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Mr. Starr
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About Mr. Starr
- Birthday 02/28/1995
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Walt Disney World Epcot Discussion Thread
Mr. Starr replied to SharkTums's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Smart move by Disney. A movie that has grossed 1.2 billion worldwide is obviously something to continue to capitalize on in the parks. I think a lot of people criticizing this whole thing are people who just aren't into Frozen, which makes sense. If a bunch of young girls were posting here, there would be a lot less complaining. This addition just isn't meant for the middle-aged male demographic, which is why it is being criticized here. -
Seaworld's poor second-quarter earnings report caused stocks to drop by 33% on Wednesday, I'm assuming that would have something to do with this. I'm inclined to think that while the movie-related fallout might've moved up the timetable of the announcement, the project itself has probably been in the works for some time. Definitely not doubting that, but I think they've just been waiting to announce this the second that Blackfish affected the company's bottom line.
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Was at the park yesterday too, and only knew of the ERT as we were walking into the park which was a nice surprise. Longest wait I saw for Goliath was 210 minutes but the longest we waited mid-day was an hour. I would agree that the Raging Bull crew was pretty bad. Just a lot of fooling around, which is fine, but they were also stacking every train really bad. The Batman crew on the other hand was amazing. Goliath ERT was great, almost no wait 30 minutes into it and the park handled the closing crowd very well. Great night ride, and I was told about the single rider process earlier in the day too. They have you wait in the overflow and then go up the Flash Pass stairs. The employee and security guard that I spoke to about it knew about it and didn't seem confused so I'd guess that they've gotten the process down.
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This makes sense. Universal was in much more of place to let JK Rowling and Warner Bros take control of the project, and it paid off for them. I think that both phases of Potter for USO opened up the resort financially and creatively, and no matter the franchises or lands built by Disney or Universal, competition is good for the area. The amount of development between Transformers, Simpsons, Potter, New Fantasyland, and Avatar is insane and is only upping the quality of parks that we and the general public are experiencing.
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Where did you hear that? I highly doubt that is what Disney would've done, I'm sure they would've put just as much detail into the area as Universal did. I'm pretty sure the reason Disney declined the project was because JK Rowling is freaking crazy when it comes to her precious Potter franchise. Read it a while ago but I had heard that Disney did not want to build a "land" of sorts and only a ride/ttraction in one of the parks. JK Rowling obviously didn't like this idea and opted for Universal's idea of two connected lands in the parks.
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This actually brings up a VERY interesting point. To someone who is a "casual" Potter fan (maybe seen some of the movies, but not all, etc...) who maybe likes it enough to check out the lands, but not enough to, let's say buy a wand, and has never been to Universal before, not knowing that all those rides in Hogsmede were there before Potter, does Diagon Alley all of a sudden seem "light" on things to do? Just throwing that out there and thinking about things from your "average" guest perspective, not your die-hard Potter fan. Thoughts? I certainly agree with you on the "average" guest perspective. I believe that Universal was simply trying to create the ultimate Harry Potter experience as the characters lived and breathed in the films. I feel with Diagon Alley, which does host one mind-blowing new ride system which I am sure cost a lot, Universal stuck with creating the land as it was in the movies rather than adding a bunch of rides themed to Harry Potter. There were some posts a long way back when someone stated how Universal could have added a ton of rides with not much theming and just slap the Harry Potter name in it and it would be a hit. Universal, however, focused on bringing the movie series to life to experience. Thus allowing the creation of the new ride systems as what the characters actually experienced in the film (Forbidden Journey, Hogwarts Express, Diagon Alley), creating new shops to buy what the characters bought, bring in new food items like the characters had, and actually believe that you are in Harry Potter. So while Universal didn't add a lot of rides to Diagon Alley, I simply think it is better that they didn't. We now have Gringotts and many world-class additions that I think Universal did a great job in bringing the movies to life. To add to this, I think when Disney was approached with the idea of Harry Potter they only wanted to add some rides and slap the Harry Potter name on it, but that's not what JK Rowling and WB wanted to do and why they ultimately went with Universal. Universal took the initiative and created an immersive world that was built up to certain standards. Universal has always been about immersing yourself into the movie world, and if walking into Diagon Alley or MIB or Transformers doesn't do that for you then I don't know what will.
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ChrisHanKwanSivus Gift Exchange 2013!
Mr. Starr replied to Brandy524's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I'm in for another year! -
Just watched this today, interesting film to say the least. I went into it with an open mind, not really knowing what it was about other than the "filmed in the parks" thing. I enjoyed it, for what it was. Kind of hard to understand what is really going on in the film for the first hour or so, but it puts an interesting spin on the idea of the Disney corporation as a whole. I enjoyed the portrayal of the classic ECV guest (an utter idiot), as well as the use of the line "I think you found my hidden mickey!" during a pretty raunchy scene. A lot of it is pretty WTF, but the way it's filmed during the park scenes makes it worth a watch.
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Wow is this the first SF park to use a live web cam or a web in in general to cover a construction project??? I know it's the first one I can recall, I know CF usually has webcams for their projects I hope more SF parks start using webcam coverage. SFGAm has done it for numerous projects, including X-Flight and Hurricane Harbor construction.
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Great to see Goliath coming to the park next year. I was pretty surprised with it after getting X-Flight in 2012, but this is already proving to be a great addition to the park. Everyone I know who has seen the pictures or video is amazed, and the world records are great for marketing purposes. I don't understand any complaints that the ride already has, Goliath is perfect for the park and the area that it's in. I'm honestly surprised at how massive it is and how they were able to fit a great layout in that space. It also will fill a void that has been left untouched for a couple of years, and will definitely help liven up the area as a whole. Should be a pretty busy coming year at the park!