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Wizarding World - Diagon Alley Discussion - Part 2

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And no one is there the 2 hours before closing time. IoA is empty by 4-5 PM even with Potter. Why are they going to stay open later than that when no one's there?

I'd love for them to stay open later. But if there's no guests there, there's no reason for them to.

Have you been at magic kingdom at Midnight on a night it is open until 1 AM? Everyone clears out after the fireworks and parade, yet MK is still open later. I agree with HTF, they need to start making themselves look more like a full day park and not a half day park. Make the hours longer and people will stay and get dinner. The reason people leave at 5 when the park closes at 7 is because they are hungry and if they eat in park (which the food is not as good) by the time they are done the park will almost be closing so they leave. If they stay open longer, people will eat in the park and then stay and ride more things. I have been there in the summer time when they are open until 9 and people stay until 9 to see the show. Some areas are pretty busy. I would think putting the show at 10 PM and being open until 11 would be much better. People would stay.

I think this would be a good revenue avenue because they will get people spending money in the park for dinner.
 
Have you been at magic kingdom at Midnight on a night it is open until 1 AM?

I worked at the Magic Kingdom. Yes. And there were always a decent crowd. Outside of HHN times, I've rarely seen many people at UOR late, even when the parks are open until 9-10.

To get people to stay late they need a show stopping spectacular at IOA and USF like WOC/Illuminations. Cinespec, while good, isn't the answer.
 
Stop holding the standard to Disney, if you claim Uni is far superior.

lolwut?

I'm not holding the standard to anyone. I'm saying that the other big ticket attraction in the same city is opening sooner and doesn't have an announced opening date. Both should have announced weeks ago, but they haven't. Because it's not a big deal.
 
I worked at the Magic Kingdom. Yes. And there were always a decent crowd. Outside of HHN times, I've rarely seen many people at UOR late, even when the parks are open until 9-10.

To get people to stay late they need a show stopping spectacular at IOA and USF like WOC/Illuminations. Cinespec, while good, isn't the answer.

I guess I must just always be lucky at Disney because everything is always a walk on after the fireworks no matter how late they are open after fireworks.

Pockets of the park are dead at Uni (kidzone), but in the front near Rocket, transformers, and mummy seem to always be rather busy later now that they have a nighttime show people stay for.
 
The parks close around 7-8PM most of the year, and the general public knows that. If you change that culture, over time people will plan to stay longer.
Great minds think alike. We both came up with the same word: culture. Universal guests have been conditioned to leave by 5 for 20+ years. Now, there are reasons to stay and management isn't doing enough to change that culture.
 
One quick suggestion: make it clear that the Beedle Bard show is really 5 different shows and which one they re-enact is random. Once this is clear to guests, schedule a show late in the day to try to keep those Harry Potter people around. Even if the show is one they have already seen, if the time is late enough they will be likely to go into The Leaky Cauldron or Simpsons Fast Food Boulevard for dinner instead of walking all the way back out to Citywalk.
 
From what I've heard, the interactive wands were getting final approval and should be here for potter 2.0 opening or shortly after.

The wands themselves are activated by sensors in the windows and chips in the tips of the wand. It's the motion of the wand that will set off the spell's effect in the window, not how you say it. This should be a big help in keeping the lines down for each interactive experience as it eliminates the chance of pronouncing the word wrong (for the non-english speakers, and even some of the local muggles). Having said that, the motion of the wands is very particular. If the wand instructions on the ground portray a small circular motion, you best do a small circular motion. Nothing too crazy or over the top. Very particular. There is also a "disarm mode" for each window.


Edit: I forgot to add that I don't know how in the hell they plan on making this work in a smooth and fluid fashion.
 
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In a matter of weeks it will time for PotterWatch 2.0. I have fond memories of Phase 1 checking [HASHTAG]#potterwatch[/HASHTAG] on twitter day after day with pictures of the closed gate until 1 morning when the first picture came out of the open gate. Can't wait to experience this again the second time around.

Also, I too am skeptical about the logistics of the whole interactive wand thing. Seems like a nightmare to me, but I'm sure they'll find a way to make it work.
 
I don't know about this is it for the tea shop. If you think about it, the front facade was not expensive for them to do, it is the props in the window that cost the money. So down the line if they open a real tea shop, those props can just be moved over to the new store and they put something else in that window display. The money wasted would hardly be anything. I think it all depends later on the guest surveys as to whether the dual wand shows are needed. If it slows down and the one over in Diagon is enough, they will close it down and probably put a tea shop in. But if the demand never reduces in Hogsmeade then we will get the dual wand shops. They can still sell wands in Diagon without the show, so they won't lose out on sales.

I guess it is a possibility. I always thought more specialty food and beverages would be great to have, so Madam Puddifoot's would be a hit. Hopefully one day it can still happen.


Since Potages is in Diagon, they could take out the one in Hogsmeade and make the tea shop a real thing... I think there is enough space...

I think the Pottages facade has been mentioned to be going away for another facade. I'm not sure space-wise. There's some backstage area there, and although they're making the new TM area right outside Hogsmeade (where the Lost Continent games where), I think this spot might still be essential to supply this end of Hogsmeade. :shrug:


BTW, more trees on the berm! From @LoganTMiller:

"@ThemePark the old "hide stuff with trees" technique. #PotterWatch"
BlR1_oIIcAAX5-u.jpg:large
 
Wonder if Universal and Disney are waiting for each other to show their cards? I mean I would imagine Disney would be much more intimidated by Potter than vice versa but one would think neither of them want opening competition. As for the hours of operations I find it ignorant that the park will only be open til 10PM over the Summer according to the Universal Website. As mentioned above the hours should be 8am-11PM every day with weekend hours pushing midnight IMO. Your building the largest expansion ever created and even better its a sequel to the biggest and most successful theme park creation ever created. They have spent millions and millions of dollars to build up the entire infrastructure with shows, attractions, food and beverage options, and even a close by "value" hotel and they are closing it down at 10PM? Sorry I just don't get it.

I think that the hours for WWOHP 1.0 worked. By the time 9pm rolled around, it had cleared out but they kept all the shops open until every last person had left. No rush whatsoever or announcements that they were closing.

Also, I've been to Universal more than once where the park hours posted for weeks were extended that day. So they're not necessarily written in stone.
 
Makes perfect sense to me for the parks to only stay open till 10 for at least the first month or so, plenty of time after hours to make adjustments and fix things...
 
One quick suggestion: make it clear that the Beedle Bard show is really 5 different shows and which one they re-enact is random. Once this is clear to guests, schedule a show late in the day to try to keep those Harry Potter people around. Even if the show is one they have already seen, if the time is late enough they will be likely to go into The Leaky Cauldron or Simpsons Fast Food Boulevard for dinner instead of walking all the way back out to Citywalk.

For me personally, I don't like the idea of random shows even during the day, much less at night. The possibility that I might show up 30 minutes early to catch the 1 show I haven't seen yet just to find out it's the same show I've already seen 3 times really annoys me. I'd rather the times be posted clearly and in advance. It's fine to have small variations that change from show to show to keep things fresh, but no one wants to hang around for an extra 2 hours just to find out the show they were hoping for isn't the one that's playing.

If you really want to encourage people to stick around, you save the best show for last and let everyone know about it in advance. Either that or you offer some opportunity that no one gets earlier in the day - like an interactive wand training class or something.

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Well, that's how soft openings work. They're random.

There will be a date announced for this. They want people to come down this summer. We'll hear something in the next few weeks.

They're not completely random. They beginning selling WWOHP vacation packages well in advance of Hogsmeade's grand opening, and that implies soft openings for vacation package guests at the very least, unless the area is scheduled to be fully open. You can't sell WWOHP-Diagon Alley vacation packages if DA isn't even soft opening yet.
 
For me personally, I don't like the idea of random shows even during the day, much less at night. The possibility that I might show up 30 minutes early to catch the 1 show I haven't seen yet just to find out it's the same show I've already seen 3 times really annoys me. I'd rather the times be posted clearly and in advance. It's fine to have small variations that change from show to show to keep things fresh, but no one wants to hang around for an extra 2 hours just to find out the show they were hoping for isn't the one that's playing.

If you really want to encourage people to stick around, you save the best show for last and let everyone know about it in advance. Either that or you offer some opportunity that no one gets earlier in the day - like an interactive wand training class or something.

I agree. I am just going off of what we have previously heard that the shows will be random. Much like you, I do not want to waste my time, but if they plan on going the random route than this is what we will have to deal with. I guess, either way, a Beedle the Bard show late in the day will do the trick AS LONG AS they make it clear to the guests that there are five DIFFERENT shows and it is not all the same show.
 
Wonder if Universal and Disney are waiting for each other to show their cards? I mean I would imagine Disney would be much more intimidated by Potter than vice versa but one would think neither of them want opening competition. As for the hours of operations I find it ignorant that the park will only be open til 10PM over the Summer according to the Universal Website. As mentioned above the hours should be 8am-11PM every day with weekend hours pushing midnight IMO. Your building the largest expansion ever created and even better its a sequel to the biggest and most successful theme park creation ever created. They have spent millions and millions of dollars to build up the entire infrastructure with shows, attractions, food and beverage options, and even a close by "value" hotel and they are closing it down at 10PM? Sorry I just don't get it.

I agree with this sentiment. Universal seems to be playing it VERY cool, like they're not expecting crowds any larger than normal-for-summer or something, and being much more casual with the opening annnouncements and dates than they were with 1.0. They're not even selling any Diagon themed travel packages or anything. It makes me think something is up, like you're saying, like they're playing who-can-wait-the-longest-and-give-their-announcement-a-little-later with Disney. I wonder if a summer marketing war is in the works.
 
Park hours 8am-11pm work so well because lets say you want to be there when the park first opens at 8am. Most likely you'll be gone and tired by 4-5pm. Then for those that rather start later, can enter at 4pm and still have 7 hours to enjoy the parks.

or

you can hit the parks up at 8am, leave at 12 in the afternoon. Go to your onsite resort and maybe take a nap or a shower. Then go back around 7pm and enjoy the rest of the night.

This way there are more like two opening times and they spread crowds.
 
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They're not completely random. They beginning selling WWOHP vacation packages well in advance of Hogsmeade's grand opening, and that implies soft openings for vacation package guests at the very least, unless the area is scheduled to be fully open. You can't sell WWOHP-Diagon Alley vacation packages if DA isn't even soft opening yet.

Actually, my understanding is that when they sold those packages they were actually expecting it to be open, not in softs. Softs are typically not announced to the public, just one day it is open and the next day it could be closed. This would happen all the way until the actual grand opening.
 
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