Wizarding World - Diagon Alley Discussion - Part 3 | Page 51 | Inside Universal Forums

Wizarding World - Diagon Alley Discussion - Part 3

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This Saturday's Top Six story on Touring Plans is a ranking of the Top Six attractions at Universal according to Touring Plans guest satisfaction surveys. While it's not a true General Public rating, it's fairly close since most of TP's membership is there for trip planning purposes. In 2015, Touring Plans did an All Star panel rating of the Universal attractions. A few dozen of the most prominent writers, bloggers & observers of the Orlando theme park scene were represented, including Len Testa, Jim Hill, IU's very own, Hate to Fly (Andy). Two very interesting and fairly different lists, which kind of shows how ride ranking thought processes are when it comes to favorite attractions. Lots of surprises. .....

2017 TP Readers.........................2015 All Star Panel
1)Hogwart's Express..................1)Spider Man
2)Hulk........................................2)Forbidden Journey
3)Popeye & Bluto Bilge Rat......3)Gringotts
4)Spider Man............................4)Mummy
5)Gringotts................................5)Transformers
6)Forbidden Journey................6)Men In Black

Would love to know what the Universal Orlando internal guest surveys of their General Public are.
So, what do you guys & gals think of these results?
There are no USF attractions on the 2017 list.
I LOVE the HE, but #1? Really? TP must have a lot of Disney fans utilizing their site. They love the HE. It moves really slowly. Two day old baby Sarah and Grammie and her pacemaker can ride. And it's "Disney Body" friendly (no embarrassing test seats).

Edit: It has been pointed out to me that Gringott's is a USF attraction. Obvious brain fart on my part.
 
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There are no USF attractions on the 2017 list.
I LOVE the HE, but #1? Really? TP must have a lot of Disney fans utilizing their site. They love the HE. It moves really slowly. Two day old baby Sarah and Grammie and her pacemaker can ride. And it's "Disney Body" friendly (no embarrassing test seats).

Gringotts is an USF attraction.
 
There are no USF attractions on the 2017 list.
I LOVE the HE, but #1? Really? TP must have a lot of Disney fans utilizing their site. They love the HE. It moves really slowly. Two day old baby Sarah and Grammie and her pacemaker can ride. And it's "Disney Body" friendly (no embarrassing test seats).
;):lol:...The HE is the railroad that Walt secretly wanted. He dreamed of it before Rawling wrote her books.:lol:.....Love the HE too. :thumbsup::) My list would be closer to the 2015 list than then the 2017 and Hulk would not be on it. My top Six list by total attraction rating (Facade, queue, pre shows, ride) and, it changes every time I vacation. :lol:
1)Forbidden Journey
2)Gringotts
3)Spider Man
4&5)Kong & Mummy tied
6) HE
and Special Award to ET for being the attraction that puts the biggest smile on my face
 
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There are no USF attractions on the 2017 list.
I LOVE the HE, but #1? Really? TP must have a lot of Disney fans utilizing their site. They love the HE. It moves really slowly. Two day old baby Sarah and Grammie and her pacemaker can ride. And it's "Disney Body" friendly (no embarrassing test seats).

Edit: It has been pointed out to me that Gringott's is a USF attraction. Obvious brain fart on my part.

The ratings come from the user submitted questionnaires in The Unofficial Guide and some in person polling. While it is more self selecting and skews Disney it is still scientific.
 
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What's also interesting is if you compare the Universal list with the WDW list that Touring Plans published a couple of weeks ago. The top three rated WDW attractions were all predominant screens attractions. 1)FOP, 2)Toy Story Midway Mania 3)Soarin....while the Universal top three only had one attraction that used screens and just to a degree (HE screen in the cabin) combined with the practical station, train, & internal train sets.
 
I'm a 2015 kinda guy......
Me too. But I totally get 2017. And if it's a pure customer satisfaction thing- I see it.
Is there a ride at universal that anyone laughs and displays more jubilation riding it than Popeye? That ride is a blast- ribs hurt from laughing.

Also- hogwarts is clearly a fan favorite too. I think that ride, more than any other, exceeds expectations.


I love that each list has different attractions. Could you imagine DHS's list?
 
Me too. But I totally get 2017. And if it's a pure customer satisfaction thing- I see it.
Is there a ride at universal that anyone laughs and displays more jubilation riding it than Popeye? That ride is a blast- ribs hurt from laughing.

Also- hogwarts is clearly a fan favorite too. I think that ride, more than any other, exceeds expectations.


I love that each list has different attractions. Could you imagine DHS's list?
DHS has so few rides that they can't do a Top Six rides list. And their Best list of rides would be identical to their Worst Rides. :):lol:
 
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There are no USF attractions on the 2017 list.
I LOVE the HE, but #1? Really? TP must have a lot of Disney fans utilizing their site. They love the HE. It moves really slowly. Two day old baby Sarah and Grammie and her pacemaker can ride. And it's "Disney Body" friendly (no embarrassing test seats).

Edit: It has been pointed out to me that Gringott's is a USF attraction. Obvious brain fart on my part.

And Hulk being 2nd? Hows that skew with a lot of Disney fans?
 
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I was on Gringotts yesterday for the first time in awhile. I feel like I was riding the initial gravy train still because I hadn't been in the parks in quite a bit so once I got on, it FINALLY became clear to me why a lot of people are so "meh" with the ride... it never truly gets going as a coaster and is actually quite annoying in how it stop and starts so much. I caught the guy behind me saying at the end of the ride "Pandora was even better than that" as if to say he wasn't overly impressed with Flight of Passage, but still preferred it over Gringotts.
 
I was on Gringotts yesterday for the first time in awhile. I feel like I was riding the initial gravy train still because I hadn't been in the parks in quite a bit so once I got on, it FINALLY became clear to me why a lot of people are so "meh" with the ride... it never truly gets going as a coaster and is actually quite annoying in how it stop and starts so much. I caught the guy behind me saying at the end of the ride "Pandora was even better than that" as if to say he wasn't overly impressed with Flight of Passage, but still preferred it over Gringotts.

No offense but I hate this criticism so much and it's such a common one. "I hate how it stops and starts." The ride would literally be a minute long if it didn't. There's not that much track.
 
No offense but I hate this criticism so much and it's such a common one. "I hate how it stops and starts." The ride would literally be a minute long if it didn't. There's not that much track.
The ride didn't need to be designed as it currently exists - there could've been more track easily. That's not to say that the ride as exists is bad, it just could've been executed better.

Oh, and if it's a common criticism as you say, then that means, by definition, it's something that people commonly dislike.
 
I was on Gringotts yesterday for the first time in awhile. I feel like I was riding the initial gravy train still because I hadn't been in the parks in quite a bit so once I got on, it FINALLY became clear to me why a lot of people are so "meh" with the ride... it never truly gets going as a coaster and is actually quite annoying in how it stop and starts so much. I caught the guy behind me saying at the end of the ride "Pandora was even better than that" as if to say he wasn't overly impressed with Flight of Passage, but still preferred it over Gringotts.

People will always complain, find a twenty and they'd moan it wasn't a 50.

It isn't a full out coaster, it's a hybrid, mixing coaster elements with cutting edge tech.

Love it or hate it it's still a world class attraction which caters for both young and old.
 
On the Carkitt Market side facing the stage, what two facades (masking Ollivanders) are on the end closest to Diagon's exit? Isn't the House Elf Agency one of them?
 
On the Carkitt Market side facing the stage, what two facades (masking Ollivanders) are on the end closest to Diagon's exit? Isn't the House Elf Agency one of them?

Yep, it's that and Filibuster's Fabulous Wet-start No-heat Fireworks.
 
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