Hey everybody and welcome to a three-park hopping cross-universe Update! Got lots to start, so start we shall.
KINGDOM
-Crowds. THE UNBEARABLE CROWDS!
-Crowds were high.
-They need to bring back Davy Jones, Blackbeard's projection is unintelligible in both audio and face.
-The hat pirate did have hats.
-Haunted Mansion queue and ghosts are still baffling and bad. The ghosts at the end in particular are still very poorly done and boarding on flat out bad show. Mainly because they're just so flat.
-Big Thunder is still fun, but the missing wood planks are pretty bad, and pretty much all the effects aren't working or are flat-out gone.
-While Toontown station is closed, the train still stops there to refuel. So you just have to wait there looking at an ugly unkept wooden green wall. No signage, no decoration, just ugly wooden walls and trash people have thrown out. It's EXTREMELY bad show. At DCA the walls there are beautiful. Are you telling me they couldn't even put a single sign there? The spiel mentions "Look at all those posters!" so maybe they intend too, but it was still pretty awful and very Kingdom-typical.
EPCOT
-Epcot was just PACKED. ALL the parking lots were being used. Insane.
-Lots of drunken-ness. Hhhrrrm.
-Epcot is crazy pretty at night none the less.
IOA
-Sunday! Islands of Adventure!
-Crowds were low to mild.
-Went on spiderman really early, only a few people on the ride. But better yet...The ride kept stopping! Seemed just like blocking problems, I think they added a vehicle or something. It was awesome! Got to see the fire effect from the scene before, watching it float up into the rafters. But better yet-Got to see the "Falling building" reset. It's MASSIVE! And it just LAUNCHES up in three parts! They offered a re-ride to the other people on, but I loved it. Heh.
-Potterevent! We won admission into one of the panels, and that was cool. Just a Q&A with a few of the cast, and they were running other panels and making of sessions. So all of these events were for the people who paid for the package thing, but there was plenty of room everywhere and a public standby. The CRAZY fans were there, but all they had out was A-frame info signs, and no schedule or notification of the event to day guests. I think to get this to take off, they'll need to do the following...
1.Drop the paid event as the main thing. Make it a premium extra and the event open to all dayguests.
2. Let WB handle stars and such, and not be the headline thing. It just kind of seemed like a trade show.
3. The name. "WB presents Harry Potter Home Entertainment Celebration" is a VERY trade show name.
4. Again, make it public. Publish schedules and decorate it, have a firework show or something. I think Universal needs to take a page from Star Wars Weekends here. It needs to draw the dedicated fans and the undedicated fans. As it were, this was just a low-attended premium fan trade show taking place on an average day at the park.
-Speaking of Star Wars, to the teener behind me who said "Star Wars fans can suck it, we have better fans"- Shut up. You literally don't know what you are taking about. A: Star Wars fans actually love it enough to criticize it. B: You didn't have to find Harry Potter. You were freaking required to read it in school idiot. C: You know what they call "Star Wars" and "Harry Potter" fans? G'D EVERYONE. You aren't special in any way.
-Forbidden Journey and Frozen Butterbeer. Yes please.
-They setup a red carpet for the after-hours parties, but put up big blockades and mats out, complete with Team Members guiding people off the carpets. Needless to say, everyone finds this annoying and is all the more reason no average guest there and had no idea what this event was or if there was any benefit to attend. Hopefully Universal will make this a Star Wars Weekends-esque event.
-Doctor Who fans are better anyway.
OK, that's all for that. Now this is all of this!
Enjoy!
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https://picasaweb.google.com/116649166152221553706/EpcotServoSUpdates240SeparateWays#5674963786578693186
