Wizarding World - Diagon Alley Discussion - Part 3

[JungleSkip]

Sorry if it's been asked but does Gringotts have Express?

No.

 

[retroeric]

Update been in the DA queue for 70 minutes (this last portion has moved at snails pace and has stopped for long durations several times). I think when all is said and done the DA wait will end up around 100 minutes, and it's probably about 150 minutes getting in line right now. I'm thinking Gringotts will be VERY long. Did not expect this for early A.M. on day 2.

 

[retroeric]

Gringotts is already 270 minutes.

 

[rhino4evr]

some heated conversations on here last ngiht. LOL..here are my thoughts.

Considering the time frame that this entire land/stores/ride/shows/costumes/transportation cernter was put together, and with such detail, I would I have a really hard time calling the opening a failure or a disaster. There is just too much good to off set the bad.

But there is bad. It's obvious from the reviews and posts I've read about evacs, capacity issues, and glitches that the ride needed more time in the oven before coming out to the public. 7 hours is an absolutely stupid wait time, and I'm really surprised I am seeing positive reviews and comments from the folks that even waited 3 hours. Now that the grand opening is over, I can easily see UOR closing down the ride again to try and get this ride up to speed.

It took a lot of guts to open this ride at 1/3 capacity on the busiest day of the year.

So on another note..regardnig that 7DM comparisions. A lot of people (everyone?) gave Disney a ton of (mountains) of criticism regarding the delayed/phased opening of NFL.

But I ask this question...In the end, will it really matter how long it took to build it? In 10 years, will people say, "I wanted to like this ride, but I heard it took them like 3 years to build it"? I don't think so. 7DMT opened at full capacity, and better capacity then most Disney Doomsayers were spouting. It's a short family coaster, and a nice addition to the area.

So what's the better option? Rushing development and opening an attraction too early with serious issues, or waiting and opening an attraction when it's actually ready? What leaves a worse taste in your mouth? A broken/unstable ride with 7 hour waits? or a ride with higher capacity and reliability from the start and shorter wait times...

Because in 10 years...all will we will care about is the quality of the ride itself...in other words. It doesn't make a difference either way.

- - - Updated - - -

PS - can you imagine what the waits would have been if UOR announced the date 3 months ago, and opened on a Saturday again?

 

[antem]

Just a thought I've had. I'm travelling from the UK on Friday, hoping to get into Diagon Alley on Saturday. If I head to IOA at around 7:30am - which is 12:30 body clock - and ride the Hogwarts Express into London, am I able to avoid the long queues to enter Diagon Alley that have built up over the extra hours for park guests?

 

[rhino4evr]

Just a thought I've had. I'm travelling from the UK on Friday, hoping to get into Diagon Alley on Saturday. If I head to IOA at around 7:30am - which is 12:30 body clock - and ride the Hogwarts Express into London, am I able to avoid the long queues to enter Diagon Alley that have built up over the extra hours for park guests?

Nope. You'll have to wait in line for DA like everyone else. Enjoy the train ride though.

This weekend will be CRAZY busy. I would be really surprised if we didn't see 5 hour + waits again. Especially if capacity issues are not fixed.

Good Luck.

 

[JungleSkip]

So what's the better option? Rushing development and opening an attraction too early with serious issues, or waiting and opening an attraction when it's actually ready? What leaves a worse taste in your mouth? A broken/unstable ride with 7 hour waits? or a ride with higher capacity and reliability from the start and shorter wait times...

Because in 10 years...all will we will care about is the quality of the ride itself...in other words. It doesn't make a difference either way.

- - - Updated - - -

PS - can you imagine what the waits would have been if UOR announced the date 3 months ago, and opened on a Saturday again?

They had to open it yesterday. There was no other option, IMO. If you can run your ride for the majority of the day (and they did) you run your ride.

As for your PS, yesterday was the most busy day at the resort ever. If they had announced the opening earlier, I can't imagine what it would have been like.

Just a thought I've had. I'm travelling from the UK on Friday, hoping to get into Diagon Alley on Saturday. If I head to IOA at around 7:30am - which is 12:30 body clock - and ride the Hogwarts Express into London, am I able to avoid the long queues to enter Diagon Alley that have built up over the extra hours for park guests?

No, you'll still have to get into the Diagon queue or get a return ticket, depending on what they're using.

 

[rhino4evr]

I don't think they "had" to do anything. They didn't have to set the grand opening date on July 8th either. I'm sure there was a lot of pressure of management and maybe WB to get the area open, but they could have easily opened everything up in August or even September. Opening earlier was just to capture those summer crowd dollars. I'm sure this expansion was extremely expensive (does anyone know a figure?.

 

[JungleSkip]

I don't think they "had" to do anything. They didn't have to set the grand opening date on July 8th either. I'm sure there was a lot of pressure of management and maybe WB to get the area open, but they could have easily opened everything up in August or even September. Opening earlier was just to capture those summer crowd dollars. I'm sure this expansion was extremely expensive (does anyone know a figure?.

Around 500 million. They could have opened later, sure. It would have been a disaster for them, but they could have done it. Considering there weren't lines out the door at guest relations, I think they made the right choice.

 

[rhino4evr]

Yesterday there wasn't, we will see how this weekend (and the next few weeks) goes, when the majority of the public will be able to visit. Not just the super fans.

 

[neoshinok]

i'm sure this expansion was extremely expensive (does anyone know a figure?.

$258m

 

[retroeric]

Gringotts has been down for 30 minutes now.

 

[JungleSkip]

$258m

That was the first one.

Diagon and the Hogwarts Express is somewhere between 400-500 million

 

[rhino4evr]

whats the wait like for Gringrotts?

 

[JungleSkip]

whats the wait like for Gringrotts?

A lot.

 

[retroeric]

Gringotts is back up and running after being down for 45 minutes.

 

[adjjb]

From reports because of everyone going to DA sounds like hotel early entry doesn't help much unless you get to the park an hour before early entry starts to line up. If you don't you spend the early entry hour in line. So you basically have to wake up around 5am to get in line by 6.

 

[rhino4evr]

I would suggest anyone going to the park this weekend to get there before dawn if you don't want to wait forever in line. Arriving at 9am will probably result in about at least a 4 hour wait.

Of couse, waiting for the park to open, and waiting in line in the park is kinda the same thing

 

[HalfGlass]

I would suggest anyone going to the park this weekend to get there before dawn if you don't want to wait forever in line. Arriving at 9am will probably result in about at least a 4 hour wait.

Of couse, waiting for the park to open, and waiting in line in the park is kinda the same thing

Except for the heat :thumbs:

 

[Teebin]

I hadn't seen this... quite fun for an extended queue:

per https://twitter.com/bioreconstruct