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Universal Orlando Resort (USO, IOA) Discussion Thread

P. 624: Stella Luna and Terra Nova resort details released!
Homer
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robbalvey
robbalvey

We rode Velocicoaster today! Here's our thoughts on the ride....  

Invertalon
Invertalon

We spent the weekend at Universal/IoA on Sat/Sun/Mon. In that time, we managed 15 rides on Velocicoaster. A handful of front and back seat rides, including a few at night (which is just epic!). 

robbalvey
robbalvey

Official Velocicoaster POV released!  

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pat_naughty05 Rookie

pat_naughty05

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Remember a few months ago when they started doing Harry Potter Vacation Packages? Didn't those start in May? And I seem to remember someone saying US was going to honor those packages with special acess even those WW wouldn't be technically open yet. So maybe those folks you saw were some of the earliest package holders.

 

The earliest dates for those packages was May 28th, so this probably is not the case. There has been speculation on other sites that these people were extras for advertisements that were being shot of families of executives.

 

Maybe its an employees-and-family-only soft opening or something. I have doubts that there will be a 'regular' soft opening.

 

Universal Team Members will be receiving their tickets to the TM Preview this Monday and Tuesday, May 17th and 18th. At this point we will know when those previews will actually take place, which should give us a good idea as to how close softs are.

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musicmand Enthusiast

musicmand

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^^ Look at you being all knowledgeable and stuff! Well done!

 

I'm not sure I'd get my hopes up about soft opens for HP... at least not for the general public. And I'd be shocked if we saw a soft open on Forbidden Journey for anyone. I suspect everyone will just have to wait for opening day. And I, of course, will just have to wait until I can get my behind back down to Orlando.

 

...Heck, it's only a thousand miles, right? Sigh...

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beyondthepalace Enthusiast

beyondthepalace

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When Pow Wow had their event this Monday and for the Team Member preview this week...Forbidden Journey will only have its queue line open, not the ride itself. I have to agree that because we are only a week away from WWoHP package guests arriving, we will not have a soft open until closer to the June 18th date. I could be totally wrong though as just before the packages start next week, Coca Cola has a big event at IOA that will include WWoHP upon availability.

I am proud of UO for being ultra tight lipped bout all of this. Usually we know everything about new rides/lands way in advance.

 

 

^^ Look at you being all knowledgeable and stuff! Well done!

 

I'm not sure I'd get my hopes up about soft opens for HP... at least not for the general public. And I'd be shocked if we saw a soft open on Forbidden Journey for anyone. I suspect everyone will just have to wait for opening day. And I, of course, will just have to wait until I can get my behind back down to Orlando.

 

...Heck, it's only a thousand miles, right? Sigh...

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musicmand Enthusiast

musicmand

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So are they completely done with construction then? After all, I can't imagine they'd want to let guests into a construction area, right?

 

If so, can we get some pics of the finished product (albeit from the outside looking in)?

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CD Community Regular

CD

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So today I took a last-minute trip to Universal after I dropped my girlfriend off at the airport (and sadly I didn't bring my camera). All I have to say is that The WWoHP is looking AMAZING! It also seems like they could open it at any second! These are the things that I noticed since my last trip a few months ago:

 

*Dragon Challenge:

 

-Dragon Challenge is now back open from it's second refurb. The queue now leads you through the streets of Hogsmeade with the only thing blocking your view being some temporary black construction walls. There are quiet a few Crew Members throughout this section telling everyone to keep moving and not look through the walls.

 

-The castle's entrance looks complete and the flags look really good.

 

-You are still entering through the exit of the attraction but there is now music playing in this portion of the queue (The song "something wicked this way comes")

 

-When you get to the portion of the queue where you "choose thy fate" there is now three banner style screens, none of which were working. The one on the left said Horntail in the top corner, the middle was blank, and I can't remember what the one on the right said.

 

-Once you enter the station you can see it has been cleaned up and remolded (like they did to the outside of the castle) but it's not too different. The biggest difference is the tarp that acts as the celing now has a video projection all the way across making it look like it's being torn up by a dragon. The quality is really poor and the whole thing is hard too see as of now but I'm sure they'll fix this, it's pretty cool! They replaced the wooden airgates with generic metal ones (but the railings up to the gates are still wood, which looks weird) hopefully this is only temporary. The station plays the effect sounds to go along with this. It also seems as if the Crew Member uniforms had slightly changed too.

 

-On the ride you can see the outdoor portion of the queue it looks great, with signs about the tournament.

 

* Hogsmeade:

 

-This looks amazing close up and you really can see a lot of it from the DD queue. The detail is superb and I'm sure it will only get better once the area opens.

 

-There was also HP music playing in Hogsmeade and Hogwarts express is still going strong with steam and sound effects.

 

*HPaTFJ:

 

-Almost all of the work walls are down and you can see what I'm assuming is all of the outdoor queue. There isn't too much theming outside of some lamps but it still looks Harry Potterish.

 

-Like Hogsmeade and DD, there is HP music playing in this queue.

 

*Overall:

 

-There are security and Crew Members everywhere making sure you don't see what's going on, so if you head over to IOA don't try anything sneaky.

 

-As far as I can see all of the WWoHP looks amazing and UO has really done a great job! I can't wait to see more once it opens!

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dandaman Grand Master

dandaman

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^ The banner on the left said "Fireball"; when I was there yesterday, the projections were faded and the letters backwards, but still there.

 

For further reference, the new re-rerouted DD queue passes right next to Dervish & Banges, the joke shop (I think... haven't read the books in a while). From what I could see, there was also a music store (just a front) and a little bit of Ollivander's visible as well. Wish I could say I had pics, but as is stated above, they're being very careful about this; found that out the hard way when I rounded the first corner and in the first half-second of getting out the camera got "informed". These guys are good.

 

Hearing the John Williams score playing softly through the line was excrutiating in terms of "I want this open right the hell now"!

 

EDIT: Facepalm. Dervish & Banges is more of a "regular" shop whereas Zonko's is the joke shop. I used to know that...

Edited by dandaman
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Guest

Guest

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This morning, Harry Potter film stars Robbie Coltrane, Matthew Lewis, Emma Watson, and Oliver and James Phelps began their sneak peek tour of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter by entering Hogsmeade. The group was invited to Universal Orlando Resort for a first-look at the immersive environment, and will spend the day visiting many of the iconic locations made famous in the popular Harry Potter series. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort grand opens on June 18.

 

© 2010 Universal Orlando Resort. All rights reserved. HARRY POTTER, characters, names and related indicia are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Harry Potter Publishing Rights © JKR. (s10)

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Visioneer Contributor

Visioneer

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This morning, Harry Potter film stars Robbie Coltrane, Matthew Lewis, Emma Watson, and Oliver and James Phelps began their sneak peek tour of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter ...

 

An example when HDR photo processing is taken just a bit too far. With proper lighting, this would've been a better shot ... still not a great promo shot considering all they could have done.

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britishdebutante Apprentice

britishdebutante

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Coasterboy from Z100's syndicated morning talk show Elvis Duran and the Morning Show interviewed Paul Darrio from Universal about the Wizarding World of Harry of Potter. This is Coasterboy's first video blog in a hopefully long series of fun and interesting looks at the amusement industry. It's always good to see coaster enthusiasm make its way to the mainstream. Oh yeah, Coasterboy is also a TPR member.

 

Visit http://elvisduran.com/pages/video/mainplayer.html?uri=channels/413811/901242 to check out the video!

 

1893422351_Picture2.png.8602a3649c2d94b3a0a25766a205d4c8.png

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Guest

Guest

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Another picture of the actors touring the new "land" or "area" or "park" or ... idk

 

 

Harry Potter film stars Emma Watson, James Phelps, Matthew Lewis and Oliver Phelps toured Hogsmeade before venturing into Hogwarts castle during their sneak peek of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter—which grand opens June 18.

 

© 2010 Universal Orlando Resort. All rights reserved. HARRY POTTER, characters, names and related indicia are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Harry Potter Publishing Rights © JKR. (s10)

 

 

P.S. I get these from the Facebook updates they've been posting. I'm not sure if everyone gets them, but if they do and don't want me to post them anymore, please let me know

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Jew Grand Master

Jew

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An example when HDR photo processing is taken just a bit too far. With proper lighting, this would've been a better shot ... still not a great promo shot considering all they could have done.

 

There's more to the photo than Emma Watson???

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