The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hollywood

[William]

Awesome progress so far. I'm guessing that brick wall just behind the fence separating Shrek from Hogsmeade is part of the Triwizard Spirit Rally?

 

[cruise]

No.  The bridge for the Amphitheater entrance has already been removed.  However, I do believe there will be an "exit" for Hogsmead from the Studio Tour area.

I hope that this is the case... I LOVE the concept of the "hidden" exits to Diagon Alley in Orlando.  They solve a practical problem in a very smart way.

 

[Allen The Actor]

Rock work is looking gorgeous! Such a pity it can't wrap around the entire show building. Nonetheless, extremely exciting.

And I agree, I hope there's an additional exit out of the land for crowd control.

 

[Wesker69]

So what was that about the rockwork/castle NOT being brown yet?

Told you guys there was nothing to worry about with the rockwork/castle color in the previous pic. Just a trick of the light.

it shall be interesting to see how much scaffolding is down by next week when Supercharged opens.

 

[Park Man]

I know I'm going to get shot down right away for this, but here goes...

I was talking with a co-worker whose brother works up at Universal. Apparently they've been giving orientation tours to the employees and starting to train them.

And I was up at the park on Tuesday evening looking at it, and to me it doesn't look 11 months away from opening; it looks 6.

And then you hear that the show scenes in Forbidden Journey are almost finished...

I think this is going to open a lot earlier in 2016 than any of us are guessing.

 

[William]

I wouldn't shoot that down. Many of the Hogsmeade shops near the entrance arch are reaching completion, so once they finish paving the first chunk of the main pathway, I wouldn't be surprised if they started prepping team members for the impending frenzy next year.

They've still got some work to do, but I think this summer will have a lot of exciting advancements in store.

 

[Wesker69]

Yea, they have internal interviews (aka- current employees) for Potter going on. I know they have one or some next week, so yea.. expect the opening team to be picked & dropped into FJ by next month so they can start training.

As for Hogsmeade itself, while the exteriors are getting closer to being completed with the concrete being poured now... they still have the window scenic to add. That will take some time to do because there is quite a bit of fabrication work to be done.

In other news though, it has been confirmed... the Hippogriff track is complete as of today. It is a mirror image of Orlando's. So instead of turning to the left, it turns to the right. Not that it really makes a difference, but its something.

 

[JPLA]

Here are more of the photos I took at lunchtime today.  They're over 10 hours old so at the rate Universal is moving they're somewhat out of date.

I'm throwing these here because I don't know where else to put them.  Let's say that three Osprey aircraft came to see Hogsmeade.  I took these from roof of Curious George parking.

 

[Allen The Actor]

I really hope a few of my personal friends get transferred to Wizarding World! So excited/nervous for their interviews!

 

[Imdbman]

The Hippogriff lift is now basically visible.  They've really been installing the track quickly! And it looks like scaffolding is all down for all of Hogsmeade now, except that they still need to finish the Owlery! 

 

[raven24]

I got an email for an interview next week. We shall see what happens.

 

[techmaniac16]

I got an email for an interview next week. We shall see what happens.

Good luck!

 

[Chris]

FYI, I'm tall and its easy to reach above the Shrek queue fence.  No selfie stick needed.

Welcome to the club!

Wow!  Our Hippogriff is reversed!  Orlando has a left turn off the lift...ours is a right turn!

 

[raven24]

Good luck!

Thank you! I'm pretty sure I won't get it, but I thought I'd try anyway. It won't kill me if I don't get picked.

 

[Allen The Actor]

Its ridiculously weird seeing an outdoor coaster track in USH! Loving it!

 

[Wesker69]

That may be the weird part for you, but the weird part for me is seeing the track being a mirrored layout...

My friend & I were just talking about it being weird seeing it since he worked at Orlando's Hippo. What I've been trying to figure out is the placement for Hagrid's hut. With the track practically being right up against the side of Shrek & backstage area, its throwing things off a bit. This would be one of those times where some nice aerial shots of the area would come in handy..

Also the one random arch structure at the end of Hogsmeade that is still yellow has been bugging me.

 

[Aaron]

Its ridiculously weird seeing an outdoor coaster track in USH! Loving it!

Still weird seeing Hogwarts at USH!

 

[William]

Also the one random arch structure at the end of Hogsmeade that is still yellow has been bugging me.

I could be wrong, but that arch looks like part of a structure that's usually seen on the left side of Hogsmeade if you're looking at the castle in USJ or IOA. In IOA, that arch represents another entrance/exit to the land from Jurassic Park. This would suggest that we really could be getting a path from the Studio Tour entrance plaza to Hogsmeade.

 

[HereWeGo]

Yeah if there was a way to get some more aerial shots of the area as it is now, that would be awesome. You know if anyone casually owns a helicopter or something.

 

[Wesker69]

That was my initial thought as well regarding the arch. It definitely isn't as wide as the arch in Orlando, but then again there was a bridge leading into JP from that entrance. My friend pointed out its arch shape is closer to the Dragons Challenge arch opposed to the Hogsmeade arches. What's odd is, in Orlando that area has the snow-wizard but we don't seem to have that. At least the elevated spot it'd be at hasn't been done yet.

From what I was told, there will supposedly be a entrance/exit by the Studio Tour, but I personally can't see it since the area is still under construction, plus they have the retaining wall with trees creating the exit path for the Studio Tour. My one friend who would know isn't 100% sure either. It'd be nice if they got that Studio Tour/Springfield corner completed so those walls can come down.