 Today we have another Wizarding World of Harry Potter update as the project continues to chug along for it's 2016 opening. Track for Flight of the Hippogriff looks to be almost completed and the castle continues to be revealed. We'll also take a look at a few other things around the park. Written by Gregg Condon We'll of course start off with the entry arch to Hogsmeade.  A zoom in of Hogwarts.  A view of the front side of Hogwarts  Flight of the Hippogriff. Wonder if they are going to do anything with the office building right there prior to the land opening.   The other side of Hogwarts     Hippogriff looks much different than the Universal Orlando version.     A look at the Greenhouse   More of Hippogriff through the trees.  The new retail/dining location is moving along very quickly and the frame now looks to be completed.    A new Minions Scavenger Hunt has been added for the kids in advance of the new Minions Movie. We love the Minions and can't wait for the new movie. It looks like silly fun.  More HHN progress down by Jurassic Park. Also, of note, even though it hasn't been "officially" cancelled, when we passed the CSI sets one of the stages was completely gutted. If the show is not coming back it will be interesting to see if these stages are used for Halloween Horror Nights.  Some Jurassic World merchandise has made it's way out to the park, will be interesting to see how much more is added over the next weeks/months as the movie continues to make boatloads of money.        Alright, that's going to wrap it up for this update. We're entering our "off season" and going to be taking a break from parks over the next few weeks so we aren't sure when we'll have our next update. If you are visiting any parks soon and would like to share pictures for an update feel free to send an email to [email protected]. We always give full credit and plugs for sharing pictures and updates with us.  Yesterday was Media Day for Fast and Furious Supercharged at Universal Studios Hollywood. As always, the park put on a great red carpet event and opening ceremony which included celebrities, a stunt show, dancers, Universal Executives and even the Mayor of Los Angeles. Written by Amanda Condon Below we'll give you the run-down of the entire event and a re-review of the ride, as there have been a few changes since the last time we rode, some good changes. You can see video of the ceremony below. We've cut it down a bit to show the fun parts, there were lots of speeches given as well. The event was held down on the Metro Sets, more specifically in Courthouse Square, which was very cool.  Courthouse Square   The park was very nice to give me a prime parking spot right down on the Metro Set's. =)  First thing we noticed were all the signs now include the tagline "Grand Finale of the Studio Tour". Hopefully this should set expectations where they should be.  The Red Carpet   The stage set-up  Donuts on the Universal Backlot   Dancers kicked off the show with a fun routine  Larry Kurzweil arrived in style.  Vin Diesel made a very nice speech where he talked about the franchise and his late friend Paul Walker.    Vin Diesel ready to cut the chain and open the ride!!!  Just as Vin Diesel is about to cut the chain, the FBI shows up to mess up the party.    So just cutting a red ribbon or breaking a chain, not really Fast and Furious style, so they had a car do it with an awesome stunt.   
 The aftermath   The creative team that put on the opening ceremonies. They put on a great show.  Re-Review of Fast and Furious Supercharged: So last week we did a review of the attraction after the Media Preview, outlining some of the issues we had with the ride. We are VERY pleased to report that a lot of these have been fixed. The film print in both the pre-show and actual show have been cleaned up a bit. Not sure if this was due to a new print, lens adjustments or something, but it has DEFINITELY helped the overall experience. In addition, the water effects have been toned down A LOT as they weren't needed at all. While we still maintain this isn't a ride (and them adding the tagline "Grand Finale of the Studio Tour" is a good step in the right direction of having expectations set correctly) this truly is the biggest/baddest finale the tour has ever had. Hopefully this is just the first step in the continued "plussing" of the studio tour.  We hope you enjoyed this look at the grand opening of Fast and Furious: Supercharged. The attraction officially opens today so be sure you head out to the park soon to check it out. We'll have our normal Wizarding World/General Park update tomorrow.  Hey everybody, welcome to another Wizarding World Hollywood Update. We're running it a bit late this week due to our review of Fast and Furious: Supercharged that ran on Monday, be sure to check that out if you missed it. These pics were taken last Friday, so they may be a "bit" outdated seeing how fast the park is working, it's pretty much to the point if we don't get these updates up a day or two after taking them, they are no longer current. Lesson learned. =) Pictures and Words by Gregg Condon Before we get to the Wizarding World Stuff, we want to send out a HUGE congrats to Universal Pictures and everybody involved with Jurassic World. We all really enjoyed the movie for what it was, a fun summer popcorn movie. It had great nods to the original that had us all smiling and the action and dino's were great. If you haven't seen it, you should go out and give Universal more $$ now. =) It will be interesting to see what, if anything is announced as far as Jurassic World expansions in the coming months/years. I'm sure they all knew it would be a hit, but I'm not sure anybody saw it being THIS big (so far at least).  With that said, let's head over to Wizarding World, starting off with our traditional opening shot of the Hogsmeade entry arch.  So much detail  Hogwarts, looking great    Greenhouse  What's that lurking through the trees?  Flight of the Hippogriff track is going up!!! You can actually see the entire area MUCH better from the other side (where we entered for our Fast and Furious tour) but of course we were asked not to take pictures there, and we of course did not.   There are actually a few other things going on around the rest of the park such as the new retail/dining location where House of Horrors used to be. It's going up very quickly.   Believe it or not, construction is already taking place for Halloween Horror Nights!!!  The Metro Sets were totally closed off as they were filming something.   And finally, a jeep from Jurassic World has been added to the Universal Cars display.  Ok, that's going to wrap it up for this update. We'll be at the park next week for the red carpet premiere of Fast and Furious: Supercharged so we'll have more updates then. |
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