harry potter and the forbidden journey 2010

HARRY POTTER AND THE FORBIDDEN JOURNEY 2010 FULL

There are only three actual rides in the 20 acres of Wizarding World, and two of them - to borrow an image from another fantasy - are ugly stepsisters to the Forbidden Journey. It’s the antithesis of most theme-park attractions, where the point is to get through one ride as quickly as possible to get to the next. (It will not require a separate admission fee the same $79 that gets you onto the Jurassic Park River Adventure and the Caro-Seuss-el will also get you into Wizarding World.) But the new area is decidedly different from those around it. Wizarding World is part of Islands of Adventure, one of two theme parks at the Universal resort. “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” He turned his head in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. Harry wished he had about eight more eyes. Which is a bit incongruous, since Wizarding World isn’t really an attraction that you do, it’s one that you absorb. The morning stampede might remain a daily ritual even after Wizarding World is fully open, because ardent fans are desperate for a new Harry Potter experience and hope the Forbidden Journey ride will provide it. No guest has taken up our offer of the guest bedroom since spring of 2002.

Eight-foot-tall ones a giant Daniel Radcliffe (who plays Harry in the films) and Emma Watson (Hermione) staring down at the bed. How far over the edge? Our guest bedroom has Harry Potter posters on every available wall. But everyone else in my household leaped over the edge right at Book 1.

I myself am merely an admirer of Harry and Ms. When you have been drawn into a fictional world as deeply as these fans, it’s dismaying to have to acknowledge that no matter how many times you straddle it, the household broom is never going to fly. Since then, Harry’s more ardent followers have been comparing notes online about what they call post-Potter depression: their gathering despair at the realization that there will be no more stories about Harry or Hogwarts, the witchcraft and wizardry school. Rowling ended the tale of Harry and his wizarding pals by publishing the seventh and final book in her multizillion-dollar series. That is the amount of time that has passed since Ms. Thus the stampede: the rowdies wanted to be first in line to increase their chances of getting on if the technical staff gave the all-clear.Īs I picked myself up from the ground and checked to see if my camera had been damaged, I realized that for these people, it has apparently been a very, very long three years. And, in those preopening days, the ride was still being tweaked, so there was no guarantee that it would be running. No, what these ruffians were interested in was getting to the other side of Wizarding World, the site of Hogwarts Castle, within which is a ride called Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.įor serious Potter fans, this ride has become something like the evil wizard Lord Voldemort: a thing rumored to have awesome powers. They also didn’t seem to care that our guides were Mark Woodbury, president of Universal Creative, and Alan Gilmore, art director for the park (as he has been for some of the Potter films). They didn’t seem to care that a cello was playing itself in the window of the Hogsmeade music shop or that the train engine of the Hogwarts Express was parked right there waiting to have its picture taken.

There were a lot of them, and they were of one, hordelike mind. Turns out that although Wizarding World doesn’t formally open until June 18, access was granted for a few short hours on that weekend to people who had bought a certain vacation package.

HARRY POTTER AND THE FORBIDDEN JOURNEY 2010 FULL

It was a lovely, peaceful moment - until a shout went up and scores of people came storming through the entrance at full gallop, pretty much running right over us. There we stood beside a barrel-shaped beverage cart, chatting with our two tour guides. We were the beneficiaries of a press tour and had the place more or less to ourselves. Did not, however, know that I’d be nearly trampled to death by a mob of post-Potter depressives.Įarly on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, I was standing just inside the entrance to Wizarding World with my family, taking in the wonderfully detailed Hogsmeade, a village of quirky shops that plays a prominent role in J. Knew I’d be talked at by paintings and have my mind blown by a high-tech ride. DID my homework before being dispatched to check out the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction at the Universal Orlando Resort.

Harry potter and the forbidden journey 2010