Wizarding World - Diagon Alley Discussion - Part 2
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Uhm, softs for Hogsmeade were open to the public. I sped up I-4 to get in the first day.
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Can't judge any ride--Hogwarts Express, Test Track, Seven Dwarves Mine Coaster--until you've ridden it. So many intangibles. For good and bad--an experience that works great in soft open may seem less impressive when you have to wait 2 hours then share it with 50 other guests in a space built for 25 (cough, Olivanders, cough).
One thing that I'm not sure that has been discussed is the Windows on the train. The windows are not just LCD's that your looking at. Think of it more like a window, with a Harry Potter Forbidden Journey Dome Screen against it. You will be able to move your head around by the window and see different angles of this 4k image on the dome screen.
Here is a description of it from http://www.mugglenet.com/app/news/show/7856
"The Hogwarts Express journey will not be like anything created before at Universal. When asked if it compared to the King Kong Experience, DoQui replied, "No. This is very unique technology. Imagine looking out a window and being able to look to the edges of the window, up and down, and get all of that story information. This is unique to each cabin - they're getting the same journey and story experience but from the point of view of looking out the actual window and getting that actual detail.”
Now if you look at this image, you will see how the left side of the train sticks out with a curve to it. This is for the mini domes for the windows that you will look out.
Anybody know what the significance of the numericals "5972" and "10A" on the train are? I don't think there is any hidden meaning but just wanted to ask.
That link explains most but not all of the story. It is correct in saying that 5972 was the original engine's running number on the GWR / British Railways, but your other question - about 10A - is a little more complex. That plate is a shed code plate, which signifies where an engine was based as its 'home shed'. The real engine has a 10A plate now, so the Uni Hogwarts Express is accurate, but the original engine would not have had 10A. 10A was the code or Carnforth (on the Midland Region in North-West England), but the engine would only ever have operated on the Western Region (i.e. West and/or South-West of London). It has a 10A plate now because the company who now own it are based in Carnforth.
Some useless but hopefully somewhat interesting information! :wave:
While I enjoy this interesting speculating about the Hogwarts Express, I'm far more interested in what were getting with the Gringotts Bank Coaster...that thing is gonna be phenominal.
- Jul 3, 2013
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People, there is little more to know. We know virtually everything about both the queue and the ride:
Great Hall with AA goblin tellers
Weasleys office with transparent projection like the Dark Arts room.
Elevators that give the impression you went somewhere when you didn't
A tilting track
A false waterfall
Deep caverns with 3D projections to suggest height and size
A third wall screen that moves out of your ride's path via Kuka
An AA or projected dragon
A flash strobe for a picture of you on the ride
A place to deposit your 3D Glasses
Stupidly cramped crowds in the exit store...
I mean really... there is virtually nothing more to know!
Is there really going to be a dragon on top of Gringotts at all times?
That just seems…out of place.
That just seems…out of place.
Well, Optimus Prime has been doing a pretty good job standing up there for these past couple of months.
I believe he was referring to it not being appropriate to the ongoing canon of the books; there is no Dragon sitting on top of Gringotts at all times. To me, Diagon is exceptional enough without such rediculous overkill. I will have to find out who the moron is that thought it a clever idea.
While I think it's a good idea to reserve judgement until we've seen it, I would still say that I would rather they had not chosen to put a permanent dragon on top of Gringotts for all the reasons that have been brought up by others, mainly because Why are we casually shopping and then filing into the bank when THERE IS A FREAKING RAMPAGING DRAGON BREAKING THROUGH THE BUILDING?!? 
But at the same time, I can understand why they made the decision. In Hogsmeade the decision to make the castle the icon of the land was an easy one. Not only does the design just look generally awesome, but it's perfectly recognizable to nearly everyone even if they haven't read the books or seen the movies; it's been featured on nearly every poster and dvd/blu-ray cover for the films. And even for the theoretical person who has never heard of Harry Potter, it's a castle. Everyone likes a castle.
Gringotts, on the other hand, isn't nearly as recognizable to the uninitiated. Without the dragon, a clueless person might say "Okay, so it's just a city street with crooked buildings and funny names." But a dragon, like a Gothic castle, is intriguing to virtually everyone.
But at the same time, I can understand why they made the decision. In Hogsmeade the decision to make the castle the icon of the land was an easy one. Not only does the design just look generally awesome, but it's perfectly recognizable to nearly everyone even if they haven't read the books or seen the movies; it's been featured on nearly every poster and dvd/blu-ray cover for the films. And even for the theoretical person who has never heard of Harry Potter, it's a castle. Everyone likes a castle.
Gringotts, on the other hand, isn't nearly as recognizable to the uninitiated. Without the dragon, a clueless person might say "Okay, so it's just a city street with crooked buildings and funny names." But a dragon, like a Gothic castle, is intriguing to virtually everyone.
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Thank you, Teebin. That is exactly what I was meaning. This is Diagon Alley, not just a building with a ride inside…this is a whole land…and as much as JKR has a say in these parks, I am shocked she is allowing a dragon.
I think there are a number of reasons why a dragon atop Gringotts might make sense. The Wizarding World is a timeless (i.e. set in no particular moment from the series) hodgepodge of iconic events, characters, and places in the wizarding world, and Potter fans are already in a position of having to disregard a certain amount of thematic discontinuity, anachronism, or outright error (e.g. a second Ollivanders in Hogsmeade being among the most obvious). The dragon atop Gringotts is intended to trigger/foreshadow the Deathly Hallows Gringotts break-in story line, first and foremost, while leading in to a story line that is not Harry's but is the guest's "unique" experience as a Muggle visitor to Harry's world.
Also, since they had originally intended to include a fire-breathing dragon in Forbidden Journey but had to cancel it at the last minute, this is their opportunity to impress guests with that technology.
Furthermore, there may actually be a story tie-in between the dragon perched atop Gringotts and the use of an internal queue in Ollivanders. I could see a clerk ushering clients inside and directing them to an interior waiting room "to get away from that bloody dragon!" And while an unchained dragon is a life-threatening menace, a dragon who has escaped from Gringotts and whose chains have caught on the roof is perhaps only a temporary, escapable menace that might lead in to the Escape from Gringotts story line.
Or maybe I'm just giving them too much credit and they just wanted a cool fire-breathing dragon to attract non-HP-fans to the area. Either way, I imagine they're gambling that the special effects will win over even hardcore HP fans, in spite of the anachronism/discontinuity.
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