The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
In between coughing up my lungs today, I've been doing a little research on the Harry Potter theme park that will be opening in Orlando this spring. The Superbowl commercial piqued my interest in the park. This is a conglomeration of what I've learned so far.
Universal Orlando
Universal Orlando is set up kind of like the Disney resort is set up here in California. We have Disneyland, California Adventure, and Downtown Disney. They have Universal Studios Florida, Universal Islands of Adventure, and Universal CityWalk. The whole complex is called Universal Orlando.
- CityWalk is just like Universal CityWalk here in Universal City: a collection of shops, restaurants, and clubs which are open to the public.
- Universal Studios Florida is kind of like Universal Studios in Hollywood: it is a working film and TV studio plus a theme park. Apparently, they shoot TNA wrestling there. It's probably bigger than Universal Studios Hollywood, since the abundance of cheap land is a major reason all these theme parks build in Orlando, so it likely has more attractions. But it doesn't have a studio tour like they do in Hollywood.
- Universal Islands of Adventure is purely a theme park. It is separated into six "islands" which are the different themed sections. These include an island for Marvel Superheroes (kind of weird now that Disney owns Marvel), and one for Jurassic Park, as well as a Dr. Seuss area and one section devoted to outdated cartoons no one cares about anymore, such as Dudley Do-Right and Popeye. One island, "The Lost Continent," devoted to ancient Greek and Arabian myths (including Sinbad) is where the Harry Potter stuff is being added.
The two parks are separate, with separate entry fees, though packages can be purchased allowing entrance to both, similar to the way it works with Disneyland and California Adventure.
Potneyland
Here is the official site for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter:
http://www.universalorlando.com/harrypotter/
The Superbowl commercial:
The site is pretty, and the map was created by the same artists who created the Marauders' Map for the movie. Apparently, this is just one example of how the theme park has engaged production artists from the Harry Potter movies in the creation of the theme park. The site is quite nicely designed, though a little lacking in content. The News page is a replica of the animated newspapers in the movies, but the individual attraction descriptions show only artist renderings of the still-unopen shops and rides.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is due to open this spring. The site doesn't give a hard date, though the booking site seems to target May 28, barring any delays. Of course, there should also be "soft openings" (kind of like beta testing) prior to the grand opening. Memorial Day weekend is a huge tourism time, so it makes sense for them to try to open before then. A soft opening may occur as early as March 20.
Central to the "World" is Hogsmeade, where all the shops and restaurants appear to be.
The first thing you'll see upon entering is a replica of the Hogwarts Express locomotive. In the books, the Hogsmeade station was where the kids would arrive on the Express, then take a ride across/around the lake to the school, so I guess that's what this will represent.
Dervish and Banges - based on the Hogsmeade shop that sold magical instruments, this shop appears to sell costume and prop replicas and toys
Honeydukes - based on the Hogsmeade candy shop that had a secret passage into Hogwarts, this shop will sell sweets
Ollidanver's Wand Shop - a reproduction of the Diagon Alley shop where Harry bought his wand, this shop will sell wands, including replicas of the movie wands. Apparently, there will be actors and some special effects to demonstrate the magic of the wands, so it is more of an "experience" than just a shop, in which a wand will "choose" you.
Zonko's - based on the Hogsmeade shop which sold magical practical joke items, this shop looks like it will sell toys and gifts.
Owl Post - based on the wizard post offices, this is a post office from which one can send postcards with a Hogsmeade postmark.
Three Broomsticks - based on the Hogsmeade pub which served butterbeer, this is the park's theme restaurant. Of course, it will be much larger than the pub in the books/movies, and it will have some "magical entertainment." You will be able to drink butterbeer here, which is some variation on root beer, and not that butterscotch Schnapps concoction some of you have been enjoying.
Not appearing on the official site:
Owlery - named after the room in one of the school towers where students kept their owls, this will be right next to the Owl Post, this will be a resting place with benches, and owls roosting above.
Hog's Head - named after the shady little Hogsmeade pub owned by Dumbledore's brother, this pub will be right next to the Three Broomsticks, and may serve alcohol.
Rides
At the far end of Hogsmeade stands Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, atop a rocky crag. The entire structure, castle and rocky crag combined, will stand 150 feet tall. The Hogwarts building itself appears to be 1/4 scale (or probably even smaller), done in forced perspective to look more massive. You only get to experience Hogwarts as a ride called Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. This will, presumably, zip you through the various well-known locations within the school. The ride itself will consist of six riders on a bench at the end of a Kuka KR 1000 Titan industrial robotic arm, like those used in auto manufacturing. These things can handle over a ton of weight and whip you around 360 degrees, more or less at will. The robo-arms will travel on tracks and toss you about environments created through video projection as well as other special effects. This may even allow for variable programming, giving small kids a gentler experience and adults a wilder ride. The ride will start via the Floo network, and take you around Hogwarts as well as out into the Forbidden Forest, and will include Dementors and spiders. Rumors also indicate that you will see Wizard's Chess, the Chamber of Secrets (with animatronic basilisk... avert your eyes!), and the Whomping Willow. Supposedly, the ride will be 3D, and end with a broom ride (quidditch anyone?).
Kinda like this.
At the end of the ride, you will be dumped off into a shop called Filch's Emporium of Confiscated Goods. In the books, Filch was the embittered old caretaker of the school who was always trying to catch troublemakers and confiscate their contraband. The shop will likely sell Potter themed apparel and gifts.
At the time of the opening, there should be two additional rides: Flight of the Hippogriff, a gentler rollercoaster for younger visitors, and the Dragon Challenge, a Goblet of Fire themed dual rollercoaster. As I understand it, both rollercoasters already exist, but are re-purposed with a Harry Potter theme. Hopefully, if the park does well enough, more rides will be added later. The Hippogriff ride is currently known as the Flying Unicorn. The Dragon Challenge is currently known as the Dueling Dragons. Hagrid's htu will be built by the Hippogriff ride, and his voice will remind you to bow to the hippogriff before approaching.
Here are a couple of "construction updates." Basically, they are just fans who have gone to the park and shot some home video of what they can see over the walled-off section.
As you can see, things look pretty far along from the outside. Reportedly, the construction of the Hogwarts ride is complete, they are just working on the programming and effects.
Check out this site. A couple of crazy hardcore theme park fanatics hired a helicopter tour to fly them over Universal Orlando so they could take super spy photos of the work in progress on Potterworld! They posted a ton of aerial photos. How awesome is that?
Here are some ground level photos.
Basically, for the Harry Potter addition to Islands of Adventure, they have created a whole bunch of new shopping, a couple of entertainment attractions (Three Broomsticks, Ollivander's), and one major new ride. Plus, they redecorated an area and two existing rides. I'm sure this will boost their attendance for a while. Ordinarily I wouldn't even think about going to Universal Orlando, but now I actually want to check it out. I wonder what their cosplay policy is.
In between coughing up my lungs today, I've been doing a little research on the Harry Potter theme park that will be opening in Orlando this spring. The Superbowl commercial piqued my interest in the park. This is a conglomeration of what I've learned so far.
Universal Orlando
Universal Orlando is set up kind of like the Disney resort is set up here in California. We have Disneyland, California Adventure, and Downtown Disney. They have Universal Studios Florida, Universal Islands of Adventure, and Universal CityWalk. The whole complex is called Universal Orlando.
- CityWalk is just like Universal CityWalk here in Universal City: a collection of shops, restaurants, and clubs which are open to the public.
- Universal Studios Florida is kind of like Universal Studios in Hollywood: it is a working film and TV studio plus a theme park. Apparently, they shoot TNA wrestling there. It's probably bigger than Universal Studios Hollywood, since the abundance of cheap land is a major reason all these theme parks build in Orlando, so it likely has more attractions. But it doesn't have a studio tour like they do in Hollywood.
- Universal Islands of Adventure is purely a theme park. It is separated into six "islands" which are the different themed sections. These include an island for Marvel Superheroes (kind of weird now that Disney owns Marvel), and one for Jurassic Park, as well as a Dr. Seuss area and one section devoted to outdated cartoons no one cares about anymore, such as Dudley Do-Right and Popeye. One island, "The Lost Continent," devoted to ancient Greek and Arabian myths (including Sinbad) is where the Harry Potter stuff is being added.
The two parks are separate, with separate entry fees, though packages can be purchased allowing entrance to both, similar to the way it works with Disneyland and California Adventure.
Potneyland
Here is the official site for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter:
http://www.universalorlando.com/harrypotter/
The Superbowl commercial:
Click to viewThe site is pretty, and the map was created by the same artists who created the Marauders' Map for the movie. Apparently, this is just one example of how the theme park has engaged production artists from the Harry Potter movies in the creation of the theme park. The site is quite nicely designed, though a little lacking in content. The News page is a replica of the animated newspapers in the movies, but the individual attraction descriptions show only artist renderings of the still-unopen shops and rides.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is due to open this spring. The site doesn't give a hard date, though the booking site seems to target May 28, barring any delays. Of course, there should also be "soft openings" (kind of like beta testing) prior to the grand opening. Memorial Day weekend is a huge tourism time, so it makes sense for them to try to open before then. A soft opening may occur as early as March 20.
Central to the "World" is Hogsmeade, where all the shops and restaurants appear to be.
The first thing you'll see upon entering is a replica of the Hogwarts Express locomotive. In the books, the Hogsmeade station was where the kids would arrive on the Express, then take a ride across/around the lake to the school, so I guess that's what this will represent.
Dervish and Banges - based on the Hogsmeade shop that sold magical instruments, this shop appears to sell costume and prop replicas and toys
Honeydukes - based on the Hogsmeade candy shop that had a secret passage into Hogwarts, this shop will sell sweets
Ollidanver's Wand Shop - a reproduction of the Diagon Alley shop where Harry bought his wand, this shop will sell wands, including replicas of the movie wands. Apparently, there will be actors and some special effects to demonstrate the magic of the wands, so it is more of an "experience" than just a shop, in which a wand will "choose" you.
Zonko's - based on the Hogsmeade shop which sold magical practical joke items, this shop looks like it will sell toys and gifts.
Owl Post - based on the wizard post offices, this is a post office from which one can send postcards with a Hogsmeade postmark.
Three Broomsticks - based on the Hogsmeade pub which served butterbeer, this is the park's theme restaurant. Of course, it will be much larger than the pub in the books/movies, and it will have some "magical entertainment." You will be able to drink butterbeer here, which is some variation on root beer, and not that butterscotch Schnapps concoction some of you have been enjoying.
Not appearing on the official site:
Owlery - named after the room in one of the school towers where students kept their owls, this will be right next to the Owl Post, this will be a resting place with benches, and owls roosting above.
Hog's Head - named after the shady little Hogsmeade pub owned by Dumbledore's brother, this pub will be right next to the Three Broomsticks, and may serve alcohol.
Rides
At the far end of Hogsmeade stands Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, atop a rocky crag. The entire structure, castle and rocky crag combined, will stand 150 feet tall. The Hogwarts building itself appears to be 1/4 scale (or probably even smaller), done in forced perspective to look more massive. You only get to experience Hogwarts as a ride called Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. This will, presumably, zip you through the various well-known locations within the school. The ride itself will consist of six riders on a bench at the end of a Kuka KR 1000 Titan industrial robotic arm, like those used in auto manufacturing. These things can handle over a ton of weight and whip you around 360 degrees, more or less at will. The robo-arms will travel on tracks and toss you about environments created through video projection as well as other special effects. This may even allow for variable programming, giving small kids a gentler experience and adults a wilder ride. The ride will start via the Floo network, and take you around Hogwarts as well as out into the Forbidden Forest, and will include Dementors and spiders. Rumors also indicate that you will see Wizard's Chess, the Chamber of Secrets (with animatronic basilisk... avert your eyes!), and the Whomping Willow. Supposedly, the ride will be 3D, and end with a broom ride (quidditch anyone?).
Kinda like this.
At the end of the ride, you will be dumped off into a shop called Filch's Emporium of Confiscated Goods. In the books, Filch was the embittered old caretaker of the school who was always trying to catch troublemakers and confiscate their contraband. The shop will likely sell Potter themed apparel and gifts.
At the time of the opening, there should be two additional rides: Flight of the Hippogriff, a gentler rollercoaster for younger visitors, and the Dragon Challenge, a Goblet of Fire themed dual rollercoaster. As I understand it, both rollercoasters already exist, but are re-purposed with a Harry Potter theme. Hopefully, if the park does well enough, more rides will be added later. The Hippogriff ride is currently known as the Flying Unicorn. The Dragon Challenge is currently known as the Dueling Dragons. Hagrid's htu will be built by the Hippogriff ride, and his voice will remind you to bow to the hippogriff before approaching.
Here are a couple of "construction updates." Basically, they are just fans who have gone to the park and shot some home video of what they can see over the walled-off section.
As you can see, things look pretty far along from the outside. Reportedly, the construction of the Hogwarts ride is complete, they are just working on the programming and effects.
Check out this site. A couple of crazy hardcore theme park fanatics hired a helicopter tour to fly them over Universal Orlando so they could take super spy photos of the work in progress on Potterworld! They posted a ton of aerial photos. How awesome is that?
Here are some ground level photos.
Basically, for the Harry Potter addition to Islands of Adventure, they have created a whole bunch of new shopping, a couple of entertainment attractions (Three Broomsticks, Ollivander's), and one major new ride. Plus, they redecorated an area and two existing rides. I'm sure this will boost their attendance for a while. Ordinarily I wouldn't even think about going to Universal Orlando, but now I actually want to check it out. I wonder what their cosplay policy is.