Attractions Management Issue 1 2011 - TourismInsights
Attractions Management Issue 1 2011 - TourismInsights
Attractions Management Issue 1 2011 - TourismInsights
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THE WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER OPENED LAST AUTUMN TO RAVE REVIEWS. BRC’S BRAD<br />
SHELTON VISITS THE ATTRACTION TO FIND OUT IF ITS FLYING START CAN BE MAINTAINED<br />
<br />
<br />
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a<br />
new themed area in Universal Parks and<br />
Resorts’ Islands of Adventure, Orlando, US,<br />
designed to put guests inside several of<br />
the main set pieces in the Harry Potter fi lm<br />
series and JK Rowling’s books.<br />
Opened in June 2010, the project is a<br />
joint venture between Universal Studios<br />
and Warner Brothers, with active involvement<br />
from the author herself.<br />
<br />
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is<br />
made up of three main attractions – Harry<br />
Potter and the Forbidden Journey, Dragon<br />
Challenge and Flight of the Hippogriff.<br />
There’s also a highly themed Hogsmeade<br />
Village with retail, dining and a replica<br />
of the Hogswart Express. Admission is<br />
included in the ticket price for Universal<br />
Parks and Resorts’ Islands of Adventure.<br />
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey,<br />
the area’s E-Ticket attraction, is set inside<br />
an extraordinary re-creation of Hogwarts<br />
Castle. In the queuing area guests interact<br />
with characters and props from the Harry<br />
Potter series before taking a magical ride<br />
around Hogwarts Castle, through a group<br />
of dementors and into a Quidditch match<br />
on an innovative ride controlled by a Kuka<br />
robotic arm system.<br />
Dragon Challenge is a re-theming of<br />
Islands of Adventures’ Dueling Dragons<br />
coaster. It has two tracks, Hungarian<br />
Horntail and Chinese Fireball (named after<br />
two of the dragon breeds that appear in<br />
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), which<br />
overlap and intertwine in pretty thrilling<br />
fashion, and is the only dueling inverted<br />
coaster in the world.<br />
Flight of the Hippogriff is the area’s<br />
family attraction. It is a re-theming of<br />
Universal’s old Flying Unicorn attraction,<br />
and tells the story (loosely) of Hagrid teaching<br />
young wizards to fl y on a Hippogriff.<br />
Hogsmeade Village, which serves as<br />
the main thoroughfare in The Wizarding<br />
World of Harry Potter, is a highly themed<br />
re-creation of the village where students at<br />
Hogwarts go when they’re not in school. It<br />
includes The Hogwarts Express, The Owl<br />
Post, where visitors can send letters, shops<br />
Honeydukes, Dervish and Banges and<br />
Zonko’s, Filch’s Emporium of Confiscated<br />
Goods and Ollivander’s Wand Shop. Food<br />
and drinks can be bought from The Three<br />
Broomsticks and The Hog’s Head.<br />
<br />
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter has<br />
been marketed as thoroughly as the books<br />
and fi lms. In Orlando, you can’t go anywhere<br />
without seeing billboards of Harry<br />
Potter. There’s been an international media<br />
blitz, including coverage of the opening on<br />
NBC News in the US.<br />
<br />
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is<br />
easily accessible through Islands of<br />
Adventure’s main entrance off Citywalk.<br />
(Left) Actors make a trip<br />
to Ollivander’s Wand Shop<br />
realistic; (right) dancers<br />
recreate a scene from Harry<br />
Potter and The Goblet of Fire<br />
44 Read <strong>Attractions</strong> <strong>Management</strong> online attractionsmanagement.com/digital<br />
AM 1 <strong>2011</strong> ©cybertrek <strong>2011</strong>
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