The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hollywood

[raffman]

if i have complementary tickets i can go anytime right? plus i been saving these for whenever soft opening begin.

 

[Brandonshah97]

February 8-11 is going to be a mock opening. It will determine when soft opening takes place.

What is a mock opening? Does that mean they're going to open on the 8-11???

 

[Wesker69]

They won't be open to the public... but it is basically a dress rehearsal of being open & operational.

In some cases, like say a restaurant, they will do a mock opening with the staff... half of the staff will do their designated job, while the other half pretends to be the guests/customer. Then they switch. I know at the Burbank Steak 'n Shake did this last month, but on two days (Friday/Saturday) before they were actually open, they allowed real customers to come in & eat for free to give the staff some legit experience dealing with guests.

I don't know if that is how they will do it with Potter, but I figured it would help give you an idea. As for any park guests getting to enter Hogsmeade during the mock opening, I would say it is highly unlikely. If anything, they'll probably let other Non-Potter USH TMs into the new land during the 8th-11th to help serve as a TM preview.

 

[Goatmilk]

if i have complementary tickets i can go anytime right? plus i been saving these for whenever soft opening begin.

if theyre the old ones yesRecently the new employee comp tickets are loaded with blackout days. Used to be just the end of december but not anymore

 

[Park Man]

It sounds like they may be on target for a President's Day soft opening. And since they have graciously removed all black out days in February, I will definitely be stopping by on Saturday the 13th just in case. 

 

[Ryan]

For comparison, Transformers had on-and-off mock openings around the week of April 8, 2012 IIRC. The attraction had its EPN nine days later, and then soft opened to the public the very next day.

If WWoHP has its mock opening thru the 11th, unless EPN is on the night of the 11th, it looks like Universal is deciding to start softs directly after Presidents Day weekend, with the weekend of the 19th thru the 21st being the first one that'll be open for the public. So instead of opening for the masses, they'll take in a little bit of a slower period (as slow as you'll get with the Potterheads rushing to the park at this time)... my best guess at this current moment? 

2/16: Employee Preview Night

2/17: WWoHP soft opens

Roughly about fifty days prior to grand opening.

 

[Wesker69]

The problem with that is... Transformers was just 1 ride, Potter is an entire land.. I don't think 1 "night" will cut it for an employee preview. It may, but you'd think they'd want the employees to experience it so that way they aren't taking up space that a paying guest might be when it is soft/officially open.

 

[Chris]

2/16: Employee Preview Night

2/17: WWoHP soft opens

Quite possible.  I'm guessing EPN for 2/17.

The problem with that is... Transformers was just 1 ride, Potter is an entire land.. I don't think 1 "night" will cut it for an employee preview. It may, but you'd think they'd want the employees to experience it so that way they aren't taking up space that a paying guest might be when it is soft/officially open.

I don't think this will matter at all to management.  4 hours in the land will probably be enough for employee night.  Pre-determined dinner in Three Broomsticks, a chocolate frog, shirt and butterbeer (my guess).  With only 1 guest per employee, it won't be overcrowded.

 

[12th Man]

On December 7 of last year they had a huge beacon pointed in the air. I managed to get some photos of it, but when I did I noticed a helicopter. You can see the helicopter in this picture I took:

Then today I watched the video about the Harry Potter trip around the world on from Trip Advisor and at the very end there is a shot from the helicopter I saw! I think that is cool and just wanted to share it here.

 

[USHInsider]

I am completely suprised by no one actually taking pictures of the kiosks today. Absolutely no one took a picture of it while it was uncovered! 

 

[Aaron]

I am completely suprised by no one actually taking pictures of the kiosks today. Absolutely no one took a picture of it while it was uncovered!

There are actually a few photos floating around the forum of the uncovered kiosks from a few weeks ago.

 

[ItsAtrap]

Quite possible.  I'm guessing EPN for 2/17.

Do they usually do EPN before soft opening of a new attraction?

 

[Freak]

Do they usually do EPN before soft opening of a new attraction?

History has shown that they do. That happened with Transformers, Despicable Me, and, if I'm not mistaken, Kong 360. It didn't happen with Fast and Furious right after EP because of all of the bad feedback and issues they were having. So with that in mind, it seems safe to assume softs will happen shortly after EP.

 

[Park Man]

Quite possible.  I'm guessing EPN for 2/17.

I don't think this will matter at all to management.  4 hours in the land will probably be enough for employee night.  Pre-determined dinner in Three Broomsticks, a chocolate frog, shirt and butterbeer (my guess).  With only 1 guest per employee, it won't be overcrowded.

I'll buy that. You guys have far more experience than I do with Universal Operations, so I will take your estimates over mine.  2/16 or 2/17 it is!

 

[Goatmilk]

Quite possible.  I'm guessing EPN for 2/17.

I don't think this will matter at all to management.  4 hours in the land will probably be enough for employee night.  Pre-determined dinner in Three Broomsticks, a chocolate frog, shirt and butterbeer (my guess).  With only 1 guest per employee, it won't be overcrowded.

im hearing no guests and 2 preview nights to split up the many employees Take with a grain of salt

 

[Ryan]

USH doesn't have that many employees to warrant that, so I'll take those grains of salt thank you.

 

[RyanTTD]

Not sure if its been mentioned here, but there is a special employee only (no guests allowed) screening of Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince at the CityWalk movie theaters on February 11th at 6:30pm. February 11th is also the day that a good majority of Season Pass and Multi Day tickets expire.

Universal back in 2011 held a special screening of the Harry Potter movies at CityWalk in Orlando. When the movie was over, guests were taken from the theater and into the Wizarding World as a surprise.

I wonder if they plan to do the same here.

 

[HereWeGo]

It seems like they would want the employees to bring one guest with them so the Wizarding World employees can get used to crowds. Granted that will be nothing compared to how it will actually be but at least it would be a lot more than if it were just the employees minus their one guest. But I also know nothing about this so I'm just spitballing.

 

[Ryan]

Not sure if its been mentioned here, but there is a special employee only (no guests allowed) screening of Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince at the CityWalk movie theaters on February 11th at 6:30pm. February 11th is also the day that a good majority of Season Pass and Multi Day tickets expire.

Universal back in 2011 held a special screening of the Harry Potter movies at CityWalk in Orlando. When the movie was over, guests were taken from the theater and into the Wizarding World as a surprise.

I wonder if they plan to do the same here.

Hmm maybe but I doubt they would sub it in for their EPN unless they don't do one... which would piss a lot of employees off. (and why not? This ain't Diagon where they're down to the wire)

 

[Wesker69]

I'm sticking with my initial post in regards to the 8th-11th being for Employees, and soft opening being the 12th (or sometime that weekend)..

The land is ready, no reason to wait until a later date... besides, the earlier it soft opens, the more experience those TMs will get for when it officially opens (even though nothing can prepare them for the grand opening day crowds haha.