To some extent. My understanding is Universal is doing construction 24/7 (maybe not literally). Disney has no reason to push. Universal closed an entire section. It's probably takes more time when you're doing construction near guest areas.
For the rumored Harry Potter Expansion... Yes... They closed the entire section of the park. However.....
In the span of less than 15months Universal filed permits, Tore down a building, built a new much larger building, and will have opened a brand new E Ticket style attraction (admittedly a California Clone) that is in a space not much larger than a city block that is completely surrounded on all 4 sides by guest areas.
This of course started during a busy summer season after they had just opened a new attraction in the park which was helping to drive crowds into the Studios park.
Compare that to Disney... Current timelines have construction on the Mine train surrounded by guest areas taking over 15 months since the New Fantasyland soft open started last year. Before the Soft open began, They'd already been working on site prep (retaining walls and excavation) and vertical construction for a couple months.
Universal has proven that a themepark can quickly build a new land and several new attractions within a short timeframe, if you are willing to put the resources into it.
To give an idea on the number of projects going on at once at Universal over the past couple years.... Take Toontown and completely demolish it and build a whole new land from scratch (without using any clones of existing attractions). As part of this land, You are going to build a new interactive attraction that will double as a transportation system from the back of the MK into EPCOT. While You are working on this project (and not doing anything to actually confirm what it is, let alone pat yourself on the back publically for the work you are doing), You then decide to completely raze the Wonders of Life Pavilion in EPCOT and build a new E-Ticket attraction [you can clone something from another Park). Then while you are putting the finishing touches on your old Wonders of Life pavilion attraction, Go over to MGM and flesh out the area around Star Tours. You can remove the facade of the American Idol theater and backstage warehouse restaurant and start working to retheme the existing areas with new star wars themed shops and restaurants to create a much nicer looking cohesive theme for the area.
Oh! and while doing all this, You can also have opened a new refurb of Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom to give it a new preshow and experience (while keeping many of the structural ride systems in place), and completely redo Illuminations to have a new lagoon show.
Now... instead of doing all that spread out among 4 parks.... do everything in 1 park.
And THIS sentiment...if it catches on en masse...is exactly where Disney would be vulnerable and what would be the catalyst for them to change their ways...
But we're not there yet. The numbers still put universals market share as significant but not a major threat at this point.
I'm sure they are watching more attentively though...
Honestly I'm curious to see what the numbers will look like after Potter Phase 2 and the new Universal "Value" resort opens (which is much more like a Disney Moderate in it's perks and feel.... but at a Disney Value price). Phase 1 made everyone look at the Universal parks anew, but most of the growth was just at the 1 park with little spillover since the other park was still someone dated. With Phase 2 and everything else they've done recently at the studios park over the past couple years, I'm interested to see how the total growth at the resort will be impacted. Right now it's hard for some people to justify the 2 day or 2 park passes.... but with major draws in both parks, I COULD easily see the jump from a 2 day 2 park ticket to 3 or 4 days being much easier to people to justify.
And add in the new onsite resort with it's size and pricepoint, if it's anything like the comparison between the Universal Deluxe's and Disney Deluxes, it's quite possible that Disnye will start to see more defections to the "darkside" than just people going on a day trip to check out "the harry potter park".
sorry you re right it will be 12 person cars...but it will be on a track like mummy..it will use screens as well as physical sets......think of it this way.. its a hybrid of mummy and spider man
there are several sites with a description of the ride im not an insider or anything
FWIW... Mummy uses screens too. Just look at the Scarabs scene and the car rotation room. The issue won't necessarily be with the screens, It's how will they be used and how big a part of the overall experience are they.
I'm glad they're planning to make the Hogwarts Express interactive. I think they should've done that from the start. I'm not against the idea of more cool shops; I just think they need more Harry Potter rides/experiences. For me, shops are a one-time thing. I don't keep revisiting the same shops on multiple trips. Rides/experiences are worth returning to though. And I thought the original streetscape was intended to be Diagon Alley because they sell the wands and owls, etc. there. Maybe I'm not remembering the movie well enough. Anyhoo, any expansion is good expansion but I'd like to see them focus more on attractions than shops. Of course, from the financial perspective, I can see why they're doing it. And as for the coaster ... I still think 12-person cars are too many for that ride. I also don't like the idea of the screens. I'm sure I'm in the minority on this but it's because I am very prone to motion sickness. That's why we haven't returned to US - too many motion attractions for us. I could never do Spiderman. I did the HP ride and had my eyes open for probably less than a minute in total. LOL What I saw of it (the reality part rather than the screens) was very cool and I'm glad I did it once, but I won't do it again. My Dad and hubby both got sick on that ride, and someone puked right before we got on the last time we were there.
And the Simpsons ...
WHOAAA!!! I saw about 10 seconds of that ride then closed tight for the rest. It was BRUTAL! Oh how I hate the VR trend.
12 person cars aren't necessarily that big. Mummy I believe is actually a 16 person car and doesn't seem that big. (4 rows of 4 people).
