Universal Studios to open Harry Potter theme park!
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Hogwarts | Hogsmeade | Owl's View of Park | Logo
Latest Developments (10 AM EST):
- Official park website now open; visitors can sign up for e-mail updates.
- JK Rowling: "The plans I’ve seen look incredibly exciting, and I don’t think fans of the books or films will be disappointed."
Universal Studios and Warner Brothers made a joint announcement this evening from Leavesden Studios on the set of Dumbledore's Office to reveal that a Harry Potter theme park is currently in development. The image to the left is the first piece of concept art for the park: Hogsmeade Village.
Here's what we learned from Potter set designer Stuart Craig and a representative from Universal Studios (both of them hosted the big reveal):
- "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort"
- Announcement was made live via internet at 12:01 AM EST today to select media, including MuggleNet.
- Areas of park to include Hogsmeade, Hogwarts Castle, and the Forbidden Forest.
- 20 engineers working on project.
- Universal came to WB looking for authenticity.
- Potter park to be built in "Islands of Adventure" area of Universal.
- Stuart wants to "take his grandchildren" to the park.
- Opening early 2010.
- Universal's Potter website to be available at this link.
- JK Rowling has been involved "since the very beginning" of the project. Also "supportive and encouraging."
- Stuart thinks that the park will be better off in the United States.
- Have been in design "for at least a year and a half."
- "Important that the theme park represents the entire saga from Book 1 to Book 7"
In a rather cute way to end the announcement, the Universal representative asks Stuart Craig, "Now where's Dumbledore?" Stuart paused for a moment, looked around the office, and replied, "He was just here."
We'll be discussing these developments on this week's episode of MuggleCast (due out over the weekend). This post will be updated frequently as we learn more!
Posted by Andrew on May 30th |
513 Comments
Visitor Comments
Ugh. Trashy, trashy, trashy. Way to ruin a good thing.
I'll be there. O.O Awesome. Absolutely fantastic. Love the art. ...just speechless. O.O ...wow... >O
YES! I'd been hoping this was really gonna happen! Now it is!!! I can't wait! Especially for Hogwarts!
I think this is VERY cool... so long as Craig, Kloves, et al are involved, and JKRowling is giving her input, I have high hopes that it will be a park worth seeing.
I am so insulted by this. I know everyone's all happy about it and everything... but they've commercialized Harry Potter so much now I'm almost ashamed to be as obsessed as I am (noticed I mentioned almost...but still). Turning it into a movie was one thing... a lot of good books have been turned into movies. But this? This is ridiculous. Hell, I've dreamed of going to Hogwarts... but never anything like this. Something like Hogwarts is supposed to remain a mystery, a hope we know will never come true. For that hope to be filled by such....commercialization is disgusting. It destroys the books. Entirely. The movies were bad enough--too many people see the movies and don't even read the books. But now there's this--in 10 years time you'll have people saying "Yeah, I went into that Harry Potter Theme Park. I didn't understand why there was a portrait of an old man in that office, but I liked the castle!" It's bad enough that the people who only watch the movies only know THAT stuff...but soon enough you'll have people who only know that it's a theme park. Thanks a ton Warner Brothers, Universal. You've just destroyed Harry Potter for the world. And thanks a bloody lot, Rowling. You've just destroyed Harry Potter for your fans.
yiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiy!
Oh my god!!! I CANNOT WAIT!!!
OMG IT LOOKS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO AWESOME!! Its coming out the year i graduate from high school,my parents have to take me as a graduation gift!!!
i disagree with 'vanishingact' completely because if some people are "obsessed" but only see the movies or go to the theme park, it's their loss and all us other real fans will know it's not true. JK Rowling didn't destroy harry potter for her fans, or warner brothers and universal destroy destroying harry potter for the world because of a realistic, bookbased theme park.
How very disappointing, and somehow wrong, that this park will be in America. What's American about Harry Potter? Absolutely nothing. Oh, except the theme park.
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i am so excited. i will BEG m y parents to take me there after i graduate, which is that year! i am SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!! i hope they build honeyduks, and maybe even the secret passage way onto the grounds. oo oo oo oo! and maybe even a whomping willow ride! FUN FUN FUN!!!!
who cares where it is....we're getting one and jo is in on it, and i think that thats awesome. i'm soo excited now there is alot to look foward to after book 7 yay!! soo lets make a countdown until opening day ;)
This looks awesome!! I can't believe they are actually doing this!! I really hope they hire people who know Harry Potter, or else it would be real dumb. I hope they design the rides to where you are on broomsticks, and it would awesome if you could actually buy stuff in the shops!! My main concern is hiring people who don't know HP, cause that would ruin everything!! Can't wait to see how it turns out!!!
I can't wait. I'm already in line.
THIS IS GOING TO BE AMAZING. I LIVE 3 HOURS AWAY FROM ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE!!!
Best.effin.thing.ever OMG, I'm seriously gonna go to hogwarts! *faints*
Congratulations, harrys_metamorphmagus on your great good luck. I live about an hour from London, where a great deal of the action in the books actually happens. Are all the staff going to speak in British accents? Is it going to rain at all, or be relentlessly sizzling hot every day? Will there be palm trees in Hogsmeade? Aren't all the imported owls going to die? This is going to be so wrong and fake, like having a park based on an all-American series of books dumped down in the north of Scotland. It's not like JK Rowling needs the money. She's sold out.
OMG THAT SOUNDS BEYONNNDDD AWESOME!!
OMG!!! I cannot wait till this opens!! I will surely be there as soon as i can. I think should start saving now. I will make a huge trip of it with my other potter crazed friend. this is going to be so intense!!
Oh my gosh, I CANT WAIT!!!!!!!!! I visit Disney World and Universal Studios once a year and sometimes even twice so this is GREAT!!!!!!! I am soooooo looking forward to visiting there.
SWEEEET!!! Can't wait!! Hogsmeade's gonna be awesome!! They better have something like the Hog's Head and Honeydukes and Flourish and Blotts and Weasley Wizards Wheezes. I'm uber excited!
*gasps, chokes, and then sreams with joy*
I AM PSYCHED! MAYBE JO OR DAN WILL BE THERE ON OPENING DAY!!!!!
whoa. this - whoa. its just - whoa. so - whoa. ..... whoa. ps. Draigfire the SNOOPY DANCE ROX!!!!! i am excited bcuz i was an hp fan ahead of time, and in twenty years all the twelve year olds will have had had it there all there lives and i will tell them about the fact that hp was so awesome when i was a teen and then one day this wierd guy goes WERE MAKIN A THEME PARK AND ITS LIKE GONNA B SO AWESOME.
i shall be the first inside hogwarts:D
A year and a half! I can't wait another hour! Too bad it's in Orlando I'm in California. This is what my dad will say, "It will cost 500$ to go there" and I'll say, "It's so worth it though!" I've always wanted to walk in side Hogmeade and the Forrbiden Forest and mostly Hogwarts. I think I'm going to cry!
I wann go there so bad! lol me&my friend will make quidditch REAL! we WILL make REAL brooms and everything! LOL *determined eyes*
*Run Into Wall in Excitement* you've got to be kidding me!!!!! eep!!! I thought that when the rumor came out that is was just that, a rumor!!! That is SO cool!!!! Hmm.... Oh!!! I have got to talk my friends into taking a cross country road trip to go to the new HP theme park!!!! I bet you can go into shops, like in Hogsmeade, and buy things!!!! And if they're doing the castle you can go to classrooms and stuff. If they have the forbidden forest they might create some of the "creatures" as well. That would be totally sweet!!! Can't wait!
BIDDY. quit complaining, your just pissed its not close to you. get over urself, HP is not all about the UK and they could definetly make it work in orlando. quit whinning
jen_92, you are so true. I am NOT proud of America (especially not our president) but we have nothing except the park. You are so Harry Pottered over there, yet you're complaining? Really. I've been acting forever and I'd love to try out for a part, but noooooooo, it's too British for an American. Which I fully agreee with - I'm not complaining, but you're so lucky! I'd give anything to live in Britain.
And also? The USA is huge, and it's unfair to say "You get everything" - Orlando does, not us. Even in NY it's hard to get to Florida, and if you live in California? Good luck you'll need it.
That's interesting.... but why not just go all the way and create a theme park instead of an add on??? And that's too bad that the theme park's going to be in Florida instead of California.
I'm sure it will be cool but they will be limited by the size of the Lost Continent. They should have done an entire park. I don't see how they'll fit 7 books worth of ideas into that small area. Hogwarts castle will look tiny. Oh, well. Maybe this means Harry is going to live. I can't see them building a theme land if he's going to die. That would be weird.
And to think...Me, Only 3 hours away! Dream come true! They really should build Harry his own park! Who else has earned the right? Not Mickey Mouse!
OOOOOOOHHHHH MMMMMYYYYYY GGGGGOOOSSSSSHHH! For once i have an advantage to be an American!!! I go to Florida pretty much every year, which means that i will get to go then!!! My dad told me that this news was on The Today Show, MSN.com, and Yahoo! Harry POtter is soooo incredibly successful. I cant wait to ride "Hedwig's Flight" or shop at "Honeydukes"! It will be all my dreams come true!
Oh my god. I want to go so bad! that will be fricken' awesome!!!!!!!
OH MY GOD MY LIFE IS COMPLETE YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYY!!!~!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OH!!! MY!!!! GOD!!!!!!! you have NO idea how excited i am! i am already counting down the days! i pretty much screamed my head off and ran around the house when i found out. HOW SWEET IS THIS!!!!! i am so excited right now, that words actually fail me...
can anyone please explain what the dumbledore joke means? i don't get it
OMGGGGG! This is SOOO AWESOME! I actually CANNOT wait for this theme park to happen! Wow, this is really brilliant. CAN'T WAIT! :D :D :D
OMG!!! aAHHHHhhh!! YEAH! I love life!!!! 2010 IS THE YEAR I GRADUATE FROM HIGH SCHOOL!!! I know what my plans are now!!!! =) By the way...the Harry Potter theme park thing, yeah, that was totally MY idea. I had plans too...but oh well, me and my friend made plans for a HP hotel, lol.
I'm SOOO STOKED!!!! I cant wait 3 years!!!
THATS FREAKIN AMAZING!!!!!!!!! I AM SOOOOOOOO GOING!!!! :)
weak
Ha! That's frickin' awesome!!! Looks absolutely gorgeous!! I'm curious as to how much this is gonna cost...
OMFG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I. CANT.BELIEVE.THIS. IM SOOOOOOOO GOING AS SOON AS IT OPENS!!!!!!1
Amazing!!!!! Illl be there opening day!!!!! I hope they have actual shops and die for a dungbomb from zonkos a sugar quill from honeydukes and a pint of butter beer straight from the three broomsticks! It would be awesome if they kept the secret passages only people who read the book would know of eg shrieking shack only accecible through passage by whomping willow!
That's so incredibly awesome!
NO WAY... Harry Potter will never be over!!! I'll just pray that they do it according to the books and not the movies... hope they do it perfectly, because, after all, it is just about the only place we can relate Harry Potter to in the real world... And if it doesn't work out the way we want it to... well, at least maybe it will be a place for all Potter fans to meet and have a butterbeer together... somewhere to go when the books are over.
Yay! This is too cool! I am SO excited!
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