And while most of this produces only tingles of excitement, it can also elicit some gnashing of teeth. Why? The huge deluge of crowds is a very real concern – the first Wizarding World had lines that lasted some eight or nine hours, and that was just to get into the area – but there’s also the growing realization of just what Universal’s limitations are.

Today, we set aside our admiration for the Harry Potter expansion and share our predictions for the biggest complaints guests will have about Diagon Alley.

Too many stores, not enough rides

While Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts and the Hogwarts Express will undoubtedly be two of the most immersive, amazing rides in the history of the theme park industry – they’re certainly already among the most expensive – they are, at the end of the day, just two rides.

Yes, a new (and expanded) Ollivander’s will be on hand, and there’s going to be at least one new show at the Carkitt Market area, but will that be enough to satiate the rabid fans?

There are two additional issues that may make this an even stickier problem for Universal than it might otherwise seem. Firstly, the roughly 15 stores – that’s three times the number over at Hogsmeade – are being billed by the company as another attraction, providing a slew of unique experiences and merchandise that should, in theory, extend the guest’s level of immersion (and line of credit, but of course). Secondly, the RFID-equipped magic wands that will allow Muggles to interact with store displays all throughout Diagon Alley (and, according to rumor, Hogsmeade, as well) have gotten delayed, possibly until next summer.

As such, the vast majority of an individual’s time in Diagon Alley will consist of looking at, being in, or waiting in line at shops. And while this is already largely the case at Hogsmeade, it may end up feeling more deliberate or manipulative in this instance, as if the occasional ride or theater show is there to merely help propel you from one store to the next, creating an overwhelming expectation – especially for young fans – that spending money beyond the purchase of theme park admission is an absolute requirement to enjoy the Wizarding World.

Express Passes & Early Park Admission are worthless

While our readers are likely to be better educated in this matter, it goes without saying that thousands of less-prepared guests will unwittingly pay upwards of $129 per person, per day for Express Pass access this summer or pay a large premium to stay on-site to get Express Passes and Early Park Admission benefits.

However, just as with Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey over in Hogsmeade, neither Escape from Gringotts nor the Hogwarts Express are expected to feature Express Pass access (though they might at some distant point in the future). Those ill-prepared guests who paid more for daily Express Passes than they did for daily admission will be furious – and, despite Universal’s efforts to communicate EP restrictions, their numbers are likely to be in the tens of thousands by the end of the expansion’s first year.

Similarly, if Diagon Alley implements return time tickets as Hogsmeade does during peak times, this is yet another wall that Express Passes will not get you through.

And what about Early Park Admission? To the disappointment of everyone, it is quite possible that this benefit is going to be almost completely mitigated, as well: with the opening of Cabana Bay Beach Resort this summer, an additional 1,800 rooms will be filled with individuals who are all also guaranteed early-hours access.

That means there will be at least another 5,000 people crawling all over the Wizarding World before rope-drop – and that’s not even including Universal’s 20 partner hotels, which are afforded the same benefits (or the rumored fifth on-site resort, for that matter, which might open as early as next year).

The only faint glimmer of hope here is the rumor that Universal will somehow stagger the huge number of guests staying at Cabana Bay (and, eventually, the fifth hotel) during early park admission, although we have absolutely no idea how this could be instituted in practice.

Hogwarts Express = a $176 pass to wait in line

The Hogwarts Express attraction will actually consist of two trains, each seating roughly 200 passengers. Given a six-minute ride time and another approximate four minutes for loading/unloading, that’s 400 people being processed every 10 minutes – not bad, but nowhere near the level necessary to handle the crowds that will swamp the Express for the foreseeable future.

If we should expect a consistent wait of two to three hours at any time throughout the day at both King’s Cross Station in Universal Studios Florida and Hogsmeade Station at Islands of Adventure, then that means an intrepid traveler attempting to experience both legs of the journey will spend a mind-numbing six hours in line (for 12 minutes of ride-time).

Given that a two-day park-to-park ticket, which Universal is already positioning to be the de facto ticketing option, now costs $175.99 (if you purchase it online), you can see how the single biggest complaint about Diagon Alley will be paying a premium to wait more in line.

This will also more than likely be the biggest source of frustration for Universal itself, given that this is the option that is most out of its hands; it can always attempt to throw more man-hours at finishing the construction or have altered its plans to reduce the number of storefronts and increase the number of attractions, but the Hogwarts Express, by its very definition, is precisely what it is: a train that can only carry so many guests at any given time between two points. If it had even tried to alter it, author J.K. Rowling and license holder Warner Bros. would have pulled the plug instantly.

Not knowing when the Wizarding World will open

This may be something of a short-lived problem – visitors this time next year won’t have to worry about Diagon Alley’s exact opening date – but it’s certainly the number one complaint of vacation planners everywhere at the moment, and its ramifications can possibly continue to wreak havoc on travel plans for a good while to come.

It’s been widely expected that Diagon Alley will open in June, just as Transformers: The Ride 3D did last year and the first Wizarding World did four years ago, but the closer we get to that time frame, the more widely-divergent information keeps popping up. Theme Park Insider, for instance, recently published a report that they had received “credible” word that soft openings will begin on May 14, meaning that June is certainly still in play.

But we here at Orlando Informer have heard back from one of our trusted sources that, given the amount of cycling time that is required on Escape from Gringotts before it can open (that’s 3,000 hours, in case you’re wondering), Universal may be looking at a September debut.

For now, all we can do is what we have been doing for two years already: speculate what the grand opening date will be. While it was fun for the first year or so, it’s starting to get tiresome for us – and we’re not even trying to plan a $5,000 summer vacation.

Despite the inevitable complaints, can there ultimately be any doubt that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley will be one of the most magical experiences to be had at any theme park the entire world over? After almost exactly four years of incessant crowds and raised ticket prices, guests still flock to Hogsmeade, happily riding the same attractions and dropping loads of Muggle cash on the likes of chocolate frogs and non-interactive wands.

And this is precisely what all of us will do all over again starting this summer. To learn more, visit our Complete guide to Diagon Alley in the OI Universal Center.

Now you’ve heard our predictions. What are yours?

[sws_author_bio user=”msunyata@yahoo.com” size=”105″ authorposts=”More OI posts by Marc” name_format=”About the author”] [/sws_author_bio]

The post We predict the four biggest complaints about Diagon Alley appeared first on Orlando Informer.

We’ve enjoyed the ride so far, and we hope you have, too.

Here’s to the next 100 columns!

Harry Potter and the Escape from Construction Hell

Even though it’s been only one month since Universal’s big webcast that revealed the first official tidbits of Diagon Alley, a lot has developed on the rumor front – so much, in fact, that we decided to do another full-fledged Wizarding World roundup for your reading pleasure.

Or should that be for your displeasure? It turns out that Universal is facing the very real possibility of delaying Diagon Alley’s grand opening, pushing it back anywhere from a matter of days (making it late- instead of mid-June) to, even, a few months (hello, August).

Just how did this come to pass? It’s an interesting story, as Orlando United reports, and it revolves mostly around the bane of every theme and amusement park the world over: construction difficulties.

The main culprits: Hogwarts Express and Escape from Gringotts

The new Wizarding World may only have two rides, but they’re both causing Universal more headaches than it bargained for.

First and foremost, there’s the Hogwarts Express. Although the train itself is actually a bit ahead of schedule, its two stops are woefully behind; Hogsmeade Station at Islands of Adventure, which has shown a worryingly consistent habit of trailing behind all the rest of the construction, is still mostly empty inside.

And although King’s Cross Station at Universal Studios Florida was much further along, it suffered a huge setback a month or two ago: one of the contractors accidentally installed the wrong brickwork, making development halt as a significantly large swath of the building was essentially gutted and then redone. It’s been a slow, painful process that has cost the operation hours and hours of work.

And then there’s Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts, which has had all of the programming glitches and operational setbacks that its sibling, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, suffered over at Hogsmeade. This comparison is both reassuring and terrifying: Forbidden Journey may have still managed to make its opening date (June 18, 2010, in case you’re curious), but it did so only at the expense of tearing out a number of its effects, ranging from the Dementors’ arms reaching out to grab you to the ride being in 3D.

Given everything we know about Escape from Gringotts’s story, it’d be a shame to lose any of those wonderful, magical details.

We’re getting ahead of ourselves, though – just what, exactly, is going on within Gringotts Bank? It seems the execution of the ride’s programming and the installation of its busbars is where the main hold-ups are. The cherry on top is that Intamin, the main vendor responsible for the attraction, has proven to be slow to respond to Universal’s concerns or requests for fixes – to the point that, according to scuttlebut, Universal may look to another company to install all future clones of Escape from Gringotts (such as the inevitable versions that will pop up at Universal Studios Hollywood and, possibly, Japan, some five or six years down the road).

The bright side of the (Hogwarts Express) tracks

Not all the news these past four weeks has been gloomy, however. We’ve now heard from several employees that beta testing for the Hogwarts Express has been in full swing since early February, meaning that progress is being made. Just don’t expect to be part of the testing (it’s limited to Universal employees only for the time being – sorry, Harry fanatics) or to even see it happen (it’s being done at night, since the company doesn’t want the average guest to see the trains making an emergency stop or sitting dead in the water for hours at a time while the inevitable wrinkles are ironed out).

And within Gringotts, the simulator/coaster’s sets are nearly complete, its show lighting is already finalized, and work on getting the media projectors set up and fully in focus is moving briskly along.

All of which underscores one simple point: these types of setbacks – whether from erring vendors or misfiring electrical systems – do happen to every attraction for every company at every park around the world. (And, furthermore, most of these leaks about the possibility of delays come from employees or contractors who are swept up in the heat of the moment, angry that they’ll have to work yet another extra-long shift in order to play catch-up. What is blowing off steam on the one end can translate to an end-of-the-world scenario on the other.)

Universal went into Diagon Alley with its eyes wide open, and the odds are still extremely good that we’ll still be strolling down Knockturn Alley and shopping at Carkitt Market on or right around June 14.

Assuming that no further mishaps occur, of course.

Prepare to be wowed all over again

But let’s end on a positive note, shall we?

We have much more to say about what the new Wizarding World will have in store for us beyond the possibility of delays, and the details, as fleeting as they may be, have us falling in love with Diagon Alley all over again.

Window shopping – there could be as many as 30 window displays in the new land, roughly doubling what’s on hand in Hogsmeade. And, regardless of whether these front real stores or not, a number of these will be interactive – once Universal starts selling its next-generation, RFID-equipped wands. Best of all? Word from multiple sources all across the net has these interactive elements being retrofitted into Hosgmeade, as well (maybe we can finally make that damn Mandrake be silent for just a moment or two).

Knocking Knockturn Alley around – easily the most elaborate of these interactive window displays will be the storefront sitting caddy-corner to Borgin and Burkes within Knockturn Alley.

Guests will be able to make the full-size human skeletons contained therein fall completely apart, and then reassemble them piece by piece by further swishes of the wand.

Entering Diagon Alley – we’ve long been wondering just how the transition from the London waterfront to the Wizarding World beyond will be handled, and now we have one more piece of the puzzle: although the opening to Diagon Alley will be permanently open, the bricks on the very edges of that opening will mechanically spin around in place, making it look as if you’ve just arrived in time to see the end of the transformation.

Parking it at Carkitt Market – thanks to the Harry Potter Wiki, which has collected some odds and ends from the reports of the various Potter fansites that were invited to the webcast media event last month, we now have a fairly good idea of what the remaining stores will be in Carkitt Market: Jellied Eel Shop, Shutterbuttons Photo Studio, and the Fambus Station Wagon broom shop.

While we don’t know which are real venues and which are simply storefronts, we do know that a broomstick photo op is in the works, and that the Fambus seems to be the perfect fit…

That’s it for our 100th rumor article. And remember: if you’d like to learn more about Diagon Alley, we have a complete guide in the OI Universal Center with every detail you want to know!

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

The propose of our weekly rumor column is to provide a window into what might be happening by collecting the latest speculation from sources across the internet (which we always link to). We take that speculation and condense it into one weekly post as a service to our readers, so you don’t have to spend hours tracking down all the stories yourself.

We rarely claim to be the source for our stories. In reality, anyone can do what we do: Google “Orlando theme park rumors” and see what the darker corners of the theme park community are chatting about. But we know you don’t have hours of free time to seek out this stuff — plus, Marc is really good at analyzing it — so we do the heavy lifting for you. Overall, this is a simple premise, and we’re happy to have been executing it every week for almost two years (this is our 100th rumor post).

View all of our Rumor Round-Ups

[sws_author_bio user=”msunyata@yahoo.com” size=”105″ authorposts=”More OI posts by Marc” name_format=”About the author”] [/sws_author_bio]

The post Rumor SPOTLIGHT for February 22, 2014: Will Diagon Alley & Hogsmeade Station be delayed until August? appeared first on Orlando Informer.

More stops on your shopping spree

While we tried to be as thorough as possible in our first After the webcast blog post, particularly in our rundown of the shops lining Diagon Alley proper, information is a fickle beast, and she likes to come at us in spurts (usually when we’re not looking!). We now have a few more store names and locations to add to our comprehensive list, making this the most accurate Diagon map yet:

• Magical Menagerie is located to the immediate left of Gringotts Bank.
• Scribbulus Writing Implements is to the right of Wiseacres Wizarding Equipment (Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts’s gift shop).
• New fake storefronts: in addition to Flourish and Blotts and The Daily Prophet, we can now add Wands by Gregorovitch and Broomstix, in that order, to the right-hand side of Diagon Alley.

We also managed to get some information – and some intriguing visuals – on the brand-new products that will grace the walls of Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes: the Decoy Detonator, Umbridge on Unicycle, Nose-biting Teacups, and Skiving Snackboxes.

An ever-expanding wizarding menu

During a discussion of the Diagon Alley media tour from last Wednesday, we now know that Steve Jayson, Universal Orlando Resort’s executive chef, is attempting to lock down the Leaky Cauldron’s menu before flying (again!) over to Scotland to get author Jo Rowling’s tacit approval of everything in April (which is kind of cutting everything a bit close, no?). Universal won’t be able to give any definitive descriptions of what’ll be on tap until then.

Except for one key piece of its culinary lineup, that is: warm butterbeer, which was only recently rumored to be in the R&D stages, has already been released “in the wild” during the Harry Potter Celebration this past weekend. In the books, butterbeer is either served cold in a glass or warm in foaming tankards, but Florida’s all-too-present climate, of course, helped persuade Chef Jayson and the others to switch out hot for frozen. Although there’s no official word on when the warm variety will be made permanently available at the parks, expect it to be on tap at Hogsmeade before June’s grand opening and, of course, at Diagon Alley thereafter.

Warm #butterbeer. I was hesitant, but it is so delicious. Think the best cup of hot chocolate but w/ butterscotch. pic.twitter.com/70DJDVgo4r— Orlando Informer (@OrlandoInformer) January 25, 2014

In addition to all this, it has come to our attention that there will be a free-standing beverage cart called “O’Corke’s Cooling Beverages” in the middle of Carkitt Market, which will, more than likely, be selling butterbeer, presumably in all its varieties.

Putting the Harry in “Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts”

A little over two weeks ago, we turned a few heads when we published our (then-) complete telling of Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts, the ride that will be housed in Gringotts Wizarding Bank – but not necessarily for our walk-through of the queue or our rendition of the ride experience. Rather, it was our decision to include Harry as one of the characters in the attraction that got tongues wagging, due to actor Daniel Radcliffe’s continual reticence to pick up his broom and Invisibility Cloak once again.

While we have to admit that including him in Escape from Gringotts’s narrative was mostly a hunch, it’s since been confirmed by several off-the-record sources – and, now, by Universal itself, which managed to sneak this little nugget into its official description of the ride on its revamped Harry Potter site:

“This incredibly immersive ride puts you right in the middle of the action as you navigate your way through the perils of the Gringotts vaults – encountering Harry, Ron, and Hermione along the way!”

Why save this little gem for after the webcast? Your guess is as good as ours.

Filling in the Hogwarts Express blanks

While Universal itself might have refused to provide any information on the fabled Hogwarts Express train ride between Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure, that didn’t stop the company from letting a few tidbits slip during the private press tour last week. According to Jim Hill, after a rather intense round of questioning from one particularly devout Harry Potter fan, a PR representative inadvertently confirmed that randomized elements will, indeed, play a large part in the attraction: while the transition from famous London landmarks to the Scottish countryside will (largely) remain the same, the characters that guests will encounter along the way will switch out, providing a whopping 400 possible unique ride experiences.

First ever look inside the real #HogwartsExpress at #DiagonAllley with @Evy_Lynch pic.twitter.com/UW80GsQuIe— Orlando Informer (@OrlandoInformer) January 23, 2014

What, exactly, will these various “characters and incidents” entail? Details are, of course, extremely scarce, but it sounds like passengers can expect to see a wide variety of Harry Potter denizens flying over the countryside as they get closer and closer to Hogwarts Castle: Harry and Ron in the magically-augmented Ford Anglia, Hagrid on his motorcycle, Mad-Eye Moody on his broom, or the Death Eaters in their “flight mode” are all distinct possibilities. On the way back, the various characters will come by, bid you farewell, and ask you to stop by again sometime soon.

Same Wizarding Worlds, different experiences

The biggest news, by far, to come out after the Diagon Alley webcast actually has absolutely nothing to do with Universal Orlando Resort at all.

Although it has been known for quite some time that a (smaller) clone of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade has been heading to both Hollywood and Osaka (my former stomping grounds), what we didn’t realize is that Universal is trying its hardest to make sure Harry Potter enthusiasts have a very good reason to visit all of them in turn: each version will have its own unique attraction or feature that won’t be available at any of the others. For Universal Studios Hollywood (which should have its Wizarding World up and running in 2016), that seems more and more likely to be the Great Hall restaurant we first reported last summer, given the location of Hogwarts Castle in relation to CityWalk (expect to see a dining-only admission option for those non-park-goers who nonetheless want a bite out of Harry).

And although we don’t have any solid intel as of yet on what to expect from the Japanese Hogsmeade (which should actually open sometime this year), don’t be too surprised if it’s a brand-new addition to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey – such as the inclusion of actual fire from the audio-animatronic dragon, which was an effect Universal Creative originally wanted to implement in the Islands of Adventure version. (What about Universal Orlando, you ask? Its exclusive experience will be Diagon Alley, of course.)

You better start saving up for those plane tickets.

Virtual tour of the Wizarding World

After last Thursday’s webcast, Dan was quick to post this proclamation:

Gotta check out the new #DiagonAlley @UniversalORL website – might be better than the webcast https://t.co/iJAcKygpW1 pic.twitter.com/6gcyO8OEiG — Orlando Informer (@OrlandoInformer) January 23, 2014

And we still think it’s true because, while the webcast had its special moments with Harry Potter cast members, as far as showing us Diagon Alley, we just got more glimpses at concept artwork.

The new Harry Potter mini-site goes far beyond what we saw during the webcast, providing a thrilling animated opener and a detailed “virtual tour” of Diagon Alley, which brings Universal’s new land to life really for the very first time. You can, of course, check out the mini-site yourself, but in case you encounter any technical issues, we’re happy to provide this video:

[youtube_video]ZxVgXbzJFpQ[/youtube_video]

Not only does the virtual tour provide such a strong sense of what the immersive experience will feel like (by the way, Diagon Alley’s structures are not built to scale – they’re all built full size), the video also provides our best explanation yet of the shop and attraction locations (Horizont Alley and Carkitt Market excluded, unfortunately).

Had enough of the virtual? Here’s what the London waterfront of Diagon Alley looked like as of this past weekend, courtesy of the new “telephone portals” Universal has provided:

[youtube_video]ygDA_9V6OWg[/youtube_video]

Do you think we’ll be walking through Diagon Alley in about five months? The latest rumor we’ve got suggests a team member preview on Memorial Day weekend, which would put technical rehearsals open to the public in the first part of June. (Please note: this is a rumor, not a confirmation of an opening date.)

Finally, if you liked the map featured in the video tour on Universal’s mini-site, here is an image version:

To download the full-resolution file, right-click here (PNG file). To see this map and all the other new Diagon Alley concept artwork in their original resolutions, check out our Flickr page.

Countdown to Diagon Alley

The (first) countdown may be over, but that doesn’t mean you can’t go back and relive all of our incredibly popular steps along the way. And, besides – there’s a whole new countdown until late June that now commences…

Top five vacation planning tips for visiting Diagon Alley

What if Diagon Alley sucks?

Complete telling of the Gringotts Bank ride experience at Universal Orlando

Four burning questions we still have about the new Wizarding World

New details on Diagon Alley – story, food, actors, previews & the name of the Gringotts Bank attraction

How Harry Potter is defining the next-generation theme park experience

After the webcast: Step-by-step guide to EVERYTHING we now know about Diagon Alley

And, of course, to start back at the very beginning and review everything we know about the Harry Potter expansion at Universal Orlando, visit the Diagon Alley page in the OI Universal Center.

[sws_author_bio user=”msunyata@yahoo.com” size=”105″ authorposts=”More OI posts by Marc” name_format=”About the author”] [/sws_author_bio]

The post After the webcast: Six incredible Diagon Alley secrets revealed that weren’t mentioned in the webcast appeared first on Orlando Informer.

Things look decidedly more interesting, however, when the much-touted webcast is paired with the news from a private, (general) media-only tour through Diagon Alley held yesterday (all accounts of which were embargoed until this morning) and the copious details to be gleaned from Universal’s newly revamped Harry Potter website. We’ve compiled all the accounts into one giant telling for you here, to give you the most complete picture yet of the theme park land that will define all future attractions for years to come.

The expansive, sensory-overwhelming Diagon Alley

First a visit to where it all started

Before we get to our tour of Diagon Alley, we need to make one quick pit stop back at the first Wizarding World, over in Islands of Adventure. Universal today confirmed the news that’s been rocking the rumor world for the past week: Zonko’s Joke Shop, the first stop at Hogsmeade Village, will be closing down (most likely by the end of next week). The reason cited for the change is the simple fact that Zonko’s mostly carries Weasley products, and with Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes coming to Diagon Alley, the inventory had to be moved over to its rightful home. The unspoken reason for the closure? Unlike all its brethren in Hogsmeade, Zonko’s has had a hard time finding traction with the hordes of money-spending Muggles. Look for next-door Honeydukes to expand into the space, providing lots of room for the Wizarding World’s (for now) most popular shop.

(And for all those who have been already asking: according to all available sources, both official and unofficial, the Ollivander’s experience at Hogsmeade will be staying put, despite the presence of a bigger and – reportedly – better Ollivander’s Wand Shop across the train tracks.)

First stop: London waterfront

We start our tour in the Muggle version of London, which completely masks Diagon Alley, Gringotts Bank, and the rest of the Wizarding World behind.

Starting on the left, the first building of the already-famous facade is King’s Cross Station, which guests who have ridden the Hogwarts Express over (more on that later) will exit out of. Next door is Charing Cross Road‘s bookstore, where the side entrance/exit to the Leaky Cauldron is located, and right after that is Leicester Square, which houses the entrance to Diagon Alley itself. Next we have Wyndham Theatre, and the waterfront buildings end with 12 Grimauld Place, the ancestral (and fictional) home of the Black family from the Harry Potter stories. Universal Creative measured each of the real-world buildings in London to be as exact as possible – though that didn’t stop them from making some “theme park” embellishments.

In front of the facade will be the Eros Fountain from Piccadilly Circus and, parked right next to it, a fully detailed Knight Bus prop. Although visitors won’t be able to climb aboard the vehicle, it will feature an interactive Shrunken Head (as originally seen in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban), which will function very much like the Mystic Fountain in Islands of Adventure’s Lost Continent.

[youtube_video]7Nn4iZ6PUZY[/youtube_video]

The transition to Diagon Alley is still being highly guarded, but the presence of jagged, crooked walls to help sell the simulation of movement seems to be a part of it.

The main stretch: Diagon Alley

The main section of Diagon Alley is structured almost identically to Hogsmeade: a long stretch of road, flanked by stores both real and simulated, leads to the land’s icon, Gringotts Bank.

Upon first entering the alleyway, the Leaky Cauldron, which will serve traditional English fare (such as fish & chips and bangers & mash), is on the left, while Quality Quidditch Supplies, offering sweaters, brooms, and all the Quidditch props from the films, is on the immediate right. Next to Quality Quidditch is the aforementioned Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, an impressive three-story shop that is said to look exactly identical to the set from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and which occupies most of that particular building.

Moving down the street, the entrance to Knockturn Alley (more on that in a bit) is right next-door to Leaky Cauldron, which is, in turn, followed by Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions, a store dedicated to wizard wear, from Hogwarts school uniforms to robes and character costumes. Across the way, on the right-hand side of Diagon, is Ollivander’s Wand Shop, a massive building that features a “better-planned queue” and, according to the latest rumors, some improved spell effects.

Finally, as we head to the intersection where Diagon Alley ends and Gringotts Bank sits, there’s Florean Fortescue’s Ice-Cream Parlor on the left, the second eatery available inside the new Wizarding World. Universal has confirmed only one of the many “unique” flavors that will be available – strawberry and peanut butter – but a sign on the shop’s concept art hints at a few more: black beer and raisin, chocolate with peanut butter, and bat juice and earwig. It sounds like Universal Creative is going for an ice cream/frozen yogurt version of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor jelly beans from Hogsmeade.

Before moving on with our tour, there’s one last note to make: a number of storefront-only venues fill up the spaces in-between the real stops, and they promise to be every bit as entertaining as their counterparts over in Islands of Adventure. On the left-hand side of Diagon, heading from the entrance up to the end of the street, are Potage’s Cauldron Shop, Eeylops Owl Emporium, Slug and Jiggers, and Mr. Mulpepper’s Apothecary. On the right-hand side, in the same order, are Flourish and Blotts and the offices of The Daily Prophet. (Please note that there are at least two more unconfirmed spaces along this stretch, and while they are most likely further shop displays, there is the possibility of them housing real venues, as well.)

We now invite you to take a virtual tour of Diagon Alley, featuring an introduction by Hagrid, with a brief stop at Knockturn Alley (which we’ll cover soon):

[youtube_video]ZxVgXbzJFpQ[/youtube_video]

When you’re done with this post, you can continue Universal’s virtual tour by clicking here.

The center of the (wizarding) world: Gringotts

At nearly half the size of the entire area, Gringotts Bank dominates the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley, and it’s easy to tell why: the ride that is housed inside the mammoth show building will feature all sorts of “brand-new” and “never-been-done-before” technology. And while Universal clearly wasn’t ready to discuss the attraction in any sort of specifics, it did at least make official the name that we were the first to reveal last week: Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts.

There were still some little details to be had about the great escape, however. Inside Gringotts Bank, Universal has described the state-of-the-art ride as a “multi-sensory, multi-dimensional journey” that will be “less intense” and “more family-friendly” than Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey but will nonetheless still be “thrilling.”

Outside, the large, fire-breathing dragon spotted in previously-released concept art will, indeed, make the final cut (despite some rumors to the contrary) – and it will, indeed, spew real fire “on a regular basis.”

Wiseacres Wizarding Equipment, Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts’s gift shop (that will sell telescopes, binoculars, and star charts), is cleverly disguised to look as if it’s actually across the street, facing the bank.

In between is Hagrid’s motorcycle, left next to a fountain (the Fountain of Fair Fortune?), parked there from his visit in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

Knockturn Alley, eternally in the dark

One of the more intriguing stores to be profiled in all of today’s various media coverage is Borgin and Burkes, which will anchor the Knockturn Alley section of the expansion. On sale will be Death Eater masks, skulls, and other “ghastly devices.” Although not much was said of either the shop or the side-street, one tidbit did sneak through: Knockturn will be covered so as to continually ensure a dark, sinister atmosphere.

Universal did not release any concept art for Knockturn Alley. However, if you scroll back up to our virtual tour of Diagon Alley, you can see a very compelling look at the darkened area at 2:53.

Expanding the Wizarding World: The all-new creations

Perhaps the biggest surprise coming out of today’s announcements is the reveal of a brand-new street running perpendicular to Diagon Alley, which Gringotts Bank fronts and onto which Knockturn Alley opens up: Horizont Alley. And then there’s Carkitt Market, a third section in the expansion, which starts at Horizont, runs parallel to Diagon, and features a shortcut past Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes. With these two original additions, the overall size of the new Wizarding World is effectively doubled.

For a visual reference, here are three aerial photos. The first is taken with the London waterfront toward the bottom of the photo, offering the perspective from which we usually view this area. The second and third images pivot 90 degrees or so, putting the London waterfront in the top-left corner.

Please note, in the map above, Knockturn Alley is located in the large covered space between Diagon Alley and Horizont Alley. Also, Horizont Alley extends all the way from where it is labelled down to Carkitt Market.

Author J.K. Rowling herself has named and helped design these all-new areas, partially inspired by real-world London locations like Leadenhall Market. “We started with the books,” Universal Creative Vice President Dale Mason said, “then went to the films, and then we had to make up additional shops because we are covering more space.”

Just what will be in these expanded sections? Carkitt Market is described as being a huge, covered shopping space that will feature “live entertainment.” There’s also the last two major stores that were unveiled today, which will be located somewhere along either Horizont or Carkitt: Magical Menagerie, selling plush versions of all the magical creatures seen in the films/books, and Scribbulus, featuring quills, inkwells, and parchment paper (which isn’t to mention the other possible shopping venues outlined by Universal today: Dr. Filibuster’s Fabulous Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks, Obscurus Books, House Elf Placement, and one final top-secret shop that fans “will flip over”). Finally, there’s an Easter Egg in the form of a “potential portal to the Ministry of Magic” – whatever that might mean (most likely a phone booth tucked away in one particular corner or another).

Getting there: The Hogwarts Express

Last – and, unfortunately, certainly least – among all the revelations was the Hogwarts Express ride, which will, of course, transport visitors from Hogsmeade to Diagon Alley (and vice versa). Universal patently refused to give any information whatsoever regarding the revolutionary attraction, but it did manage to reaffirm that it will require a park-to-park ticket for guests to ride, and it offered a new piece of concept art for both King’s Cross Station (Universal Studios Florida) and Hogsmeade Station (Islands of Adventure).

If you’d like to see any of the new concept artwork in its original resolution, check out our Flickr page.

When will Diagon Alley open?

We were really hoping to get a grand opening date today, but the topic never came up. So, for now, we’re sticking with our speculation that it will happen sometime in June.

Diagon Alley webcast

Here is Universal’s shorted version of the original webcast that aired this morning:

[youtube_video]bXaGF8e8-EI[/youtube_video]

Countdown to Diagon Alley

The (first) countdown may be over, but that doesn’t mean you can’t go back and relive all of our incredibly popular steps along the way. And, besides – there’s a whole new countdown until late June that now commences…

Top five vacation planning tips for visiting Diagon Alley

What if Diagon Alley sucks?

Complete telling of the Gringotts Bank ride experience at Universal Orlando

Four burning questions we still have about the new Wizarding World

New details on Diagon Alley – story, food, actors, previews & the name of the Gringotts Bank attraction

How Harry Potter is defining the next-generation theme park experience

After the webcast: Six incredible Diagon Alley secrets that weren’t mentioned in the webcast

And, of course, to start back at the very beginning and review everything we know about the Harry Potter expansion at Universal Orlando, visit the Diagon Alley page in the OI Universal Center.

[sws_author_bio user=”msunyata@yahoo.com” size=”105″ authorposts=”More OI posts by Marc” name_format=”About the author”] [/sws_author_bio]

The post After the webcast: Step-by-step guide to EVERYTHING we now know about Diagon Alley at Universal Orlando appeared first on Orlando Informer.

In the old days

This is the way that theme park lands used to be constructed: a central, loose theme is chosen – Adventureland, say, or World Expo – and a number of properties, whether original (a rare occurrence) or licensed (all too common), are slotted to fill in the area. The rides themselves are almost always presented as a “greatest hits” of their source material, whether they be arranged as a loose retelling, as in Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid, or mashed together with some original elements to try and present a half-new/half-familiar experience, such as E.T. Adventure. All those items that don’t fall into the neat category of an attraction, from gift shops to restaurants to, even, restrooms, are left to be the pesky nuisances – or money-making grabs – that they were originally seen as being.

This approach worked perfectly well for five decades – until something better came along and, just as with color TV or broadband internet, showed us just how underwhelming an experience this really was.

Harry Potter and the game-changer

Universal, perhaps because of its (mandated) close consultation with author J.K. Rowling, opted to eschew the tried-and-true approach for something fundamentally different when designing its first Wizarding World. Rather than doing just a hodgepodge of different elements from across the spectrum of the Harry Potter mythos – say, one ride taking place at Hogwarts Castle right next to a street in London across from an attraction at the Weasleys’ Burrow – Universal Creative opted to recreate one specific geographic location: Hogsmeade Village.

All the rides, stores, and possible eateries in Hogsmeade Village would have to fit its environment, and not the other way around.

Even more, every last possible spot in the land would be just as meticulously themed as any traditional attraction, even if that were the dreadful external reality of a bathroom (hello, Moaning Myrtle) or ATM (hello, Gringotts Bank) poking in. It’s a simple inclusion, but it makes an entire world of difference: it’s the closest to total immersion that any guest has ever gotten in the nearly 60-year history of theme parks.

Now, obviously, Hogsmeade isn’t an exact replica of its fictitious counterpart, as navigating a full village would be more tedious than fun, and there are still incongruous elements thrown into the mix – most conspicuously Ollivander’s Wand Shop, which is located in London’s Diagon Alley in the source material – for no other reason than Universal’s designers wanted to hit some of the, well, “greatest hits” of Harry Potter-dom (at least they conjured up an “in-world” explanation: dear old Ollivander finally decided to open a branch location).

Still, the decision to be as “geographically” faithful as Hogsmeade proved to be was revolutionary, and it also resulted in the happiest of accidents: the possibility of a real, true expansion for the very first time in history.

Night & day: Hogsmeade & Diagon Alley

“Expansions,” of course, have been a standard feature of theme parks since 1966’s opening of New Orleans Square at Disneyland, but they’ve never been actual storytelling continuations of previous areas (sorry, New Fantasyland). The debut of Diagon Alley this summer is a further game-changer, offering an entirely different land at an entirely different park that expounds upon – instead of replacing or overshadowing or just tacking on – the in-world experience, particularly in the form of connecting the two together via the already-much-ballyhooed Hogwarts Express.

[youtube_video]jcce3JQo4E8[/youtube_video]

Yes, this new Wizarding World of Harry Potter will build upon its predecessor in all the expected ways, from making all of its still-intimate stores multi-storied to adding interactive props or characters (hello, the Knight Bus’s Shrunken Heads). But what’s most striking about the new land is just how different an approach to the source material it allows Universal Creative to actually take: the single main drag of Hogsmeade’s quiet, rustic village will be replaced by several alleyways – including, most promising of all, Knockturn Alley! – that thrum with the hustle-bustle of city life. The quaint, short structures available at Hogsmeade will be dwarfed by the four- or five-story buildings of Diagon Alley. The in-queue elements of woods and huts and far-away places are replaced with train-station platforms and subterranean bank vaults.

It turns out that Universal couldn’t have done a better job in picking out two completely different environments to build theme park representations out of.

Why only Harry can do it

It also turns out that, in reality, Harry Potter is only one of a very few properties that allow for such diverse experiences.

Most films or books or television shows offer, by the very nature of their productions or narratives, extremely limited locales or similar story beats (think Two Broke Girls or, even, Boardwalk Empire as a current for-instance). It’s typically only in the realm of fantasy or science-fiction that a varying degree of backdrops, characters, and plot points is abundantly available, thanks to the characters’ abilities to magically zip around the landscape or transport to entirely different planets – although, even here, the ability to construct varying experiences is not as feasible as one might think. And without the promise of something different, the long-term success of any add-on would be extremely undoubtful, no matter the property.

Some of the magical (no pun intended) few that get the delicate balance right? Star Wars and Game of Thrones, sagas which have as one of their key draws the promise of seeing yet another, excitingly exotic location spread out before you, replete with different color palettes and religions and physical elements and languages – and experiences, to boot. Entire theme parks are possible with such rich material, let alone one or two lands. Hell, designers kill to work with such vibrant licenses.

Even with the possibility of the on-again, off-again Star Wars Land looming on the horizon, however, it’s very much an open question if Disney will be able to stick the landing as Universal seems to have done with its twin Wizarding Worlds; the company is currently in the midst of designing Star Wars’s presence at Disneyland as the standard random assortment of odds and ends (it is replacing Tomorrowland, after all).

And, yet, there’s still hope.

Imagineering 2.0 – and beyond

In 2012, Cars Land opened at California Adventure, placing all of its various – and fully-themed! – stores, rides, and restaurants within the town of Radiator Springs. Last year, Tangled-themed bathrooms were unveiled at Magic Kingdom, not only taking Universal up on its Moaning Myrtle-haunted toilets, but, incredibly, expanding the concept by including phone chargers and, even, a mini-scavenger hunt in the area around the restrooms. And in 2017, the opening section of Avatar Land will debut at Animal Kingdom, welcoming visitors to a recreation of the human base on Pandora. The twin gods of location and immersion seem to be well-worshipped at Disney’s new altar.

The true test of past lessons learned and future envelope-pushing, however, will be in what both Disney and Universal have in store after their current slate of in-design attractions has been emptied. If Universal gets around to building its rumored new water park either around or on top of Wet ‘n Wild, will it maintain the same fidelity to its source material, whatever that may be, as either Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley? Should Star Wars Land still replace a large swath of Hollywood Studios, will it feature Mos Eisley-themed bathrooms as well as restaurants?

Now that the Wizarding Worlds of Harry Potter have officially ushered in Imagineering 2.0, let’s see just how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Countdown to Diagon Alley

Can you believe we have less than two days before Universal will officially spill all the beans on the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter? Stay tuned for our next Countdown to Diagon Alley article on Thursday, in which we will take everything we’ve speculated and compare it to all that we learn during Universal’s special webcast. In the meantime, you can check out our other installments in the series:

Top five vacation planning tips for visiting Diagon Alley

What if Diagon Alley sucks?

Complete telling of the Gringotts Bank ride experience at Universal Orlando

Four burning questions we still have about the new Wizarding World

New details on Diagon Alley – story, food, actors, previews & the name of the Gringotts Bank attraction

After the webcast: Step-by-step guide to EVERYTHING we now know about Diagon Alley

After the webcast: Six incredible Diagon Alley secrets that weren’t mentioned in the webcast

And, of course, to start back at the very beginning and review everything we know about the Harry Potter expansion at Universal Orlando, visit the Diagon Alley page in the OI Universal Center.

Friendly reminders: Universal wants you to sign up in advance to see Thursday’s 10:30am EST webcast. And, if you’re attending this weekend’s ‘A Celebration of Harry Potter’ event, you can view complete details and the daily schedule by clicking here.

[sws_author_bio user=”msunyata@yahoo.com” size=”105″ authorposts=”More OI posts by Marc” name_format=”About the author”] [/sws_author_bio]

The post Countdown to Diagon Alley: How Harry Potter is defining the next-generation theme park experience appeared first on Orlando Informer.

A week ago today, we lead you on a little tour through the complete Gringotts Bank ride using all of the information that was currently available. Though it was as complete as it could have been, we have to say: what a difference a single week makes! When you run the world’s largest website dedicated to Universal Orlando vacation planning, sometimes the best rumors find you – and that’s what happened across the past several days. We now have more details to share with you, as well as a correction or two.

For starters, we’d like to stress that Gringotts will be more like the rollercoaster experience from Revenge of the Mummy and have less of the simulator feel of The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man – and that, quite simply, it’ll do things you’d never expect from a coaster.

What you can expect is, of course, a packed storyline for the ride. The lengthy, elaborate queue is expected to contain approximately 30 minutes’ worth of narrative, which puts it roughly on-par with Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Just what the story is has been a matter of much debate and intrigue over the past two years, ever since the very first leaks regarding the bank came out – and now we can share them with you all:

You, being out on the market for a bank vault of your very own, have landed at the (wizarding) world-renowned Gringotts and are being taken on a tour of its premises (which explains why, in the Vault Showroom, all of the heavily-locked doors have been opened wide to showcase their vast interiors). Once you board your mine cart and have begun the ride proper, your host (a goblin?) says, “Of course, Mr. Potter’s vault is much deeper.” It is at this point that you face the stone wall mentioned in our previous write-up, the track pivots vertically 45 degrees so that the front ride vehicle dips down and the back one rises up, and you hurtle down into a hidden tunnel, on your way to see where Harry’s vault is located.

And, finally, we now have the name of the attraction, which is, hands down, one of the most-sought-after tidbits in all of the new Wizarding World. Are you ready to be among the first to hear it?

Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts

Now, are you ready to ride?

More new details about Diagon Alley

We’re not content to just divulge Escape from Gringotts secrets – we’ve also been briefed on a few more highly intriguing details regarding the other major components of the new Wizarding World. Let’s run down the gamut, shall we?

Firstly, we’re happy to reaffirm the previous leaks that the Hogwarts Express queue will contain some type of special-effect-powered transition that will make it feel as if you’ve actually walked through the pillar at King’s Cross Station and have arrived at Platform 9 3/4.

We’re still not certain just quite how this will be pulled off, but projectors seem to be almost a shoe-in, given their (relatively) low cost and ability to operate continuously with little maintenance and the requirement that the special effect be good for groups of people at a time.

As we’ve mentioned previously, Universal has long touted Hogsmeade’s shops as one of the key features of its Wizarding World, and Diagon Alley will, of course, be no different. Current rumors hold that the new area will actually feature more stores than its predecessor, and we can add that while they will, for the most part, maintain the coziness (read: complete lack of room) from the Hogsmeade lineup, they will also each – yes, each – be two or three stories tall for added capacity.

Of these stores, there are two in particular that will undoubtedly be among the most popular. Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor will feature over 20 unique flavors of ice cream that will be exclusive to — and trademarked by — Universal Orlando Resort. While we have yet to hear what some of these might be, an educated guess would include some sort of pumpkin concoction, given the presence of pumpkin juice over at Islands of Adventure, and, of course, butterbeer, which has been Universal’s great moneymaker over the past three-and-a-half years. (Just imagine the culinary nirvana that a butterbeer float would entail!)

It has been previously reported that Ollivander’s Wand Shop will be expanded to include three “the wand choosing the wizard” shows (though, as a guest, you’ll never be aware that there was more than one). What we can add for the first time is that the shop will also include a special appearance by Mr. Ollivander himself, played by the irrepressible John Hurt, who will appear in either video or musion form to explain why he isn’t able to be there to assist in the selection of your wand.

It’s widely expected that Diagon Alley will be mostly based upon the last two novels/three films of the series, and if this premise holds true for Ollivander’s, expect the reason for his absence to be his hiding from Lord Voldemort, who wishes to abduct and torture some wand lore out of him.

Just when can we expect to see all of this open? While we haven’t heard anything (new) regarding the opening date, we have been told that Universal is currently eyeing the week before Memorial Day for the team member preview period – which only reinforces the idea that the land’s grand debut to the public will be sometime in June.

Diagon Alley’s London waterfront revealed

From January 2012 to February 2013, there were no vertical structures at the front of Diagon Alley, as most construction work focused on flattening the land or building up the enormous Gringotts Bank show building. In March 2013, the first vertical structures appeared at the front of Diagon Alley, and by May we could make out enough to have some idea that we were looking at a new Potter-themed land.

It would only be a few more short months before the steel structures became full facades, and those facades became covered with scaffolding.

Now it is January 2014, and today, for the very first time, the scaffolding has been removed from the London facade of Diagon Alley:

It’s every bit as beautiful as we had hoped – #DiagonAlley @UniversalORL without scaffolding pic.twitter.com/KuD4eWIhGq— Orlando Informer (@OrlandoInformer) January 17, 2014

You have to see these beautiful structures in person to truly appreciate them, but we’ve done our best to capture the excitement in a series of photos and in a seven-minute video. Reminder: from left to right, the facades represent King’s Cross Station, Leicester Square, Wyndham’s Theatre, and Grimmauld Place (ancestral home of the Black family in the Harry Potter stories). The main entrance to Diagon Alley will be through the bottom-right side of the Leicester Square facade.
[wptouch target=”non-mobile”]
Here is a selection of our best shots followed by our new video. You can view the complete photo gallery at the bottom of the post. Remember, clicking any image will allow you to view it full screen. (And if you want to see the full-resolution photo files, up to 6000 x 3376 in size, check out our Flickr page.[/wptouch]

 [youtube_video]5LS-hcU3mwQ[/youtube_video]

We’d love to hear what you think about this achievement. Share your thoughts in the comment section below!

Countdown to Diagon Alley

Can you believe we have less than a week before Universal will officially spill all the beans on the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter? Stay tuned for our next Countdown to Diagon Alley article, which will help you while away the hours until the big announcement. In the meantime, you can always check out our other installments in the series:

Top five vacation planning tips for Diagon Alley

What if Diagon Alley sucks?

Complete telling of the Gringotts Bank ride experience

Four burning questions we still have about Diagon Alley

How Harry Potter is defining the next-generation theme park experience

After the webcast: Step-by-step guide to EVERYTHING we now know about Diagon Alley

After the webcast: Six incredible Diagon Alley secrets that weren’t mentioned in the webcast

And, of course, to start back at the very beginning and review everything we know about the Harry Potter expansion at Universal Orlando, visit the Diagon Alley page in the OI Universal Center.

DISCLAIMER FROM THE EDITOR

Please remember when viewing this post that a rumor is a piece of unverified information of uncertain origin; a statement whose veracity is not quickly or ever confirmed. So even though we try our best to present solid speculation, there’s no way to guarantee any rumor will come true (then it wouldn’t be a rumor anyway).

Thanks to Marc for researching the latest rumor buzz from sources across the Internet and condensing it down into a single post for us each and every week!

View all of our Rumor Round-Ups

London facade of Diagon Alley – photo gallery

Click any image to view it full-screen. When the full-screen image is open, click to the right or use the right arrow on your keyboard to advance through the gallery.

[sws_author_bio user=”msunyata@yahoo.com” size=”105″ authorposts=”More OI posts by Marc” name_format=”About the author”] [/sws_author_bio]

The post RRU Special Edition: New details on Diagon Alley – story, food, actors, previews & the name of the Gringotts Bank attraction appeared first on Orlando Informer.

Ever since Universal announced that it was going to somehow expand Harry’s presence at Universal Orlando, we’ve been provided with a steady stream of unofficial information, analysis, and, even, revelations about the new Wizarding World’s contents – months and months before the company officially conceded that, yes, Diagon Alley was indeed coming to the former Amity area at Universal Studios Florida.

Even with all this intel, however, there have been several blank spots left in our ever-growing map – both figurative and literal – of the area, empty zones that prevent us from connecting all the wizarding dots. Some of these lingering questions are huge and monumental and potentially earth-shattering, while some are small and nitpicky and products of over-obsessive minds – but all are somehow vital to the perfect experience that Diagon Alley might/should deliver come this summer.

Number four: The stores

Universal Creative would have you believe that, after the original Wizarding World of Harry Potter’s three rides, its array of stores constitute a fourth attraction. There’s no denying that they’re right; from Filch’s Emporium of Confiscated Goods’s “working” copy of the Marauder’s Map to Honeydukes’s unique lineup of sweets to Zonko’s hidden jokes, all are highly detailed and fully immersive locations that extend the guest’s experience well beyond the confines of a traditional theme park land.

What will Diagon Alley have on tap for us? We know that Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor, and Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions will be present, that Wiseacres Wizarding Equipment will double as the Gringotts Bank coaster’s gift shop, and that a much bigger, more in-depth version of Ollivander’s will be present. We also know that most, if not all, of these shops will have in-door, fully themed (and air-conditioned!) queues; Universal seems to have learned its lesson from Hogsmeade, where it’s still common to see 10- to 15-minute lines outside of the shopping venues during peak times of the year.

What we don’t know, however, is just how detailed these stores will be. Whispers from insiders promise that Weasleys’ will be a multi-story affair, replete with fully animated props, but will this extend to the others? Will they offer the same type of merchandise as does the first Wizarding World, or will there be brand-new exclusives on-hand, including the next generation of butterbeer?

And, finally, just how many shops are there going to be? The rumor world was shocked over the weekend when word started making the rounds that Flourish and Blotts, long considered to be a shoe-in for Diagon Alley (just imagine the possibilities of a Harry Potter book store on Universal property!), was actually just a highly detailed storefront instead of a walk-in venue.

Surely, something will make up for the loss… right?

Number three: Gringotts Bank

Of all the new attractions, be they rides or stores, easily the most talked-about and most-fully-fleshed-out is Gringotts Bank, home to what many are already calling the best theme park ride in the world. And although we already know what its queue and ride experience will entail, there are still two small-but-integral questions left to ponder:

What, exactly, is Gringotts’s story? While we here at Orlando Informer feel pretty confident about our write-up’s stab at the premise, it’s still just a (highly educated) guess. Will guests truly be riding alongside our wizarding heroes in an attempt to steal away one of Voldemort’s precious Horcruxes, even though this would technically be rewriting the story of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II? And, as a corollary, will Daniel Radcliffe really be reprising his role as Harry, despite his repeated statements over the past year that he wouldn’t be coming back?

And, secondly, while we all know that a revolutionary, never-been-done-before merchandising opportunity will be offered in the ride’s queue (more specifically, in its Security Office), we actually are left clueless as to what, exactly, the souvenir will be. A moving “wanted” poster, like the one featuring Harry? A key to our very own vault at Gringotts? Your guess is as good as ours – for now.

Number two: Hogwarts Express

The ability to ride from one theme park to the next in one seamless, fully-integrated experience is easily the highlight of Diagon Alley for many the world over, but it’s one still riddled with a number of blanks. We know (a) that Dementors will feature on the way over to Hogsmeade, and that (b) there will be some sort of event that happens on the return trip to Diagon Alley – even though no book or film ever depicts the journey back – but that’s about it.

Rumor suggests that there will be multiple experiences to be had on both legs of the train ride, and that they will be heightened by randomization, such as in Disney’s Star Tours: The Adventures Continue, but how much truth is actually in this account? And, perhaps more importantly, just what is going into these variable scenarios? Jo Rowling is reportedly contributing original content to the expansion, and the Hogwarts Express seems to be the prime candidate for her storytelling additions. If not, guests might have to settle for the completely scattershot approach employed by Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, which sacrificed narrative cohesion for a “greatest hits” mentality.

The biggest unknown, however, lies in Universal’s approach to ticketing guests for the privilege to hop from one park to the next. All of the company’s marketing materials to date explain that, indeed, a park-to-park ticket will be required to even set foot on the fabled train, and the blueprints that have been leaked over the past week seem to include a spot for a ticket booth – but such an approach has “PR nightmare” written all over it. (It’s been suggested that Universal might remove its one-park ticket option and start selling only park-to-park tickets once Diagon Alley opens. We’re not convinced this is feasible because such a move would be tantamount to a 30% price increase for its “starting at” price to enter one park.)

Number one: Knockturn Alley

“There is a small, 500-square-foot ‘walk-through attraction’ listed [on the blueprints] on a spur street to the left of the Gringotts entry, a spur that leads to the entrance to the second attraction.”

So began the investigation into the final of Diagon Alley’s (major) attractions, instigated by Theme Park Insider in its very first reveal of the new Wizarding World, a little over two years ago. It wouldn’t take long for insiders to pin this as none other than Knockturn Alley, the dark-wizard version of Diagon Alley, but the question of what precisely will be on-hand has remained (largely) unanswered.

Part of this more than likely stems from the simple fact that none of the source material, from the novels to the movies, ever goes into much detail of Knockturn Alley’s contents; Harry manages a quick trip once in Chamber of Secrets (the second volume) and again in Half-Blood Prince (the sixth), but his time there never amounts to anything beyond a brief stop at Borgin and Burkes, the main shop on the strip. Since background storefronts and advertisements are the best that we ever get of any other Knockturn destination, it makes sense that Universal would focus almost exclusively on the fine purveyors of “unusual and ancient wizarding artifacts.”

So if one store is the entirety of Universal’s Knockturn Alley, what can we expect out of it? Well, for starters, it may not even be a real store – it may be like Flourish and Blotts, offering interactive props and sounds (albeit in a real, walk-through venue, as opposed to being a glorified window decoration), which may or may not require a tour guide to go through. Given its central, dominating location within the spur street, however, it seems more likely that we’ll be getting a second Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes – a multi-floor, multi-sensory venue that’ll also feature loads of (possibly) exclusive merchandise.

Maybe Universal will grace the inner Slytherin in all of us by staging a Triwizard Spirit Rally-esque show in front of Borgin and Burkes, just to add more value to what will undoubtedly be one of the most popular sections of the new Wizarding World.

Don’t hold your breath, though.

We already have so much knowledge about Diagon Alley, yet, as you see, many questions remain. Let’s just hope that January 23’s big reveal will bring some much-needed answers, both to these burning questions, specifically, and to how Harry’s wondrous new world will be dominating our vacations and occupying our thoughts for years to come, generally.

If not… well, our wait will become even more unbearable than it already is.

Reminder: To view the January 23 webcast, Universal is asking that you sign up in advance.

Countdown to Diagon Alley

Can you believe we have just over a week before Universal will officially spill all the beans on the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter? Stay tuned for our next Countdown to Diagon Alley article, which will help you while away the hours until the big announcement. In the meantime, you can always check out our other installments in the series:

Top five vacation planning tips for Diagon Alley

What if Diagon Alley sucks?

Complete telling of the Gringotts Bank ride experience

New details on Diagon Alley – story, food, actors, previews & the name of the Gringotts Bank attraction

How Harry Potter is defining the next-generation theme park experience

After the webcast: Step-by-step guide to EVERYTHING we now know about Diagon Alley

After the webcast: Six incredible Diagon Alley secrets that weren’t mentioned in the webcast

And, of course, to start back at the very beginning and review everything we know about the Harry Potter expansion at Universal Orlando, visit the Diagon Alley page in the OI Universal Center.

[sws_author_bio user=”msunyata@yahoo.com” size=”105″ authorposts=”More OI posts by Marc” name_format=”About the author”] [/sws_author_bio]

The post Countdown to Diagon Alley: Four burning questions we still have about the new Wizarding World appeared first on Orlando Informer.

The prologue & the promise

A little over a month ago, we provided an inside look at Gringotts Bank’s queue. Now, with a little help from some of our rumor friends, we’ve gotten a few more details to share with you on both the queue and the already-legendary attraction itself, and we’ve decided to wrap it all up into one extended narrative, as if you’re really there, at Gringotts Bank, getting ready to hop on the ride of a lifetime!

There are several sources that we are pulling from to concoct this magical journey. Going all the way back to the original “leak,” Theme Park Insider gave us our first peeks behind the Wizarding World curtain; HateToFly has provided a bevy of specific details on both Twitter and the Orlando United boards; mysteriously-appearing-and-then-disappearing Twitter account @AmusementLeaks did the unthinkable and made public Universal’s top-secret blueprints; Andrew O’Sullivan, one of our more enterprising and enthusiastic readers, helped us to connect all the dots; several other, off-the-record insiders sent us bits and pieces of information via owl post; and, finally, I’m using a heaping helping of good, old-fashioned guesswork based upon all the above plus the storyline as presented in both the Harry Potter novels and films.

It should be noted that, even though we’re fairly confident in the various sources, both public and private, that we’ve collated, the simple truth is that things change, and nothing is 100% guaranteed – not even the info officially released by Universal itself – until that magical day this summer when the doors to Diagon Alley finally open to all us Muggles. Indeed, we’ve already been hearing rumblings that the gorgeous blueprints Amusement Leaks released into the wild are dated and have now been rendered at least partially obsolete. Such is the nature of the development process, and such is the requirement of bringing grains of salt to the table.

Now would be a good time to queue up the Harry Potter soundtrack and consider one more disclosure: unless otherwise stated, all the images in this post are from the films (which shouldn’t distract from our storytelling – you already know how true to the films Universal’s Hogsmeade and Hogwarts Castle are).

With that said, let’s step up to the famous rounded entrance facade of Gringotts Bank… if you don’t mind spoilers, that is.

Gringotts Bank: The queue

You’ve already visited the locker room – which is, thankfully, on the outside of the building, so you didn’t have to hold up the line behind you – and have walked past the test seat beside the entranceway. You’ve made it through the extended queue outside in the blazing sun, and you’re now ready to finally – finally – step foot inside one of the most iconic locations in all of Harry Potter lore.

You are inside Gringotts Bank.

The first room is a circular entry vestibule, which directs traffic into one of several ways. Looking at it from the front door, to the immediate right is the single-riders line, but that’s not for you – and it misses most of the magic that is the queue, just as in Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Straight ahead, running in tandem, are the standby and Express Pass lines. It’s a shame that Express Pass access hasn’t been instituted yet, and it’s an even bigger shame that it probably won’t be for at least the next two or three years – but at least Universal is looking ahead and, even, has learned a lesson or two from Hogsmeade (where you just came from, thanks to that wonderful Hogwarts Express ride). Finally, to the left is the extended queue(s), where you just came from.

You plunge ahead in the standby line, and you’re rewarded for your patience thus far with one of the most magnificent sights you’ve ever experienced in a theme park: Gringotts’s Grand Hall, which looks almost exactly like it does in the movies (Sorcerer’s Stone and Deathly Hallows, Part II – you watched those sequences over and over again to be able to compare them to this). The ceiling rises nearly fifty feet above you and is dominated by three massive, beautiful chandeliers. The floor looks exactly like real, ancient marble. Audio-animatronic goblins staff the counters on either side, ignoring your disruptive presence as if you were a normal magical customer.

As beautiful a sight as the hall is, the next is just as captivating: the Vault Showroom, which features four massive vaults lining the right-hand wall. Their doors are open, and you’re able to spy the various wizarding treasures and coins inside (which is a great preview of the souvenir money you can “exchange” your real money for outside the bank, at the teller station, which you have to remember to do afterwards!).

Studying props in the vaults is fascinating, but it doesn’t compare to the Security Office, the next chamber on your tour through Gringotts. (The Security Office is also called the Reading Room, for reasons you’ll quickly understand.) Here, live actors who double as security guards – wands and all – will capture your image, abetted by the magic of special projected effects, for a rather unique keepsake that you can pick up at Wiseacres Wizarding Equipment, the gift shop that you have to pass through before leaving the building.

The security guards are happy to take your money for this never-been-done-before piece of merchandise, and you’re more than happy to give it to them. This is the Wizarding World, after all!

Next up is the Goblins’ Hall, full of further props and immaculate details and faux rooms, making it look infinitely larger than it really is, but you scarcely remember everything you see, because immediately afterward is a giant room that takes your breath away: Bill Weasley’s Office. The room is strikingly similar to the Defense against the Dark Arts classroom over in Islands of Adventure’s Hogwarts Castle, featuring numerous switchbacks, the falling effects of magical spells, and, most captivating of all, musion technology that brings the actors themselves to life right in front of you.

It is here that you become part of the Gringotts Bank story:  you’ve arrived to open your very own account at Gringotts and receive your very own vault, but it turns out you didn’t have the best of timing; Lord Voldemort, the greatest dark wizard of them all, has taken control of the Wizarding World.

In his conquest, Voldemort has branded Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger three of the biggest Most Undesirables. The trio, it is believed, will be attempting to infiltrate the bank in order to access the vault of Bellatrix Lestrange, one of Voldemort’s most trusted servants. Although the Death Eaters don’t fully know yet why this may be, Harry and company are hunting Horcruxes, those highly dangerous items that secretly hold a fragment of Voldemort’s soul – and which keep him alive even after he has been killed. Hermione is masquerading as Madame Lestrange and is in the process of boarding the mine carts that traverse Gringotts’s numerous subterranean vaults when her cover is blown and all hell breaks loose.

Gringotts Bank: The loading platform

Jolted by the looming confrontation between good and evil, you move forward to the lifts that lead down to the bank’s cavernous underbelly, where all the action is. (You don’t actually notice that the elevator doesn’t really move upwards or downwards, thanks to the level of theming that Universal Creative has put into the tiny room, but that’s okay.)

And then you’re there: the Cart Station, surrounded by rock and endless abysses and infinite stretches of tunnels. You pick up your 3D glasses and work your way up an exquisite circular staircase, which leads to a walkway that extends out over the ride track below you.

When you descend again, you’re standing right in the middle of the load island, which has a track on either side of it – much like Revenge of the Mummy, another of your favorite rides at the park. A team member directs you to one of the two ride vehicles, and then you’re strapped in.

You have only a moment to study the vehicle itself, but what you see is just as breathtaking as everything else around you. It’s actually not that similar to the mine cart seen in the movies, but that’s okay, since it’s even better – it’s extremely Victorian-looking, with three rows of four cushy seats, stacked stadium-style. Each seat has its own lap bar and, even better, six dedicated Dolby surround-sound speakers. Everyone is going to see and hear everything on this ride.

With that as your final thought, you’re off.

Gringotts Bank: The ride

Your ride vehicle merges with the one on the other side of the load platform – you’re in this together from here on out. You face a brick wall with tunnels leading off to the left and right, but it turns out that your path is actually downwards – the track seems to drop away from underneath you, which is the very first time you’ve ever experienced anything like this, and you’re off downwards, into a third, unseen tunnel.

There’s a small bunny hop, just enough of a hill to make you feel it, and a hard right turn followed quickly by an even harder brake. This is when you realize that the ride you’ve just gotten yourself on isn’t so much a traditional rollercoaster as it is a newer motion-base ride, like the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man or Transformers. Giant 3D projection screens surround you, seamlessly embedded in the rock walls, making it look like you’re hanging in open space with giant caverns stretching out to either side. It is from here that human security guards and goblin employees of Gringotts seem to stream after you. A couple of trolls even jump out right next to you (are they 3D film or actual audio-animatronic figures? You can’t tell!) and seize your vehicle, attempting to shake you out of it. Harry, Ron, and Hermione/Bellatrix fight them off, however, and away you go, speeding away from the danger.

Until you hit a waterfall – the Thief’s Downfall.

It’s actually just a fogscreen and some water spritzers, but it has the same effect as in the books/films: it washes away any concealment spells or enchantments and attempts to derail the mine cart. Luckily for you, you have your new wizarding friends to save you from being disgorged.

All of a sudden, the appearance of a dragon – one of the more impressive defensive mechanisms the Gringotts goblins employ – complicates matters. There are wind and heat effects coupled with a series of sudden turns in the track, buffeting you back and forth.

The evasive maneuvers taken to avoid the dragon’s breath plunge you right into the vault of Sirius Black, who may have been Harry’s godfather before his death at the hands of his cousin, Bellatrix, but whose family still was staunch Voldemort supporters. The physical set here is impressive and extensive, showcasing illuminated treasure – and featuring some more fog blasts – but there’s still trouble in hot pursuit as Death Eaters join the fray.

A turn to the left and a follow-up curving to the right leads you through the rubble of a collapsed tunnel, which, in turn, deposits you into a giant chasm, where the ride suddenly comes to a halt. All around you, thanks to the presence of even more massive projection screens, the ongoing battle suddenly turns into something much bigger and infinitely deadlier – Voldemort himself arrives at the scene, finally alerted to your plans to help Harry and the gang steal away his precious Horcrux. The action engulfs you on all sides simultaneously, with the ride vehicle surprising you yet again by spinning around 360 degrees to try and take it all in. It’s only when the forces of light manage to make a break through the enemy’s defenses that one of the 3D screens, attached to a giant KUKA arm (like the ones that operate Forbidden Journey, you manage to think afterwards), lifts up out of position at the very last possible second as you plunge madly towards it. You’re free from the Death Eaters!

There is one last dark tunnel to go through – smooth sailing, comparatively speaking – and the track banks up and around to the left. It is here that Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who has long since stopped looking like the vile Bellatrix Lestrange, thank you for your help in snatching the Horcrux and bid you farewell.

Before you know it, you’re back at the loading platform, only this time you get off on the sides of the passageway, away from the loading island and all the new riders who eagerly await the magical adventure that is about to befall them.

You envy them immensely.

Gringotts Bank: One more time

Much of our story from the Gringotts ride itself is based on leaked blueprints. We won’t step through this bit by bit, but for those interested, here is a view of the blueprint along with colored markups done by one of our fans, Andrew.

• Red – Coaster track
• Orange – Second loading station track (like Revenge of the Mummy)
• Blue – Spiral stairs that lead down to the loading station
• Green – First projection dome with turntable track that tilts down into the Dark Tunnel (Turntable, Dark Tunnel, and possible Ledge – Scenes 1,2, and 3)
• Star – Track crossover area
• Purple – Second projection dome (Chasm – Scene 7)
• Burgundy – Outlines of a tunnel (Scene 8)

You can see the original blueprint by clicking here, courtesy of ThemeParkTourist.

Countdown to Diagon Alley

Can you believe we have less than two weeks before Universal will officially spill all the beans on Gringotts Bank and the rest of Diagon Alley, making our virtual ride-through one step closer to reality? Stay tuned for our next Countdown to Diagon Alley article, which will help you while away the hours until the big announcement. In the meantime, you can always check out our other installments in the series:

Top five vacation planning tips for visiting Diagon Alley

What if Diagon Alley sucks?

Four burning questions we still have about the new Wizarding World

New details on Diagon Alley – story, food, actors, previews & the name of the Gringotts Bank attraction

How Harry Potter is defining the next-generation theme park experience

After the webcast: Step-by-step guide to EVERYTHING we now know about Diagon Alley

After the webcast: Six incredible Diagon Alley secrets that weren’t mentioned in the webcast

And, of course, to start back at the very beginning and review everything we know about the Harry Potter expansion at Universal Orlando, visit the Diagon Alley page in the OI Universal Center.

[sws_author_bio user=”msunyata@yahoo.com” size=”105″ authorposts=”More OI posts by Marc” name_format=”About the author”] [/sws_author_bio]

The post Countdown to Diagon Alley: Complete telling of the Gringotts Bank ride experience at Universal Orlando appeared first on Orlando Informer.

Diagon Alley is going to do nothing less than revolutionize the theme park industry. According to Dale Mason, the project’s executive art director, they’re “building it so much bigger than, I think, anybody can imagine.” The latest insider intel promises that it’s going to feature never-before-seen methods of crowd control and merchandising opportunities. Suits of armor are going to tumble apart and then rebuild themselves right in front of guests’ eyes, while the Hogwarts Express is going to connect with Hogsmeade over at Islands of Adventure – the first time in theme park history that multiple locations will be linked together in one seamless experience.

That’s quite a tall order to fill – perhaps a little too tall. The question, then, very quickly becomes: what if Diagon Ally doesn’t end up becoming the greatest and most immersive theme park land ever devised, as has been foretold over these past many months? What if it, well, sucks?

Okay – “sucks” is perhaps too strong of a word, particularly given the track record that Universal Creative has established for itself as of late, including the first wondrous Wizarding World. But it turns out that the new expansion doesn’t have to drop the ball more than just an inch in order to be branded a failure in the hearts and minds of theme enthusiasts the worldwide web over, let alone that sometimes-cantankerous lot known as journalists; with the sheer amount of hyperbole that has saturated every press release, every dedicated forum, and every churning of the rumor mill, it will be nearly impossible for Universal to deliver on the now-sky-high expectations.

And it’s not like our (pop) culture hasn’t led us astray before, exponentially increasing hopes and, even, demands of the fanbase until they’re well past the point of any sort of reason. The advent of the long-awaited Star Wars prequel trilogy is perhaps the best example of this, causing all sorts of fanboys to commit virtual seppuku for some misperceived slight or another, but the more recent release of the latest Song of Ice and Fire novel (you know, the book series that HBO’s Game of Thrones is based off of) also falls neatly into this category. And the most confounding instance of them all is the last installment of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, which was branded disastrous all because a number of fans who knew nothing of the filmmaking process managed to spy videos of the on-location shooting and didn’t like what they saw. (The irony here is that, even though the finished film went on to rave reviews, it was a substandard product, especially when compared with its predecessor, The Dark Knight.)

Beyond the grandiose promises of Universal’s Creative execs and marketing team, the company is investing well over $400 million in Diagon Alley – nearly double what it spent on Hogsmeade. Cabana Bay Beach Resort, another multi-million dollar project, is being built entirely on the back of the expansion. And the company has already pledged some $500 million for next year and the year after, building new attractions and upgrading older ones, which has only been made possible due to the success of its Wizarding Worlds. To say that Universal has a lot riding on Diagon Alley is a profound understatement – so what happens if it does, indeed, face a backlash, deservedly or not?

The answer is, more than likely, a good one for Universal and for most fans.

What’s important to understand is that most of the park-going public cares very little for which rumor did or didn’t pan out, which ride was toned down from its earlier incarnations, or which ultra-diehard fan who has literally spent hours looking at just one set of construction photos – yes, they really are out there – doesn’t like the modeling of Diagon’s rooftops. After all, there was a consistent, if not overpowering, amount of blowback when Hogsmeade first opened its doors three-and-a-half years ago: the presence of two rethemed rides was detrimental to the land’s originality; there wasn’t enough street-level atmosphere; the lack of queuing (for Ollivander’s Wand Shop and, even, for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey) showed just how far over its head Universal really was. And yet none of that made one dent in public demand for Harry Potter’s first theme park outing — as you can see in this video from the 2013 holiday season:

[youtube_video]0UD4BNXZrfY[/youtube_video]

Perhaps an even more illustrative example is to look at Universal’s main competition down the street. Disney-philes have been complaining, sometimes strenuously so, about Walt Disney World for at least half of its existence, and yet they still flock to their favorite – and make no mistake: it is still their favorite – resort year after year, decade after decade. New hotels are descended upon en masse, new attractions (even if they’re simply character meet-and-greets or rethemed restrooms) are passionately followed every step of the way, and, of course, pins are greedily acquired and traded. If Universal is successful in replicating this type of dedicated fanbase at its own resort, which, by all accounts, it is clearly in the process of doing, then it has nothing to worry about, negative feedback or no.

But, still, it’s an interesting situation – and an indication of Universal having officially “made it” – that we can even contemplate arriving at this situation. Will Gringotts Bank be the best ride ever made in the history of man? Will Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes offer the most inventive array of merchandise? Will the RFID-equipped interactive wands ever arrive? Will Universal Studios Florida’s attendance rate beat that of Magic Kingdom’s this year? Will Diagon Alley suck?

The only worthwhile answer, as in any such case, is to pose another question: will an insane amount of magic be had in the experience, regardless of its exact details?

Stay tuned for our next Countdown to Diagon Alley article to be published soon! In the meantime, you can check out our other installments in the series:

Top five vacation planning tips for visiting Diagon Alley

Compete telling of the Gringotts Bank ride experience

Four burning questions we still have about the new Wizarding World

New details on Diagon Alley – story, food, actors, previews & the name of the Gringotts Bank attraction

How Harry Potter is defining the next-generation theme park experience

After the webcast: Step-by-step guide to EVERYTHING we now know about Diagon Alley

After the webcast: Six incredible Diagon Alley secrets that weren’t mentioned in the webcast

And of course, to start back at the very beginning and review everything we know about the Harry Potter expansion at Universal Orlando, visit the Diagon Alley page in the OI Universal Center.

[sws_author_bio user=”msunyata@yahoo.com” size=”105″ authorposts=”More OI posts by Marc” name_format=”About the author”] [/sws_author_bio]

The post Countdown to Diagon Alley: What if the new Wizarding World sucks? appeared first on Orlando Informer.

But what you may not be as aware of regarding Diagon Alley — and what you won’t find reported on any other website — is how to best plan your visit to Universal Orlando next year, so you can have the best experience possible at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley.

In today’s BIG 5 blog post, we begin the preliminary work of providing you the world-class vacation planning information and insight for USF’s new area, just as we’ve done for the original Wizarding World of Harry Potter, now officially called WWoHP – Hogsmeade.

Without further ado, here are our top five tips for planning your 2014 visit to Diagon Alley and Universal Orlando:

#5 – Buy a Park-to-Park ticket

While chatter seems to go back and forth as to what will be required to ride the Hogwarts Express — the real train that will transport guests between Universal Studios Florida (Diagon Alley) and Islands of Adventure (Hogsmeade) — Universal has been very clear: you’ll need a Park-to-Park ticket.

This was made crystal clear in the May 8, 2013 “invitation” email sent by Universal.

So do yourself and your family a favor and pay the premium for Park-to-Park tickets in advance. Sure, Universal will very likely provide a way for guests to upgrade their one-park tickets at the train stations. But with everything else that will be happening as you first visit Diagon Alley and the Hogwarts Express, do you really want to get in another line just to pay for a ticket upgrade?

One more tip: Traditionally all of Orlando’s theme parks raise their ticket prices in the spring; last year Universal did this on May 18. With Diagon Alley opening this summer, I see no reason for Universal to break from this tradition. In other words, if you want to save a little bit of money (around $5 to $10 per person), buy your tickets now before the price increase hits. And remember, the parks never announce these increases ahead of time. Instead, one day the prices will be at 2013 levels, and the next day they’ll be more.

#4 – Plan on at least three days

If you were to ask me what is the “ideal” number of days to visit Universal before Diagon Alley opens, I’d say three days. That’s one full day for each park, then a third day to visit your favorites again, spend some time by the pool, explore CityWalk, etc.

Once Diagon Alley opens, this “ideal” number will be the “required” number for anyone wanting to see all of Universal Orlando. For planning purposes, you’ll need to think of Universal as having three theme parks: the Wizarding World(s) of Harry Potter, the rest of Universal Studios Florida, and the rest of Islands of Adventure. And to experience everything, you’ll need one full day for each “park”.

Just to dispel any possible confusion, the Wizarding World(s) of Harry Potter are not their own theme park; they are part of Universal Studios Florida (Diagon Alley) and Islands of Adventure (Hogsmeade). You won’t need separate admission from your regular Universal Orlando park tickets. This point was a large source of frustration when the original Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened in June 2010, and Universal marketed it as a “theme park within a theme park”.

But getting back to our discussion, yes, please plan on three full days in the parks if you want to experience everything. Now, in what order should you visit the attractions at Universal during those three days? Defining that will be our primary objective in 2014, once Diagon Alley opens and we can get a better sense of crowd flow.

Another tip: Remember that Universal announced their largest expansion ever to Universal CityWalk. With eight new venues to be added during 2014, you might just want to add a fourth or fifth day to your Universal vacation, depending on what’s open when you visit and how much you like the idea of eating at some of the coolest concept restaurants in Central Florida. You can learn more about the CityWalk expansion in this blog post.

#3 – Express Passes aren’t going to help, early admission might not either

There are several reasons why, as we just explained, you are going to want three full days for your Universal Orlando vacation. One of the biggest is the fact that Universal Express Passes aren’t going to be much help for guests wanting to experience Diagon Alley. While Universal hasn’t quite confirmed this yet, the two major attractions coming online with Diagon Alley — the Hogwarts Express and Gringotts Bank coaster — are not expected to offer Express Pass access (at least not for several months, possibly years, after they open).

This is nothing new for just-opened attractions at Universal Orlando. Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, the signature attraction at Hogsmeade, still doesn’t offer Express. Similarly, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit and Despicable Me Minion Mayhem didn’t offer Express when they opened. It was only Transformers, in the list of recent major attractions to open, that offered Express from day one.

Well, at least on-site guests will have early admission so they can experience the area with minimal crowds, right? Unfortunately, I’m afraid that might be a wrong assumption too.

In conjunction with the opening of Diagon Alley, Universal will open the largest hotel currently under construction outside of China, the 1,800-room Cabana Bay Beach Resort. And while Cabana Bay guests will have to settle with not getting unlimited Express Pass access as an on-site benefit (the most lauded benefit of staying at one of Universal’s deluxe on-site hotels), all 3,000+ Cabana Bay guests will have access to Early Park Admission at Universal Orlando.

For planning purposes, this means that early admission should get you an extra morning hour inside Diagon Alley, but it won’t be just you and a few other families exploring the area — it’ll be you and up to 10,000 other on-site guests clamoring to make use of the extra time.

This brings us back to the previous point: Plan on at least three days for Universal Orlando trip once Diagon Alley opens.

#2 – Budget big

We recently asked our fans about their spending habits regarding theme park souvenirs. The overall results were nothing too surprising, but one common thread came out of the discussion that ensued: fans had the “typical” amount they spend on souvenirs, then they had a much larger number for the amount they spent during their first visit to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Don’t think this simple fact has escaped Universal’s notice. Indeed, the incredible developments happening at the resort now, including Diagon Alley, have at least partially been made possible because of the incredible amount of cash Universal has made selling wands, robes, and chocolate frogs.

Expect Universal to take “souvenirs” to the next level when the streets of Diagon Alley open next year. Among other rumored features, Diagon Alley will have interactive objects that will be triggered by RFID wands — think Potter meets Disney’s MagicBands — so purchasing a new wand will be a must for almost all fans. It’s also expected that guests in line for Gringotts Bank coaster will be able to exchange muggle money for bank certificates that can be used to purchase special merchandise after the ride. (How brilliant was it for Universal to set their E-ticket Diagon Alley attraction inside a bank!) Then we have Leaky Cauldron and Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour, where you know you’re going to want to try everything on the menus. These are just three examples of how Universal will take theme park spending to the next level at Diagon Alley.

Add to these the planning tips I’ve already offered — buying Park-to-Park tickets and planning on at least three days — and you can come to no other conclusion: Budget big for this trip.

#1 – Focus this vacation on Diagon Alley

Considering everything we’ve discussed so far, here is our biggest recommendation for anyone planning to visit Diagon Alley during its debut year: Focus your trip on Diagon Alley and Universal Orlando.

To do it right — and to have a positive experience — you’ll need to commit multiple days and a huge budget to this trip. Once you’re actually on-site, it is going to be an exhilarating vacation like none other (one that is likely to bring fans to tears, as has happened to so many the first time they visited the original Wizarding World of Harry Potter), but in several ways it is going to be a very taxing vacation. Crowds will be record-breaking, wallets will be empty, legs will be sore from standing in lines, and frustrations may boil high in the summer heat and humidity.

After you’ve had your sense of amazement and your tolerance for crowds pushed to their limits by Diagon Alley, the last thing you will want to do is bring the family to Disney World. This is in no way a slight against Disney. I’m making this recommendation because Disney will have their own record-breaking crowds and new attractions, including the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, which makes me struggle to suggest that you put yourself up to the challenge of conquering Diagon Alley and any part of Disney World during the same vacation.

(After next spring’s price increases, it will likely be over $100 per person plus tax to spend the day at Magic Kingdom — is your budget big enough to take that after your kids’ vaults are full of Diagon Alley merchandise?)

So break the mold of going to Disney and adding on a day or two at Universal and make this your Harry Potter trip. If you do indeed have extra money in your budget set aside for Disney, spend that on upgraded hotel accommodations, so you have a relaxing place to call home after your daily conquests in the Wizarding World.

Honorable mention – OI is your friend, 2014 guidebooks already outdated

We do one thing: offer our readers the world’s best Universal Orlando vacation planning resource. When we opened almost three years ago, Orlando Informer was the first website to focus primarily on Universal vacation planning, and we are still the only website to do so.

With over 500 “daily updates” to our vacation planning information in 2012, and over 500 more updates in 2013, we have proven that our free website is truly a one-stop-shop for Universal news and expert advice. (And those numbers don’t count the 1,000+ blog posts we’ve also published, almost half of which cover Universal too!)

As 2014 begins, we will stay fast in our commitment to ensuring your family has the best possible experience at Universal Orlando. Remember, there are some good guidebooks out there, but all of the 2014 editions are finalized at the end of 2013, well before Diagon Alley opens. This means, even with the most talented authorship, the books simply won’t be able to help you plan Universal Orlando right for 2014 once the Harry Potter expansion opens.

Stick with us — we’ll be here every step of the way to help!

Start vacation planning now:

• OI Universal Center table of contents
• Harry Potter expansion – Diagon Alley
• Free 12-month Universal Orlando crowd calendar

Stay informed:

• OI Weekly Dispatch enewsletter (summary of Universal news and our new blog posts)
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Google+

The opening of DIAGON ALLEY is going to be like going to the SUPER BOWL of theme parks: an extreme level of excitement and astonishment, with the crowds and concerns of such a major event to match.

Countdown to Diagon Alley

This post has now become the first installment of our new series Countdown to Diagon Alley, as we prep for Universal’s January 23 full reveal. While we wait for that date, check out these posts:

What if Diagon Alley sucks?

Compete telling of the Gringotts Bank ride experience

Four burning questions we still have about the new Wizarding World

New details on Diagon Alley – story, food, actors, previews & the name of the Gringotts Bank attraction

How Harry Potter is defining the next-generation theme park experience

After the webcast: Step-by-step guide to EVERYTHING we now know about Diagon Alley

After the webcast: Six incredible Diagon Alley secrets that weren’t mentioned in the webcast

And, of course, to start back at the very beginning and review everything we know about the Harry Potter expansion at Universal Orlando, visit the Diagon Alley page in the OI Universal Center.

The post Countdown to Diagon Alley: Top five vacation planning tips for visiting the Harry Potter expansion at Universal Orlando appeared first on Orlando Informer.