I agree that Islands of Adventure has top class themeing and I can’t wait to see how they re-create the Lost Continent into HP world.

I think Disney needs something new, exciting and BIG to beat this. Although I also agree that it is the cumulative effect of bringing many visitors to the Orlando area that makes money for both Disney and Universal as well as the other main Orlando attractions.

i noticed on my recent visit that while some of the lands/attractions were not… “modern”, they were kept up well. as was the entire property. and every little food cart had 2-3 staff (three people to serve lemonade?!?). and what I also noticed was that my inlaws – who are frequent guest at Atlantic City casinos – didn’t always appreciate the subtle things. and that’s what I think still sets Disney apart – sublte ambiance, attention to detail, quality. I mean, any park can have a dolphin show (seriously, Hershey Park used to do one… maybe they still do). not really sure where I’m going with this…. I suppose, I reject the argument that Disney needs to ‘dumb down’ to compete. I think many of the new E-ticket attractions (new in the last 10 years?) are great additions… but if they do that solely to compete with Universal and help keep the teens on property, i don’t think it’ll work and could actually degrade some of the parks better features.

There sure has been a lot of stuff out this week, and this was a good analysis. At this point my money on “the leak” is that it was either a “I’ve got something cool to show you” e-mail to a friend that escaped into the wild from WDI, or it’s an attempt to sabotage a scaled-back effort at WDW (say, just a clone of ‘Mermaid’ and a ‘Princess Faire’ akin to what Disneyland built in the Wonderbra theater).

I think it’s fair to say that Disney Parks are really at a turning point right now. Some people within Disney sense it; a lot of The Big Suits are completely oblivious to it. At stake is what kind of role the parks will play within Disney – as a major business unit in its own right or as a ancillary division squeezing a additional profits from the products of the rest of the company. It’s the Hollywood Records position – they don’t really sign bands anymore in hopes of selling CDs, they instead focus on soundtracks to hit movies and this week’s Disney Channel tweener protobimbo.

A full explanation would require a lengthy article, but in summary the choices facing Disney are very different than the choices facing Universal. It’s not a matter of direct competition: Universal Orlando won’t outdraw WDW in any likely scenario. The real struggle, and the danger for Disney, is to open up the Orlando market – to get people to say “we’re going to Orlando” instead of saying “we’re going to Disney”.

It’s the “landscape is kind of nebulous” that Michael wrote about. Think of Las Vegas. The strip is filled with mega resort each costing far more than a Disney theme park does. Yet no one goes to Vegas and stays inside the same resort for the entire trip even though there’s more than enough inside each resort to keep people entertained. You pick one to stay at – and then run up and down LV Blvd. seeing all the other mega resorts and attractions. No one really cares that these hotels are MGM Mirage vs. Harrahs – they only care that this one is like Venice and that one has a really cool restaurant.

Universal would thrive in an environment of “mobile guests”. Both because Universal has some attractive offerings and also because of some horrendous missteps Disney has made through arrogance and ignorance. So far, however, Disney has been successful at using tricks and gimmicks to keep guests locked in, but they’ve ignored the one thing that will undo everything they’ve done.

People will pay all kinds of money to see something they REALLY want to see.

It’s worked before – it got people to drive an hour from Los Angeles into the boonies orange groves of O.C., it got people to drive the entire length of the east coast and into retched swamp land in Florida. And it has the potential to get people five miles up I-4 with or without “Magical Express”.

It remains to be seen if ‘Harry Potter’ and Universal’s execution are going to be enough to get people to REALLY want to see it. Disney is gambling all of WDW on the negative. If they are wrong, then WDW could become nothing but “This is where they have the ‘High School Musical Show’ park” in Orlando World.

First, Disney does nothing. Takes a wait and see approach.

Second, Harry Potterland is huge and hits Disney where it counts, in the bank.

I guess I had 3 things….

Third, Disney overbuilds and adds several E-tickets to all parks. (I can dream can’t I?)

Back to the point, whether this upgrade is a response to Universal or not, who knows? And maybe… who cares? Progress is good regardless of the reason, eh? Still, it seems this is more a counter-programming sort of strategy. Disney is playing to their strengths (princesses, 7 year old girls) rather than competing for the Wizard crowd necessarily. and in the short term, maybe they limit whatever drain they might experience due to the Wizard, and in the long-term, they’ve just redone/added to/improved a major section of their core park. seems smart.