Recording Now 6/22

[mainegal]

WOW!

I went to bed early last night when this was on page three.

Just "wasted" fifteen minutes reading the "drama" and admiring the cakes.

Peace to all!

 

[jeanigor]

I miss WO, anyone heard from him?

Don is a trouble maker.

Now I'm offended! I am NOT a guy!

Good luck, Lou. You need it.

I'm a guy, but prefer to be referred to as "His Imperial Highness"

Hmmmmmmmmmm

I wonder what Pete"s rant will be about.

Any ideas?

I'm POSITIVE its about the discontinuation of the Wildlife Excursions for concierge level guests at AKL stating 12/19. I'd bet the farm on it!

 

[safetymom]

It's worth waiting for.

 

[TMcDwyer]

It's worth waiting for.

 

[kaligal]

I'm going to hold off on the criticism until I actually hear what Pete has to say. But I will be very disappointed in him if he claims to be shocked in any way that the opening of this HP thing went badly.

It was so easy to predict that it would not go smoothly...that it would be a madhouse. Anyone with amusement/theme park experience should have known that it would be insane.

Choosing to go, anyway, is great. I support those nutty folks who do the Black Friday shopping, too. Not something I'd ever want to be involved in, but good for them.

But you can't go to Black Friday shopping or to the opening of this wildly popular and much anticipated HP land and claim to be shocked that it's crazy. Pete has more amusement/theme park experience than your average person, too. If he didn't predict that it would be insane, he really should have.

Can't be shocked by heat in Orlando in the summertime, either. Especially if you live there.

Putting in my $.02 like everyone else. But, again, waiting to hear what is actually said before cementing an opinion.

I'm a big pocast fan. Really am. I'm not 100% loyal and I don't support and agree with every little thing that comes out of a podcast person's mouth, nor do I take their opinions as gospel truth...but I really am a fan.

And it is as a fan that I'm going to be disappointed if Pete didn't realize that this HP thing would be something a sane person might consider avoiding. I did. We scheduled our last pre-summer trip (I avoid Orlando in the summer) for before it opened on purpose.

I didn't think the lines would be as long as they were. I still think Uni paid people to stand in line to keep people talking about the long lines. But I knew the waits would be extremely long - a minimum of 4 hours. I expect Pete to know it with me, having had a decent amount of amusement/theme park experience himself.

Don't let me down, Pete.

 

[Cherinva]

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

Choosing to go, anyway, is great. I support those nutty folks who do the Black Friday shopping, too. Not something I'd ever want to be involved in, but good for them.

Excellent post. It should be noted that everyone who went on Friday seems to have had a fantastic time. People were BRAGGING about surviving the 8 hour weights. PotterFans are a different breed.

 

[dpuck1998]

I'm going to hold off on the criticism until I actually hear what Pete has to say. But I will be very disappointed in him if he claims to be shocked in any way that the opening of this HP thing went badly.

It was so easy to predict that it would not go smoothly...that it would be a madhouse. Anyone with amusement/theme park experience should have known that it would be insane.

Choosing to go, anyway, is great. I support those nutty folks who do the Black Friday shopping, too. Not something I'd ever want to be involved in, but good for them.

But you can't go to Black Friday shopping or to the opening of this wildly popular and much anticipated HP land and claim to be shocked that it's crazy. Pete has more amusement/theme park experience than your average person, too. If he didn't predict that it would be insane, he really should have.

Can't be shocked by heat in Orlando in the summertime, either. Especially if you live there.

Putting in my $.02 like everyone else. But, again, waiting to hear what is actually said before cementing an opinion.

I'm a big pocast fan. Really am. I'm not 100% loyal and I don't support and agree with every little thing that comes out of a podcast person's mouth, nor do I take their opinions as gospel truth...but I really am a fan.

And it is as a fan that I'm going to be disappointed if Pete didn't realize that this HP thing would be something a sane person might consider avoiding. I did. We scheduled our last pre-summer trip (I avoid Orlando in the summer) for before it opened on purpose.

I didn't think the lines would be as long as they were. I still think Uni paid people to stand in line to keep people talking about the long lines. But I knew the waits would be extremely long - a minimum of 4 hours. I expect Pete to know it with me, having had a decent amount of amusement/theme park experience himself.

Don't let me down, Pete.

I'll agree on many of your points, any sane persons realizes its going to be a mad house. Also, any normal person isn't going to agree with everything said no any podcast, radio show or any other person for that matter. That said, based on what I've seen/heard/read already, this went way beyond a crazy opening weekend. They screwed this thing up from square one. The packages for hotel guest before the official opening were a mess. The 6am thing was unacceptable. The way they sold something that isn't half of what they are saying it is falls squarely on Universal. With all that, I'm excited to get a chance to visit this area in December. I, however, am fully aware of what i'm going to see and did my research so I know its not a theme park, but a small walk through area with one ride.

 

[mainegal]

PotterFans are a different breed.

Surely the same could be said of Disney fans?

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

Surely the same could be said of Disney fans?

Absolutely.

 

[dpuck1998]

Excellent post. It should be noted that everyone who went on Friday seems to have had a fantastic time. People were BRAGGING about surviving the 8 hour weights. PotterFans are a different breed.

sounds heavy

j/k, but I can imagine if someone was willing to wait 8 hours to see this, they are already sold on it. Like I said before, I'm already sold on it and can't wait to see it. I do think it has been a colossal failure (opinion) in the way it has been handled. I love Universal, but every time I visit I am failed in some way. I've written several trip reports about it and I keep going back. If things were better I would go more often and stay on site more often. But things from the boats running after the parks open, trash overflowing at 8am, stands not open when the park is open, lack of "pluses" that many of us have come to expect. Universal has a great product, I just wish they would see that and go the extra mile to make it better.

 

[jeanigor]

Excellent post. It should be noted that everyone who went on Friday seems to have had a fantastic time. People were BRAGGING about surviving the 8 hour weights. PotterFans are a different breed.

Surely the same could be said of Disney fans?

GMTA! I was just about to say the same thing.

 

[FireDancer]

Well, that was the liveliest "we're recording thread ever".

I wouldn't be caught dead on pretty much any opening weekend. This goes for popular movies, park (or area) openings, tech gadget releases, or anything else.

I do agree with Kaligal that if you are going to go to any of these things, whether it be the opening of WWoHP or an iPhone release, you have to know you are going to be one head in a very large herd. It is one of many hassles of being an early adopter which is pretty much what people in IoA this month will be. If I were into harry Potter I would just wait a couple of months until some of the hype died down and just go to the area then. If I wait a few months to see WWoHP, a few weeks to see Toy Story 3, or wait until the first wave of iPhone users get theirs to head to the AT&T store I still get the same product with less hassle and headache.

I'm sure that, like with most things in life, the reality lies somewhere between the pictures painted by the Universal apologists and the Universal bashers.

 

[jeanigor]

I'm sure that, like with most things in life, the reality lies somewhere between the pictures painted by the Universal apologists and the Universal bashers.

Totally boss.

 

[exwdwcm]

looking forward to the podcast, i am so so far behind.....stupid work. can't wait to hear a rant!!!

welcome to the madness Lou.

I am also one of those that avoids opening weekends or crowds of any sort when at all possible. I just don't have the patience for waiting in long lines. We even avoid opening weekend movies, heck, we usually wait 3-4 weeks until after a movie comes out to go see it. I just know i don't like dealing with the crowds, heat or not. I give those people that waited 8 hours in the heat kudos.....they are much more passionate than me. some people just love to be a part of something like that, no matter the pain or consequences like the heat, i guess.

anyhow, i am disappointed to hear how things were handled, especially the miscommunication about the 6am opening for resort guests. I would have been on fire over that one. That is pretty bad- i mean how does something like that get communicated out to the guests? I just don't get it. Even after working for the mouse myself, and knowing they had tons of screw ups on their end too, i just can't imagine how something like this happened.

A close friend of mine and her family just returned from Orlando last Thursday. They stayed at POR, and did Disney, but also two days at Universal. They were able to participate in the soft opening for WWoHP. Not sure which day, but they had a ball. She is a big HP fan and while she commented the area was smaller than she imagined and she was disappointed in that..... she thought the attractions were well done. They were able to ride the coaster 3x and do the Journey twice. So sounds like the soft openings were better handled than the real thing.