Thanks for the welcome! Lots of great info here. Also appreciate your opinions.Welcome to the forums Opie! Well all of the Marvel attractions at IOA were put into place long before Disney's acquisition of Marvel in 2009. If I can recall correctly, Universal removed all merchandise relating to the Marvel attractions from the park as that money would just be going to Disney now.
I'm a proud capitalist and I'm all for Universal going the extra mile to increase revenue, me using the word 'homage' was more from a pure theme park perspective and not from a business perspective, although it has many business implications. Obviously the Potter franchise is a cash cow and will continue to be a huge draw for crowds for years to come. However, I'm a big believer that variety is truly the spice of life. Obviously we live in a business world today that is most known for acquisitions and joint ventures, but it bothers me just a little bit that Universal would be so quick to use up SO much of the very limited Hollywood real estate they have to place more of a franchise they already have in the park. A franchise they had no part in creating or producing, when referring to the films. As a businessman myself, I understand that Universal worked hard to receive the Harry Potter license for theme park use from Warner Brothers and they want to put it to good use, but when the name of your theme park is Universal Studios and with both Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley in Hollywood taking up 50% of the parks total space, you might as well change the name of the park to Harry Potter World.
Diagon Alley is actually great proof of this, and people like Wesker on here who were in Orlando around the time of it's opening can attest that the turnout wasn't exactly what Universal was hoping for. I think Diagon Alley is an amazing land that Universal curated and Escape From Gringotts looks like an insanely fun ride! But Universal spent an estimated $400 Million to create a 2nd land for Harry Potter and after the first 2 months of its opening in Orlando, the attendance took a big dip and was nothing like the opening turnout that Hogsmeade saw.
Yes, my understanding is that Disney passed on it, which in hindsight was an extraordinary lost opportunity. Universal Studios worldwide attendance has grown 69% since 2009, while Disney has grown 13%. Disney reportedly turned JKR down due to lack of control and unwillingness to invest the amount asked. As far as "one entity dominating their parks," Star Wars land in Disney's Hollywood Studios is taking up the equivalent amount of property. Assigning 7% of acreage isn't much of a sacrifice for the windfall revenue generated from IPs done right.Well, Disney didn't really "lose" HP to Universal but instead just passed on it. If I remember correctly, wasn't it offered to them first but they turned it down because of how much JK Rowling was asking for? Diagon Alley was something Universal HAD to do as part of their contract with Rowling (as is the rumored phase 3 of it over there). If this is true then it would make sense as to why Disney turned it down, because as Stylowtrix said, Disney doesn't want to have one single property dominating their parks. Universal, however was desperate for something new and huge and jumped at the chance for it, even though that meant sacrificing a lot of land to only one property. I could be wrong about this though. It's just what I remember reading about.
Red Room Rock-It. The seatbelts are merely rope and zip ties.Universal was in no way at all reluctant to build Diagon Alley even if it was built into the contract in some way. They wanted it, and spent more money than Rowling and WB insisted to get it open a mere four years after Hogsmeade.
(as for Disney, it's notorious that WDI and JK Rowling will both being divas and couldn't handle not having complete creative control, and that was more than just theme park logistics... their disagreement over the execution of the project was so gigantic that despite Universal pitching first [a ridiculously cheap retheme of Lost Continent's Enchanted Forest with Hogwarts attached] and disgusting Rowling, she actually went right back to them afterward and they quickly wisened [and shut] up)
But let's be serious here: outside of what's already at USH, what new/viable properties that they own have they not yet utilized? Audiences wanted Despicable Me and F&F attractions, they now exist. They had so many troubles at reviving the classic monsters franchises, and you're never going to top BTTF: The Ride. E.T. lives on through a gigantic parking garage that exists today.
The recent success year that Universal had was made up of movies that targeted many demographics, and the ones viable for theme parks has already been tapped. The ones that aren't... well I don't think Uni has Fifty Shades of Grey, Ted and Straight Outta Compton rides on the drawing board (you can make your jokes here now). Pets is the next possible one... and it's coming.
I can tell you exactly why this wont happen:I have no insider info (just making this up), but for shoots and grins, here's one possible path for Hogwart's Express. The area at the bottom of the stairs next to Jurassic World would need London retheming, with a King's Cross facade next to Jurassic World. In this example, there could be soundstage 24/25 impacts. The distance of the train's path here matches that of the train in Orlando. The difference is the gradual incline, but I would think seatbelts would be enough. This path avoids switchback routes that I think would be problematic. The assumes the tracks would be elevated like in Orlando and lie off of one side of Kirk Douglas Dr. (probably the tree side). This passes the fire house -- so that may or may not be an issue. Also assumes that guests would have to take an escalator down to to the studio trams to board. Anyway, just food for thought.
But again, if we're not going to rule out Diagon Alley replacing WaterWorld, why rule out Hogwarts Express?Building a monorail on the side of a mountain is not as easy as it is on flat land, for obvious reasons. And besides the road needing to be accessible for the fire department, you forget that there is the Starway in the way of your original blue-line route. Not to mention "IF" DA was replacing Mummy, your route would not work. While the red-line route is more plausible, it still WON'T happen! Too many variables stand in the way, which is why the rumor of HE just being a simulator attraction exists.
And as crazy as it is to believe, the rumor of DA going on the Upper Lot where Waterworld is located, is actually a legit rumor being considered. It is obviously a "I'll believe it when I see it" rumor, but considering how this park is doing things lately.... we should not rule anything out (except for a HE to the Lower Lot, that we can rule out for now )