Wizarding World - Diagon Alley Discussion (Opens 2014)

[Bryan]

Just go before it opens and enjoy it with no crowds.

I did that a couple times before phase one opened and it was great. never went after it officially opened

 

[Teebin]

It is nice to see that weasleys wizard wheezes will be right where I always thought it would and should be. It is in the exact same location as the studio tour in London.

 

[JungleSkip]

Good interview with Thierry Coup from Inside the Magic:

http://www.insidethemagic.net/2013/...-harry-potter-expansion-at-universal-orlando/

 

[Ash]

My guess is it will be similar to BTM or Space Mountain.

With a freefall drop.

its going to be nutso crowded. I'll wait unitil the hysteria dies down before attempting to make a trip..lol.

In general I hate crowded places. Its a wonder I like theme parks at all.

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is it confirmed the ride will be 3D?

If thats the case...then yeah...I dont see this being much of a coaster at all. Just a dark ride. Maybe similar to Indy/Dinosaur?

I heard 3D.... Nothing about any attraction is technically confirmed yet but I thought this was a strong rumour.

Theme park vigilante wasn't it said that 1 day 1 park tickets may be a thing of the past?

And I think it'll be just as busy if not more so for phase 2. Sure there's the potter heads and theme park nuts like us but there's also the people turned on to Potter BECAUSE of phase 1.... I was not interested in potter before but phase one made me go and watch the movies and do the London tour!

 

[Themeparkvigilante]

I'm guessing for crowd control and capacity issues, they'll have to control opening day entry into Diagon Alley at one spot. Maybe they won't allow entry from the Hogsmeade side of HE.

Than if this is the case, they wont have the HE running, because if it is, that means it would have to make trips from Diaogon to Hogsmead only, which would mean if you rode it to Hogsmead, you wouldnt be able to ride it back to get back into USF.

Also, as far as crowd control, if you have TWO ways of entering an anticipated expansion, that would be mean crowds would be spread out over TWO parks, as opposed to creating a bottleneck with a cluster of people trying just to get into 1 park, so I would think having more than one way of entering the expansion would be a good thing. As a matter of fact, they could even encourage people that have 2 park tickets to enter through IOA, & have the line going into USF be for the rest of the people who only have a 1 park ticket.

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I heard 3D.... Nothing about any attraction is technically confirmed yet but I thought this was a strong rumour.

Theme park vigilante wasn't it said that 1 day 1 park tickets may be a thing of the past?

Right, it has been speculated, but not anounced or confirmed, & I personally dont think theyd eliminate 1 park tickets. There sales would drop, as people who could afford the under a hundred dollar ticket, might not ever be able to afford a closer to 200 dollar ticket, & not go.

All just my opinions.

 

[Starwarsfan13]

It kills me that this isn't going to be thrilling,because of the fact that nothing Uni has in the pipeline is specifically for the over 8 crowd.

 

[IzzyB]

Just go before it opens and enjoy it with no crowds.

I did that a couple times before phase one opened and it was great. never went after it officially opened

Yeah, before was way better. No crowds.

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Man, you beat me to it! I thaught well, since 95% plus of the crowd knows that its in USF, so thats where theyll go & where the lines will be insane, & the other 5% will be smart enough to go to IOA, & get to the new expansion on the HE that way, so going to IOa on the grand opening might be the smartest option to get in faster with less of a wait, not to mention a majority of that crowd who only has a 1 day, 1 park ticket who cant go to IOA anyways, so going to IOA, especially for us AP holders, is sounding better & better.

Yes, 95% of the people will go to Studios because they will want to walk in Harry Potter's footsteps. So they will want to ride the train from Studios to IOA. The "Smart" people that think they will get in via IOA are actually not that smart. HE dumps people in London, so they will still have to go to the back of the line to get to see the rest. They will however get to ride the train once.

It kills me that this isn't going to be thrilling,because of the fact that nothing Uni has in the pipeline is specifically for the over 8 crowd.

Really?!?!? So only thrilling rides are geared to above 8 year olds?!? Neither Gringott or HE will be kiddie rides. They will be geared to 5 to 99 people. Will younger than 5 years olds ride both? Probably. HE more since it won't have a height requirement. But just because it is a family ride does not mean it is meant for 8 and under crowd!!!

 

[Andy]

Coup says it is “very” difficult to keep a secret today, citing the “power of the Internet” and proliferation of digital cameras. But he asks fans to simply be respectful of the ongoing projects, taking a wait-and-see approach to enjoy the final results.


If he asked me personally to stop I would. Just throwing that out there Thiery...

As for the Dragon, something is missing. I think we may see the dragon only briefly like once every 30-60 mins for a few short minutes and then he will recede back and stay hidden. I'm not a construction guru but could this be an explanation as to why the Gringotts facade is being built using solid concrete?

 

[JungleSkip]

As for the Dragon, something is missing. I think we may see the dragon only briefly like once every 30-60 mins for a few short minutes and then he will recede back and stay hidden. I'm not a construction guru but could this be an explanation as to why the Gringotts facade is being built using solid concrete?

That's what Reel figures, and I would agree with him. Quick in/out performances every so often as if the dragon is "escaping".

 

[TheLastAshen]

Coup says it is “very” difficult to keep a secret today, citing the “power of the Internet” and proliferation of digital cameras. But he asks fans to simply be respectful of the ongoing projects, taking a wait-and-see approach to enjoy the final results.


If he asked me personally to stop I would. Just throwing that out there Thiery...

As for the Dragon, something is missing. I think we may see the dragon only briefly like once every 30-60 mins for a few short minutes and then he will recede back and stay hidden. I'm not a construction guru but could this be an explanation as to why the Gringotts facade is being built using solid concrete?

That was my theory as well, it's just a little odd that insiders knew nothing of this dragon and yet we knew that there was going to be a train to connect the worlds a year ago...

 

[Themeparkvigilante]

Yeah, before was way better. No crowds.

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Yes, 95% of the people will go to Studios because they will want to walk in Harry Potter's footsteps. So they will want to ride the train from Studios to IOA. The "Smart" people that think they will get in via IOA are actually not that smart. HE dumps people in London, so they will still have to go to the back of the line to get to see the rest. They will however get to ride the train once.

Back of what line? People getting off in London will surely be in a different spot than people trying to enter from the USF side. What I meant was, either way, if you ride the train fom IOA, 1 way or another you will be on the USF side of HP, which would be alot better than being stuck in the line going through Citywalk just waiting to get in the park at all, so waiting in a line once inside the expansion will be alot better than waiting just to get into the park, than again get in line just to enter HP.2.

& of course, even if you could enter from IOA, I dont doubt there will be lines youll have to wait through, but over all, will be the best option & get you into the new land faster, even if by a couple of hours or so. Once in London waiting in line to get into Diagon, your alot better off & closer than people still waiting outside in Citywalk.

Also, common sense would tell me that being the grand opening, that ALL of the rides will be up & running, vs people wanting to board the new HE ride from the IOA side, & employees saying. "Sorry, you cant ride the new ride because of crowd control issues, youll have to leave IOA & can only ride HE by boarding at Diagion over at USF."

 

[Gambit]

The fantastic way that Harry Potter goes down into this bank in the first film, we wanted to bring that to life. In collaborating with Warner Bros. and the filmmaker who created those visuals, we're going to bring you this incredible ride experience that's good for the whole family that everyone's going to be able to enjoy.

Let's not forget that Rupert Grint and Helena Bonham Carter reprized their Potter roles and filmed scenes together last year. And while we don't know exactly what that footage is for I can only think of Deathly Hollows when they break into Gringotts.

 

[IzzyB]

Back of what line? People getting off in London will surely be in a different spot than people trying to enter from the USF side. What I meant was, either way, if you ride the train fom IOA, 1 way or another you will be on the USF side of HP, which would be alot better than being stuck in the line going through Citywalk just waiting to get in the park at all, so waiting in a line once inside the expansion will be alot better than waiting just to get into the park, than again get in line just to enter HP.2.

& of course, even if you could enter from IOA, I dont doubt there will be lines youll have to wait through, but over all, will be the best option & get you into the new land faster, even if by a couple of hours or so. Once in London waiting in line to get into Diagon, your alot better off & closer than people still waiting outside in Citywalk.

Also, common sense would tell me that being the grand opening, that ALL of the rides will be up & running, vs people wanting to board the new HE ride from the IOA side, & employees saying. "Sorry, you cant ride the new ride because of crowd control issues, youll have to leave IOA & can only ride HE by boarding at Diagion over at USF."

The line to get into IOA didn't last all day. But the line to get into HP was wrapped around the park. So while yes, going into IOA and then getting onto HE may get you into the park faster, you will still have to walk to the back of the line within the park. Which my understanding was the longest part of people's waits. Not the wait to get into the park itself. Those pictures shown were taken before the park even opened, hence why the line was so long outside of the park.

 

[Andy]

Let's not forget that Rupert Grint and Helena Bonham Carter reprized their Potter roles and filmed scenes together last year. And while we don't know exactly what that footage is for I can only think of Deathly Hollows when they break into Gringotts.

They've done filming sequences in the soundstages at the "parks" as well.

 

[batsmouth]

I'm just hoping it opens early June and by around end of September when we go it will have quieted down a lot considering schools are back and it's more off season

 

[Andy]

I'm just hoping it opens early June and by around end of September when we go it will have quieted down a lot considering schools are back and it's more off season

Don't count on any quiet time at all for the first year

 

[Hockeyman55]

Who was it on these boards that got to IOA like super early in the AM for grand opening and was able to get up to the front of the line for everything. Was that Maxair Mike?

 

[Themeparkvigilante]

The line to get into IOA didn't last all day. But the line to get into HP was wrapped around the park. So while yes, going into IOA and then getting onto HE may get you into the park faster, you will still have to walk to the back of the line within the park. Which my understanding was the longest part of people's waits. Not the wait to get into the park itself. Those pictures shown were taken before the park even opened, hence why the line was so long outside of the park.

My point is, waiting in line ONCE INSIDE the park to get into Diagon, would be alot better than waiting in line from OUTSIDE of the park. Unless your suggessting that once you get off HE into London, that they're going to make those people who want to go into Diagon leave the park to get into the back of the line that will ineveitably extend outside the park. That would be redundent to make you leave, & exit the park gates just to get back in a line to re-enter it again. I would think they have TWO seperate lines to get into Diagin, 1 for the ones coming in through USF, & one for those who took the train. But than again, I guess the 1st option could very well be the case, God I hope not.

I guess from a crowd control stand point, the question is what would work out logistically the best.

 

[braddillman]

It doesn't make sense that gringott's is represented from the 1st movie, they couldn't film anything worthwhile because the actors are older now. Movie 8 makes more sense. Anyway, Bellatrix is my oldest daughters favourite. ;-)

 

[the last chronicler]

The first year thing has nothing to do with actors because the park has no exact film setting. It's about the look. People are freaking out because they think the ride will look like the only interior shot of the vaults from PS. They're jumping to the conclusion there'll be absolutely no thrill factor equivalent to the final film sequence, despite the fact that there is already a dragon and clearly some high-tech stuff that will make it a rollercoaster-meets-Spiderman type dealio.