The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hollywood

[Jon Fu]

Here's a tour of Forbidden Journey's queue.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/3ZLCtnFY2Bw?feature=oembed

 

[HereWeGo]

But they're still wizards that would have gone to school already. They aren't just random muggle villagers.

This conversation is incredibly nerdy but I'm ok with that.

 

[Wesker69]

Actually Ryan... guests not knowing anything about WWOHP doesn't prove anything at all actually. Theme park guests are morons. They can have a park map in their hand & still have no idea what is what, what is where, what they did, etc... I've seen it many times. Even at HHN... you don't know how many times I've heard guests, with an event map in their hand, walking in the direction of a house/maze they haven't done yet but say they just went through it & that it was on the complete opposite end of the park.

Also... guests not knowing anything about WWOHP is no different from a guest who has never been to the park before & experiencing the whole park for the first time. And lets be realistic, there could be giant light-up flashing signs stating what is inside FJ or any other building & a good number of guests will still be completely oblivious as to what they're walking into.

 

[Aaron]

Okay so finally awake to post my first impressions. This isn't a review since this a technical rehearsal so I will try to make it brief. I was one of the people that waited at 9am to get into the land so it kind of sucks they were just letting people in later in the day haha. It was great having no wait for Forbidden Journey though! We were let in around 2:50pm and were given those time return tickets. It felt so surreal walking into the land after 4 years of following the project and all the TMs and higher-ups seemed really excited to show us what they have been working on. All the employees were wonderful not matter how hectic crowds got and I think that should be noted.

Forbidden Journey was great as always although I do think the 3D made the ride footage blurry in some scenes? Hopefully someone can explain better on why that is. The lighting in the ride was brighter than what I remember in Orlando. You can really appreciate the sets more but unfortunately you do notice some of the black un-themed walls as well. There are more Dementors in the ride but the lighting in my opinion kills the illusion since you can easily see they are attached to something. Besides that I was more than satisfied with FJ. Nothing they can't fix with a few tweaking. 

Hogsmead was every bit as wonderful as Orlando's version. It didn't feel like I was at USH... until I noticed some of the visual intrusions into the land. That was my biggest complaint, there are A LOT of visual intrusions in the land. It does seem like they can be covered up with larger trees so hopefully Universal Creative takes note of that.

I had some Frozen Butterbeer and it was amazing! All the shops looked great and guests were really enjoying themselves. Of course this is a technical rehearsal so some of the interactive wand spots were not working properly when we tried them. Overall I was impressed with all the offerings this land had to offer. I was there for close to 4 hours and still found more stuff to see and do. There are some stuff I didn't like, such as the visual intrusions and exposed lighting on the Hogsmead buildings, but I feel this stuff will improve once April 7th rolls around. Great job to everyone involved. 

 

[Davidisallright]

Well...the general public can be ignorant and passive to information.

 

[chris.g]

Question: Does Forbidden Journey allow lose articles to be placed on the side? Or do we have to get a locker? 

 

[Davidisallright]

With that office building you just need to block off at least 70 percent of it with a facade or trees. We have accept that they can't completely block it off from every angle but at least try to do something from the vantage point of the main walking area around the east side of Hogwarts.


With that office building you just need to block off at least 70 percent of it with a facade or trees. We have accept that they can't completely block it off from every angle but at least try to do something from the vantage point of the main walking area around the east side of Hogwarts.

 

[Jon Fu]

Question: Does Forbidden Journey allow lose articles to be placed on the side? Or do we have to get a locker? 

Hats, smartphones and hats have been let in for what it's worth. I don't think large or medium bags are permitted.

 

[Wesker69]

What type of loose articles are you referring to?... if it is a bag of any kind, you will need to put it in a locker. If you're referring to glasses, sunglasses, or phone.... then as long as it fits into your pocket & won't fall out, you're fine. Its the same basic loose article procedures as any other ride.

 

[chris.g]

^^ & ^ Alright thank you,  I was just generalizing, but I do think I will have a friend going who's taking a bag tomorrow, so I just wanted to play it safe. Guess we'll have to look for lockers inside of Wizzarding World in order to ride then. Thanks! 

 

[Davidisallright]

Planning to put some loose marbles into your pockets?

 

[HereWeGo]

I don't know how much good this will do but I don't think it would hurt if everyone starts expressing their opinions on the visual intrusions to the higher ups when you see them walking around the land. If enough people start telling them directly that it's distracting to see the office buildings in the back, it might just urge them to do something about it.

 

[Imdbman]

I definitely agree about the visual intrusions and I noticed them in my photos.  Interestingly enough, while I was walking through Hogsmeade yesterday, I was distracted by all of the details and sights in the land that didn't really notice the intrusions.   I'm a little surprised they didn't think to add extra trees or even fake trees in between Hogwarts and the Hippogriff to block out the office building.  I guess the Shrek building being somewhat visible is pretty unavoidable.  These intrusions are pretty minor though, and regardless, I didn't notice them walking through the land and I didn't feel like I was in LA at all.  It truly felt like Hogsmeade and Hogwarts.  Although since I didn't do the Hippogriff, I couldn't see the intrusions on that ride.  

Overall, the experience was fantastic and I loved my Butterbeer at Hog's Head more than my Duff Beer at Moe's.  Despite the fact that we all knew about this for years now, it's still hard for me to face the reality that LA now has its very own version of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade.  Love the fact that I can now drive 1/2 an hour to see Wizarding World versus having to hop a plane to Orlando.  Although we still have to go to Orlando to see Diagon Alley.  

I was worried that Forbidden Journey would break down like Fast and Furious did multiple times during its soft openings.  Unlike F&F, this was the third time they built FJ, so that may be why the ride was working very seamlessly.  It really did not feel like a soft opening and the crowds were so well handled and the land was easy to walk through.  The team members were all great as well, with one offering to take our photo at the Hog's Head, another taking his time to show me which wand I should buy at Ollivanders, and two who walked across the entire land with us to help us find the exit.  Universal was always known to have better customer service than Disney, but they really hit a home-run here.

Even with Springfield, only half of Springfield was open upon soft opening, but Potter, despite having significantly more to do, had everything open and operating smoothly without interruptions as far as I can tell.  This was truly one of USH's most successful soft openings.

Once again, THANK YOU to Universal Studios for bringing us this fantastic theme park area and for making all of us fans so happy yesterday!  Well done, an A-grade job during yesterday's soft openings! 

 

[12th Man]

Forbidden Journey is at 120 min!!!  They really need to add the HP wait times to the website and park wait time displays.

 

[Brandonshah97]

JUST CAME BACK FROM THE WIZARDING WORKD IT WAS AMAZING... I waited 90 min for FJ but it was worth it.. Also just something funny I noticed.. I asked TM to take pics of me in front of Hogwarts and they each did a great job of cropping the show building out of my shots.. It was great

 

[Imdbman]

Forbidden Journey is at 120 min!!!  They really need to add the HP wait times to the website and park wait time displays.

That would be awesome.  They probably wouldn't do anything like that until their April 7th opening though.  I've also heard that the red carpet premiere of the Wizarding World will be April 5th.  I wonder if a good number of the HP cast will come out again like Orlando for just a couple of them.

 

[Jon Fu]

https://www.youtube.com/embed/NMMDvfy86Hw?feature=oembed

 

[HereWeGo]

I heard an employee say that the Quidditch goggles for FJ are coming. They are just using the Transformers glasses for while they are in technical rehearsal. Should hopefully have them within the next two weeks.

 

[Imdbman]

I heard an employee say that the Quidditch goggles for FJ are coming. They are just using the Transformers glasses for while they are in technical rehearsal. Should hopefully have them within the next two weeks.

Sweet, that's what I figured!

 

[Opie]

Great vid, Jon. A comparative advantage for Los Angeles should be an endless stream of talented performers for shows like these and others. I hope they innovate here and encourage surprise character interactions with those in the park.