Just for fun, I'd like to throw out a little discussion topic.
Recently, someone I follow on Twitter noted the small amount of guests occupying the Hogwarts Express stations and Diagon Alley. DA hasn't been close to capacity since soft opening and the waits for HE have been pretty negligible. Seems to be hovering around 15-20 min at King's Cross and no more than 30 minutes at Hogsmeade.
I know it's merely soft opened and guests may not be aware of the attractions...but should that matter? I was at USF the second day of Transformers softs and the line hit a minimum of 60 minutes immediately after they opened it for the day. I saw it easily get up to 80-90 minutes over the next few days.
I have a theory about the unconventional design of the Hogwarts Express (mainly from King's Cross) and London/DA. These may be some of the most subtle attractions ever put in a park. For example, the London Hogwarts Express does nothing to announce or otherwise broadcast itself. It's a big building that says "King's Cross", which may have little to no meaning for guests not heavily invested in the Potter films (ignoring the fact that "King's Cross" doesn't necessarily signify Potter in the first place). Other than a small warning sign, the building doesn't indicate that there's even an attraction inside. When I was visiting, I saw countless guests walk right by it even after it soft opened.
London/DA is similar. The London facades neither indicate Potter (outside of the Knight Bus and Grimmauld Place, which again, may be totally lost on casual or non-fans) nor that there's an entire land with a groundbreaking E-ticket attraction inside. There's no weenie - no castle, no loud screams from excited guests, no Hollywood Tower Hotel at the end of a linear street, hell, there's no motherfuckin' Hogwarts Castle that's visible from the moment you enter the park. The London facades are exceedingly well crafted and intricate, but they lack the raw scale or mystique of a good weenie that draws you in.
Compare that to Transformers. You have an amazing weenie in the Optimus Prime statue. There's a big ass sign that says "TRANSFORMERS: THE RIDE 3D". There's no ambiguity here. And for softs, it absolutely vacuumed up guests and spit them out.
So what does this mean? Long term, I have no idea. But short term, I feel that both the HE and DA fail to broadcast themselves to nearby guests. They're almost secrets in a way - subtly waiting to be discovered - but somehow containing world-class tech that likely cost countless dollars to develop. I am very interested to see how casual guests respond to this area. Without studying a park map or being a hardcore fan, this area could be totally lost on people. Or at least that's what I'm thinking. It's all speculation, but interesting to think about.
