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[aparisi2274]

I'm not saying they can't be popular come opening day. Just observing the subtlety of these areas. Would removing Optimus Prime, the NEST/Autobot logos, and the ride marquee from Transformers affect awareness? The entire London area is without a weenie/clear indicators of the attractions within, and its only thematic imagery is targeted to seasoned fans of the franchise. I find that fascinating, personally.

The biggest piece of evidence for park-to-park hindering the train's popularity is the low waits for Hogsmeade Station, imo. When I was at UOR a few days ago, IoA was fucking packed all the time. On multiple days, I arrived at WWoHP around 8:15-8:20am with early entry and Forbidden Journey was already at a 90 minute wait, with guests having to walk almost the entirety of the garden queue to even get into the lockers. And I had to literally stop at points going from Potter to Port of Entry by way of Seuss because the walls of people heading there after park opening were that thick. So traffic patterns and overall volume of people near Hogsmeade Station were both incredibly high, yet waits never exceeded 30-35 min in most cases. The train isn't a high capacity ride either. This has me thinking that park-to-park may be an issue, and/or maybe guests simply don't want to ride an attraction that takes them out of the park. Thoughts? I can understand King's Cross being light on waits, since USF has always been the park with less traffic (until DA, at least) but not even Hogsmeade Station was drawing waits.

Here is the thing, if you read the books, you know that to get to the HE you need to go to King's Cross and cross to track 9 3/4! So, the actual entrance to HE in London is clearly marked with KING'S CROSS outside of it, so people will know where to go!

Same applies to Hogsmeade... They will know that the train stops there, because they read the books.

As for Transformers, that's completely different. If you remove OP and the insignia's from the building, how will anyone know what it is by looking at a gray building?? You really can not compare the two attractions, because HP has a more rabid fanbase when it comes to remembering locations from the book! I mean you could remove the name Olivander's Wand Shop from the the entire building facade, and just hang a sign outside with a wand, and people will know its Olivander's, because of how it was described in the book. Transformers has no books to describe what that building is from, because that building is not modeled after anything from the movies or even comics.

Again, you are reading into all of this way to much! Like I said, because the HP books are so insanely detailed when it comes to these locations, and because Universal did a fantastic job recreating the locations right down to the lock on the door, fans of the series could go to either location, Hogwarts or London, and know exactly where they are going with ZERO signage, because of how descriptive the books were. Transformers on the other hand, nobody would know, because that building does not exist in the movies, cartoons or comics...

Let me ask you this... Let's say you just watched Men in Black for the first time, and right after that you visited USF for the first time, and you heard they had a MIB ride there and when you got there, there was no signage or anything letting you know where the ride was... wouldn't you be able to find it, just by noticing the same spaceship structure that was at the end of the movie?? I am pretty sure you would.

You get what I am saying??

 

[The Xtortionist]

Here is the thing, if you read the books, you know that to get to the HE you need to go to King's Cross and cross to track 9 3/4! So, the actual entrance to HE in London is clearly marked with KING'S CROSS outside of it, so people will know where to go!

Same applies to Hogsmeade... They will know that the train stops there, because they read the books.

As for Transformers, that's completely different. If you remove OP and the insignia's from the building, how will anyone know what it is by looking at a gray building?? You really can not compare the two attractions, because HP has a more rabid fanbase when it comes to remembering locations from the book! I mean you could remove the name Olivander's Wand Shop from the the entire building facade, and just hang a sign outside with a wand, and people will know its Olivander's, because of how it was described in the book. Transformers has no books to describe what that building is from, because that building is not modeled after anything from the movies or even comics.

Again, you are reading into all of this way to much! Like I said, because the HP books are so insanely detailed when it comes to these locations, and because Universal did a fantastic job recreating the locations right down to the lock on the door, fans of the series could go to either location, Hogwarts or London, and know exactly where they are going with ZERO signage, because of how descriptive the books were. Transformers on the other hand, nobody would know, because that building does not exist in the movies, cartoons or comics...

I'm not disagreeing with you. Folks that read the books and pay attention to the films will be right at home. I think the Transformers example, while a bit extreme, would be what King's Cross and London look like to non-Potter fans. Unlike Transformers, the London area doesn't do anything attract non-fans. Even if someone doesn't recognize Optimus or the Autobot logo, there's still a big ol' sign that indicates a 3D ride is inside. I'm sure there's a large percent of the general public that doesn't know what King's Cross is, or that walking into a nondescript hole in the wall next to a pretty standard sign reading "Leicester Square Station" will lead them to arguably the greatest land in a theme park. That's why I'm curious to see the average guest's reaction to it.

 

[SmithnCo]

They had a making of London/Diagon Alley special on SyFy this weekend actually and they went in to detail on not marking up London any with signage. Pretty cool detail/decision. It obviously won't matter traffic/flow-wise so why not keep it authentic?

Yeah, I like it because that area is so nice looking with the fountain/facades. It's on the maps in any case, so people will know where to go.

 

[brerwolfe]

I think people might be waiting to ride the Hogwarts Express until they've done everything in that respective park.

 

[The Xtortionist]

I think people might be waiting to ride the Hogwarts Express until they've done everything in that respective park.

I could see that, though people were probably overestimating the ride+queue time. I was making sub-60 min round trips easily. No reason why guests couldn't do the same and continue in the same park. Hell, it's shorter than one go on FJ standby lol. I used it as more of an attraction than a form of transportation. Went mostly for round trips and only once without getting back on.

 

[aparisi2274]

I could see that, though people were probably overestimating the ride+queue time. I was making sub-60 min round trips easily. No reason why guests couldn't do the same and continue in the same park. Hell, it's shorter than one go on FJ standby lol. I used it as more of an attraction than a form of transportation. Went mostly for round trips and only once without getting back on.

Again, you're basing all these estimates off a soft opening, that nobody knew about until USF employees held up a sign that said it was open.

When the Seven Dwarves ride soft opened in MK, the queues were minimal too, 20-25min wait... but when it officially opened, lines jumped to over an hour or more...

 

[The Xtortionist]

Again, you're basing all these estimates off a soft opening, that nobody knew about until USF employees held up a sign that said it was open.

When the Seven Dwarves ride soft opened in MK, the queues were minimal too, 20-25min wait... but when it officially opened, lines jumped to over an hour or more...

Is it wrong to think there might be other factors at play? Speaking purely about the Hogsmeade Station. Transformers hit 60 minutes like 10-20 seconds after the queue opened on the second day of softs, and the following days were no different. The waits that Transformers is getting now (80-90 min peak) is comparable to what it got during softs. Of course, Transformers is situated in an area with heavy traffic, but so is Hogsmeade Station...hell, Hogsmeade may have been even busier. There were literal "stop dead in your tracks because you will get fucking trampled" walls of people heading from Seuss to Potter all day. Surely they noticed the train station? I can't speak to 7DMT because I'm unsure of the exact location, but I doubt it's clearly sitting along the optimal route to probably the busiest ride/land out there. This makes me think that there may have been other factors affecting the lines, such as park-to-park or simply that the ride is also a form of transportation. If the Hogwarts Express capacity was better, it probably wouldn't bother me as much.

I can accept that the low foot traffic around King's Cross/London can be attributed to its location in the park, but objectively, I think the observation of the lack of weenies, lack of signage indicating attractions, and sparse Potter theming is valid. Not to be confused - I actually respect the hell out of Creative for going this direction, as (imo) it comes off as a significant design risk in pursuit of authenticity, at least compared to other attractions in various parks.

We'll see what happens in the coming days.

 

[CrazedArabMan]

Friend and I are heading out to King's Dominion next week. We live within an hour of Cedar Point and have already went there this year (as well as many years past) but I needed to get away for a week to relax and asked if he wanted to head out to King's Dominion. Looking forward to it and we are staying pretty much right on the park. Any tips or advice (best time to ride some rides, quick ways through the park, etc...) from anyone who has been there recently? We are going on a Tuesday/Wednesday so hoping to beat any crowd and we will ride anything, the bigger/more extreme the better, both of us love coasters and will ride anything.

 

[aparisi2274]

Is it wrong to think there might be other factors at play? Speaking purely about the Hogsmeade Station. Transformers hit 60 minutes like 10-20 seconds after the queue opened on the second day of softs, and the following days were no different. The waits that Transformers is getting now (80-90 min peak) is comparable to what it got during softs. Of course, Transformers is situated in an area with heavy traffic, but so is Hogsmeade Station...hell, Hogsmeade may have been even busier. There were literal "stop dead in your tracks because you will get fucking trampled" walls of people heading from Seuss to Potter all day. Surely they noticed the train station? I can't speak to 7DMT because I'm unsure of the exact location, but I doubt it's clearly sitting along the optimal route to probably the busiest ride/land out there. This makes me think that there may have been other factors affecting the lines, such as park-to-park or simply that the ride is also a form of transportation. If the Hogwarts Express capacity was better, it probably wouldn't bother me as much.

I can accept that the low foot traffic around King's Cross/London can be attributed to its location in the park, but objectively, I think the observation of the lack of weenies, lack of signage indicating attractions, and sparse Potter theming is valid. Not to be confused - I actually respect the hell out of Creative for going this direction, as (imo) it comes off as a significant design risk in pursuit of authenticity, at least compared to other attractions in various parks.

We'll see what happens in the coming days.

You keep referencing transformers which is one single park, and can be taken advantage of by almost every single guest who purchases a ticket to either USF or a park hopper ticket. Yes, people who just buy IOA tickets can not, but for the sake of argument, lets leave them out.

So, lets say they sell 9000 tickets (USF and PH combined). People who have the PH can use HE and Transformers, but people who only have a USF ticket can only use Transformers... So of course the lines at TF might be longer, but that is because 9000 people can use it, where as HE can only be used by a small fraction of that (depending on breakdown of how tickets are purchased).

 

[The Xtortionist]

You keep referencing transformers which is one single park, and can be taken advantage of by almost every single guest who purchases a ticket to either USF or a park hopper ticket. Yes, people who just buy IOA tickets can not, but for the sake of argument, lets leave them out.

So, lets say they sell 9000 tickets (USF and PH combined). People who have the PH can use HE and Transformers, but people who only have a USF ticket can only use Transformers... So of course the lines at TF might be longer, but that is because 9000 people can use it, where as HE can only be used by a small fraction of that (depending on breakdown of how tickets are purchased).

Exactly. The park-to-park requirement could help explain the low waits at IoA. I thought the Transformers comparison made sense for Hogsmeade Station since they're both soft opened accessible rides in heavily-trafficked areas (unlike London which has far less traffic at this particular time). On that basis, HE should be drawing huge waits, so it's probably being hindered by something like having to buy a park-to-park pass.

 

[aparisi2274]

Exactly. The park-to-park requirement could help explain the low waits at IoA. I thought the Transformers comparison made sense for Hogsmeade Station since they're both soft opened accessible rides in heavily-trafficked areas (unlike London which has far less traffic at this particular time). On that basis, HE should be drawing huge waits, so it's probably being hindered by something like having to buy a park-to-park pass.

When Hogwarts and Hogsmeade soft opened the lines were nothing, then when it opened, the entire section was closed off, because it hit capacity, and it was like that for months! London is going to be worse!

 

[brerwolfe]

Let's say you just watched Men in Black for the first time, and right after that you visited USF for the first time, and you heard they had a MIB ride there and when you got there, there was no signage or anything letting you know where the ride was... wouldn't you be able to find it, just by noticing the same spaceship structure that was at the end of the movie?? I am pretty sure you would.

This is funny to me because I've never noticed any spaceship structure outside the ride. I mean, I know there are things there, but I never associated anything from being part of the movie.

I just know it's MiB because there's a giant white orb in front of the building that has the title of the ride plastered on it. Gonna have to look for the spaceship now..

 

[aparisi2274]

This is funny to me because I've never noticed any spaceship structure outside the ride. I mean, I know there are things there, but I never associated anything from being part of the movie.

I just know it's MiB because there's a giant white orb in front of the building that has the title of the ride plastered on it. Gonna have to look for the spaceship now..

These things are in Queens, and in the MIB Movie, they are actually spaceships and the roach was gonna use one to escape.

When you go to MIB ride, you see the same things outside the ride building:

 

[brerwolfe]

Ah, I never made the connection. I thought it was just some kind of retro Jetson's 60s pop art. Funny. Thanks for enlightening me!

 

[Goldrusher]

Ouch.

Yesterday, a tree fell over on Ninja at Magic Mountain... and a train hit it... and the first car derailed.

No injuries. But it looks like it could have been much worse:

Six Flags statement:

"Earlier this evening, a tree branch fell on the track of the roller coaster, Ninja, obstructing the train. Park medical staff and local paramedics were immediately called to the scene. Of the 22 guests safely evacuated, two were transported to a local hospital for precautionary measures."

 

[thefro]

Ah, I never made the connection. I thought it was just some kind of retro Jetson's 60s pop art. Funny. Thanks for enlightening me!

The original observation towers in Queens were for the 1964 World's Fair.

 

[aparisi2274]

I read this on Screamscape last night, and if its true, then NJ just made the stupidest decision in the history of ever....

For reasons than I find hard to fathom, the state of New Jersey has put some serious restrictions on the operations of both rides, that is simply causing more harm than good. So be fore warned… if you intend to ride either of these… get ready for a LONG wait time.
The short story version is this… the state has decided that Six Flags can not run both of these rides at the same time, and is rumored to have gone so far as to require that the park link the ride control systems of each ride together so that there is no chance of it happening. Why? Because they are worried that either on purpose, or on accident, that loose objects from the riders on Kingda Ka may go flying into the riders on Zumanjaro: either horizontally during the launch towards and up the tower, or could fall down on them from the top of the tower. It seems that they felt the roof panel on the top of the Zumanjaro cars provided inadequate protection and the only way to protect the riders is to simply not run the rides at the same time. While it is a slightly different layout, apparently the lack of any problems with the similar Superman / Lexx Luthor combo ride at Six Flags Magic Mountain was not enough to convince them otherwise.
The resulting bit of insanity has caused very long lines as a result so far on both attractions as I’m told the operations go something like this. While Zumanjaro sits empty and idle, Kingda Ka will load and launch two trains back to back. Once they return to the station Kingda Ka goes into a hold and only then are riders allow to load into the Zumanjaro seats and then dispatch into a ride cycle. Once they land again and are removed from the car, Zumanjaro goes back into a hold mode and Kingda Ka can launch two more trains. Rinse… Repeat… and watch the faces of the park guests start to contort as the lines get longer and longer.

Seriously, each time I read this, I facepalm myself over and over again... How dumb is this!! Come on NJ, get your head out of your ass!!!

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

Ouch.

Yesterday, a tree fell over on Ninja at Magic Mountain... and a train hit it... and the first car derailed.

No injuries. But it looks like it could have been much worse:



Six Flags statement:

And an 18 year old was dead also yesterday at Terra Mitica (Spain) in Inferno.

Seems that the safety harness open in the last drop. It's strange that both security parts from the harness failed (the harness itself and the second security belt). They still don't know how could happen and are still investigating. The ride had also passed all security regulations.

Bad day for theme parks it seems.

 

[aparisi2274]

Exactly. The park-to-park requirement could help explain the low waits at IoA. I thought the Transformers comparison made sense for Hogsmeade Station since they're both soft opened accessible rides in heavily-trafficked areas (unlike London which has far less traffic at this particular time). On that basis, HE should be drawing huge waits, so it's probably being hindered by something like having to buy a park-to-park pass.

Here, the following quote was taken from a thread someone started in the OT about today's grand opening:

Even though Diagon Alley has been accessible for some time, today's being called the Grand Opening to commemorate the opening of the Gringots Bank ride. In line right now, which started in the Simpson Land, and people around me are worried the line will be 5 hours long. Anyone here doing Diagon Alley today?

Are you still worried that nobody will know where the land is, or what to do there??

 

[brerwolfe]

The website said universal was gonna open at 9a. Woke up this morning and saw that it was opening at 8a, so I got ready real quick and got over here. They let me pass through the wait outside London with my employee badge, so I got into Diagon Alley before the crowds and just took it all in.

Wonderfully themed. Knockturn Alley is great. And they did a good job with covered areas and air conditioning.

 

[brerwolfe]

Been here for a couple hours walking through the shops, I love it. Wait time for Gringotts was 300 minutes when I left to look at the Hogwarts Express.

 

[aparisi2274]

Been here for a couple hours walking through the shops, I love it. Wait time for Gringotts was 300 minutes when I left to look at the Hogwarts Express.

Whats the est wait time for HE?

 

[LuuKyK]

Been here for a couple hours walking through the shops, I love it. Wait time for Gringotts was 300 minutes when I left to look at the Hogwarts Express.

Ouch. lol

 

[brerwolfe]

No wait. I did a roundtrip in the time it takes to actually ride. Jumped back on immediately and had a cart with a family of four.

 

[gsrjedi]

Thinking about a possible trip to Disney World in November during Food & Wine. I wanna take a day to check out Universal. How crazy do you guys think Diagon Alley will be then?

 

[caramac]

 

[aparisi2274]

Thinking about a possible trip to Disney World in November during Food & Wine. I wanna take a day to check out Universal. How crazy do you guys think Diagon Alley will be then?

Lines will probably be very moderate, considering that most everyone in the US would be in school, and or work. Most of the people in parks during Oct/Nov are Brits who are on holiday.

When I went last Oct for F&W, I waited about 30min on Forbidden Journey, then I just did the single rider line, which had no wait.

 

[zeemumu]

This is funny to me because I've never noticed any spaceship structure outside the ride. I mean, I know there are things there, but I never associated anything from being part of the movie.

I just know it's MiB because there's a giant white orb in front of the building that has the title of the ride plastered on it. Gonna have to look for the spaceship now..

I honestly had no idea that there was an MIB ride when I first went to USF and I found it just fine.

 

[The Xtortionist]

Are you still worried that nobody will know where the land is, or what to do there??

When did I say this?

The land's attractions are objectively unmarked. The land objectively has no weenie until you get inside it. The land objectively has almost no indicators of its IP.

I never said nobody will know what to do. Hardcore fans will visually recognize the signals. A lot of people won't. If I wasn't following theme parks, I would have no idea what King's Cross is. Objectively, there are clear design choices taken with London that run counterpoint to countless other attractions. I am not saying that it's a bad thing. I'm just saying that I saw many guests walk right past an opened King's Cross, not even going inside to learn that park-to-park is required. With the visual subtlety of the land in mind, I think it's reasonable to theorize about it a bit.

 

[aparisi2274]

As of 11am, Gringotts is up to 375 minute wait!

 

[brerwolfe]

Just got home, gonna upload some photos shortly for anyone interested.

 

[SmithnCo]

Haha

Okay, traffic buildup is where I draw the line for potentially going.

 

[aparisi2274]

Just got home, gonna upload some photos shortly for anyone interested.

Yeah, I am interested... Just don't post anything to spoilery.

 

[brerwolfe]

Yeah, I am interested... Just don't post anything to spoilery.

I don't even know what that means.. I NEED RULES.

 

[aparisi2274]

I don't even know what that means.. I NEED RULES.

Don't post anything that could spoil a ride, or a special effect or anything like that. Like the effect in Kings Cross for crossing between the wall to get to track 9 3/4!

Everything else is fair game.

 

[LuuKyK]

Yeah, I think that about proves that its going to be just as successful as Hogsmeade.

Just got home, gonna upload some photos shortly for anyone interested.

Can't wait. I also have some questions if you are willing to answer.

 

[lush]

So, any rumors for phase 3 yet?

 

[SmithnCo]

So, any rumors for phase 3 yet?

Ministry of Magic has been rumored. Maybe where Fear Factor is?

 

[brerwolfe]

Don't post anything that could spoil a ride, or a special effect or anything like that. Like the effect in Kings Cross for crossing between the wall to get to track 9 3/4!

Everything else is fair game.

Which was pretty clever. I had no idea how they were gonna do it, but I liked it.

Can't wait. I also have some questions if you are willing to answer.

I didn't ride Escape from Gringotts, only the Hogwarts Express. I can try and answer other questions though.

 

[lush]

Ministry of Magic has been rumored. Maybe where Fear Factor is?

Yeah, internet says the same thing. That'd definitely be doable considering the location. Not sure what that'd consist of. New attractions in phase 1/2 areas could be doable too. Definitely been jealous of the rumors that Hollywood is getting an enhanced Hogwarts with Great Hall/Gryffindor common room/etc.

 

[brerwolfe]

Still going through some of the photos but thought I'd throw this one out there:

 

[Vyrance]

^^ That looks awesome

 

[brerwolfe]

Do we have a rule on how many photos are acceptable in a single post?

 

[zeemumu]

Disneyland's Fantasmic never gets old. It sucks that they don't have auditorium seating like Disneyworld's but there wouldn't be any place to put it so it's fine.

 

[lush]

Man, that first pic is incredible. Well done.

 

[brerwolfe]

Sorry, really large photos apparently... quoted for size.

 

[bucknuticus]

People are insane....

 

[aparisi2274]

Sorry, really large photos apparently... quoted for size.

Excellent photos!!!

People who braved those crowds today are nuts,.

 

[brerwolfe]

Remember, click to enlarge.

 

[brerwolfe]

Excellent photos!!!

People who braved those crowds today are nuts,.

Thanks! Only a couple more...