Wizarding World Re-cap
So last night I was fortunate enough to be amongst the first muggles to experience the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and before I go any further I must say that overall its Awesome and fully exceeded my expectations. This is a re-cap of the things I experienced whilst there and my thoughts and opinions on the experiences offered. No cameras were allowed, but I did manage to sneak a few pictures on my phone.
First and foremost the large gate is back up on the main entrance from the Lost Continent they had security posted here checking for cameras on the way in. Once you get through the gate and see Hogsmeade stretched out in front of you with the Harry Potter score playing and the Hogwarts Express blowing steam it truly is a tug at your heartstrings moment, I can really only compare it to walking through the tunnel onto Main Street at the Magic Kingdom, it just overwhelms you. The speaker system throughout the entire area is incredible as is the music it is pumping out, it really completes the feeling of immersion better than any park I have ever been too.
As you walk through the entrance arch the Hogwarts Express is on your right and there is a conductor streetmosphere character there greeting all of the muggles to Hogsmeade. The building directly behind the train houses the new lockers for the Dragons Challenge (former Dueling Dragons) and the new entrance for the coasters is just beyond that which is a big change, but more on that later. First lets talk about Hogsmeade itself. To say that its perfect really doesn’t do it justice. Everything from the snow on the rooftops to the cobblestone streets to the various witches and wizards interacting with the guests just works so well, it truly feels like you walked into the movies. There seems to be no set time period within the books that the new land is based on. Case and point there are multiple Wanted Posters for Serious Black around Hogsmeade all of which move, just like in the movie which is awesome, but at the same time there is a stack of new Gilderoy Lockhart books in one of the shop windows which also all move and have him striking poses on the covers. Every single shop window has some sort of automation to it, whether it be instruments that move and play in the music shop, plants that move in the herbology shop or the little clown at Zonko’s everything seems alive!
The shops themselves are very tiny, but incredibly immersive. Inside Dervish and Bangs you will find broomsticks flying above you, the monster book of monsters in a cage snapping at you and more. Over in the Owl Post there is a one of the talking letter in the window describing how Owl Post Works. HoneyDukes has just about every kind of candy you can imagine including acid pops, bertie bots every flavor beans, Honeydukes best chocolate and more. Zonkos is pretty much the same with extendable ears, fanged frisbees and more. I didn’t make it into Olivanders because there was a line down the street, but it looked amazing and everyone who did said it was a really interactive experience.
The three broomsticks looks perfect and there are multiple levels if they need overflow seating. As previously discussed there is no Coke products at all, not even to mix drinks with at the Hogs Head. The hog animatronic is pretty cool, but not mind blowing. The Hogs Head will have the largest selection of beers in Islands of Adventure including many imports. They will mix all the drinks with juices and tonic, and they are not allowed to mix any alcohol with either Pumpkin Juice or Butter Beer period end of story, they were very adamant about that actually. Now if you were to say take a tall glass of ice cold pumpkin juice over to the Watering Hole in Jurassic Parklace, that’s another story I guess. While on that, Pumkin Juice is very sweet and taste similar to a spiced cider, and butter beer is extremely rich with a caramel apple spice type flavor and a foam that never seems to go away. The only thing I didn’t really love in Hogsmeade is a large snowman that’s in the back facing the castle, its just seemed fake looking and out of place for some reason. But honestly that’s my only complaint, the area with the castle in the background is as close to theme park perfection I have ever seen and really takes the bar to the next level. Now onto the attractions!
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey
So its obvious where the lions share of the budget went! The Castle looks incredible especially all lit up at night. There are two banners hanging under the hog statues that serve as signage for the attraction. The test seats out front are most similar to the Hulk I would say, very deep bucket seats with an over the shoulder restraint. The ride itself was not open and no-one would say anything about it, which I found very odd since there were Universal Creative Team Members everywhere else describing things. The queue however was open so I can describe that! You enter into the Caves under the castle and as you wind through down there you will see the statue of the one eyed witch and the Mirror of Erised. You will then wind your way out into the green house and slowly go up the ramp into the castle itself. Once back inside you see the containers that hold the gems keeping the points for the different houses and statues of what I believe are the four founders. Then you will enter the portrait gallery which is breathtaking as pretty much everything moves and the portraits of the 4 founders are actually talking to each other and to the guests in the queue. Then you go into Dumbledores office where he appears above the on the staircase and interacts with you and welcomes you to Hogwarts. Then you go into the Defense against the Dark Arts Classroom where as you wind through the door to the teachers office actually opens and you hear whispering and out of nowhere Harry, Ron and Hermione appear and tell you that you do not want to sit through Professor Bins lecture because its way too boring and you should follow them to the Quidditch match instead. They say to get you there they will need to use a bit of magic and then Ron waives his wand and it actually starts snowing which was sooooo cool. Hermione goes “Ronald you are making it Snow” to which he makes a smart ______ comment back and Harry laughs. Then they tell us to meet them in the Room of Requirement and they get back under the invisibility cloak and you see the door open and close again as if they left. You then pass the portrait of the fat lady and enter the Gryffindor common room, that’s as far as we got before we were ushered back out of the castle through the express queue which is the staircase with the portraits that people have been seeing. We then went into Filch’s Store at the exit and the merchandise in there is amazing. Everything from shirts and mugs to exact replicas of the Marauders Map and the Wizard Chess. There was only a small crowd in the park last night and the line for the registers wrapped around the entire store, they are going to make a small fortune once this place is open. You exit the shop right next to the entrance and across from Hagrids Hippogriff coaster.
Flight of the Hippogriff
It’s the same coaster it used to be, but it does feel a lot smoother and its still a fun ride. The new themeing really works well. You pass through the gardens from around Hagrids Hut and see giant pumpkins, scarecrows etc, then you pass Hagrids Hut, which has smoke coming from the chimney and you can hear Fang barking inside. You board the coaster and then slow down by an animatronic Buckbeak which you must bow too before the coaster will begin its ascent up the lift hill. Buckbeak Bows back at you and up you go, the views of Hogsmeade and the Castle from this ride are fantastic as it is tame enough to really take in your surroundings.
Dragon Challenge
If they took the cheap way out anywhere in Wizarding World it would be here and this is the only area that left me disappointed. The new entrance is up near the front of Hogsmeade just past the Hogwarts Express, you pass under a stone archway with a very cool Fiber Optic display serving as the marquee. You wind up a pathway behind the village passing banners saying support Potter, Krum, Diggory etc etc. As you are about to enter the castle you will see the car from the second movie all bashed up in the bushes, it honks its horn at you and the lights flash on and off. In the first room ( where the stained glass mirrors used to be) you will find the goblet of fire with a very cool blue flame effect, that whole room has been made to look like the tent where the champions waited their turn to fight the dragons and is the best themed room in the queue. In the next room you will find the triwizard cup lit up in all its glory. Beyond that the themeing though really seems lacking. The old fire dragon room is still in tact basically with minor to no changes except the removal of the knights. The old Ice Dragon room now has the very cool floating candles effect, but for no real reason. Then you enter the old dungeons where they did nothing but remove the bones and skeletons and added some English style lanterns, there is not any additional themeing until you reach the final room where you choose your dragon. The have wooden signs for both that breath fiber optic fire. The old Fire Dragon is the Chinese Firebolt and the old Ice Dragon is the Hungarian Horntail which is still blue for whatever reason. They do have a cool dragon projection on the ceiling above the load station and very cool immersive sound effects, but that’s about it. The ride is the same as always, which isn’t a bad thing as it’s a great coaster.
Well that about does it, I was told the walls are all going back up today and that they will be running the coaster as Dueling Dragons again for at least a couple weeks, so soft openings are still a bit away. The new island is by far the best in immersiveness that Universal has ever done, and I can’t think of anything Disney has done either that’s better. I am looking forward to the official opening next month, but good lord its going to be ridiculously crazy.
