The Hometown Rivalry. Even Meg Crofton was impressed by Potter.

[askmike1]

I still say toss out Toon Lagoon and make it another Potterland.

SURPRISE: No one cares about Duddle Do-Rights, Poppeye, or any other "classic" comic strip characters. It was the weakest land, and still is.

The main problem with that is that TL is separated from WWoHP by JP (and goes somewhat well with its next door marvel land). Personally, if HP gets expanded I think The Lost Continent will be up for grabs as it would be the easiest to fit into HP. Just my opinion though.

 

[T-1MILLION]

I still say toss out Toon Lagoon and make it another Potterland.

SURPRISE: No one cares about Duddle Do-Rights, Poppeye, or any other "classic" comic strip characters. It was the weakest land, and still is.

Yeah, not like that Toontown Fair that Disney has only improved on instead of just leaving to rot and ditch after years...oh.


And your idea makes so much thematic sense!

 

[Testtrack321]

Yeah, not like that Toontown Fair that Disney has only improved on instead of just leaving to rot and ditch after years...oh.


And your idea makes so much thematic sense!

Hey man, I've been a huge proponent of getting rid of Toontown Fair.

And you're right, I made a mistake. Memory failed me and I didn't realize how big the rest of the Lost Continent is, plus they can expand in the back parking lot too. I thought the rest of the Contient was not that big, but I was wrong. My bad.

I still think they can skip over JP and have it still "make sense".

 

[T-1MILLION]

Potter's continuation at Universal will likely not be a physical larger expansion. The area already has '3' Major attractions and one minor jr coaster thrill as well as mini shows and of course all the "theatric shopping" and its own Resturant.



Events like like Infinitus, Leakycon, night of a thousand wizards, and holidays(which are HUGE in The Wizarding World and there is a begging market for a likely tradition just waiting to happen)

Special hard ticket events are likely for Potter's future as well as special events with something equivelent to Star Wars Weekends with new mini performances from The Frog Choir and Tri Wizard squads.

That is how they are likely to keep the success going. But that won't come into play until it needs to. Right now and for awhile it will be very popular.

 

[MonorailCentral]

blech.

The fact that there's a Universal ad right now on the bottom of my page here at WDWMagic.com says everything I need to say. They're out there and they're biting, clawing, and fighting for the disney dollar...and they're getting it. I got a Uni AP STRICTLY for WWOHP and it's been worth every penny. At the same time I've been a WDW AP holder for 28 years (since I was 12) and will always be one. Disney brainwashed me 38 years ago and its one reason while I'll never leave Florida. At the same time Harry Potter is EASILY my favorite series of books, favorite series of movies (yeah...more than Star Wars) and I'll spend loads of $$ to obtain every piece of junk that they offer at WWOHP. Uni may never beat WDW but I'll tell you what, the fact that 973974397493743 people debate this daily clearly shows they've had an effect. They've won the battle in 2010 and seem to be slowly winning the generational war and if they expand the land...wow. (incidentally...i could really care less about FLE...i hate the templated generic princess movies).

 

[thegoofydad]

How easy would that be? My goodness, I've been saying that FOREVER!!! Why can't I eat at the Creature Cantina, then do Star Tours 2, then an omnimover Dark Ride that resembles the Death Star (a mini SSE?) on the outside and takes you thru the whole 6 films in like 15 minutes... Maybe some living character initiative M&Gs w Yoda, C3po, Darth Vader... This would ABSOLUTELY trump WWOHP.

We have been to WDW 3 times in 4 years and made a separate trip to Potterland and Uni (we had never been before) in Nov and while I am not as into Potter as the rest of the family, I enjoyed it. I agree that the attention to detail in Potterland is on par with Disney but outside of the WWOHP, it felt like a Six Flags on steroids.

I agree with some other posters about a Star Wars themed response to Potterland. Again, I am not as into Star Wars as the rest of the family but the series has legs and transcends generations. We have never been to Star Wars weekends but I assume they do fairly well. I know there was a ~4 hour wait for the Jedi Training Acadamy our last visit. There is an "untapped" world just waiting to be built that would seriously compete with Potter.

 

[Mouse Detective]

Disney can say Potter-land is bringing people to both parks, but I think the more likely reality is that many people staying at WDW are now spending at least one day of their vacations (that they would have spent at WDW in the past) at Universal. And I would bet that many people are now choosing to stay off-site because of it as well.

I think you are overall correct. I think it's more likely that Universal has siphoned a day or two off many people's Disney stay than Disney has gained from people coming to Orlando exclusively for Universal. Sure there is some of that too but I think it's skewed much more against Disney than in their favor.

Universal will never beat Walt Disney overall. WDW is way too massive in scale. That's not the point. Universal has come a long way in just a few years and has quite a few attractions now that Disney must (and does) envy. I will give some credit to Meg Crofton for both having the guts to check out the new neighbor and for having the guts to give Harry its deserving compliment. Now go do something about it. Build your own F-ticket. And bring back some adult entertainment to DTD so that people have something to do at night without wandering over to CityWalk!

 

[PuertoRekinSam]

I still remember two quotes about Potterland.

1) "Too bad the rest of the park isn't this nice" -A guest I wasn't traveling with crossing the bridge to JP

2) "Just because you put a diamond on a dog turd, you can't call it a tiara" a columnist in my parents local paper.

I loved the potter experience (and I don't care for the movies) but I still won't go often, I have young children, and due to height restrictions, there is not enough for us to do as a family. The parks as a whole need to be plused, for Universal to out do.

 

[Mouse Detective]

"Just because you put a diamond on a dog turd, you can't call it a tiara" .

I remember back during the last presidential election when someone said that about one of the vice-presidential candidates.

 

[Lee]

Yet none of the rehab work, painting and touchup, scrims around buildings make any positive impact on how Disney is perceived. Wasn't it this board that complained years ago that the mouse did not do enough maintenance, touch-up work etc. Have they not tried to improve that part of their operations?

I, for one, refuse to hand out kudos for Disney doing what they should be doing anyway. Maintenance and upkeep should be taken for granted, not praised as amazing progress. That just emphasizes how low the bar has been set the last few years.

But IOA's team is bringing in better growth numbers for a smaller price...

Yes. A point I keep trying to make.
WWoHP as a whole cost less than the one major ride going into Carsland.
I fear that building the single most expensive ride in theme park history is really digging a financial hole out there. Gonna take a while to earn back a $350mil investmen in one ride.

I remember back during the last presidential election when someone said that about one of the vice-presidential candidates.

I say it about Space Mountain all the time.:lol:

Anyhow...all the bickering about attendance numbers is becoming tiresome. The difference in size between the two sides makes it all rather pointless to argue about who's taking guests away from who.
Let's measure this whole issue by a different yardstick. Who's building the best rides? No doubt Uni is wearing that belt for 2010, and likely for a while longer.
It really bothers me that Disney hasn't tried to deliver an attraction to top FJ. The Disney I love wouldn't let Uni build a better ride and then just be content to pick up the scraps of guests who come down for Potter.

 

[Captain Chaos]

I, for one, refuse to hand out kudos for Disney doing what they should be doing anyway. Maintenance and upkeep should be taken for granted, not praised as amazing progress. That just emphasizes how low the bar has been set the last few years.


Yes. A point I keep trying to make.
WWoHP as a whole cost less than the one major ride going into Carsland.
I fear that building the single most expensive ride in theme park history is really digging a financial hole out there. Gonna take a while to earn back a $350mil investmen in one ride.


I say it about Space Mountain all the time.:lol:

Anyhow...all the bickering about attendance numbers is becoming tiresome. The difference in size between the two sides makes it all rather pointless to argue about who's taking guests away from who.
Let's measure this whole issue by a different yardstick. Who's building the best rides? No doubt Uni is wearing that belt for 2010, and likely for a while longer.
It really bothers me that Disney hasn't tried to deliver an attraction to top FJ. The Disney I love wouldn't let Uni build a better ride and then just be content to pick up the scraps of guests who come down for Potter.

Lee, the Disney you, I, and countless others love... has a few nails in the coffin, just waiting for that final nail and the dirt to be tossed on top... If this FLE is a bomb (which I don't think it will be), and nothing else of significance is announced, then the casket may well be closed on the Disney we all love...

I refuse to think this Disney is dying though... Maybe taking a Rumpelstiltskin-sized nap, but not dying....

 

[_Scar]

I can only speak for myself when I say that the last time I went to IoA, Toon Lagoon was disgusting, dirty, and uncared for. Dudley-Doo-Right was a joke. The ride was... absolutely sickening. The Popeye area looked fine... but Dudley... man oh man.

 

[flavious27]

How does that logic work? Disney getting more resort guests means Disney loses ticket/food money? Because you have loads of people staying at a Disney resort and never going to its parks/food service locations?



Never claimed that. Pleasure Island is closed now and the buildings are (just about) all empty. PI will never come back (and shouldn't in my opinion). So we can leave the buildings empty, living in the past, or we can move forward.

Guests will stay on property for 5 days, but only go to disney parks for 3 days. The other 2 days guests will spend their money on uni tickets and get food either at uni or on the way back from there.

Disney has claimed that PI was closed due to customer feedback wanting more family friendly offerings, it was not due to PI losing attendance. That information is listed on their FAQ.

 

[flavious27]

Well of course the classic Disneyland pop culture attractions are all popular, that is the reason many of them were cloned.

Yet I gurantee you that if Star Tours of FL was for some freak reason the only one in existance you would see more visitors eventually going there because the draw is there for Star Wars fans all over the world.

Again, not that it makes a huge difference because it all goes to Disney in some form or another but Disney is not immune to saturating the market.


Californians that want to visit Harry Potter, can't just be ok with going to Universal Studios Hollywood. FL is the only place in the world with The Wizarding World attractions.

If you are fine with clones that is one thing. I am glad we got MK and all, but the less cloning the better.

Agreed, as nice it is that if you go to dlp and some of your favorites are there, you still want to experience something new to show a reason for the trip.

I think the problem with clones goes hand in hand with what park is really the centerpiece park. If it is WDW, then it makes sense that they would have a variation on the most popular rides at the other parks. The park that is the marquee park will have everything great in the rides roster.

If there really is no marquee park, cloning is just lazy and a way to cover the r&d over 4 parks.

 

[flavious27]

My two cents... I think the harry potter world whoo haa will die down pretty soon... Disney has so many things going for it, customer service, the experiance, the detail, the cast members, which i think Universal has always missed the chance on, they have tried but not done so well... I like going to Universal but we usually keep it to one day to the two parks because something always ends up going on that is never resolved or helped by their system over there, i dont blame there staff because ive had amazing service from a lot of them but some just don't care! and i know there always one in the herd that causes a problem but disney seems more capable of dealing with it and resolving it. :wave:

That is what we are watching, to see if uni will do what they can to keep up the pace. Really I think that they won't and when the comcast merger goes through, comcast is going to clean house with their management. I also think that comcast will buy out blackstone because of their conflict of interest with seaworld and busch gardens.

 

[flavious27]

I still say toss out Toon Lagoon and make it another Potterland.

SURPRISE: No one cares about Duddle Do-Rights, Poppeye, or any other "classic" comic strip characters. It was the weakest land, and still is.

I think that the next land to be rethemed will be jurassic park, that franchise is long in the tooth.

 

[flavious27]

We have been to WDW 3 times in 4 years and made a separate trip to Potterland and Uni (we had never been before) in Nov and while I am not as into Potter as the rest of the family, I enjoyed it. I agree that the attention to detail in Potterland is on par with Disney but outside of the WWOHP, it felt like a Six Flags on steroids.

I agree with some other posters about a Star Wars themed response to Potterland. Again, I am not as into Star Wars as the rest of the family but the series has legs and transcends generations. We have never been to Star Wars weekends but I assume they do fairly well. I know there was a ~4 hour wait for the Jedi Training Acadamy our last visit. There is an "untapped" world just waiting to be built that would seriously compete with Potter.

I don't see a full-on star wars response to wwhp, but they should have added the cantina decades ago.

 

[flavious27]

Yes. A point I keep trying to make.
WWoHP as a whole cost less than the one major ride going into Carsland.
I fear that building the single most expensive ride in theme park history is really digging a financial hole out there. Gonna take a while to earn back a $350mil investmen in one ride.


I say it about Space Mountain all the time.:lol:

Anyhow...all the bickering about attendance numbers is becoming tiresome. The difference in size between the two sides makes it all rather pointless to argue about who's taking guests away from who.
Let's measure this whole issue by a different yardstick. Who's building the best rides? No doubt Uni is wearing that belt for 2010, and likely for a while longer.
It really bothers me that Disney hasn't tried to deliver an attraction to top FJ. The Disney I love wouldn't let Uni build a better ride and then just be content to pick up the scraps of guests who come down for Potter.

It is the most compelling point, they are getting more of a buck for their buck than DCA will for the short time. Long term is different unless uni will actually add to the park in a meaningful way.

RS Racers's cost is rumored at $200 million, but it is still high for a ride but atleast it didn't cost the $300 million for test track in '98.

I agree with the sentiment about letting uni attract guests to disney, not the other way around.

And tdo knew that uni was thinking about the roboarm coaster idea when they were going to make a van helsing ride using the same tech.

 

[flavious27]

Lee, the Disney you, I, and countless others love... has a few nails in the coffin, just waiting for that final nail and the dirt to be tossed on top... If this FLE is a bomb (which I don't think it will be), and nothing else of significance is announced, then the casket may well be closed on the Disney we all love...

I refuse to think this Disney is dying though... Maybe taking a Rumpelstiltskin-sized nap, but not dying....

I doubt that the disney we love is so close to death, but tdo needs to know what we like about wdw and what we expect now and in the future.

While FLE is being built, there should be more expansion at MK on the books to start after the first 5yo princess dances through. What that is, well it is should be more than whatever we have heard.

 

[askmike1]

Guests will stay on property for 5 days, but only go to disney parks for 3 days. The other 2 days guests will spend their money on uni tickets and get food either at uni or on the way back from there.

Okay, lets do the math.... guest A stays at Disney Resort, goes to Disney park for half of stay and Universal for other half. Guest B stays at non Disney resort, goes to Disney park for half of stay and Universal for other half. We've taken this down to one factor, which would Disney prefer? In reality Guest A is more likely to eat, shop and spend money on Disney property than Guest B is.

Disney has claimed that PI was closed due to customer feedback wanting more family friendly offerings, it was not due to PI losing attendance. That information is listed on their FAQ.

Well if you believe everything Disney says in press releases.... I've got a bridge to sell you. :lol: