Yoda To Battle Harry Potter In Theme Park Wars

[Ride Warrior]

The buzz is that Glendale will infuse some serious cash into advertising Star Tours 2 in 2009. The long rumored attraction would be Disney's means of doing battle in Orlando with IOA's Wizarding World of harry Potter. The targeted time for the Harry Potter park to open is late 2009. This means that Star Tours 2 at Disney's Hollywood Studios would likely open around the same time.

As the rumored ST2 attraction for DL's Tomorrowland will apprently be a clone, it would be logical to expect it to open in late 2009 as well, or early 2010. And to think that we have Harry Potter to thank for all of this. He really is a magical wizzard. I hope that Yoda goes easy on him when they commence to do combat. Nothing gets Disney off it's big proverbial butt like competition.

[Aladdin]

Disney has had it's eyes on updating Star Tours, well before
Universal got the rights to Harry Potter. Of course, there
is talk that WDW will be expanding the Star Wars Kingdom
beyond just ST2, and that might be due to HP. I just wouldn't
give all the credit to HP/Universal. A large part of it is Eisner
going away, and Iger rebuilding bridges that Eisner ripped and
tore down.

[Ride Warrior]

Disney has had it's eyes on updating Star Tours, well before
Universal got the rights to Harry Potter. Of course, there
is talk that WDW will be expanding the Star Wars Kingdom
beyond just ST2, and that might be due to HP. I just wouldn't
give all the credit to HP/Universal. A large part of it is Eisner
going away, and Iger rebuilding bridges that Eisner ripped and
tore down.

Iger is indeed a good man - ten times that of Eisner. I've been hearing about the StarWars Kingdom. In fact, all the Studio lands are supposed to become far more immersive and organized in terms of rides and other attractions. We live in the most magical of times, aladdin my friend.

[MasterGracey]

If an updated 20+ year-old attraction is all Disney can muster against a completely new mini theme park within a theme park based on the powerhouse that is Harry Potter, then that's just sad.


Why doesn't Disney get its successful book/movie franchise, The Chronicles of Narnia, in the parks and give Harry some real competition?

[Ride Warrior]

If an updated 20+ year-old attraction is all Disney can muster against a completely new mini theme park within a theme park based on the powerhouse that is Harry Potter, then that's just sad.


Why doesn't Disney get its successful book/movie franchise, The Chronicles of Narnia, in the parks and give Harry some real competition?

Hey ..what can I say? It's sad.

[ministrychick77]

i honestly don't think anything disney could think of could top potterworld. there are so many people in the world that have read all 7 books (or working on them) that would want the chance to walk around a recreation of hogwarts and that area. myself included. i've never been to WDW, and as of now the only way i'm going is when i'm gonna go to see potterworld (as i'm now calling it)

they can certainly try to come up with something to bring people over from that park, but i don't see it happening. they may come over as a side visit, but that's about it. and i'd lvoe to see disney prove me wrong.

[Melonballer]

i honestly don't think anything disney could think of could top potterworld. there are so many people in the world that have read all 7 books (or working on them) that would want the chance to walk around a recreation of hogwarts and that area. myself included. i've never been to WDW, and as of now the only way i'm going is when i'm gonna go to see potterworld (as i'm now calling it)

they can certainly try to come up with something to bring people over from that park, but i don't see it happening. they may come over as a side visit, but that's about it. and i'd lvoe to see disney prove me wrong.

In my humble opinion they will probably come to DisneyWorld and do sidetrips to Islands of Adventure. I know that is what I will do. Can Disney top the Potter section? I think so. Look at Tokyo DisneySea. The real question is will they? If Disney was smart they would get moving and have something big ready to combat Potter, when Potter opens. In others words they need a preliminary move, not a reactive move.

If it was me, here is what I would do. *gets in imagineering armchair*

I'd build a Beastlie Kingdomme/Narina hybrid secton for Animal Kingdom. I'd have the backstory for the land that suggests you go through a magical doorway to Narnia to see the creatures of myth. I'd build a crowd eating boat ride through a forest where you would get to see all sorts of mythological creatures (ex. Unicorns, Phoenixes, Griffens, Manticores, Dragons and more). I'd also have several smaller attractions, like a carousel.

But that's all blue sky and not something we have seen from Disney in recent years. Still they have been getting better, so you never know.

The point is Disney better get on the ball or they will lose guests when they go for a day or 2 to Universal. And no amount of Dining Plans and Magical Expresses is going to fix that.

[StrikeYerColors]

It looks as if this is going to be the battle of the fandoms, but I don't think the actual fans will see it that way. If a person is a fan of one and not the other, then that person could just care less. If one is a fan of both, than they are excited about both offerings and will enjoy both, as their life permits.
Also, a person doesn't go to Disneyland/World because they are a fan of Star Wars. They go because they are a fan of Disney theme parks. They enjoy the Star Wars attractions if they are a Star Wars fan, but they generally don't pay for admission just for Star Wars (that's what Star Wars Celebration is for).
However, the only reason to go to this Potterworld is because you are a fan of Harry Potter. If you are indifferent to (or, God forbid, you dislike) the Harry Potter series, than you wouldn't really want to go. It seems like it's going to be such a big piece of the IOA park (according to them, a "park within a park") that people will start to go there solely for HP (and i really don't see this happening at Disney for one or two attractions).
I really don't see this as a competition. True, if a family wants to have a theme park vacation, they will probably have to choose between the two parks, and this Harryland will prove to be quite popular, I'm sure. Disneyland will have to keep themselves up in order to maintain their clientèle, but a new Star Tours surely isn't considered specific Anti-Potter ammo.

[Mac Daddy]

I really think that Harry Potter will be a HUGE draw for Universal and it was a major coup in the theme park wars. I don't know if WDW's numbers will fall off, but just watch the attendance at Universal skyrocket for the first couple of years. I'm going to guess that numbers jump about 40 percent for the first year.

It might actually work in REVERSE and some of the folks who come to Universal to go to Hogwarts might actually spend the extra day at WDW.

[StrikeYerColors]

It might actually work in REVERSE and some of the folks who come to Universal to go to Hogwarts might actually spend the extra day at WDW.

I think you're absolutely right, especially concerning people who might normally go to Disneyland; HP will make them go to Florida instead. I, for one, know a large number of die-hard Potterheads (myself included) who would make way for a full FL vacation if it included a trip to Harryworld.

[Goofy Daddy]

Why do people have to choose one or the other? Am I missing something?

I am a fan of the HP series of books, and the films are, well....good, so I like them. I am also a big Star Wars fan. I don't know, I have always found it a bit odd that there would be a "fan separation." It's like the whole "who's better Star Wars or Star Trek" competition that supposedly exists...yet when I go to sci-fi conventions out here most people are fans of both and really see no competition.

[GhostHost2]

I love Star Wars and I really like the Harry Potter movies (I haven't read the books yet). If I had to pick between a well-done Star Wars land and a well done Harry Potter land, I would pick Star Wars. The battle though will probably be between DHS's Star Tours 2.0 and IOA's Harry Potter Land. Generally, an entire land is better to people, than a single ride.
How good will Potter Land be is a question that has yet to be answered, and we won't know till much latter. Will Potter Land mainly consists of the rethemed Dueling Dragons and Flying Unicorn, plus a wide variety of shopping and dinning options? Will the only main draw be the E-Ticket Kuka arm ride? I think I may have heard about a show and some maze where you use wands, being part of Potter Land. Won't Potter Land not be completeted until 2010 or 2011? It will probably be one of those years, when the E-Ticket opens. Potter Land may be great and fabulous, and has a good chance to blow away anything Disney has done on the East Coast. It will surely be leagues above any recent Magic Kingdom and EPCOT additions.

DHS needs to drop the "hot set" theming of Star Tours, and create an actual Star Wars Land, where you aren't on a set, instead, you are really in the Star Wars universe.

[KISSman]

To me, Disney should not only plan on launching ST2, but work on expanding the Star Wars presence in that area of the park in Hollywood Studios. IMO, Disney cannot plan on seriously waging a serious battle with Universal when all they are doing is offering up a revamped attraction. I'm not a big Harry Potter fan, but Universal's plans for the HP franchise are far more ambitious and interesting than Disney's for SW.

Wait, isn't this really WDW news?

[mycroft16]

i honestly don't think anything disney could think of could top potterworld. there are so many people in the world that have read all 7 books (or working on them) that would want the chance to walk around a recreation of hogwarts and that area.

Yes there are indeed many people all over the world who have read/are reading Harry Potter. However, there are plenty who have read/are reading the Chronicles of Narnia as well. Narnia has been around since 1954 and exist in 41 languages. That's several generations who are not new acquaintances with the world, but have grown up with it and grown old with it. Harry Potter is still very young. I am not in the least slighting the beauty of that world, just saying that there are other worlds that are just as beautiful and amazing. Worlds that Disney can draw on, full of castles (Cair Paravel) and fantastic creatures as well as magic, bravery, heroism and a wealth of detail rivaled by very few written works.

I don't think that simply revamping the ride is anywhere near enough to even phase Potterworld. But I also don't see why it should have to. They are so different that there is little chance of one undercutting the other.

[GhostHost2]

WDW's Space Mountain revamp (if that ever happens, it needs to happen soon, before the ride collapses), was at one time rumored to be WDW's main competition with Potter Land. If the best Disney can do anymore is revamp rides, than WDI has really gone downhill.

It is important to revamp attractions, as long as they are better once revamped, sometimes revamps can ruin attractions, so WDI should be very careful with all future revamps.

Revamps are great when done right, but for Disney to only rely on them is bad and lazy.

P.S.
Yeah, I know we are getting some new stuff for DCA, but how hard is it come come up with the idea of a Cars ride using the Test Track technology? Every 8 year old who saw Cars and rode Test Track, could probably think of that.