Universal announces their worst kept secret

Yep. Diagon Alley is replacing Jaws, they will have the Hogwarts Express Train connect USF with Harry Potter World and they will have a Gringotts bank ride like the last movie.

Meanwhile Disney is still building the land they announced after the the first Harry Potter area was started and will be adding a new parade. Oh and you can go to 2.5 theme parks for 24 hours on one day only!

At this point Disney might as well just say Eff this. You know the third gate in Anaheim? We're building a marvel theme park. Well figure out the plans later.

 

Maybe I'm too much of a Disney fan, but none of that information about Universal makes any sense to me at all! ; I don't even know what a Diagon Alley is, or a Gringotts bank. ; Never saw a Harry Potter movie, and don't care about the lands either. ; So I guess none of it impacts me too much - though I still continue to hold out the hope that something Universal does will take some business from Disney so that maybe there can actually be a 'slow' time at the Disney parks again. ; I had that hope when Harry Potter World first opened, but if anything, the Disney parks have been MORE crowded the past few years than ever before. ; And there hasn't been a 'dead' time at the parks all year round, for at least 2 years now - I miss February 2, riding Big Thunder 4 consecutive times without getting off the train because noone was waiting in line to get on, or September 17 walking straight onto the POTC boat without encountering a line...or walking through World Showcase at 3pm on January 4th with less than 10 people anywhere in my line of sight.


I know Disney doesn't want that...but I do! ; So I say...GO UNIVERSAL! ; Take some business, slow down the Disney parks! ; Maybe budget cuts will stop the every-five-minutes announcements and musical shows throughout MK and allow some quiet time...maybe some meet-and-greets will be laid-off so some of my favorite little hiding spots in the park can go back to being quiet hiding spots again, since they took them all away to shove meet-and-greets there!


(all in jest with a hint of sarcasm, of course)

 

All very salient points, Justin.

I just might be having to lift my Universal embargo... ; that day is coming closer and closer. ; My whole family (including me) LOVE Harry Potter.

I started to watch Avatar with my wife a few weeks ago... ; and still haven't finished. ; Nuff said.

 

At this point Tim wait for the new land to open. ; You won't miss the areas they are closing at Islands of Adventure.

 

I want to go to IoA to see Harry Potter (for Billy, Karen, and me) and so Ryan and Billy can check out Dr. Seuss-land. ; Other than that, I am not all that interested. ; HP is definitely the draw for us.

 

No love for Marvel, Jurassic park, Despicable Me? ; Transformers?

 

I've been to Universal once, and Islands of Adventure twice - and even to Harry Potter land...I don't embargo it or anything, I just don't really have any interest in it. ; Universal I visited once for their Horror Nights with some friends...it was fun but the halloween and haunted house stuff was the draw. ; The Islands of Adventure and Harry Potter lands I went to as part of my company's annual conference which takes over one of the Universal parks for an evening - there was nothing at either land I cared much about, but all the free alcohol and shows were fun.


I admit, Avatar land doesn't mean much to me - didn't find the film all that interesting...but Cars land will be great down here. ; For anything else theme-park related, I'm Disney-tried-and-true.

 

None x4, except maybe JP.

 

For me, Jurassic Park is the only draw of that list. ; Marvel is OK - I enjoy the films, but the rides wouldn't help me because they're all crazy loop-d-loop roller coaster stuff, and homey don't play that. ; Transformers...ick! ; The toys might have been cool as a kid, but the movies are dreck - Michael-Bey-infected.

 

Though to read WSJ today, Disney parks don't seem to have been hurt very badly by Universal's expansion:


[size=1.5em]Disney reaped the benefits of recent multibillion-dollar investments in its domestic theme parks, including the launch of Cars Land at Disney California Adventure, part of its Disneyland resort, and the near-complete expansion of the Fantasyland area in Florida's Walt Disney World. Attendance at domestic theme parks rose 8% during the quarter and per-capita spending was up 10%, thanks to higher prices for tickets, food and merchandise.[/size][/size][/size][size=1.5em]Total revenue for the parks and resorts division, also boosted by the addition of a new cruise ship in March last year, rose 14% to $3.3 billion, while operating income grew 73% to $383 million.[/size]

 

Yes I saw that Disney parks on the whole seem to be doing good BUT they aren't releasing numbers of true visitors. If you park hop they count each admission as one so you could count as two.

You have to watch the discounts. They are offering free dining to Disney Visa holders in the fall right now and they have been pushing hotel discounts on both coasts for May and early June.

I think they have had a slight benefit of more guests in town who visit Universal as well. They figure that they should go to Disney as well. If I have the time I should track down the reported gate admissions and see if its Magic kingdom getting most of the increase. Because of you don't spend a full vacation at WDW, which park will you visit first?

 

Also don't get me wrong. I would love to get back to the late 90s when I went right after Memorial Day and Space Mountain was a walk on. At Disneyland you could park, walk and relax in the hidden parts at night. Those hidden areas are gone. Now DL has their own problem because APs are more prevalent there and WDW I think they have figured out the staffing so they reduce ride capacities when the park is slow. Thereby making lines. I know during the slow times at DL POTC would only fill every other boat.
The HM did it by only running one elevator. I forget, does WDW have two stretching rooms? (DLs are actual elevators WDWs are not)

 

Yeah - two stretch rooms at WDW. ; But I do recall on some visits that only one seemed to be in use at times. ; And POTC occasionally closes one of the entrance tunnels so boats only board on one side.

 

Yep. This is something they so to reduce labor costs during the slow periods which causes lines. The problem is once they staff a certain level it takes a few days to react properly if it ends up being busier then they were expecting. Getting attraction trained staff in is harder than opening another cash register in a shop.

 

The official independent 2012 attendance numbers aren't available yet. ; (I noticed Disney used "quarterly" attendance)

Between 2010 and 2011, MK,DAK,DHS saw 1% increases, Epcot was stagnant.

Islands of Adventure saw a 29% increase in attendance.

http://www.aecom.com/deployedfiles/Inte ... 202011.pdf

Yes, Disney is still #1 by a far margin, but Universal is catching up in a big way.