Universal Orlando fears slump as it breaks ground on Harry Potter, phase two
Skift Take
The entrance of Wizarding World of Harry Potter in 2010 finally gave Disney an Orlando competitor to worry about and, since then, it's been a bit of an arms race in central Florida. The necessary expansion of Potter world will only make the battle more interesting.
At the beginning of 2010, just a few months before the opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, attendance at Universal Orlando suddenly slumped.
The number of visitors to Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure sank 10 percent in the first quarter when compared with same period a year earlier. The sharp drop reversed a trend in 2009 in which Universal had been reporting progressively narrower year-over-year declines.
The most likely reason, experts agreed at the time, was that consumers were opting to hold off visiting Universal until the $265 million Wizarding World, in development for three years, finally opened to guests.
Universal may soon face the same problem again.
Construction is now well underway in Universal Studios on what industry followers widely believe will be the next phase of Wizarding World -- a second Potter land, likely themed to London, rising on the former site of the Jaws ride and its Am
