1/4/2016 - Wizarding World Hollywood Update

Happy New Year and welcome to another great year of fun with us and what better way to start than with a new update from Universal Studios Hollywood. 
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We trust you all had a great Christmas and New Years with family and friends. We had to cut down some of our New Years week plans due to illness but we'll make it up to you somehow.

UPDATE: We've just made an update below regarding some changes made to the Fast and Furious portion of the Studio Tour. 

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Written by Gregg Condon

We'll of course start off with the entrance to Wizarding World Hollywood. The walls have been moved back and now you can actually touch Wizarding World. 
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The area is pretty much done except for some minor stuff that really won't be visible from the outside. The reason it's not opening until April doesn't really have a lot to do with Wizarding World but with all the other stuff that needs to be ready for the plethora of Potterheads that will be descending on this park. And training of course. 

Umbridge is at it again ... 

It's just so pretty. And now you can actually touch Wizarding World!!! =) 

Moving on to the other side, not much has changed. 

So really, there's nothing much going to be going on until Wizarding World opens. We'll of course still do a few updates as there is work going on, and of course we're hoping to have soft opens at some point. And of course, the media push for this is going to be HUGE and will easily be the biggest media event we've ever done. 

This is going to be the biggest thing to ever happen to this park (and it's not even close) so there will probably be some growing pains, so be patient once "Technical Rehearsals" begin and of course on opening day. 

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Moving on past Wizarding World, the new dining/retail area at the front of the park is looking great. No word yet on what we'll be able to enjoy when it opens. 

It'll be like their own little main street. 

Around the corner, some great detail on these buildings. 

As you can see they are getting ready to start putting signs, etc on the buildings. 

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The bag check area at the front of the park has been totally redesigned and they are now testing "random" people going through metal detectors. We'll know very soon if this is to become the norm and if they do permanent metal detectors for all guests. 

The new entry area has also changed and is MUCH more open which will be nice. Entry on New Years Eve was very quick and efficient. 

​UPDATE: A small update from the Studio Tour we forgot to put in our article earlier regarding Fast and Furious:

First, in the pre-show scene with the dance party, the girl with the skimpy panties now has a CGI skirt to conceal things a bit. Since this is a family park/attraction this is a pretty good call and it's still confusing how that even saw the light of day in this attraction.

Secondly, they have darkened the "ride" portion a bit and it's more Sunset now than mid-day which does help to hide the edges of the screen a bit.

It will be interesting to see if further changes are coming to this portion of the tour.

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Alright, that's going to wrap it up for this update.

​Later this week we'll have a New Years Week update from Walt Disney World and finally our big Star Wars: The Force Awakens article since our self-imposed spoiler embargo has been lifted. We'll be giving our thoughts on the movie as well as talking about all of the rumors that are flying around. ​

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