If Screamscape sources are right something between totally amazing and pure insanity seems to be about to happen at Universal Studios Orlando. Basically, they will build the phase two of the extremely successful Harry Potter Wizarding World at.....Universal Studios instead than Islands of Adventure where the land is now. It's a bit like if you create half of a land at Disneyland and the other half at DCA. But Universal idea is even more complicated than that as the Potter phase two which will be build at Universal will be the "London" part of Harry Potter stories and guests will board the famous Hogwarts Express which will transport them from Universal Studios ( London ) to Islands of Adventure ( Hogwarts ).
Of course this will mean that Harry Potter fans who will want to live the full Harry Potter experience will need to buy a two parks ticket! It may sound like a brilliant or cynical business idea from Universal - and it is both indeed - but for Walt Disney World this might be a truly diabolical idea. Right now, considering how popular Harry Potter is, more and more visitors coming to WDW are spending at least one day at Islands of Adventure. But if Potter land phase two is built at Universal Studios you can count on Universal to sell not only two parks tickets but also "two days two parks ticket" as it will be hard for the guests to see all of both parks in one day.
The goal obviously is to keep the guests at Universal Orlando for two days instead of one, which also mean one less day - in fact two less days at WDW! And Universal is working at full speed on the project for an opening scheduled in 2014, i.e one year or two before the opening of the Avatar land at Animal Kingdom! If what Screamscape reports is confirmed WDW execs are really going to get mad! But once again this could also be good news for WDW fans as Disney will obviously have no other choice to counter-attack again with more new rides at WDW...or never-seen-before ride technologies in the Avatar land.
Jump to the Screamscape report to read full details about all this and let us know in the comments what you think about this "genius or insane" idea!
Picture: copyright Universal Studios
7 comments:
It's genius! I hope Universal really "sticks it" to Disney. Disney needs this kind of competition to make them stop being so lazy. The Harry Potter attraction is the type of thing Disney should be building. In my opinion, Universal is now outdoing Disney....and has been for sometime!
I think it's quite a good idea. People usually buy combo tickets instead of individual tickets these days anyway, so something like the Orlando Flexticket would give them access to both parks. I think it makes the experience more cohesive. There is no doubt the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a huge success, so expanding it in the other park will give something else for people to look forward to on a different day.
Unfortunately there's no Universal in Paris, if there were Disney would be obliged to capitalize the French resort and update it with new attractions at Disneyland Park and an extreme makeover at Disney Studios. Unfortunately Park Astérix, even tough it's a nice park worth visiting, doesn't offer that kind of competition.
There's going to be a Harry Potter World in Universal Studios Hollywood AND U.S. Orlando now? If A London area and Diagon Alley is going to be built in U.S.O., then what is going to be built in Universal Hollywood? I believe that this plan to expand Harry Potter throughout the resort to be a great idea and very successful.
This is a great idea for trying to capitalize on the market of Harry Potter but there won't be much to the LONDON portion that would be much excitement. I would love to see what they would do with a 2 second train ride into IOA as you can walk right across. Aren't they building TRANSFORMERS in one of their other parks? Maybe this is really for Transformers.
I think some people mistake Disney quality for "LAZINESS". I'm pretty sure even though most attractions are geared for children, that the quality of the story and experience is hands down superior to Universal. As far as new attractions and technology, one only needs to wait for Disney to finish their expansion and introduction to AVATARLAND. Don't knock it, until you've experienced it.
Genius!
Hope this makes the WDW management rethink the budget cuts to rides / theming and shoddy maintenance they have gotten comfortable with since 1994.
- Tasman
Genius! This is a brilliant idea.
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