Just wanted to know if the WWOHP has influenced your Disney Vacation this year.......I was planning on 4 days at AKL for the holidays and now I have had a change of heart and decided to do 3 days at AKL and 2 days at Universal .....I can't wait to see what all the fuss is about. Not too crazy about the 15 dollar/day self parking fee Universal (Royal Pacific) is hitting me with.....Strike One!
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The Potter Affect......
- Thread starter elatino
- Start date
How was the wait at fbj? How bout the wait for the rest of the rides? Tia.
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EpcotGrl
New Member
I'm going to Universal for the first time this December, and it's because of WWOHP; my fellow vacationer & I saw the trailer for the new HP movie & had to check it out 
Granted, we're not looking at spending a lot of time there...just IOA/WWOHP & out...but still: it's the first time I've gone to Orlando and even cared about venturing outside of WDW.
Granted, we're not looking at spending a lot of time there...just IOA/WWOHP & out...but still: it's the first time I've gone to Orlando and even cared about venturing outside of WDW.
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captainkidd
Well-Known Member
Hey, I didn't write the article!
I thought Harry would be over by now. Of course I thought the same thing about Star Wars............ but ask me how many Star Wars lego sets we own! :lol:
I know - It's just a typical Forbes article with no real world numbers in it. If they want to compare the two franchises, they should compare how many tickets each sold. They wouldn't do that, because then it wouldn't even be worth writing about.
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Lucky
Well-Known Member
We usually do an 8 or 9 day trip in late summer or early fall, all at WDW. This year we spent one day at IoA. I had always wanted to do Uni, and finally went this year because my daughter wanted to see Potter.
I had not read the books or seen the movies, but finally did after seeing the attraction.
I had not read the books or seen the movies, but finally did after seeing the attraction.
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Korfar
Active Member
Potter didn't effect our trip this year and won't next year either. We are Potter fans but when we go to Disney that is all we want to do. Maybe some day we will get over there when the hype has died down but there is a good chance we may never get over there. We are not Universal fans and I don't think Potter is enough to get us over there. Only time will tell. Disney already has a firm grasp on our annual vacation dollars. :lol:
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xdan0920
Think for yourselfer
I am always a little taken back by these threads. How people can be so negative about Uni, when they are consistently putting out a better product then Disney. Over the past few years Uni has developed great headlining rides, a thriving nightlife area, and an unbelievable new land.
Meanwhile Disney has closed down PI, built a clone ride, and could possibly be planing a mediocre to excellent new land. All the while completely pandering to the under 5 set.
Uni is offering a very competitive product right now.
Meanwhile Disney has closed down PI, built a clone ride, and could possibly be planing a mediocre to excellent new land. All the while completely pandering to the under 5 set.
Uni is offering a very competitive product right now.
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PryncessLace
Member
Yes for us this year. We usually spend all our time at Disney, but this Christmas trip we are spending two of our days that week at US/IOA. Potter is the main reason, but our DD4 heard about a friends trip and has been begging for us to take her ever since.
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JoMarch
Active Member
We did a one day side trip to Universal from Disney in September. The 20 minute MEARS bus was a pretty good deal - for $18.00, they picked us up at Pop Century, dropped us off at Universal and returned us to Pop. The return times are quarter after the hour every hour until 2:15AM!
We only did the Islands of Adventure. I thought it was a fun day and a nice diversion. It's all well done, very clean and fun. I loved the Spiderman Ride - Disney should borrow the concept for something else.... I also liked the walk through Poseidan's Underworld.....this is what that Narnia Thing in Hollywood Studios should be more like.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is very well done. The ride inside the castle is extremely well done. It's amazing what current technology can do. Everything else was ok. The Flight of the Hippogriff was WAY too short.
The entire Harry Potter land is well themed and great attention has been paid to every detail. Yes, I will agree with another post about the stores being too small - however, there are lot's of fun things inside every store that make it worthwhile.
And the Butterbeer is YUMMY!!!!
We only did the Islands of Adventure. I thought it was a fun day and a nice diversion. It's all well done, very clean and fun. I loved the Spiderman Ride - Disney should borrow the concept for something else.... I also liked the walk through Poseidan's Underworld.....this is what that Narnia Thing in Hollywood Studios should be more like.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is very well done. The ride inside the castle is extremely well done. It's amazing what current technology can do. Everything else was ok. The Flight of the Hippogriff was WAY too short.
The entire Harry Potter land is well themed and great attention has been paid to every detail. Yes, I will agree with another post about the stores being too small - however, there are lot's of fun things inside every store that make it worthwhile.
And the Butterbeer is YUMMY!!!!
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We went to WDW this past September for 9 days 9 nights. We never even bothered to go to Uni or IOA. We stayed at the PORS and just completely had a great time. One of the things we did different this year was to see and eat at some of the resorts we never been to. we also for the first time ever went to MNSSHP and had the time of our life. We ended our last night in Disney by eating at Teppan Edo in Japan. We never ate at wolfgang Pucks express which we liked very much and had a great day in typhoon Lagoon. So with doing and seeing a lot of things that we never seen before the answer to your question is NO Uni/IOA did not affect our trip and there are no plans in the future to do so.
Now lets talk about INI in general. Our last and fianl visit to UNI was just a two years ago. Five years ago was our first trip ever and it was a blast. But we did not stay there and did not start our WDW vacation package. We were two days erly and wanted to see what this was all about. The first year was a blast the second visit was fun. The third visit was boring and felt the parks were just empty. We made the Mistake at staying at the Royal Pacific after our 8 day/night WDW vacation. The service was poor, they made me pay for parking as a resort guest. The pools were not heated and wee really did not like there night life. The Disney Magic feeling of being in a resort was gone and depressing. We could not wiat to get out of there. Two days staying at The Royal Pacific resort was to long and Two days in Uni felt more like tow years. We have been done with UNI & IOA and plan to not go back and see it unless both parks are completely over hauled. Also the wife and I did not like there staff making fun of us or at times felt harrassing us for wearing WDW shirts and hats. It will take more than the boring world of HP to get us to come back.
Now lets talk about INI in general. Our last and fianl visit to UNI was just a two years ago. Five years ago was our first trip ever and it was a blast. But we did not stay there and did not start our WDW vacation package. We were two days erly and wanted to see what this was all about. The first year was a blast the second visit was fun. The third visit was boring and felt the parks were just empty. We made the Mistake at staying at the Royal Pacific after our 8 day/night WDW vacation. The service was poor, they made me pay for parking as a resort guest. The pools were not heated and wee really did not like there night life. The Disney Magic feeling of being in a resort was gone and depressing. We could not wiat to get out of there. Two days staying at The Royal Pacific resort was to long and Two days in Uni felt more like tow years. We have been done with UNI & IOA and plan to not go back and see it unless both parks are completely over hauled. Also the wife and I did not like there staff making fun of us or at times felt harrassing us for wearing WDW shirts and hats. It will take more than the boring world of HP to get us to come back.
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jakeman
Well-Known Member
How can people be so positive about Uni right now when they stagnated for 10 years and hardly added anything until recently.
Their nightlife area is nothing but third parties and they built a new land with exactly one new attraction. :lookaroun
See? It's pretty easy to spin the argument however you want. :wave:
Hyperbole aside, we did add a day to our vacation to check out the new Potterland. My wife is a huge Potter fan and she loved it. It is a visually stunning recreation of the movies. She like the queue for the Forbidden Journey better than the ride itself. It is a great place to immerse yourself in the world.
With that said, FJ is an awesome, groundbreaking attraction: the first time you ride it.
To me and my family, there wasn't much to look at the second and third time. While it technologically smashes anything Disney has done ever, it lacks the depth of most Disney attractions. It is a very unique experience from a ride mechanics point of view and a very average experience from a re-ride ability point of view.
To me it didn't provide enough thrills like a roller coaster to keep me coming back nor did it provide enough depth like a dark ride to keep me coming back either. It is exactly the converse of greater than the sum of its parts. It is less than the sum to me.
The actual Hogsmeade area itself was awesome. The shops are painfully small, but you surprisingly get used to that very quickly. I did wonder how much they lose in retail because of occupancy limits. The merchandise was plentiful, seems to be high quality and a good variety. We spent more on merchandise at Potter than at Disney as a whole simply because we knew it wasn't available everywhere. Disney could learn a thing or two about merchandise restraint from Uni.
Butterbeer is great. The food from the Three Broomsticks is a little worse than average park food and very expensive (slightly higher than comparable Disney fair).
It was a great land. One we will gladly return to in a few years. I hope they expand out and take up the rest of the Lost Continent. It was pretty obvious that it was just sitting there waiting to be converted.
Overall, I foresee that it's made Uni an addition to our vacation every few years now, probably not much more than that. The Uni parks just don't offer the intangibles that we are looking for in our vacations that Disney does.
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FireChiefGoofy
Well-Known Member
DW and I are planning on spending our first day in Orlando at WWOHP, then the next 8 at WDW. I have no interest in the WWOHP but DW loves all of the books and movies, so I am treating her this once.
After this trip, no more WWOHP, just us and Mickey!
After this trip, no more WWOHP, just us and Mickey!
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Nine nights at Poly two weeks ago and went to IOA on the Thursday. First time at Uni since 2002 - for IOA. Potter World was most anticipated attraction, especially since Mickey had nothing new (since my Nov 08 trip), unless you count Eo. Loved Harry and will return next trip. Rode Forbidden Journey four times, ate at Three Broomsticks, drank butterbeer and pumpkin juice. Had a chocolate frog. Couldn't have been a better day.
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