The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogsmeade (Orlando): Part 2
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You know what Im interested in? How in the world theyre going to hide a 300 ft train that is being held in an outdoor theme?
I measured the length between the Hogsmeade arch and the proposed station thanks to google earth (which isnt updated for me in terms of construction???) and it measures out to about 304 feet. Soo themeing wise will be interesting to see what they do.
I measured the length between the Hogsmeade arch and the proposed station thanks to google earth (which isnt updated for me in terms of construction???) and it measures out to about 304 feet. Soo themeing wise will be interesting to see what they do.
Kinda like these?
[video=youtube;cnbrJPJGfGA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnbrJPJGfGA[/video]
I love that effect, and so many people don't even look up and completely miss it.
The train won't run from the station to the arch, and there is a wall in place already there. That's why I believe the current train could stay there as a photo-op. The wall hides the fact that there's no train back there, and the illusion is not broken, so we can still "believe" that the train is running all the way from the station where we board to the replica by the arches. I may be totally wrong, but my belief is that we will not see the HE engines from the loading zones. I think we will only see them in the places for the photo-ops and then they will cleverly place things in a way so we think we are loading part of the same train somewhere behind the train engines, bu we really won't be doing so in actuality. I don't think the ride HE will have engines. And they don't need to, since no-one but people backstage should see the exterior of the HE ride vehicles.
But anyways, these are discussions for the Phase II thread...
THe only reason I measured from the arch to the station was to see how much room they would have for queue and themeing. But what wall are you talking about??? And not necessarily my friend, this is harry potter talk and its in the Wizarding World side so unless Briman states otherwise I think its in the right spot :thumbs:
To me Phase I and II are not really about sides, but time frames, so I would consider this new HE station as part of Phase II. Anyways, just to finish the thought, here is the wall I was talking about :thumbs:
(Pic from Orlando Informer)
Ahhh I see! Sooo what exactly are they doing with that wall again? And wont the train cars be visible from DC?
Okay dumb question but has it been discussed if they will try and hide it?
Okay dumb question but has it been discussed if they will try and hide it?
Oh! The Dragon Challenge mention made me remember! I wanted to share a little bit of my experience from yesterday at the WWoHP with my out-of-town friends, one of which is a HUGE Potter fan! This was their first time here in the Central Florida parks. They all absolutely loved the WWoHP, and after visiting it, they all (except one) thought IoA was their favorite park in CFL. The only other one thought DAK was her favorite because she doesn't go on most rides, and thought it had the most for her to enjoy with the animals and theming, but anyways... :shrug:
They all really enjoyed the food in the Three Broomsticks, the rides, the extensive theming. Even in Dragon Challenge! Since they never experienced Dueling Dragons, this was their first and only impression of this queue, and they all liked it and enjoyed all the theming elements like the Goblet of Fire, Triwizard Tournament trophy, golden egg case, floating candles, etc.
The only one negative comment?... Guess what? Showbuilding!
We were going on the queue for FJ, and there was quite a bit of people there yesterday, so FJ had a 90-minute wait, and the extended queue was being used. Well, it was set up so we enter through the new "garden" gates to the left, walk by the left side of the pine trees, then we went all the way backstage of JP and FJ, and then back around to the front, exited out through the right side of the new "garden" queue section, and finally through the Hogwarts gates, and into the lockers and dungeons. So, my friend who is the huge Potter fan, said when we were walking towards the backstage area and saw the side and back of the FJ show building that, "this really bursts your bubble!" Literally!
So, some casual or first-time guests DO take issue with the show-building's visibility, how it ruins the magic and takes you out of the Potter illusion. It's a pretty egregious mistake from Universal to continue to allow this to stay as is, and let guests to see this, especially while within the WWoHP! :rant: That was the only negative thing she had to say, and she's not alone in this particular point. It's a pretty awful sight to behold, and Universal should really try to make it better... Here's what she/we saw:
:down:
They all really enjoyed the food in the Three Broomsticks, the rides, the extensive theming. Even in Dragon Challenge! Since they never experienced Dueling Dragons, this was their first and only impression of this queue, and they all liked it and enjoyed all the theming elements like the Goblet of Fire, Triwizard Tournament trophy, golden egg case, floating candles, etc.
The only one negative comment?... Guess what? Showbuilding!
We were going on the queue for FJ, and there was quite a bit of people there yesterday, so FJ had a 90-minute wait, and the extended queue was being used. Well, it was set up so we enter through the new "garden" gates to the left, walk by the left side of the pine trees, then we went all the way backstage of JP and FJ, and then back around to the front, exited out through the right side of the new "garden" queue section, and finally through the Hogwarts gates, and into the lockers and dungeons. So, my friend who is the huge Potter fan, said when we were walking towards the backstage area and saw the side and back of the FJ show building that, "this really bursts your bubble!" Literally!
So, some casual or first-time guests DO take issue with the show-building's visibility, how it ruins the magic and takes you out of the Potter illusion. It's a pretty egregious mistake from Universal to continue to allow this to stay as is, and let guests to see this, especially while within the WWoHP! :rant: That was the only negative thing she had to say, and she's not alone in this particular point. It's a pretty awful sight to behold, and Universal should really try to make it better... Here's what she/we saw:
:down:
I like to focus on all the other amazing things then just the one bad thing but that's just my opinion.
^^^Those last couple of pictures really show how awful the sightlines are at some points. I had no idea of the severity of it so whenever someone would complain about the sight lines in these threads, I would think to myself that they were nitpicking and complaining about something unimportant. But now I see that Universal has just been lazy in this respect. They set the bar so high for themselves and now they need to continue along with that standard of full immersion into the environment.
So, what? Am I supposed to ignore any flaw because there's a lot of amazing things? Look, I am a hard one to piss off, but I am getting really annoyed with this kind of pointless comments every time someone points out a flaw. Criticism and edification are good things to keep improving and growing anything and anyone. We discuss the good, and we discuss the bad; we discuss the facts. And the fact is that this part is crappy. Or do you think otherwise? I really doubt you think this looks good...I love Universal, I have had an AP for many years and I even pay for my whole family to have APs as well. As a matter of fact, I just renewed 3 Preferred Passes a couple of days ago and will be renewing my own AP in a couple of months as well. I am a true and tried fan. But because of that I'm not gonna be ignorant to facts.
I alone have written hundreds of posts about all the amazing things in the WWoHP. You just haven't been around long enough to read them, or understandably you haven't gone and read thousands of pages of discussion where I express my love and praise of this land, but believe me, it's there. I understand that being a fan of something and having someone criticize it hurts, but the truth is the truth, and you shouldn't ignore it. You gotta stay objective.
I understand they were tight on budget when they were first building the WWoHP, but now that it's bringing them so much success and bucket--no, truckloads of money, they should perfect the spots that need perfecting. The WWoHP deserves to have some more money put back into it, to finish up these weaker areas. This project alone brought Universal all this money... put some back into it and make this totally perfect so there's no break in the illusion/magic :thumbs:
I love Universal, I have had an AP for many years and I even pay for my whole family to have APs as well. As a matter of fact, I just renewed 3 Preferred Passes a couple of days ago and will be renewing my own AP in a couple of months as well. I am a true and tried fan. But because of that I'm not gonna be ignorant to facts.
I alone have written hundreds of posts about all the amazing things in the WWoHP. You just haven't been around long enough to read them, or understandably you haven't gone and read thousands of pages of discussion where I express my love and praise of this land, but believe me, it's there. I understand that being a fan of something and having someone criticize it hurts, but the truth is the truth, and you shouldn't ignore it. You gotta stay objective.
I understand they were tight on budget when they were first building the WWoHP, but now that it's bringing them so much success and bucket--no, truckloads of money, they should perfect the spots that need perfecting. The WWoHP deserves to have some more money put back into it, to finish up these weaker areas. This project alone brought Universal all this money... put some back into it and make this totally perfect so there's no break in the illusion/magic :thumbs:
I applaud you!
I'm a huge Universal fan, but I am in complete agreement with you. Spend the money to fix the flaws.
I love Universal, I have had an AP for many years and I even pay for my whole family to have APs as well. As a matter of fact, I just renewed 3 Preferred Passes a couple of days ago and will be renewing my own AP in a couple of months as well. I am a true and tried fan. But because of that I'm not gonna be ignorant to facts.
I alone have written hundreds of posts about all the amazing things in the WWoHP. You just haven't been around long enough to read them, or understandably you haven't gone and read thousands of pages of discussion where I express my love and praise of this land, but believe me, it's there. I understand that being a fan of something and having someone criticize it hurts, but the truth is the truth, and you shouldn't ignore it. You gotta stay objective.
I understand they were tight on budget when they were first building the WWoHP, but now that it's bringing them so much success and bucket--no, truckloads of money, they should perfect the spots that need perfecting. The WWoHP deserves to have some more money put back into it, to finish up these weaker areas. This project alone brought Universal all this money... put some back into it and make this totally perfect so there's no break in the illusion/magic :thumbs:
Again, it's my opinion. I try to be positive and not negative. I noticed when I concentrate more on the negative things it brings me down and ruins anything I'm excited for. So why would I want to take the fun out of it?..I'm sure Universal will do something about it in future. It's not the end of the world.
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- Mar 22, 2013
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If this weren't the immersive environment it is, the backstage queue wouldn't bother me. In fact, it'd probably be cool seeing the "behind the scenes". But with this? No way. Not when you can see the bricks just stop halfway up the building. Ugh. :inquisitive: I'm usually pretty flexible on queues, but this one bothers me.
See, as much as I think sightlines within the park boundaries (normal guest areas) should be a priority and be fixed, I can't be all that upset about a line backstage in an area never meant for guests breaking the illusion. There are some fairly cheap stop-gap measures I think they could take back there, but it also depends on how they use that area when they don't need the super-extended queue (it would probably take a day to set up/tear down). I'm curious, Felipe, were they using all of the switchbacks to the side of the greenhouse ramps? I remember waiting a good hour back in 2010 with the line in that section beside the greenhouse ramps and not even half of those switchbacks were open. I can't believe all of those switchbacks plus the new "garden" line couldn't hold a 90 minute wait.
I agree. Could someone do a drawing on an aerial screen capture of how all this overflow works. I was there and waited 45 minutes to get through the greenhouse queue and into the upper building. There was tons of unused queue left, the dungeon was empty. I look forward to seeing someones scribbles.
It would only take a few thousand dollars to fix the very few problems. I think that's the most frustrating part. It could all be done third shift.
- Jan 29, 2013
- 1,623
- 1,144
honestly, if they were to take the bricks up on both sides, all the way up and paint that pipe rusted and maybe add some fake vines, it will be ok for me.
