Originally Posted By tashajilek " Why the competition among fans... especially on a Disney fan site? " LOL, because it's human nature to fight.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt Well sure, but the constant comparisons between Disney and Universal seem kind of petty. Can't we just agree that IOA has a fantastic new rides, possibly the best at any park at the moment, and leave it at that? It's strange that even the opening ceremony has to be measured against what Disney does.
Originally Posted By tashajilek "Can't we just agree that IOA has a fantastic new rides, possibly the best at any park at the moment" Yupp they probably do, i wish universal hollywood would have WWOHP. Anyways in the future WDW will come up with something bigger and better to try and compete. " It's strange that even the opening ceremony has to be measured against what Disney does." LOL, yea a tad.
Originally Posted By dshyates Well, Disney's Grand Opening of the ToT in Paris set the bar for Grand Opening Spectaculars. So it is encouraging to see others go to that level. I don't believe that Universal exceeded Disney, but they DID at least match it.
Originally Posted By Bob Paris 1 "I'm baffled at why the two theme park giants can't each have their day. Why the competition among fans... especially on a Disney fan site?" I can't speak for anybody else but I know my semi-tongue in cheek comment about the MK comes from all the DisDweebs that treated UniFlorida like it was some kind of leper colony for gay Orcs, or something. People would act like if you went to USF or IOA you were spitting in Walt's eye or something. I just NEVER understood it, especially since I found IOA to be ONE OF THE BEST theme parks in the world. Trust me, when you come from a place where your local theme park is an embarressment and is not much more than a playground, seeing people piss on a themed resort like UniFlorida, because they feel some misguided loyalty to WDW(and feel they cannot enjoy both equally)just seemed very juvenile and a tad obsessive.
Originally Posted By Bob Paris 1 Of course I am not mentioning the people who have set up websites and podcasts(*coughBongello!!!cough*)that are now fronts for the Disney company and its parks and trash Universal as part of a viral hate campaign.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 What I've never understood is why USF has always outdrawn IOA (perhaps not any more??) IOA is a good park, and USF... it's okay, but it would hardly kill me if I could never go again. Yet it's always outdrawn IOA.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "Well, Disney's Grand Opening of the ToT in Paris set the bar for Grand Opening Spectaculars." Did it? I had no idea. Given how poorly that place has been received I would imagine they had to do something to garner some attention. "IOA is a good park, and USF... it's okay, but it would hardly kill me if I could never go again. Yet it's always outdrawn IOA." I think awareness has something to do with it. A day tripper to Universal who has never been to either park probably isn't going to drop hundreds of dollars at a theme park they know nothing about. I mentioned the other day on the DLR boards that no matter what Disney does to improve DCA attendance there will never match or outdraw DL simply because a person walking up to the gates who has to blindly choose between the two parks will probably always choose Disneyland.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Yes, I think that's a big part of it. "Universal Studios" is a name with some brand recognition. "Islands of Adventure," not really. It at least sub-consciously will sound like "secondary park" to people who don't know. Boy, has NBC been pimping this ride today. Or I should say NBC, CNBC, and I'm sure the local Orl. affiliate...and MSNBC has been bringing it up once an hour.
Originally Posted By Hista98 "Anybody have a time turner handy to speed up this last little bit of wait?" I'm confused if you haven't read the books why are you so excited for the opening Bob?? I don't get it.
Originally Posted By dshyates The Grand Opening was INSANE. By 9:00am the line just to get into TWWOHP started at the arch at the entrance to the land across the temp bridge into Jurassic Park. Through Jurassic Park, Cartoon Lagoon, Marvel Superhero Island, Port of entry, out the park entrance gate, in front of NBA Cafe, Hard Rock, past Universal's entrance gate, across the bridge to CityWalk. Through CityWalk and across the bridge with the moving walkway to the parking garages. This photo gallery has some great pics of the line. Check out pictur #18. Those that know the layout of Universal Resort Orlando will truely understand the magnitude. <a href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/wizarding-world-of-harry-potter/orl-wizarding-world-of-harry-potter-theme-park-opening,0,410481.photogallery" target="_blank">http://www.orlandosentinel.com...ogallery</a> I believe that Universal has created their latest "Monster".
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt That's insane. What brand of crazy would possess one to stand in that line?
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt The LA Times reports on the huge opening crowds: <a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/os-universal-harry-potter-20100618,0,6682580.story" target="_blank">http://www.latimes.com/enterta...80.story</a> >>The lines were not magical for Patrick Greenwell of Owensboro, Ky. After waiting two hours to get into Islands of Adventure, he found the situation chaotic. "There were no ropes or queue lines anywhere," he said. He and seven family members received conflicting information from Universal employees about where to stand, and they were once told it would be 10 hours before they'd hit Wizarding World. They opted instead to go to guest services for refunds — but that took two and a half hours. "They were totally unprepared," Greenwell said.<<
Originally Posted By dshyates I will agree that Universal was TOTALLY unprepared for the crowds that showed up today. They knew they had something big on their hands, but had no clue HOW big. I have never seen ANYTHING like it. So I can't really blame them. I mean, what do you do when you have a land with a capacity of 9,000 in a park that maxes out at 40,000 and close to 100,000 show up?
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt Yes, but knowing that it would be chaos I'm wondering why anyone would want to be in the middle of all that to take a 5 minute ride?
Originally Posted By dshyates No one expected it to be THAT crowded. Most people went to try and get a glimpse of the stars.
Originally Posted By dshyates Oh, and here is a pretty good video (bad audio) of the finale to Wed. nights event. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og-nzeeV1rk" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...nzeeV1rk</a>
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< What I've never understood is why USF has always outdrawn IOA (perhaps not any more??) >>> It's because of the weather.
