Huge crowds for Harry Potter: The Exhibition offers clues as to how well Universal Orlando’s Wizarding World will be received

Jim Hill

15 years ago

Denny P. dropped me a line on Saturday to ask:

Did you see Jason Garcia’s story in the Sentinel yesterday about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter? As a Disney fan, this sounds like complete hype to me. But what do you think? Is this Islands of Adventure addition really going to be a game changer for Universal Orlando?

Let me get this straight: You’re seriously asking whether a $200 million addition to IOA based on the highest earning film franchise of all time is going to have a significant impact on UOR’s attendance levels?
Silly muggle. Even The Walt Disney Company now acknowledges the power of
Potter. (Don’t believe me? Then you probably weren’t watching ABC Family yesterday afternoon. When — just as they’ve done multiple times in the past — this Disney-owned cable channel ran “Prison of Azkaban” & “Goblet of Fire” back-to-back. And then there’s the Mouse’s real motivation for greenlighting WDW’s Fantasy Forest project. Which I’ll get to in a minute … ).

But
you’re looking for definitive proof that The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is going to be
huge, Denny? That visitors to Central Florida are actually going to go out of
their way to come check out this new area to Universal’s Islands of Adventure? Okay, then. Let’s talk about how Harry Potter: The Exhibition has been doing since this 10,000-square-foot display first began traveling around the country back in April of last year.

Copyright Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Harry Potter Publishing Rights copyright JKR

The crowds really came out in Chicago for this traveling exhibit’s 5-month-long stop at the Museum of Science and Industry. Take — for example — June 19th, 2009. When 19,995 people made their way to the MSI to check out the more than 200 costumes & props that were on display. And for the final weeks of Harry Potter: The Exhibition, MSI officials actually pushed back this exhibit’s closing time ’til midnight on Friday and Saturday nights in an effort to accommodate as many Potter fans as possible.

And this traveling exhibit proved to be equally popular when it moved on to Boston’s Museum of Science in October. Just last month during Christmas Vacation week, 30,000 people made a special trip into the city, braving the snow & the cold to check out Harry Potter: The Exhibition. Which is why — in order to keep those crowds under control — MOS staffers sometimes had to bend the rules.

The interior of Hagrid’s hut. Photo by Chris Hollo, Hollo Photographies, Inc.

“We’re only supposed to let 50 people into the exhibit at a time and then keep those groups spaced 5 minutes apart,” explained one unnamed HPTE staffer. “But things got so busy & so crazy during the Christmas Vacation week that we sometimes had to bump up that number from 50 to 60 people. Which made things really hot & crowded inside of the exhibit area. But that at least allowed us to get the line outside back under control.”

Kids pulling up mandrakes in the Herbology area at the exhibit. Photo by Chris Hollo, Hollo Photographies, Inc.

And since the Ontario Science Centre is already reporting extremely strong ticket sales for the third stop of the “Harry Potter: The Exhibition” tour … Well, Universal Orlando has been keeping close tabs on all of the crowd control challenges that this traveling exhibit has been facing. With an eye toward some of the operational changes that UOR may now need to make at Islands of Adventure in order to handle all of the Harry Potter fans that are sure to come surging into that theme park later this year.

Harry Potter and Ron Weasley’s dormitory rooms. Photo by Chris Hollo, Hollo Photographies, Inc.

To explain: Ever since Universal Orlando’s second theme park first opened back in May of 1999, the typical IOA visitor — as they exited Port of Entry — would turn left and then head over to Marvel Super Hero Island so that they could get on line for the Incredible Hulk Coaster.

But once The Wizarding World opens later this Spring, Universal Orlando officials anticipate that the typical IOA visitor will now turn right as they exit Port of Entry and then walk straight through Suess Landing. They won’t stop for any of the rides, shows or attractions that are located in this whimsical part of that theme park. No, the current belief in-house at UOR is that these tourists will blow right past Suess Landing, motor on through what’s left of The Lost Continent and then just keep going until they reach Hogsmeade Village.

As one Universal Orlando veteran told me last week:

“We’re probably going to have to completely rethink how we staff Islands of Adventure. At least during the first half of the day. With so many of our Guests now going right instead of left as they enter the park, that means we’re going to have to temporarily shift staff and resources away from Marvel Super Hero Island & Toon Lagoon and then place them over in Suess Landing, The Lost Continent & Wizarding World in order to handle the crowds.

Things will eventually balance out again over the course of the day. But at least during the morning hours for the first couple of years that Harry Potter is open, this is where we anticipate that most of our Guests will be headed. That since the Wizarding World will be the main reason that many of these people will be visiting Islands, this new addition to our theme park will be their very first
stop of the day.”

And if the crowds that have been turning out for Harry Potter: The Exhibition (which will end its run at Boston’s Museum of Science on February 21st) are any indication, The Wizarding World is going to be one very busy place during its next few years of operation.

So long story short, Denny: Believe the hype. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter really is going to be a game changer. There are hundreds of thousands of fans of the films & the books who have dreamed of someday being able to visit Hogwarts. And this $200 million addition to IOA will finally going to make that dream come true. Which is why — the very next time they’re in Orlando — these folks are going to make a beeline (or — at the very least – take the Bee Line) to Islands of Adventure.

And Disney Parks & Resorts knows this. I mean, you can’t seriously think that it’s a coincidence that — just as The Wizarding World was entering the final phase of its construction — that The Walt Disney Company announced the Magic Kingdom’s Fantasy Forest project? Which will be the largest / most expensive expansion of that WDW theme park in this Resort’s 39 year history.

Trust me, Denny. Mickey knows all too well the impact that this IOA addition is going to have on Central Florida tourism. Which is why Mouse House officials eventually okayed construction of this $300 million Fantasyland extension. More importantly, this is why the Fantasy Forest project’s nickname (in-house, anyway) is the Potter Swatter.

Your thoughts?