groundzero
Veteran XX
anyone been? I'm thinking of putting on my wizarding hat and going there this summer.
Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Universal
- Thread starter groundzero
- Start date
"I put on my robe and my wizard hat"
Fuck you, I clicked this thread so I could post that.
Elvis Hitler
Veteran XX
NGFM won't be going.
groundzero
Veteran XX
i see, that sounds like it was awesome~!
groundzero
Veteran XX
The good, it was well done. If you enjoyed any part of the books or movies you will have a good time. There is a lot to do, eat, ride, watch. I suggest planning on spending about half of your day there at least. The bad was that it was the most popular place in the entire park; the lines were stupendous. You can't take your time to enjoy the little things due to the huge mass of people around you.
I was there in February.
It's still very crowded, but not what it was last year.
The major attraction there is the Forbidden Journey, which usually involves a really long wait. There's some neat effects used in the queue for the ride (it winds through a scaled-down Hogwarts, complete with animated paintings--the four founders of Hogwarts have conversations with each other-- and an animatronic sorting hat. The actors from the film reprise their roles as Dumbledore, Harry, Ron and Hermione using some neat rear projection tech. The ride itself is a mixture of motion-simulator film projections and animatronics combined with a slow ride through various set pieces. It's a pretty scary ride for younger kids.
We rode it once, and the ride shut down close to the end, which was disappointing. After the ride restarted, something wasn't quite fixed, because the ride ends when the cars stop in front of a big projection screen, but it was blank when our car stopped there, and all we heard was Harry congratulating us. The ride's "story" is a little weak and confusing, but the ride itself is pretty well done.
The wait for this attraction will be LONG. Universal really needs to learn a few lessons from Disney on how to make a good ride queue. The queue for this ride is supposed to take you in and around Hogwarts, but the majority of the queue is spent outside in what looks like the Hogwarts Greenhouse, but there's not much to see and it's very boring. Things pick up once you get back inside Hogwarts where you can watch and listen to the animated paintings -- but don't expect to take any pictures or get good video, as it's very dark in the indoor parts of the queue.
The dragon challenge ride is a dueling rollercoaster ride that's been at Islands of Adventure for a while and has been redressed for the HP park. We didn't ride this one, as we'd ridden it before the HP park was created, and there's really no difference. The coaster is actually two separate coasters that "race" each other on separate tracks. There's some neat technology behind the way the ride times each of the separate cars so they pass each other at the right time. Essentially, the systems weigh the passenger-loaded cars at the beginning of the ride and adjusts their speeds accordingly. The ride used to be called "Dueling Dragons"
There's a small rollercoaster featuring Hippogriff-themed cars. You can see some animatronic Hippogriffs as well as Hagrid's house while in the queue. The coaster itself is smooth and fairly fast, but doesn't loop and is a pretty short ride.
The really cool thing about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, though, is the set dressing and theming that has been built into the park. When you enter the Wizarding World, the first thing you see is the Hogwarts Express that leads into Hogsmeade. The Hogsmeade area is mainly false storefronts designed to look like the various shops in the film. There are a lot of little details built into the windows of the shop, including some anamatronic features. A few of the shops like Olivander's Wand Shop and Zonko's joke shop sell licensed HP toys and gifts.
I'll bet you didn't know Hogwarts actually right next door to Jurassic Park. 'Struth!
One of the things I bought for a souvenir was a Chocolate Frog, which comes in a neat pentagonal box with a lenticular Hogwarts trading card, very similar to the ones featured in the films.
Olivander's Wand shop has thousands of boxes of wands, and they cost $30. They're just resin replicas, and while they're pretty accurate and well detailed, they're not really worth the money. They look exactly like the replicas made by The Noble Collection, so I think that's where they're from.
Olivander's Wand Shop features a small show with some minor special effects, but you have to wait in line for the show, and it's really not worth it (you can find video of the show on YouTube).
Some other little details: Animated owls at the Owl Post (where you can send postcards stamped with the Hogwarts postmark), an animated Monster Book of Monsters in one of the shops, screaming Mandrake roots and animated quill pens in the shop windows, animated shadows of house elves in the rafters of the Hogs Head Pub.
Although I didn't go in, apparently you can hear Moaning Myrtle in the Men's restroom at Hogsmeade.
Incidentally, they also sell some novelty foods and drinks. We tried Butter Beer, which was a VERY sweet butterscotch flavored soda. The peanut butter and jelly ice cream was quite good. We didn't try the pumpkin juice.
If you want to see some pictures (and a couple of quick videos) I took on our trip there, you can see them here: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - a set on Flickr
If you're a Harry Potter fan, it's definitely worth going; just be prepared to wait in line.
Oh, and here's a Top Gear Top Tip™: If you leave without buying a Harry Potter-themed souvenir at the park and you decide you want one, head over to the Orlando International Airport - there are two Universal Stores in the airport that sell all of the uniquely HP themed toys, clothes and candies that are sold in the park. You don't even have to go through airport security to shop there.
It's still very crowded, but not what it was last year.
The major attraction there is the Forbidden Journey, which usually involves a really long wait. There's some neat effects used in the queue for the ride (it winds through a scaled-down Hogwarts, complete with animated paintings--the four founders of Hogwarts have conversations with each other-- and an animatronic sorting hat. The actors from the film reprise their roles as Dumbledore, Harry, Ron and Hermione using some neat rear projection tech. The ride itself is a mixture of motion-simulator film projections and animatronics combined with a slow ride through various set pieces. It's a pretty scary ride for younger kids.
We rode it once, and the ride shut down close to the end, which was disappointing. After the ride restarted, something wasn't quite fixed, because the ride ends when the cars stop in front of a big projection screen, but it was blank when our car stopped there, and all we heard was Harry congratulating us. The ride's "story" is a little weak and confusing, but the ride itself is pretty well done.
The wait for this attraction will be LONG. Universal really needs to learn a few lessons from Disney on how to make a good ride queue. The queue for this ride is supposed to take you in and around Hogwarts, but the majority of the queue is spent outside in what looks like the Hogwarts Greenhouse, but there's not much to see and it's very boring. Things pick up once you get back inside Hogwarts where you can watch and listen to the animated paintings -- but don't expect to take any pictures or get good video, as it's very dark in the indoor parts of the queue.
The dragon challenge ride is a dueling rollercoaster ride that's been at Islands of Adventure for a while and has been redressed for the HP park. We didn't ride this one, as we'd ridden it before the HP park was created, and there's really no difference. The coaster is actually two separate coasters that "race" each other on separate tracks. There's some neat technology behind the way the ride times each of the separate cars so they pass each other at the right time. Essentially, the systems weigh the passenger-loaded cars at the beginning of the ride and adjusts their speeds accordingly. The ride used to be called "Dueling Dragons"
There's a small rollercoaster featuring Hippogriff-themed cars. You can see some animatronic Hippogriffs as well as Hagrid's house while in the queue. The coaster itself is smooth and fairly fast, but doesn't loop and is a pretty short ride.
The really cool thing about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, though, is the set dressing and theming that has been built into the park. When you enter the Wizarding World, the first thing you see is the Hogwarts Express that leads into Hogsmeade. The Hogsmeade area is mainly false storefronts designed to look like the various shops in the film. There are a lot of little details built into the windows of the shop, including some anamatronic features. A few of the shops like Olivander's Wand Shop and Zonko's joke shop sell licensed HP toys and gifts.
I'll bet you didn't know Hogwarts actually right next door to Jurassic Park. 'Struth!
One of the things I bought for a souvenir was a Chocolate Frog, which comes in a neat pentagonal box with a lenticular Hogwarts trading card, very similar to the ones featured in the films.
Olivander's Wand shop has thousands of boxes of wands, and they cost $30. They're just resin replicas, and while they're pretty accurate and well detailed, they're not really worth the money. They look exactly like the replicas made by The Noble Collection, so I think that's where they're from.
Olivander's Wand Shop features a small show with some minor special effects, but you have to wait in line for the show, and it's really not worth it (you can find video of the show on YouTube).
Some other little details: Animated owls at the Owl Post (where you can send postcards stamped with the Hogwarts postmark), an animated Monster Book of Monsters in one of the shops, screaming Mandrake roots and animated quill pens in the shop windows, animated shadows of house elves in the rafters of the Hogs Head Pub.
Although I didn't go in, apparently you can hear Moaning Myrtle in the Men's restroom at Hogsmeade.
Incidentally, they also sell some novelty foods and drinks. We tried Butter Beer, which was a VERY sweet butterscotch flavored soda. The peanut butter and jelly ice cream was quite good. We didn't try the pumpkin juice.
If you want to see some pictures (and a couple of quick videos) I took on our trip there, you can see them here: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - a set on Flickr
If you're a Harry Potter fan, it's definitely worth going; just be prepared to wait in line.
Oh, and here's a Top Gear Top Tip™: If you leave without buying a Harry Potter-themed souvenir at the park and you decide you want one, head over to the Orlando International Airport - there are two Universal Stores in the airport that sell all of the uniquely HP themed toys, clothes and candies that are sold in the park. You don't even have to go through airport security to shop there.
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HollyW00d
Veteran XX
Whenever I go to Universal I stay at Portofino Bay. It's expensive but it's a really nice hotel and you don't have to drive to the park. But the best perk is using your room key as the fast pass. You get to zip by all the people waiting in line for 90 minutes and laugh at them. You can use it as many times as you want too, unlike Disney. If you're cheap Hard Rock and Royal Pacific less costly but not as nice.
Probably spells and shit.
groundzero
Veteran XX
everyone knows hogwarts is protected by spells pft.
looks awesome thanks samuel
thinking of staying at bahama bay. looks pretty nice and not too bad of a ride.
looks awesome thanks samuel
thinking of staying at bahama bay. looks pretty nice and not too bad of a ride.