Universal Studios Hollywood opens their version of The Wizarding
World of Harry Potter on Thursday this week. What kind of impact do you
think this will have on the park and how do you think it will impact Orlando?
- Steve
- Steve
Steve,
If the reception by
the West Coast audience is close to what Florida experienced when they opened
Harry Potter in 2010, then “Katie bar the door!”
We expect the
opening to be really strong. I remember
going to the opening of Harry Potter in 2010.
John McReynolds, current IAAPA Chair and Senior Vice President of
Universal, invited me to the opening event.
It was wall to wall people. The
lines during the first several weeks were 8 hours long – not to get into the
park, but to enter the Wizarding World of Harry Potter section! People did not seem to mind the long
lines. They were heavily into Harry Potter,
and those in line were having a good time savoring all the fun of meeting other
Harry Potter enthusiasts.
I anticipate a huge
attendance from the local population and the secondary market, followed soon
thereafter by people from the tertiary markets.
You can bet that merchandise and food/beverage sales will be strong,
particularly the butterbeer, which sold over 1 million we were told during the
introductory season.
One of the biggest
issues with which Universal will have to cope is crowd management and capacity
issues. California, as you may know, is
a smaller park spatially than Orlando.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in California is about one-half the
size of the Orlando attraction. This
means bigger crowds in tighter space.
So, I am sure Universal Studios in California has crowd management at
the top of their priority list when it opens.
What a great time to
be part of our exciting industry. We
have so many good things happening, not just in the USA but globally. Not too long from now, we will be focusing on
Disney’s Shanghai opening. What an
opening that will be!
