Harry Potter Theme Park to Open in Spring 2010
Posted on September 16, 2009
Tags: Harry Potter Theme Park, the wizarding world of harry potter, harry potter amusement park, harry potter and the forbidden journey, wizarding world of harry potter, harry potter world
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, the hotly anticipated new Florida theme park, will open in the spring and allow visitors to explore Hogwarts Castle, buy Quidditch equipment and drink Butterbeer.
Universal Orlando unveiled details of the park, a 20-acre addition to its Islands of Adventure property, on Tuesday in a video presentation on the Web. The resort, owned by NBC Universal, secured the theme park rights to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books in May 2007 but has been silent about specific plans until now.
The so-called “theme park within a theme park” will be faithful to the visual landscapes of the Harry Potter films produced by Warner Brothers, which licensed the rights to Universal after a flirtation with the Walt Disney Company. “We’ve tried to include something from every book,” said Alan Gilmore, an art director for the films who is helping to oversee the theme park design.
“We had free range to be as grand and as excessive as we could be,” he added. “It’s only money that holds us back in the end.”
Universal and Warner declined to offer financial details, but analysts estimate Wizarding World will cost about $265 million, a relative drop in the bucket to what Universal’s rival spends on attractions. Disney is pumping $1 billion into its California Adventure park, for instance, and just detailed hundreds of millions in expansion and refurbishment plans for other properties.
But the Harry Potter sum is still considerable and Universal executives hope the result will be an intensely immersive experience unlike any theme park currently offers. “We wanted fans to be able to truly live the experience of these movies,” said Mark Woodbury, president of Universal Creative.
Islands of Adventure could use the help. While the park is home to popular rides themes after “The Cat in the Hat” and “Jurassic Park,” attendance has suffered due to the recession and complaints by tourists that it lacks new attractions. Analysts say about 5.3 million people visited the park in 2008. (For comparison, Disney’s nearby Magic Kindgom attracted about 17 million people.)
Universal is also scrambling to get its arms around Disney’s $4 billion acquisition of Marvel Entertainment. Two of the most popular roller coasters at Islands of Adventure are themed around Marvel characters: The Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man. Universal’s licensing agreements are long-term but exclusive only to Florida; Disney can add the same characters to its parks in California, Europe and Asia, potentially weakening their Florida drawing power.
Wizarding World, backed by Ms. Rowling’s legions of fans, will allow Universal to lessen its reliance on the Marvel characters and, to some degree, attractions based on the movies of Steven Spielberg, who has a long-term consulting contract. (Universal is trying to renegotiate a stipulation in Mr. Spielberg’s contract that allows him to be bought out in the coming months.)
The Harry Potter park will be three major rides – and Universal still won’t talk about much about the primary one, a high-tech experience inside the castle involving likenesses of the heroes from the films – and interactive shopping. For instance, the Ollivander’s Wand Shop will replicate Ms. Rowling’s storyline: the wand chooses the wizard instead of the other way around.
Flight of the Hippogriff is described as a family coaster that simulates a Hippogriff (the half-horse, half-eagle beast that first appeared in “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”) training flight over Hogwarts castle. Dragon Challenge is a twin high-speed roller coaster that will feature elements from the Triwizard Tournament.
Wizarding World is already receiving rave reviews from at least one contingency: the actors from the films. Tom Felton, who plays Harry’s towheaded nemesis Draco Malfoy, has visited the property twice, once when construction was just getting started and again in recent days.
“We always say on set, ‘If this place was real, it would be absolutely fantastic,’” he said in a telephone interview. “To actually walk into this world and be able to touch it and taste it and smell it – well, it’s just going to be fantastic.”
Tags: Harry Potter Theme Park, the wizarding world of harry potter, harry potter amusement park, harry potter and the forbidden journey, wizarding world of harry potter, harry potter world
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