The lines and wait times when Avatar land opens

[mergatroid]

I was thinking back to when Universal opened Diagon Alley for the first time and how they opened the park at something like 6am that morning to allow guests to start queueing. They even had the lines go backstage behind MIB such were the numbers and had thousands of bottles of water to hand out free to those waiting for hours on end. Wait times for Gringotts were showing 5 hours or more for weeks after opening and everything appeared quite crazy

I'm just wondering if we'll see similar when Avatar Land opens its doors for the first time or not? I can't imagine Disney opening 'backstage' areas to house those waiting but I wonder if they'll open the park hours early to let the queueing commence or just allow it to develop outside the general entrance to the park itself? Also I wonder if they'll hit the wait times of 5 or 6 hours initially or was the interest in Diagon Alley something unique that won't be replicated at the AK?

 

[mm52200]

I was thinking back to when Universal opened Diagon Alley for the first time and how they opened the park at something like 6am that morning to allow guests to start queueing. They even had the lines go backstage behind MIB such were the numbers and had thousands of bottles of water to hand out free to those waiting for hours on end. Wait times for Gringotts were showing 5 hours or more for weeks after opening and everything appeared quite crazy

I'm just wondering if we'll see similar when Avatar Land opens its doors for the first time or not? I can't imagine Disney opening 'backstage' areas to house those waiting but I wonder if they'll open the park hours early to let the queueing commence or just allow it to develop outside the general entrance to the park itself? Also I wonder if they'll hit the wait times of 5 or 6 hours initially or was the interest in Diagon Alley something unique that won't be replicated at the AK?

I'm sure it'll be very crowded and see insane crowds, maybe not quite the Harry Potter level of Universal? Honestly I don't know for sure what to expect.

 

[Master Yoda]

Large crowds along with overflow parking, alternate, possibly backstage entrances and exits are to be expected with any new land that Disney opens. However, I will be beyond shocked if they even come close to what we saw at Universal for Hogwarts.

Avatar simply does not have the built in fan base that Potter does.

 

[CastleBound]

No chance it will reach Potter levels. I don't think it will pull people to plan vacations around the area, some, but not the typical family trip.There's that one guy that has Avatar tattoos all over his body. He will for sure be in line waiting for the land to open.

 

[twebber55]

i expect at least a cars land bump but honestly im expecting more
the disney/cameron hype machine will be in full swing
i think you ll see the land close at times for capacity

 

[marni1971]

Large crowds along with overflow parking, alternate, possibly backstage entrances and exits are to be expected with any new land that Disney opens. However, I will be beyond shocked if they even come close to what we saw at Universal for Hogwarts.

Avatar simply does not have the built in fan base that Potter does.

This. There again FLE was nowhere near swamped on opening morning. Very busy but very manageable.

 

[Master Yoda]

This. There again FLE was nowhere near swamped on opening morning. Very busy but very manageable.

One thing Disney still seems to excel at is crowd management.

 

[marni1971]

One thing Disney still seems to excel at is crowd management.

It was soft, but had been well published for 48 hours.

 

[Master Yoda]

It was soft, but had been well published for 48 hours.

48 hours is really only enough time for locals to show up. Didn't the hype train on Potter's opening day run for months prior to opening?

 

[marni1971]

48 hours is really only enough time for locals to show up. Didn't the hype train on Potter's opening day run for months prior to opening?

More like years....

 

[Master Yoda]

More like years....

I so want to be a fly on the wall when SWL opens.

Ahhh....who am I kidding? Odds are I will be at ground zero for that.

 

[marni1971]

I so want to be a fly on the wall when SWL opens.

Ahhh....who am I kidding? Odds are I will be at ground zero for that.

If you're not I'd want to know why. You'll just have plenty of time to get prepared for it...

 

[deere839]

hopefully it wont be as long as the flying dinosaur when it opened up the other day at Universal Japan with a 750 min wait and having to close the line 20 mins after opening

 

[captainmoch]

hopefully it wont be as long as the flying dinosaur when it opened up the other day at Universal Japan with a 750 min wait and having to close the line 20 mins after opening

Woah! Then again, isn't USJ the most attended Universal park and like, 5th most attended park in general?

 

[CastleBound]

hopefully it wont be as long as the flying dinosaur when it opened up the other day at Universal Japan with a 750 min wait and having to close the line 20 mins after opening

So wait... I saw that the other day, was it legit? I thought it was just a glitch.

 

[deere839]

So wait... I saw that the other day, was it legit? I thought it was just a glitch.

It was real 15 mins after it opened it was at 650 mins wait plus universal Japan is the most popular universal park with just a tad over Epcot attendance I believe

 

[CastleBound]

11

It was real 15 mins after it opened it was at 650 mins wait plus universal Japan is the most popular universal park with just a tad over Epcot attendance I believe

Hey, Jurassic Park is my favorite movie, and I run a podcast about it, but I'm not waiting 11 hours in line for a roller coaster. Just absurd.

 

[Texas84]

The Japanese like to wait in line. Not kidding.

 

[Fox&Hound]

I'm curious about this too. I think it will be staggered because while a lot of people will want to see it and experience it, I think even more people will want to see it at night when it is aglow. I think that will change the idea of people beating down the doors when the park opens to visit.

 

[flyerjab]

Unlike most people, we will most definitely be scheduling a trip for when that opens. While I do expect there to be crowds, I would not anticipate it being anywhere close to Harry Potter. When Star Wars Land opens, however, that is another story entirely. I would still expect Pandora to draw pretty impressive numbers though.