Universal? About Harry Potter. Great job, but a few suggestions
To those who have not been to Universal's Island of Adventure, and Harry Potter's World of Wizardry portion of the park yet, it is very cool. They have done a good job, and the attention to detail is noteworthy. However, you should stay at one of the hotels that gives you early admission to the park and go to Harry's area first. See what you want, enjoy the experience and then venture into the rest of the park. If you just go during normal hours, be there when it opens, or be prepared to wait hours just to see the Potter part of the park. It is well worth the trip and truly the park is a good balance between coasters and motion simulators.
Now, to Universal. You did a great job. However, it is obvious this got rushed a bit and you had no real grasp of the reach this would have. You merely recycled a portion of the Islands park, and it is not nearly enough to meet the demand. You should seriously consider expanding the area, and if you decide to build Potter parks elsewhere, give it enough space. Imagine if Disney told you to wait 3 hours to enter the Magic Kingdom. No way!
The Hogwarts castle and Experience ride are top shelf. Certainly the crown jewels, and should get major props. Hogsmeade is well done, the detail is great, it just simply isn't nearly big enough. Waiting over an hour just to enter a store to shop? Universal, you HAVE to fix that. Holiday week or not, that is nuts!
The old dueling dragon coasters are now in Harry's world. However, Universal, us old timers realize you did not change one thing on the ride itself. Even the plastic decorations on the actual coasters themselves are still the old Fire and Ice setup. A suggestion? When you buy new cars to install, paint and style them as the 4 houses in Hogwarts: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Maybe even create a rider bonus if someone rides all four?
Secondly, please set up a nice Harry Gift Shop elsewhere in the park so people who don't want to wait 3 hours to get in can sample Butterbeer, chocolate frogs, fudge flies, and the like.
Personally, I think they should redo the old park at one of their sites entirely as a "Magic" park, and give Harry a HUGE section. Make the walkways wide, have vendors strolling about (swallow your pride and borrow some Disney ideas for crowd management), and ask your guests for suggestions.
For the little ones, you need to do some kind of ride with the broomsticks. Even if it is some variation on the up/down carousel ride, the little ones should get something more.
Lastly, how about some character actors milling about? Just some random thoughts of someone who is often looking for ways to improve things (or a grumpy old squeaky wheel as some call me).
Now, to Universal. You did a great job. However, it is obvious this got rushed a bit and you had no real grasp of the reach this would have. You merely recycled a portion of the Islands park, and it is not nearly enough to meet the demand. You should seriously consider expanding the area, and if you decide to build Potter parks elsewhere, give it enough space. Imagine if Disney told you to wait 3 hours to enter the Magic Kingdom. No way!
The Hogwarts castle and Experience ride are top shelf. Certainly the crown jewels, and should get major props. Hogsmeade is well done, the detail is great, it just simply isn't nearly big enough. Waiting over an hour just to enter a store to shop? Universal, you HAVE to fix that. Holiday week or not, that is nuts!
The old dueling dragon coasters are now in Harry's world. However, Universal, us old timers realize you did not change one thing on the ride itself. Even the plastic decorations on the actual coasters themselves are still the old Fire and Ice setup. A suggestion? When you buy new cars to install, paint and style them as the 4 houses in Hogwarts: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Maybe even create a rider bonus if someone rides all four?
Secondly, please set up a nice Harry Gift Shop elsewhere in the park so people who don't want to wait 3 hours to get in can sample Butterbeer, chocolate frogs, fudge flies, and the like.
Personally, I think they should redo the old park at one of their sites entirely as a "Magic" park, and give Harry a HUGE section. Make the walkways wide, have vendors strolling about (swallow your pride and borrow some Disney ideas for crowd management), and ask your guests for suggestions.
For the little ones, you need to do some kind of ride with the broomsticks. Even if it is some variation on the up/down carousel ride, the little ones should get something more.
Lastly, how about some character actors milling about? Just some random thoughts of someone who is often looking for ways to improve things (or a grumpy old squeaky wheel as some call me).
Comments
Post a Comment