Inside Universal Forums

Welcome to the Inside Universal Forums! Register a free account today to become a member. Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members and unlock our forums features!

  • Signing up for a Premium Membership is a donation to help Inside Universal maintain costs and offers an ad-free experience on the forum. Learn more about it here.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogsmeade (Orlando): Part 2

Regarding fake snow...about 10 years ago I went to that Mickey Xmas thing at Magic Kingdom, and they had giant fake snow machines blowing stuff all over mainstreet. Now Im not sure what it was..but it was definitely a cool effect. However I would imagine that running those machines everyday would be rather expensive, it's possible they could run them once a day, maybe at dusk, weather permitting. Im not sure. If they do open the park with "snow" every day, expect that to be another lost feature within the year. It's just not econmical.
 
Did anyone hear about the crazy snow storm yesterday that wiped out most of the WWoHP and then last night was over Disney's property and covered blizzard beach, crazy huh. Its tough to live in Florida.:angry:

On my way to Universal, pictures coming later today.
 
Last edited:
I'm happy with there just being the fake snow piles on the floor personally. Throwing out fake snow for most of the day would be a big expense and to be honest I'm not sure I'd like to have fake snow bits falling on me constantly whilst I'm looking around, but maybe that's just me :) I can imagine them perhaps doing something special over the Christmas period, but not all the time.

I'd prefer they spend extra budget on re-painting Hulk and the Cat!
 
Did anyone hear about the crazy snow storm yesterday that wiped out most of the WWoHP and then last night was over Disney's property and covered blizzard beach, crazy huh. Its tough to live in Florida.:angry:

On my way to Universal, pictures coming later today.

Sweet! I'm headed up there for a couple hours this saturday, cant wait to see some pics!
 
The Kukas themselves are rather large, so this isn't all that suprising. If you want to see a Kuka in action (without a base) go see The Sum of all Thrills at EPCOT. The size amazed me. Also assuming that FJ will have seats similar to those on SOAT, you can see how well you fit into them with their test seat. The seats are rather tight and they really did not have a restraint system, but rather a "hood" that came down in front of you with a video screen on it. From what I hear about FJ I'm sure that it will have some type of restraint system though.

The FJ robocoasters are type G3, a system that moves along a coaster-like track, with 4-people seats that rotate 360º. The SOAT at Epcot is a type G1 robocoaster, a stationary arm, an old and "ancient" system.
IMHO, Disney installed these robocoasters overnight, just to say thay they had robocoasters first than Universal.
 
I'm happy with there just being the fake snow piles on the floor personally. Throwing out fake snow for most of the day would be a big expense and to be honest I'm not sure I'd like to have fake snow bits falling on me constantly whilst I'm looking around, but maybe that's just me :) I can imagine them perhaps doing something special over the Christmas period, but not all the time.

I'd prefer they spend extra budget on re-painting Hulk and the Cat!

At Christmas, I really hope so. It'll be cold enough to sustain actual snow (if they have it) at least for awhile, or just to fit the mood. But I agree with those who have posted that if the snow effect is a "full-time" one, it'll be phased out within the year. If "Poseidon" ain't Vortex-in', Cat ain't spinnin', and Fear Factor ain't showin', then Hogsmeade ain't snowin'.

-- UPDATE --

Hogsmeade's in Scotland where it doesn't snow all year round. But the IOA version has permenant snow on the roofs. Could they have built the roofs plain and created detachable snow decorations, and then modified Hogsmeade to be winter-themed during the colder months on Florida? I mean, Disney does that with Osborne Spectacle every year, and those lights have to be more complicated than several decorative set pieces.

Oh well.
 
Last edited:
Very off topic..
this is why i like the way that disney does things. In disneys CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE they already revealed a sneak peek look at the prototype race car being put on the test track at the Radiator Springs Racers. And I think it opens like in 2 years.

And we are still waiting for an official picture of the FJ arms !!!

take a look
http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/bl...rst-test-vehicle-for-radiator-springs-racers/
 
Last edited:
Well I'll be up the weekend of the 28th - 30th as well, more than likely since package holders will be able to experience the area, we should too. After what time? I don't know, but I am an AP so I better be able to get in.
 
you'll never get an official picture of the arms or the loading area or anything like that related to the ride, it takes away from the magic
 
Very off topic..
this is why i like the way that disney does things. In disneys CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE they already revealed a sneak peek look at the prototype race car being put on the test track at the Radiator Springs Racers. And I think it opens like in 2 years.

And we are still waiting for an official picture of the FJ arms !!!

That lil car is purdy. On the other hand, the FJ vehicles are, to the average eye, ugly as sin. Unlike the robocoasters you see at epcot and legoland, there are TONS of cables and junction boxes and tubing going in every different direction on the FJ vehicles, and this is LONG before you even get to the robotic arm part whose base starts at about 5' - 6' in the air. Every part of the vehicle and arm are painted flat black. They are about as pretty as looking under the hood of a 10 year old truck.
 
^Yeap and that is so NO ONE sees the arms, but good thing someone over at wdwinfo snuck a picture out there of the vehicles, must have been a crane, or cat, or dog, or mouse.
 
Vyrus It was NEVER wdwinfo's pic (the FJ vehicle one) when you found the pic they added a copyright to it before placing it on their site even though it did NOT belong to them. A lot of people thought it did but the pic never originated there & they never had the right to put a copy right onto the pic. Also as much as we would hope with a AP that we could get in the same time the package people do nothing is a guarantee so have your pitchfork ready just in case lol
 
That lil car is purdy. On the other hand, the FJ vehicles are, to the average eye, ugly as sin. Unlike the robocoasters you see at epcot and legoland, there are TONS of cables and junction boxes and tubing going in every different direction on the FJ vehicles, and this is LONG before you even get to the robotic arm part whose base starts at about 5' - 6' in the air. Every part of the vehicle and arm are painted flat black. They are about as pretty as looking under the hood of a 10 year old truck.

Looking back on that picture, those arms are pretty hideous...
 
Haha yeah,
I just looked at that picture again [cough]google[cough] and yeah. If you remembered what they look like, take a look at the ones at sum of all thrills
dsc05202.jpg
Theyre honestly a lot nicer looking.
 
Vyrus It was NEVER wdwinfo's pic (the FJ vehicle one) when you found the pic they added a copyright to it before placing it on their site even though it did NOT belong to them. A lot of people thought it did but the pic never originated there & they never had the right to put a copy right onto the pic. Also as much as we would hope with a AP that we could get in the same time the package people do nothing is a guarantee so have your pitchfork ready just in case lol

I know the picture didn't belong to the site, I just mentioned the site as is was the place where people originally saw it. It was easily a snuck picture that a worker was not suppossed to take.

And yea those things are hideous, but the benches are nice at least.
 
Top