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

[xdan0920]

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.


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

The point is, Guest A would normally be spending 5 days at WDW. Things are changing. Using myself as an example. I go to WDW every year, sometimes twice a year. The last time I went down to orlando, I spent 1 of of my vacation nights at UNI. This year when I go, I will be doing the same. Before, I would never have stayed out of WDW and I was loathe to even leave the property. Not anymore.

 

[xdan0920]

Also...

In regards to the AK vs IOA argument with attendance. It is true that IOA lost attendance over the years since it opened. The argument was made, that if that happened to AK people would be going crazy. Well a bit of breaking news. AK did lose attendance regularly for the first few years it was open. IOA is a smaller park then AK, AK has the advantage of free transportation from 20+ resorts, and the advantage of Epcot and MK being on the same property drawing guests in. It is not really a fair comparison. But the fact remains, AK lost attendance regularly. Just like IOA.

 

[ToTBellHop]

The point is, Guest A would normally be spending 5 days at WDW. Things are changing. Using myself as an example. I go to WDW every year, sometimes twice a year. The last time I went down to orlando, I spent 1 of of my vacation nights at UNI. This year when I go, I will be doing the same. Before, I would never have stayed out of WDW and I was loathe to even leave the property. Not anymore.

Exactly--most people have finite durations for their vacations--probably averaging a week for Americans and two weeks for Europeans, for example. If they are all spending more days at Universal than they would have in the past, this is lost revenue for Disney. Even if they are still sleeping in a Disney bed, Disney is still losing money from park tickets and, more importantly, food and souvenirs. Most people have a relatively fixed souvenir budget, and for me, since WWoHP is so unique, I ended up spending a good deal of my souvenir budget in Hogsmeade. Disney made less money off of me than they would have a year ago. One issue w/ the Fantasyland expansion is that it doesn't leave much room for new merchandise, and I think Disney now sees the value of unique merchandise (heck, they used to have more unique merchandise and I used to buy more of it!).

 

[flavious27]

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.


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

They are selling the PI bridges on mousesurplus?

Disney screw themselves when they changed how you could get onto PI at night. Before, you could only if you paid he $20 admission; they changed it that anyone could walk through PI without paying anf you could pay $5 or so to enter each club or the total $20 admission to hop to all of the clubs. tdo wanted to make it easier to walk from disneyquest to world of disney at night, pi was in the way. Now you can, and hey the theme is now more FF because people forgot that they were in the world's largest ff attraction.

 

[hokielutz]

Also...

In regards to the AK vs IOA argument with attendance. It is true that IOA lost attendance over the years since it opened. The argument was made, that if that happened to AK people would be going crazy. Well a bit of breaking news. AK did lose attendance regularly for the first few years it was open. IOA is a smaller park then AK, AK has the advantage of free transportation from 20+ resorts, and the advantage of Epcot and MK being on the same property drawing guests in. It is not really a fair comparison. But the fact remains, AK lost attendance regularly. Just like IOA.

And AK only had a couple headliner attractions at its open.... too few to sustain a park. (KS, Dinosaur, and KRR) The addition of Yeti as a thrill ride and Nemo bumped AK to a park that could be an all day animal adventure... provided you do go to the shows and walking tours.

Still, it could use 1-2 more action rides to satisfy the thrill seeker's appetite.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

I am so sick of seeing mainstream media sources refer to WWoHP as the "Harry Potter theme park."

These people can break down the religious and sectarian differences in elections held thousands of miles from America, pore over economic data to explain how last month's first time unemployment filings need to be considered in light of seasonal adjustments, etc. ... but they can't quite grasp the oh-so-complex distinction between a theme park and a land within that theme park. It's like they just don't think it's important enough to get right.

On another note, I finally visited WWoHP yesterday and loved it.

 

[flavious27]

I am so sick of seeing mainstream media sources refer to WWoHP as the "Harry Potter theme park."

These people can break down the religious and sectarian differences in elections held thousands of miles from America, pore over economic data to explain how last month's first time unemployment filings need to be considered in light of seasonal adjustments, etc. ... but they can't quite grasp the oh-so-complex distinction between a theme park and a land within that theme park. It's like they just don't think it's important enough to get right.

On another note, I finally visited WWoHP yesterday and loved it.

Because their viewers don't know the difference.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Its not inventing... it is the implied expectation of many in this thread and several other like it that continually lament that nothing has happened in Disney for the last 15 years. Maybe its 2 years, maybe its one.... or something along that ballpark.

Maybe its just made up nonsense.

How many e-tickets have been built in the MK since 93/94 and how many attractions have closed not to be replaced?

AK has added one e-ticket in 10 years

Unrealistic demands are one thing, reasonable progress is another.

 

[Lee]

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.

Ummm....yeah. That's called PR spin. It's been discussed to death in other threads, but no...their given reason is pure spin.

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.

Two points...
Racers, by itself, has gone north of $300m.
When complete, it will be the most expensive attraction ever, surpassing ToT in DisneySea.
And Test Track didn't come close to $300m. Its Future World neighbor was more expensive by a good margin.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I hate being a devil's advocate, but hasn't other rides been added to dak since EE that are more FF?

What did it look like before Everest? Just curious. My first trip ever to WDW was in 2006.

Since Expedition Everest, the only substantial addition the Animal Kingdom was Finding Nemo the Musical replacing Tarzan Rocks. I don't have every year's attendance, but this is what I was able to dig up:

1998: 6,000,000 (Park Opened)
1999: 8,600,000 (Asia Expansion opened w/Kali and Maharajah Jungle Trek, Closed Discovery River Boats)
2001: 7,700,000
2002: Unknown (Dinorama opened with Primeval Whirl and Triceratops Spin)
2003: 7,300,000
2004: 7,800,000
2005: 8,200,000
2006: 8,910,000 (Expedition Everest Opened)
2007: 9,490,000 (Finding Nemo the Musical replaces Tarzan Rocks)
2008: 9,540,000 (Pocahontas show closes in September)
2009: 9,590,000

But you just said it, they are popular. TSM has 60+ minute waits on a daily basis (even in off seasons)... QUOTE]

TSM is popular, but the wait(besides having another movie just out and being new) is more due to shotty capacity than it is to its popularity.


And yeah..no one wants to visit The Wizarding World in FL...clearly. California has Transformers in the works, they are fine without Potter. I don't like the movies but tons of people do, and the ride is going to likely be very signifigant.

Saying it's waits are generated by it's bad capacity vs. popularity isn't entirely accurate. Obviously with a higher capacity the waits would be shorter, but this is still clearly the most popular attraction in that park.

 

[ryno1982]

I am so sick of seeing mainstream media sources refer to WWoHP as the "Harry Potter theme park."

These people can break down the religious and sectarian differences in elections held thousands of miles from America, pore over economic data to explain how last month's first time unemployment filings need to be considered in light of seasonal adjustments, etc. ... but they can't quite grasp the oh-so-complex distinction between a theme park and a land within that theme park. It's like they just don't think it's important enough to get right.

On another note, I finally visited WWoHP yesterday and loved it.

It's not really the media's fault. Universal has referred to it as a theme park since the first press release. The media is basically only reading off the sheet that Universal has written.

 

[Alektronic]

Since Expedition Everest, the only substantial addition the Animal Kingdom was Finding Nemo the Musical replacing Tarzan Rocks. I don't have every year's attendance, but this is what I was able to dig up:

1998: 6,000,000 (Park Opened)
1999: 8,600,000 (Asia Expansion opened w/Kali and Maharajah Jungle Trek, Closed Discovery River Boats)
2001: 7,700,000
2002: Unknown (Dinorama opened with Primeval Whirl and Triceratops Spin)
2003: 7,300,000
2004: 7,800,000
2005: 8,200,000
2006: 8,910,000 (Expedition Everest Opened)
2007: 9,490,000 (Finding Nemo the Musical replaces Tarzan Rocks)
2008: 9,540,000 (Pocahontas show closes in September)
2009: 9,590,000

I was wondering where do these attendance figures come from? Since Disney doesn't release official attendance numbers, is this just someone's guess? From 2007 to 2009, it went up exactly 50,000 a year? Does it represent paying customers? Or just people through the turnstile? Do they stay all day or just a couple of hours then off to another park and get counted again? And how many are annual passholders or just cast members with their families?

 

[captainkidd]

I am so sick of seeing Harry Potter threads on this forum. Shouldn't they be on the Universal Forums? I'm happy people are excited about WWOHP, but it has NOTHING to do with Disney. Should we start talking about Busch Gardens new roller coasters here as well?

Disney was bigger before WWOHP. Disney will be bigger after WWOHP. End of story. I don't care how popular HP is, the fact that some are comparing the popularity of HP with the popularity of Disney is just laughable.

 

[T-1MILLION]

It's not really the media's fault. Universal has referred to it as a theme park since the first press release. The media is basically only reading off the sheet that Universal has written.

Theme Park within a theme park was the term first used to describe to the general public what an island is section of their parks are like. The media altered that quite a bit by making it sound like its own theme park.


Side note to Toy Story Mania, Yes, I am not saying that Toy Story Mania is not the most popular attraction at that park..shouldn't it be? Its a fairly big ticket that opened recently based on a film franchise that had the top grossing movie release of 2010.

Its not a 60 min plus insane wait in the off season soley because of its popularity. It has one of the worst capacity rates if not the worst in recent industry additions.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

I am so sick of seeing Harry Potter threads on this forum. Shouldn't they be on the Universal Forums? I'm happy people are excited about WWOHP, but it has NOTHING to do with Disney. Should we start talking about Busch Gardens new roller coasters here as well?

Disney was bigger before WWOHP. Disney will be bigger after WWOHP. End of story. I don't care how popular HP is, the fact that some are comparing the popularity of HP with the popularity of Disney is just laughable.

Almost as laughable as your post.

I would have thought that given this thread is a about comments made by a senior Disney official about Potter somehow makes it something to do with Disney. Or is that too much of a leap.

Mr Cadburys Parrot indeed.

 

[captainkidd]

Almost as laughable as your post.

I would have thought that given this thread is a about comments made by a senior Disney official about Potter somehow makes it something to do with Disney. Or is that too much of a leap.

Mr Cadburys Parrot indeed.

Stick it with the other Potter stuff. Do we need a new thread every time the thing is brought up???

Pumbas, do you know how to have a discussion on a topic with someone you don't agree with any way other than by using insults? Just curious, as I've never seen you do it.

 

[wm49rs]

Stick it with the other Potter stuff. Do we need a new thread every time the thing is brought up???

Apparently the mods don't seem to mind. And you DO have options when it comes to these threads.....

 

[imagineer boy]

I am so sick of seeing Harry Potter threads on this forum. Shouldn't they be on the Universal Forums? I'm happy people are excited about WWOHP, but it has NOTHING to do with Disney. Should we start talking about Busch Gardens new roller coasters here as well?

Disney was bigger before WWOHP. Disney will be bigger after WWOHP. End of story. I don't care how popular HP is, the fact that some are comparing the popularity of HP with the popularity of Disney is just laughable.

It has everything to do with Disney! This isn't just another Bush Gardens coaster, this is a major attraction that many would agree is better than any of the offerings currently at WDW therefor major competition for WDW.

 

[captainkidd]

Apparently the mods don't seem to mind. And you DO have options when it comes to these threads.....

Like any other message board you frequent, it's annoying seeing the same topic posted over and over. It's like seeing 6 different threads about the latest bus accident at WDW. I would think 1 would be enough.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Stick it with the other Potter stuff. Do we need a new thread every time the thing is brought up???

Pumbas, do you know how to have a discussion on a topic with someone you don't agree with any way other than by using insults? Just curious, as I've never seen you do it.

No I find its one of the most efficient ways of annoying fan boys.