Harry Potter Theme Park Gets New Features
Harry Potter fans are still lining up to visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, the theme park in Universal Orlando: Florida based on the magical Harry Potter universe created by J.K. Rowling. And the Harry Potter park is about to get more amazing and more popular starting July 8, when Universal Studios opens the new Diagon Alley expansions to the public. Digital Spy released a list of all the exciting new features, including some mind-blowing Harry Potter attractions you have to experience to believe.
Diagon Alley is chock-full of details accurate to the Harry Potter world. Every part of the magical shopping district from the Harry Potter series is replicated as perfectly as possible. Visitors can enter the shops, interact with witches and wizards and buy souvenirs.
On a more impressive, technical scale, the new park features use 4K and 3D rendering technology to bring the Harry Potter universe to life. The Gringotts ride, for example, as a 3D, holographic rendering of Helena Bonham Carter’s character Bellatrix Lestrange, who shoots a blast of blue magic straight at you. Other 3D holograms include Bill Weasley and a dragon that breathes fire. This is all included with “motion base” rollercoaster technology to make the ride feel as realistic and Harry Potter-authentic as possible.
Perhaps the best treat of all for hardcore fans of the Harry Potter series is the specially filmed scenes. The actors of the Harry Potter films return to star in exclusive scenes that only park visitors get to watch within the rides. This includes Harry Potter fan-favorite Robbie Coltrane, who plays Hagrid in the Harry Potter films.
Other fun incentives to visit Diagon Alley include dining at the Leaky Cauldron and riding the Hogwarts Express train.
All of these features should be enough for any self-respective Harry Potter fan to head over to Orlando right away to take part in the fun. But don’t take it from The Inquisitr. Ask the actual Harry Potter characters.
The Chicago Tribune spoke to the actors who played integral roles in the Harry Potter films to get their opinions on the attractions at the Diagon Alley park expansion.
Matthew Lewis, who played Neville Longbottom, said: ‘It’s completely impressive once you go in. There’s nothing to break that illusion. You are in it from the moment you’re in there until the moment you leave.’
“‘Diagon Alley is far more immersive than the sets during the filming of the seven [Harry Potter] movies,’ said Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy, ‘because there’s no scaffolding, no green screen, and no electricians standing around.’
“James Phelps, who plays Fred Weasley, summed up the experience: ‘You do think that you’re back in the U.K. When the train comes in to King’s Cross Station it is exactly like if you got the train into King’s Cross. What you see and all that stuff, the attention to detail is just out of this world.'”
[Images courtesy of Digital Spy and Chicago Tribune]
