Wizarding World - Diagon Alley Discussion - Part 2

[badlactose]

They are going to do things within the streets that hasn't been done before at any major theme park land. And this is just part of it, numerous tactics to keep things flowing...

Think…

Hmmmm, could it be an army of street performers?

A traditional performance would create traffic flow issues, with people crowding around them, obviously. So perhaps they will be roving characters, interacting with tourists, encouraging them to enter shops, or maybe even arranging mini walking tours for groups of thirty to forty guests? I can envision a lot of great things coming out of this. I remember one of the complaints from Phase One was the lack of 'random' and 'spontaneous' streetmosphere.

 

[Nico]

I might have missed it, will Grimmauld be a walk through?

 

[Brian G.]

Update, courtesy of Michael

 

[bobwadd]

^ Great update, thanks :thumbs:

 

[Teebin]

I might have missed it, will Grimmauld be a walk through?

Not to anyones knowledge. At best,it may house storage.

 

[P@n!K_Sw1tC#]

This image is really irritating to me. I'm not a big fan of how the right hand side just abruptly ends/ how the warehouse is the continuation of the sight-line. I was really hoping UO would of learned from phase one. It baffles me how they can put out this amazing product yet ignore something like this. The other facades graduate in scale and detail, this one just simply ends. Not trying to be a pain in the ass, it's just not very appealing to the eye, especially knowing what kind of details lie inside.

 

[GAcoaster]

I wouldn't worry too much about that yet, there is still a LOT going on there. Fromt he look of the concrete wall down at the end, it looks like they are building a berm down there which I would assume will have plantings on it.

 

[EPCOTcenter]

I am sure they will plant some trees to hide that. I am too very concerned about this. Count me among those who can't stand seeing the FJ building from Jurassic Park.

 

[Disneyhead]

Universal takes great pride in leaving the edges "raw". They have always done it. It is their style. It is intentional. From the "soundstage" upper edges of Mummy, to the obvious show building at Poseidon's Fury, to the flanks of FJ, and now the flanks of the WWOHPA. Universal has never been "you are in an exotic place" place, but the "scene from a fantastical movie" place.

 

[Felipe]

Thanks for the update, Michael! Very nice pics! :thumbs:

PS: I, too, hope for lots of tall trees to the right of Grimmauld Place...

 

[P@n!K_Sw1tC#]

Universal has never been "you are in an exotic place" place, but the "scene from a fantastical movie" place.

Sure they have. In fact until recently they've always been relatively careful about controlling what you can and cannot see, even in the studios park. My problem isn't so much that the show building is peeking out of the facade, more that the facade just suddenly stops. I think a big part of why it looks this way is because other than a small variance, there isn't very much difference in height in any of the London buildings. It all looks like one big slab to me. If they could of tapered off the facade with gradually lower buildings, I think the end result would look more natural. The Sanframity area does a really nice job of this, as does the New York area to an extent. Even IOA has good evidence of this.

I'll wait until the project is complete, but there's something unnatural about what they've done that really doesn't look great in my eyes. But judging by the removal of the scaffolding in this area, I'm not going to hold my breath for any last minute changes.

I would of approached it like this:

 

[MagicRobot]

Is the building next to King's Cross Station the Leaky Cauldron as seen in the 1st Harry Potter movie? If so will it have an entrance from London into the restaurant?

 

[Gambit]

Actually, if you look at 00:14 in the video above, there is another storefront that looks like that (and it's to the right, just like at Uni), but the video is just too low quality and too far away to be able to tell what it is...

Here's a better image of the scene from the video.

 

[Skubersky]

I've been told to expect a package from UOR PR related to Diagon. I'll let you know what shows up...

 

[TheLastAshen]

As far as the comments about the Gringotts soundstage and sight lines, first of all, they aren't done... I'd leave the complaining about it to the end, and secondly I'm pretty sure Hatetofly or someone else has told us that those high cement walls in that area will be filled with dirt and trees planted making that new sight line over 30-40 feet. I'm sure we'll be fine.

 

[shiekra38]

As far as the comments about the Gringotts soundstage and sight lines, first of all, they aren't done... I'd leave the complaining about it to the end, and secondly I'm pretty sure Hatetofly or someone else has told us that those high cement walls in that area will be filled with dirt and trees planted making that new sight line over 30-40 feet. I'm sure we'll be fine.

Could have sworn Hate said that the show building would be visible and to get over it...but maybe he was referring to something else..
Honestly I could care less as it really doesn't matter unless you are looking at it from across the Simpsons/World Expo

 

[Teebin]

^ I believe that he clarified that every show building can be seen from somewhere in the park. In this case, Gringotts will be able to be seen from Springfield or perhaps Mels. When you are in the "land", you shouldn't be able to see anything you're not supposed to.

Hopefully, solutions much like below will solve the up close issues.

Did any of you know that many of THESE LARGE TREES came from up near the Hippogriff coaster, where the snowman currently is located and beyond.

 

[JokerMan0925]

January 23rd will be the Reveal Date at 10:30am. Sign up for alerts and reminders and to watch the Live Webcast.

https://www.universalorlando.com/Email-Signup/Harry-Potter.aspx

[video=youtube;hW0qehuBwWw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW0qehuBwWw[/video]

 

[Skubersky]

This just showed up on my doorstep...

 

[Orlan d'Oh]

This is insane :jaw: