Streets of America Development Watch (no longer DEMO)

[Rteetz]

@Rob Paige

Wait what? How is Potter different than Star Wars? That makes absolutely no sense whether one was from the 70s or from the 2000s both are IPs and both have huge fanbases.

 

[danlb_2000]

As someone who lives in Orlando and has a number of both worker bees and admin types in Disney and Universal as neighbors, Potter has slowed down this year. As I mentioned, It is a slow decent but a decent nevertheless. It peaked and now is declining.

I can guarantee the same thing will happen with Star Wars, particularly since is yesterday's news in the eyes of many.

Any new theme park land is going to some down from the initial hype, but just as HP is still probably one of the most popular parts of Universal, the same will happen with Star Wars Land.

I am not sure why you believe Star Wars is yesterday's news? Anyone who is following the movie industry and pop culture know that is the furthers thing from the truth.

 

[MOXOMUMD]

As someone who lives in Orlando and has a number of both worker bees and admin types in Disney and Universal as neighbors, Potter has slowed down this year. As I mentioned, It is a slow decent but a decent nevertheless. It peaked and now is declining.

I can guarantee the same thing will happen with Star Wars, particularly since is yesterday's news in the eyes of many.

Your "eyes of many" must be blind.

 

[danlb_2000]

Your "eyes of many" must be blind.

If I go to Google News and search "Star Wars" there are 11,300 results in the past 24 hours. Clearly yesterday's news.

 

[Earl Sweatpants]

As someone who lives in Orlando and has a number of both worker bees and admin types in Disney and Universal as neighbors, Potter has slowed down this year. As I mentioned, It is a slow decent but a decent nevertheless. It peaked and now is declining.

I can guarantee the same thing will happen with Star Wars, particularly since is yesterday's news in the eyes of many.

Please define "yesterday's news" because I wouldn't give that description to something that is still pulling in millions (soon to be billions) of revenue...
I think the whole Potter world was too little too late. The major books (excluding the Cursed Child and whatever other spin-offs there are) and movies were already released and it felt like they missed their chance to really tie it all together.
To contrast that, we are expecting a new SW film every year for years to come...

 

[Princess Leia]

Please define "yesterday's news" because I wouldn't give that description to something that is still pulling in millions (soon to be billions) of revenue...
I think the whole Potter world was too little too late. The major books (excluding the Cursed Child and whatever other spin-offs there are) and movies were already released and it felt like they missed their chance to really tie it all together.
To contrast that, we are expecting a new SW film every year for years to come...

With Potter, there will be the Spin-off films for the next 3 years (I'm holding back all of my enthusiasm at the moment, we'll see if Fantastic Beasts can stand on its own), and I'm sure that somebody will create the HP tv show in 10-15 years. They can create more crowds at the parks with new attractions. Dragon Challenge is apparently going away, so whatever replaces it will create another surge.

 

[Earl Sweatpants]

With Potter, there will be the Spin-off films for the next 3 years (I'm holding back all of my enthusiasm at the moment, we'll see if Fantastic Beasts can stand on its own), and I'm sure that somebody will create the HP tv show in 10-15 years. They can create more crowds at the parks with new attractions. Dragon Challenge is apparently going away, so whatever replaces it will create another surge.

Well, even still, I don't believe it was built at a time to capitalize on the MAJOR driving force success of the property (i.e., the 7 books/movies).

 

[Princess Leia]

Well, even still, I don't believe it was built at a time to capitalize on the MAJOR driving force success of the property (i.e., the 7 books/movies).

Oh I agree. It would have been great to have this in 2005, when the books were still coming out and the fandom was still rapidly expanding.

 

[J. D.]

Time will tell. My prediction is that it will have a major spike which will top after about 12-16 months and then a slow but steady decline.

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

 

[toolsnspools]

There's been a recent uptick in the HP interest (who knows why?) but over time, both SW and HP are pretty high in trending searches category - https://www.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=star wars,Harry Potter

 

[Mike S]

There's been a recent uptick in the HP interest (who knows why?) but over time, both SW and HP are pretty high in trending searches category - https://www.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=star wars,Harry Potter

Fantastic Beasts? Cursed Child? Either one really.

 

[roj2323]

Demolishing this section of the park is shortsighted. Disney spends millions of dollars adding detailed facades to show buildings, and these were already constructed and could be ready to be used as entrances to new attractions set in an urban environment. Zootopia ride anyone? Star Wars land now that it will not be tied to the existing Star Tours attraction (another mistake) should have been built on an expansion plot.

I have to agree with respect to the frames the facades were attached to. They could have easily stripped the building facades and left the frames which would have been a great starting point for the new land entrance. That said removing them gives disney a lot more room to work with as there was a lot of dead space behind them.

 

[DisneyRoy]

Yea....I'm going to stay out of this conversation.

 

[WhatJaneSays]

I wonder why this building hasn't been removed...

View attachment 157333

I think there may be a utilities/electrical hub in it.

 

[Next Big Thing]

That's a good point, they may just not have gotten back around to it.

Also, the electrical that you see near the building is still standing. Not sure if that has anything to do with it or not though, because other buildings obviously had electrical.

Yup, electrical still standing, as seen in this aerial from site not to be named:

 

[flyerjab]

I still think it is "Been there. Done that." It lacks originality that Disney used to be known for. A stale, bland ordinary feeling.

In addition, it has the horrible effect of taking away the Osbourne Family of Lights. TONS of people would flock to see this as it was one of the most incredible sites for Christmas on the planet. Now, there is Star Wars. Talk about a let down.

Um, I am typically not known to be overly snarky on the boards, but are you new to this planet?

I will grant you that the loss of the Osbourne Lights is tough as it was spectacular. However, the crowds that flocked to that were seasonal for obvious reasons. Now, WDW will have people flocking to the new Star Wars Experience all year long.

And to make comments that Star Wars is yesterday's news is a laughable statement. If you personally do not like Star Wars that is your right and I am totally fine with that. To make statements that Star Wars is a bland property from the past that people do not have any interest in anymore is pretty much an opinion steeped in personal bias towards the property. We aren't even a year away from a Star Wars movie that has now pulled in the most money domestically in the history of cinema. The heroes and villains were firmly established in the cultural zeitgeist of the 70s, and they still resonate in modern times.

This is an IP that people have been dying to have fully explored in a theme park, and Disney is about to do it, and by all accounts, is going to do it in the absolute right way. There will be crowds lined up to enter this land the likes of which we have not seen since the WWoHP debuted at UNI.

Believe me, if you are one that longs for the time when Disney used to make truly unique attractions that were not based on any of their in-house properties, unfortunately that time has long come and gone. I think, however, that even most of those fans will give Disney a pass on this addition to DHS, as most people will want to experience two signature E-Ticket attractions in a world that many adored as kids and still do to this day.

 

[Thanks phoenicians]

It appears as if more has been demoed last night and today. You can now see the top of HISTK from MV3D and courtyard areas.

 

[Next Big Thing]

It appears as if more has been demoed last night and today. You can now see the top of HISTK from MV3D and courtyard areas.

Seems like they are trying to get this done quick now that they finally got going. I've said for awhile that whenever they get started it shouldn't take long. They're just a bunch of facades.

 

[DaddyGrant]

I guess that makes sense, but it's still weird. Why would they demo all of Premiere but make an effort to leave this standing even though both structures were touching?

Utility issues that need to be resolved first before all that can come down.

 

[roj2323]

Utility issues that need to be resolved first before all that can come down.

That actually makes a lot of sense. If I remember correctly there were a few High voltage boxes and transformers in that area.