Originally Posted By dshyates "The whole point of building 30,000 hotels rooms and timeshares as well as four theme parks, two water parks, DD etc ... was so guests never leave." Thats perfectly fine for the people who are coming to central FL to go to Disney. And they may not leave. Fine their plan is working . But what about the hordes of tourists who are flooding into central FL to see snotty potty. News flash, they are already off-prop, as in, not on DISNEY property. With no need to even visit DISNEY property. Exactly how much money will Disney make off of these folks. Disney will probably just write these folk off as lost to Uni. Right? We don't want those millions of potter fans or their stinkin' money. And No I don't doubt that Disney will ignore all those people looking for rooms. They did trade the sub lagoon for a plastic playground. They do have some monumental cerebral rectumus sometimes.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <They did trade the sub lagoon for a plastic playground. They do have some monumental cerebral rectumus sometimes.< post made my day !
Originally Posted By vbdad55 I still believe ( as much as I want to see the harry Potter stuff also) - that it remains to be seen if hordes of people will travel to Florida just to see it - and if they do will it have repeat visits from all the same people...who then after springing the money for the trip from Montana or wherever to Orlando to see Potter, will bypass Disney ? Not sure I see that drawing power. I love the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland...but I don't necessarily picture multiple days at it. I am going to go out on a limb here and say there are as many popular music fans in this country as any other type of fan, yet they haven;t had to build a zillion rooms in Cleveland to house them all. So although Potter certainly is a cool concept - I am not sold on the long term repeat business from those who will ONLY go to Universal. I am sold on the fact that many people who normally don't leave the grounds at WDW will at least be making a day trip to IOA to see it though.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<I am sold on the fact that many people who normally don't leave the grounds at WDW will at least be making a day trip to IOA to see it though.>> And this is ALL that matters. So many folks who NEVER ventured off-property (or haven't in years) will ... and that's what scares Team Disney because once they aren't under the influence of pixie dust (and can clearly see all of the OPTIONS vying for their vacation $$$) all bets are off. Disney stands to lose a whole lot more than Universal will gain by this.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 ^^^^^^^^^^^ agreed, I don't see Uni building another 25,000 hotel rooms to house Potter people -- but I would guess that those going there for a day will dine at one of the restaurants there -- either in park or on City Walk. Also merchandise sales for Potter will be huge - if they stock items that people want and not plush dementors. actually those might be pretty cool too..... I am not a huge IOA fan, just think it never lived up to the hype -- prefer the original US -- even though my fave attraction there - Kongfrontation long gone.....
Originally Posted By dshyates I'm pretty sure that Universal is betting on hordes of people coming to central fl specifically to see this Potter thing. $500 million to be exact. And I'm pretty sure they also plan on the day visitor from WDW. And my guess is that they will also prey on the Disney saturated repeat orlando visitor. Most likely they won't skip Disney completely. But this will be the first time WDW will have to deal with large groups of money drenched tourist coming to town and the Mouse House ISN"T priorty #1. Disney will eventually end up siphoning off some Universal Resort guests for a day at a Disney park. Like it or not the 2 major players in Orlando are in a symbiotic relationship.
Originally Posted By dshyates "I don't see Uni building another 25,000 hotel rooms to house Potter people" They do have 2 new resorts planned to be open by the time Potter does. Another upper level Lowes resort, and their first moderate. And they are talking about an addition to the Royal Pacific. So It looks to me they are aware of their weakness and are trying to prepare. But Disney has 36,000 rooms ready now. Mickey can turn his back, cover his sizable ears, and scream nyah nyah nyah nyah, I cant hear you. nyah nyah.... How many Harry Potter fans will refuse to go to Universal because you can't get tickets from the concierge at the grand. If Disney FORCES Potter fans to stay elswhere by refusing to acommadate their needs of actually getting them to their goal. They will stay at a facility that is interested or atleast acquiescent in getting them to their goal.
Originally Posted By dshyates "Mickey can turn his back, cover his sizable ears, and scream nyah nyah nyah nyah, I cant hear you. nyah nyah...." And I'm sure nothing would please Universal more. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
Originally Posted By MPierce This kind of reminds me of the original Christmas Classic " Miracle on 34th Street", Macey's sent people to Gimbel's. That's great for a warm, and fuzzy movie, but I think it's blood, and gut's, gouge them in the eye's, take no prisnoers in the real world of business. WDW doesn't want you anywhere else but at WDW. They don't want you to know any other theme park exist in the Orlando area. They want every penny you spend on your vacation to go right into Mickey's pocket. I believe WDW would love nothing better than thrashing Universal so bad they would go into bankruptcy. When Disney said Harry Potter will be good for Orlando, they really meant we better figure out something to put those S.O.B.'s back in their place. As always just my opinion. I just believe we all win on this.
Originally Posted By gmaletic > WDW doesn't want you anywhere else but at WDW. I totally agree. But my suggestion--admittedly somewhat radical--is that the way to get people to stay at WDW is by providing a Universal shuttle bus. From post #12: having bus service to Universal will encourage people to go for a day. -Not- having bus service will encourage them to go for a week. >I just believe we all win on this. I agree...from a theme park fan's perspective, it's probably especially good news that Universal got this. Disney will likely respond with something cool...Universal was less likely to respond with something remarkable if Disney had won the rights to Potter.
Originally Posted By BeautysBeast lets not forget that Universal is the playground for the new tourists dollars as they cater to the hip young families.I applaud the new HP experience and am sure everyone of you disney folks will be there as soon as possible to experience it.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 My one concern is that I haven't seen/heard a WDW response for this yet. None. Yeah, there are loads of changes coming to the Disney-PIXAR Studios. Lots of new attractions and reasons to visit. But much of that was in planning on some level when Disney was still negotiating for Potter rights. Same with what's happened and will happen at DAK. I just don't see a response from Disney yet. And I DO believe it has to be at the MK ... the park that can't even get a decade and a half needed major rehab for Space Mountain budgeted yet (notice how that's on the table every year, or has been since at least 2004, and doesn't happen?). Maybe Narnia is the answer. I think there needs to be more though. Narnia may be popular, but it isn't Harry Potter popular.
Originally Posted By gmaletic Just a guess: I wouldn't expect to see any response from Disney for several months, if not a year or more. In the general population--as opposed to the people who post to these boards--this isn't exactly a hot topic. I don't think Disney is in any real panic to respond quickly, and besides...I don't think it would make much difference what they respond with. No matter what Disney comes up with, it won't change the opinion of those who want to see Harry Potter.
Originally Posted By MPierce Do you think they are counting on a combination of Narnia, Star Wars, and all the other refurbs keeping damage to a minimum. Exactly how major is the Narnia attraction. It is certainly nowhere close to Harry Potter in popularity. I think Star Wars can match it, but it would certainly have to be more than one ride. In scope in would make sence to build Beastly Kingdom to draw that kind of crowd from HP. If I had the budget I could drag them into WDW, but I really don't think I could stop HP fans from going to IOA. Just keeping the parks cleaned, and well manicured, a regular maintenance program, and all areas of WDW fully staffed with happy friendly CM will go a very long way into bringing folks back. Improving the quality of food, availability of good places to eat, and an improved transportation system will help a lot also. I know, a pipe dream.
Originally Posted By gmaletic I don't think Disney can keep people from going to IOA to check out Harry Potter. All they can really try and do is create something that will keep people from visiting IOA on their following trip (i.e., prevent people from making Universal their regular Florida trip rather than Disney World.) I frankly don't think there's a huge danger of that happening in most cases, but a nice, new addition wouldn't hurt. (I'd also purposely open that addition about a year after Harry Potter opens at Universal for exactly this reason.)
Originally Posted By mousermerf The worst case scenario is a reversal of Disney's latest change in guests patterns. Previously: People rented cars. Currently: DME keeps people on property. Add Potter: People rent cars. We'll start seeing Disney using their parking lots again. That's about it.
Originally Posted By dshyates "Add Potter: People rent cars." Why rent a car? I can easily take a water shuttle from the hotel to IOA or city walk.
Originally Posted By dshyates In other words, why on earth would I stay 12 miles away from my destination when the hotel operators down at reedy creek are trying everything they can to keep me from being able to visit the attraction I flew to FL to see. With Disney's current philosophy, There is ABSOLUTELY NO, actually less than no reason, to stay at Disney if what you're coming for is Potter. As a matter of fact Disney's current philosophy is a major reason NOT to utilize Disney lodging if you want to visit Potterland. Do I really want to give a couple of grand to a hotel operator who would do anything short of duct taping me to my bed to stop me from seeing what I came down to see. Yeah, no.
