Harry Potter coming to Universal Orlando!!

Knight · Post by **Knight** » Jun Fri 01, 2007 11:34 am

I'm looking forward to it, besides competition is good! maybe Disney will step back up to being the leader and trend setter.

ldzny · Post by **ldzny** » Jun Fri 01, 2007 1:42 pm

Cool! Doesn't really fit in Disney so at least it is close... it would be fun to check out.

Cheshire Cat · Post by **Cheshire Cat** » Jun Fri 01, 2007 2:00 pm

I don't think the theming will be a problem. Harry Potter is going to be one of those timeless movie franchise. If they have an island for a classic like Jurassic Park, why not Harry Potter? There's tons of attractions they could put in an area themed to Harry Potter also.

SWHorn · Post by **SWHorn** » Jun Fri 01, 2007 3:54 pm

I agree, I don't think it's a problem. Harry Potter is significantly more popular than the other franchises mentioned, and I think it will prove to be much more timeless, as well. I definitely don't think you can compare it to a movie like Twister, and not even to something as popular Back to the Future was. Harry Potter will stand for a long, long time. Smart move on Universal's part. I do not think it will fix all of their problems, but it's a nice acquisition, nonetheless.

JWG · Post by **JWG** » Jun Fri 01, 2007 4:10 pm

I'm good... I want Universal to be successful. It 1) draws some attendance away from Disney for us Disney fols 2) It offers a nice 2nd option as I do like to get away from Disney, too 3) Its competition which will hopefully help curb rising admission costs (Their new $85 full week unlimited admission pass is a great deal, even if you only go 2 days) and 4) Disney is forced to continue being creative and not sit on their past successes.

Universal has a long way to go to be close to Disney, but every step helps and forces Disney to keep up their premium branding.

SWHorn · Post by **SWHorn** » Jun Fri 01, 2007 4:59 pm

JWG wrote:2) It offers a nice 2nd option as I do like to get away from Disney, too

Blasphemy!

Post by **subsonic** » Jun Mon 04, 2007 11:21 am

Captain Schnemo wrote:If it's a success, I think the only lesson Disney will take from it is "buy up a popular property and exploit it".

This is been the trend of Disney for a while, but with their own property. Look at all the Pixar attractions and they want to make everything Pirates. I'm so sick of it.

Harry Potter is trendy, but it has also stood the test of time for, what, 5 years now? Not too bad. If it's just a land, I can see it working. If it's anything like Spider-man's effects then WOWIE!

Post by **js3901** » Jun Mon 04, 2007 8:12 pm

subsonic wrote:
Captain Schnemo wrote:If it's a success, I think the only lesson Disney will take from it is "buy up a popular property and exploit it".
This is been the trend of Disney for a while, but with their own property. Look at all the Pixar attractions and they want to make everything Pirates. I'm so sick of it.

Harry Potter is trendy, but it has also stood the test of time for, what, 5 years now? Not too bad. If it's just a land, I can see it working. If it's anything like Spider-man's effects then WOWIE!

more like 10. the first book was published in 1997 and was a number 1 seller almost immediately. not quite as big as the last few book releases, though...

I think the franchise has staying power, unlike some of the Disney productions. You have the immersive books, and the movies which bring life to the author's vision... a generation of children who looked away from the TVs, computers, and other forms of electronic entertainment, and started reading more.

a park like this (or even the island) will be a huge success, for quite a while.

Post by **rdeacon** » Jun Tue 05, 2007 8:30 am

spaulo wrote:I'm ecstatic that Disney did not get the rights. It's not a Disney property, and the parks have enough of that already (Indy, Star Wars, Muppets (all of which I personally like, but still aren't Disney), with the Pixar stuff being pretty questionable).

Um they Disney bought the Muppets

But I agree with you that its good they didn't win the rights as well. I would rather Disney use its own characters or develop new ideas, rather then jump on the character bandwagon.

Rich

nancynohorse · Post by **nancynohorse** » Jul Sun 01, 2007 1:37 pm

I would love to see a Harry Potter area. These parks don't seem to spare expenses when it comes to building an attraction. It would be fun to step back to Harry Potter days.

Guy · Post by **Guy** » Jul Thu 05, 2007 6:01 am

WOW... looking forward to this. It's funny, when my wife and I were at Universal recently we were thinking, it's a shame that there isn't a HP area!!

Breegan · Post by **Breegan** » Jul Tue 24, 2007 7:03 pm

I cannot wait till the Harry Potter scene is completed at Universal, although i have never been there. I would give me incentive to go tho. I am a huge Harry Potter fan!! I was disappointed however that Disney didnt get the rights to it because i believe that would have just made the park that much better.

Post by **subsonic** » Jul Thu 26, 2007 12:40 pm

Really, Islands of Adventure ranks right up there with a Disney park. The theming and detail is incredible. In fact, IoA was made by ex-imagineers. Plus, it has the best attraction I have ever been on: Spider-Man. *drools* I'm sure the Harry Potter theming and detail will be top notch.

jiminycricket · Post by **jiminycricket** » Jul Fri 27, 2007 12:57 am

I will be curious to see what kind of attendance Universal gets when the new area opens. My family and I have never been but I would like to try it out sometime. I am not a big Harry Potter fan but my husband has read most of the books and enjoys them.

I still say Disney is best though!

Phantasmo · Post by **Phantasmo** » Sep Tue 04, 2007 7:01 pm

Captain Schnemo wrote:I think it's terrible idea. It will do great business in the short term (assuming it's at least of the quality of Islands of Adventure), but it's not much of a long term plan.

Hasn't Universal learned from their Studios park, which is full of attractions that are outdated a month after they open? Back to the Future was a cool ride, for example, but it came with built-in obsolescence.

Also does anyone even remember the movie Twister?

Pure silliness...unless the park is 100% CGI and they can change the all the sets with a software upgrade to the next flavor of the decade.

Actually, I disagree with you. Back to the Future was a great ride, and I do not believe that there was any a time where it became "Obsolete". In fact, if you look around the internet, there are multiple videos on it as sites to "save the ride".

And we all know how spectacular Harry Potter is. Its been going strong for more than a decade now, and still the fan sites and popularity is sky- rocketing. JK Rowling is one of the richest people in England, just from writing seven books.

So No, Harry Potter will remain a classic, like everything else in the park.