Hollywood Studios is a park in need of an identity. The problem I foresee is that everyone is clamoring for that park to take on Universal's identity, and I don't understand how that would help the situation. Universal has access to cherished properties that Disney never will. The strongest properties that Disney has are well represented, with the exception of Marvel (which is beyond reach at this point) and the Lucas properties. The trouble I see is that I picture those properties as being an "and" to Potter, not an "or". Everyone is clamoring for a Potter swatter, but the only thing that I see having that role is time. Building a Cars Land or a Star Wars land may convince someone to come to DHS, but to someone who loves Harry Potter, I don't see it making a difference. I love Star Wars, I love Star Trek, and I even love the Potter franchise. If three parks had these franchises, I wouldn't be making decisions as to which I wanted to go to, I'd be finding a way to go to all three. I see a parallel in movies. I'm not going to skip Man of Steel, just because Disney puts out Iron Man 3. Putting out a massive franchise to compete with another massive franchise across town, to me, seems like putting those two movies out on the same weekend, hoping that audiences will choose one or the other. In the end, both studios would lose. To me, competition with Universal doesn't seem to be the answer, if anything, Disney needs to focus on competition between their own parks. I don't think there's anything Disney could build that would convince someone who has grown up with the Potter books and movies not to visit the Wizarding World and Diagon Alley.
DHS needs help to make it a full, or even two, day park where Guests want to spend money. One of the brilliant aspects of Potter is that one of the things Guests are most excited about is the opportunity to spend their money. Universal's Guests know exactly what they want: Butterbeer and wands. This is what Disney needs to learn. A knockoff Butterbeer in a generic plastic mug isn't going to cut it. A specialty drink in a specialty mug from the Mos Eisley Cantina would. Higher quality custom lightsabers, created through an interactive crafting experience would as well. The item itself is inconsequential compared to where it came from and the memories it's associated to, this is the very nature of souvenirs.
Any project DHS takes on needs to focus solely on the goal of actually giving Guests the desire to spend their time and money at the park, and leave them with the desire to return. It's pretty basic, but not simple.
