by any means. Love Universal too!