musicmand

So are they completely done with construction then? After all, I can't imagine they'd want to let guests into a construction area, right? If so, can we get some pics of the finished product (albeit from the outside looking in)?

^^ Look at you being all knowledgeable and stuff! Well done! I'm not sure I'd get my hopes up about soft opens for HP... at least not for the general public. And I'd be shocked if we saw a soft open on Forbidden Journey for anyone. I suspect everyone will just have to wait for opening day. And I, of course, will just have to wait until I can get my behind back down to Orlando. ...Heck, it's only a thousand miles, right? Sigh...

Remember a few months ago when they started doing Harry Potter Vacation Packages? Didn't those start in May? And I seem to remember someone saying US was going to honor those packages with special acess even those WW wouldn't be technically open yet. So maybe those folks you saw were some of the earliest package holders.

^^^ I don't know... it seems like every time the theme park resorts open a big headliner attraction, they sell it as "at the _____ resort." Didn't they do that with Expedition Everest? I don't remember, and we don't get a lot of those commercials this far to the midwest. I guess I just need to find a copy of these commercials. To be fair, the buzz from the very VERY beginning was that this was going to be its own theme park. Heck, you can see the first confusion about this reported on page 3 of this thread, way back in 2007.

^ Well, obviously, but they still need employees to tell you to move to the end of the row...

^^ Depending on how many employees they'd want to tie up in this attraction, they could run the talking portraits in a similar way to Disney's Turtle Talk or Laugh Floor.

If they're opening WWoHP toward the beginning of May, I can't imagine not having Dueling Dragon Challenge up and running. After all, they probably won't have Forbidden Journey up yet, and I haven't heard any news about Flight of the Hippogriff... They'll probably time the reopening to coincide with the grand opening. I wish we had some information on the Forbidden Journey, though...

In a word? No.

Other than frog choirs and moose heads, have we heard much in the way of entertainment in the new land?

They'd be idiots not to give themselves a significant buffer... and they can always allow people to book earlier if they want. I suspect they're aiming for late April/early May. Where they ARE going to tick people off is if the big E-Ticket ride-in-a-box isn't open with the rest of the land, because they certainly haven't been mentioning that in any press release.

Somebody suggested over on the Orlando United page that this photo seems to suggest the possibility of a tunnel from the bridge up through the floor of the courtyard. I'm not sure I buy it... the biggest reason being scale. There's so much forced perspective going on here that the bridge certainly wouldn't be big enough to fit people, let alone a ride vehicle. The courtyard is the same way. Honestly, I suspect the entire ride is inside of the box, and everything else is merely facade. The box certainly didn't give much indication that any major machinery would be going in and out... Who knows, though. They might build an apartment themed to Dumbledore's office at the top and give away one night stays as a promotional deal to combat Disney's in Magic Kingdom. I very much doubt it, but it'd be cool.

Notice the dates of their "Extraordinary Class" contest? Ends March 19. Although they theoretically could then pick a winner on the 20th, their legal department will need time to make sure the winner is legal (as always). Thus, I'd not expect the announcement of a winner until the neighborhood of March 26. THEN they normally give people a reasonable amount of time to get off from work and school, so I'd say the chance of a March opening are nil. MAYBE mid-April. I'll have to dig back into this thread to see if I actually posted a prediction... I figured it wouldn't be done by the time we're down in Orlando in 3 weeks.

Exactly what I was thinking, as well... but Universal has managed to get facades up far faster than I had expected, so I figure anything is possible.

I'm taking about 130 students down to WDW over Spring Break, and they're a little bent out of shape that we're not doing Universal this year (airfare and Disney costs are up, and we really wanted to keep the trip under $1K apiece, so something had to go). Now they swear up and down to me that WWoHP is opening on March 1, so by the time we're there on the 13th, it'll be in full swing. Although I suspect they're repeating something somebody heard from somebody's friend's brother's girlfriend's second cousin's bus driver... they still haven't set a concrete open date, have they? I'm not expecting it to be open by the time we're there (not that it would matter since we'll be on property at Disney). I just want to quiet the whining...

1. What are your initial thoughts? I like the card making TPR an official coaster enthusiast club. That's the biggest advantage to me. 2. Can you think of anything else we could be offering? A certain discount on trips would certainly be attractive. I do realize that the trips are probably already at cost and can't be discounted any further, but this would sweeten the deal. Also, spouses should be included (and given a card) either for free or for a very small fee. Also, a list of known perks that theme parks give to coaster club members would be nice, even if just for information's sake. 3. Is this something that interests you? Yes... with reservations, however (I voted yes on the poll)- see below. 4. Why would you NOT be interested in this? I really only have one local park- Worlds of Fun in Kansas City. They've just opened a new coaster this year with a pre-season building preview. Card-carrying members of a coaster enthusiast club were able to come in while the park was closed (in the snow, even) and see the new coaster being built (and saw the park behind the scenes in the process). Exceedingly cool to me, and this would be my primary reason to join. However, I don't know if this is something that happens often enough to make the money worthwhile. I know that WoF does host a few other coaster enthusiast events, but they happen during the season and I'd still have to buy admission like non-club members. Maybe a list of past events/amusement park perks would help to sweeten the deal. Also, I am considering a trip eventually (although granted, not for a while), but I would need to be sure my wife was extended all the perks I was receiving. 5. Any additional feedback you can give us based on the information you see here. A "pay-by-the-month" fee might also be attractive, even if that means paying more annually ($5 a month, for example).

^^ Tell you what's really frustrating... I'm taking a school group to WDW during Spring Break in March. The last time they went, they hit up USF/IOA. This time, due to increased flight prices, we had to delete a day, so Universal got the axe. If it wouldn't be COMPLETELY unprofessional, I would hail a cab and sneak off to IOA for a day. Between all the school groups, I end up going to WDW every 18 months or so. For free, of course.

Yeah, this is my primary concern. I know WoF doesn't do a ton of business, and this season seemed to be particularly bad, despite opening Prowler, one of the best coasters I've ever ridden on. I just hope we don't lose her. I've been visiting for more than 25 years. The Zambizi Zinger was my first "real" coaster (if you don't count a crazy mouse at the state fair, which I don't), the Timberwolf was my first woodie, and the Orient Express turned my world upside down for the first time. I end up going at least once every year, and my wife and I had season passes this last season. It's bad enough that she's lost her luster and sparkle... I'll really miss her if she closes her gates.

That certainly seems to be what they're implying. Would it be wishful thinking to hope for an animatronic Hippogriff on every car?

Honestly, if they do all their theme work off site and just install it on top of what's already there, I don't see why it would take more than a couple of weeks. They could wait until the very end of the WWoHP build and throw all their weight at the retheming project. I mean, they don't want DD down for very long and they probably don't want to open it with HP theming before the rest of the land opens... My guess would be February, and that's assuming that the rest of the land progresses on schedule. I'll still be surprised if the park is open before April or May. We're going to be in Orlando during our spring break (third week of March), but even if HP-land is open, I'm not sure I want to brave the "brand new park" crowds. We may have to hold off for a while until we can get down there again.

Saw this over on Orlando United: And also this: Very cool.

Here's hoping that the whole land isn't all video-based. I love a good audio-animatronic... I think it's part of what makes The Mummy such a great coaster- the mixture of technologies.

Given the lines that it creates, I'm pretty sure Buzz Lightyear would count here. Honestly, though, if Buzz doesn't fit your description, the last "major" attraction added to Disneyland was Indy in '95, so it's not faring too much better. The reality, as many have already pointed out, is that Disney is sort of sitting back on its haunches right now and needs a major update on all of its parks.

Huh? No one's mentioned anything about this ride being 3-D. Technically, nobody's mentioned anything about the ride, period.

Disney Quest failed because it's so hard to stay ahead of the technological curve. We went once and it was alright, but nothing really groundbreaking. Even Disney can't keep up with hundreds of game companies spending tens of thousands of man hours developing games for rapidly improving platforms. You mention an indoor park in St. Louis... I don't remember that. Hmm...

I agree that it's unlikely to see a fifth park at WDW. The Studios needs a heavy pull on the other side of the park to help redistribute the RRC/ToT crowd, and it certainly wouldn't hurt to eliminate the fake backlot tour (side note: I really enjoyed the MGM backlot tour until I went to US:Hollywood and did the less fake backlot tour. Disney's got nothing on that (although the Catastrophe Canyon is pretty stinking cool. Epcot is great, but it needs something to appeal to a broader spectrum of people. Soarin' is fantastic, Test Track is a blast, and Mission:Space is a good time, but there's not much else to appeal directly to younger adults and older kids. Wouldn't it be fun to see some sort of coaster in the World Showcase? Animal Kingdom was designed to have the Beastly Kingdom situated where Camp Minnie-Mickey is now. Without it, the park is just as unbalanced as if one were to pull Tomorrowland out of MK. I'd guess that Beastly Kingdom would have sported at least one, but probably two E-ticket thrill rides. Hopefully that will still materialize one of these years. Part of me wonders if Disney is biding its time to take advantage of Harry Potter losing its steam. After all, all seven books are out, and even the films can only be stretched for another 3-5 years before they're all sitting on "Previously Viewed" shelves at Blockbuster. Considering how ADD Americans are, I wonder if the Mouse isn't just waiting until the rush of Potter fans starts its downturn... and then they'll open a new section of some park to cut Universal off at the knees. Oh, and in case someone in Disney is interested, I think there needs to be a Disney park in the middle of the country (Texas, Kansas, Colorado... somewhere). They're losing a lot of business simply because airfares and gas prices are climbing. Imagine how often someone like me would visit if I only had to drive an hour or two rather than 1000 miles to either coast. I know it won't happen, but a fella can dream, can't he? Maybe an English adaptation of FantaSea?