The Forbidden Forest?
- Thread starter TheBigSqueeze
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Agreed. Really put some money into PF, and it could be something really special like it was originally.
- Jun 6, 2011
- 20
- 0
It just went down today for three weeks for refurbishment. Hopefully that'll return some of its luster.
They may be cleaning some stuff up, but from what the permits say this refurb is only to replace the catwalk system above the main show room.
Two things made me really love Poseidon's Fury. One of them being the original storyline and grandeur of the show. The second was being able to hold the trident while leading the party through the Water Vortex a year or two back. It's just a really unforgettable memory.
That. Would. Be. Awesome.
The water tunnel was totally unexpected for me, scared the crap out of me when it turned on but I was just simply amazed
I think adding the forbidden forest would be an excellent idea. As an avid fan of Harry Potter, I was slightly disappointed with the scale of Hogsmeade and the whole Potter land in general.
First: I would removed the Dragon Challenge rollercoaster. It is a great ride, but now that the trains don't duel anymore, it's pretty pointless to have a dueling coaster. The area beneath the coaster doubles or triples the size of the village itself. Hogsmeade is made up of more than one street in the film. Adding a second street with more shops would help free up some of the cramped pathways within the village. Connect it on the back of the owlery so the land turns into a v-shape instead of a straight path. Line the paths with more intimate shops to further enhance the whole land. At the end of the path add a Shrieking Shack haunted walk-through attractions. Actually making the building sway side-to-side as in the real film would be an amazing effect.
Second: Build an actual forbidden forest expansion behind Hogsmeade and Flight of the Hippogriff. There are many ride options I have heard people discuss such as the Flying Ford Angelina coaster, Whomping Willow swing ride, etc. BUT, I would add another Coaster/Dark Ride combo. I know they are already building the Gringott's Bank Coaster. However, the Gringott's Coaster is rumored to be slightly slower with more emphasis on the dark ride portions. I would make this strictly a race through the dark forest. Voldemort himself would play a part in this ride, along with the centaur's, unicorns, and other magical creatures and plants. Unlike the forest in the Forbidden Journey which is almost pitch black, much more would be visible along this ride. It would be along the lines of, your taking a tour of the forbidden forest to see the many magical creatures. You run into Voldemort and must escape. Now you race back to the forest edge with the help of Firenze the centaur.
Third: Another exploration area in the forest could be created similar to Camp Jurassic. Adding special effects throughout the play area would greatly enhance the whole exploration/play area. Also, an interactive game using wands, ala Magiquest, could be incorporated into the forest and Hogsmeade expansion. It could slowly permeate it's way through the rest of the land over time. Sorcerer's has been a huge success for Magic Kingdom so Uni should jump on the interactive game bandwagon.
Fourth: Extra land would be left behind the forest. Either Universal could build another attraction for the Lost Continent via a very long underground queue bypassing all the said expansions, or running along the side of the forest. OR, Universal could build a Harry Potter themed hotel with access to the park between Hogwarts and Flight of the Hippogriff.
The Forbidden forest is mentioned in almost every Harry Potter book and is a quintessential part of the book. Especially since it surrounds the entire Hogwarts Castle and Village of Hogsmeade.
First: I would removed the Dragon Challenge rollercoaster. It is a great ride, but now that the trains don't duel anymore, it's pretty pointless to have a dueling coaster. The area beneath the coaster doubles or triples the size of the village itself. Hogsmeade is made up of more than one street in the film. Adding a second street with more shops would help free up some of the cramped pathways within the village. Connect it on the back of the owlery so the land turns into a v-shape instead of a straight path. Line the paths with more intimate shops to further enhance the whole land. At the end of the path add a Shrieking Shack haunted walk-through attractions. Actually making the building sway side-to-side as in the real film would be an amazing effect.
Second: Build an actual forbidden forest expansion behind Hogsmeade and Flight of the Hippogriff. There are many ride options I have heard people discuss such as the Flying Ford Angelina coaster, Whomping Willow swing ride, etc. BUT, I would add another Coaster/Dark Ride combo. I know they are already building the Gringott's Bank Coaster. However, the Gringott's Coaster is rumored to be slightly slower with more emphasis on the dark ride portions. I would make this strictly a race through the dark forest. Voldemort himself would play a part in this ride, along with the centaur's, unicorns, and other magical creatures and plants. Unlike the forest in the Forbidden Journey which is almost pitch black, much more would be visible along this ride. It would be along the lines of, your taking a tour of the forbidden forest to see the many magical creatures. You run into Voldemort and must escape. Now you race back to the forest edge with the help of Firenze the centaur.
Third: Another exploration area in the forest could be created similar to Camp Jurassic. Adding special effects throughout the play area would greatly enhance the whole exploration/play area. Also, an interactive game using wands, ala Magiquest, could be incorporated into the forest and Hogsmeade expansion. It could slowly permeate it's way through the rest of the land over time. Sorcerer's has been a huge success for Magic Kingdom so Uni should jump on the interactive game bandwagon.
Fourth: Extra land would be left behind the forest. Either Universal could build another attraction for the Lost Continent via a very long underground queue bypassing all the said expansions, or running along the side of the forest. OR, Universal could build a Harry Potter themed hotel with access to the park between Hogwarts and Flight of the Hippogriff.
The Forbidden forest is mentioned in almost every Harry Potter book and is a quintessential part of the book. Especially since it surrounds the entire Hogwarts Castle and Village of Hogsmeade.
Poseidon's Fury has a lot going for it. The actors are (most of the time) awesome and even hilarious. It makes for a great first experience. It has one of the best facades I've ever seen. The queue itself is amazing, really makes me feel like I'm in a big cavern, and makes that building feel WAY larger than it is. And even though the end scene is a little cheesy, it has some amazing effects that would make any first timer ooh and aah (the water vortex, the words on the wall, and my favorite the dropping walls at the end).
I've always wondered how the effect works where you're standing in the room where Posieden and Darkennon are fighting and then magically you're back in the room with the water vortex. Could someone with more knowledge than me please explain?? Lol
Really? IDK what to say to that. It's extremely realistic and if you want a forbidden forest at the level authenticity you are requesting, It's behind hogwarts in the books, no room whatsoever
I agree, but where in the minority my friend, Even if Uni was considering it, A hogsmeade expansion wouldn't open to like 2020...
There are walls just on the other side of the railing that raise and lower extremely quickly. That is why the lights black out for a second, so they can rise back up. If you can look really closely you can see a sort of line of light rising up, similar to the moving lines of light in Tower of Terror when the drop shaft doors open up. That would be the door flying up, at a very quick speed. Definitely an awesome effect though.
I think I stopped reading after this.
Even with them not dueling, you still have two well run/mantained world class B&M inverts. I'm a huge Harry Potter fanatic, and I still believe it would be pretty stupid to remove these coasters.
I'm sorry but there is no way Uni would ever consider doing this. Yes they don't duel anymore but like King stated, they are still two solid roller coasters in their own and Uni would be foolish to get rid of two of their best rides.
There is nowhere near enough space behind Hippogriff to build an attraction of that magnitude. Not to mention, they wouldn't build two similar style rides right next to each other and the Forbidden Forest is already represented in HPFJ. Building a Forbidden Forest ride would require a complete storyline change to HPFJ which would be too much money.
Rumor has it they are already creating a similar experience for the London expansion. Definitely a great idea to match up with Sorcerer's from Disney
Again there is a total lack of space in the currently existing area of Hogsmeade, especially behind the HPFJ and Hippogriff attractions. Sorry but here in FL there is no chance for anything underground due to the water table. The only way to accomplish this would to do the Disney way and build an elevated landscape which is not monetarily feasible.
As a fan of Harry Potter, I am all for seeing as much of the books translated into real life experiences. But if they keep pressing further, they are going to turn the whole park into Harry Potter and would completely defy the point of it being a Universal Studios park. IMHO, London is already a big enough risk as the Franchise will have to persevere for another two years despite the lack of new stories or movies.
- Nov 24, 2012
- 283
- 11
Yeah, removing the dragons was a bad thing to start with. That's just not happening.
As far as the Forbidden Forest, to add again for emphasis, it will not happen. For the same reasons we've already said: Location to the magical world, space, already having sufficient Potter, and again, it's in Forbidden Journey and they will not change that ride in that significant manner.
Also, don't hold your breath on Voldemort ever making an appearance in a Harry Potter attraction. There's a reason UO and JK chose Dementor's for FJ and not the Dark Lord.
For the interactive bits, its highly unlikely for two reasons: One, interactive games really aren't UO's schtick, its more of a Disney thing and not to say they're inclusive of each other, but its not something they've ever had an interest in doing. Secondly, JK has already vetoed it once. It also goes against theming. The theming of Hogsmede and Hogwarts is that you are a Muggle and not a wizard/witch. Yes, the theming gets a bit interesting when you go to Olivander's and Dragon Challenge, but the Universal Creative official theming is that guests are Muggles. JK had it that way for a reason.
Fourth: This isn't going to happen because of the space. You are under the impression there's a lot more backlot space than there's anywhere close to reality. If you look at the maps and satellite views, you can see how really tight knit it really is. Even, god forbid you remove Dragon Challenge, there isn't a *ton* of room to do stuff with.
Touching Dragons would would be like Comacast asking for a death wish. I can not think of why anyone would suggest such a thing. Though I'd really love for them to re-theme the actual coasters themselves, and add some more theming and interaction to pre and post ride queues.
This. Seeing a bunch of show buildings and what not really takes you out of the "Magical World". I mean you go through the queue which is highly themed and then the ride itself is just a bare bones roller coaster. I'd love to see some rock work going on around it to block your view from the rest of the park and now that they seem to be doing fine in the money department (esp with Phase 2 on it's way) I don't see why this shouldn't be a priority.
Because even though it's pretty, and personally I would love it as well, the only thing it will pull in is a couple of passholders who want to see how it looks, the every day guest doesn't care about what's around the coaster, they just want to zoom zoom zoom. And to be honest I would rather them focus the money on all of the big projects like Springfield, Kidzone, Shrek, etc. Dragon rockwork would be like fixing a cars windows when the tires are flat.
Having props and a few set pieces would not be that costly and greatly heighten the sense of thrill. Especially with the coasters no longer dueling. I am not saying huge ones to block out all the bad show because that is virtually impossible with a coaster that size but to enhance the excitement could easily be done.
