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 These pics were taken last Friday, so they may be a "bit" outdated seeing how fast the park is working, it's pretty much to the point if we don't get these updates up a day or two after taking them, they are no longer current.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. This past Friday we were invited out to Universal Studios Hollywood for a preview of the all new Fast and Furious: Supercharged. We got to go through the entire tour and all of the pre-show attractions as well as how they are blending the new ending of the tram tour into the overall tram experience. Pictures and Words by Gregg Condon The first change we saw was one of the Fast and Furious Cars outside of Wisteria Lane and then a report to park security and eventually featuring The Rock. As we got closer to the show building the pre-show continued, basically the plot line is that Vin Diesels character is loose on the lot, and then because apparently in the last movie he was a good guy The Rock comes in to explain things. The outside of the show building. Once inside, the first pre-show building is in a garage setting. This pre-show features some stars from the movie series and more explanation of the events going on and how we're now involved. Unfortunately we were unable to take any additional pictures or videos in the attraction but below we'll give you a run-down of the attraction as well as my review: (Does contain some minor spoilers) Once past the garage pre-show you enter another pre-show that is at a post street race after-party. I've gotta be honest, this is the first part that made me scratch my head a bit, as the scene is filled with scantily clad women that you'd see at a street race after-party. While I personally have no problem with this, being that Universal Studios is a family theme park I can see quite a few comments coming into guest relations regarding this particular scene. Beyond that, this scene is basically the rest of the cast explaining to the FBI that Vin Diesel's character is on their side and The Rock in a "my gun is bigger than your gun" scene. Once that is done we go into the actual attraction: Ok, so let's cut right to the chase on this one. Despite advertisements telling you this is a Ride, it's not. While sure, it's technically considered a ride and they are more than able to advertise it as such, this is a tram experience like King Kong. Although I will say that Kong has a bit more motion than the overall experience here. That said, I do think they've managed to pull off the sensation of driving fast through the effects on the ride, so that's a good thing. Unfortunately the people who decided to call this a "ride" aren't going to be the ones who are hearing the complaints about this being a ride. Had the experience been advertised properly as a "Tram Experience" I don't think there'd be any issue. I'll be honest, I've only seen the first two Fast and Furious movies, so I'm guessing as far as the "Story" is concerned being familiar with recent developments in the franchise would help. And yes, I put story in quotations for a reason, as there's not really one that makes a whole lot of sense and it's kind of shoehorned into the tram experience. But the experience is fun. Lots of fast cars, explosions, the 3D effects aren't over the top and I personally didn't notice anything being "in your face" like many 3D attractions do, which is fine. Kong doesn't have that either and it works. Apparently they've toned down the water effects which are absolutely not needed on this experience but instead use a mist to simulate tires creating smoke. This experience is definitely "360" as there is a screen at the front of the tram as well, which does help the effect of driving. The animation if I'm being honest looked a bit blurry to me, it was hard to see details in the characters faces, but the actors are secondary to the cars and the action they are doing. And that animation aspect is well done. Overall I think this is a fun addition to the tram, it's certainly better than The Mummy or the nothing that's been there awhile. While personally I think this particular location would have been better served for Theme Park expansion (Diagon Alley anybody) it is still fun and if people go in with the right expectations they will have a good time. They are still tweaking the experience so it will be interesting to see what changes are made prior to the official opening on the 25th. Technical Rehearsals have already begun and Season Passholder previews begin today so it will be interesting to start hearing reviews from the General Public and if they see it differently than I do. Thanks for reading, we'll be back a little later this week with a full park update and we'll be back at the park next week for the red carpet event. Today we're taking a break from Media Day updates (although we'll be at another one later today) to take a look at something awesome coming for 2016, and of course, we all know what that is at this point. Today let's take a look at the latest from Wizarding World. We'll also have more later this week as the Harry Potter store will be opening later in the week. Written by Gregg Condon Potter store ... coming soon. Something else ... coming soon. =) Never will get tired of this view. Hogwarts ... you can start to see some of the forced perspective elements. The trees really make it look like it's high up on a mountain. Which it is. =) The Great Hall Lots of amazing looking rock work Greenhouse stuff Coastery stuff ... coming soon. It'll be nice to have another coaster in the park. Still a lot of work being done on the other side. They finished up the outside portions near Springfield for obvious reasons. From the Shrek queue. They really did blend both area's really well. And there are Ogre's in Harry Potter. =) The detail is great The other side of Hogwarts Lots of work going on around the other side of The Great Hall. And how about a night shot ... just because. =) Alright, that's going to wrap it up for this update. Now that most of the major rides are open (other than Fast and Furious next month) Wizarding World is really going to be the major news coming out of SoCal parks until Halloween stuff and new attractions are announced. And then everything starts all over again. Yay!!! Thanks for all of your support and be sure to be following along all week as we'll have lots of fun stuff to bring you. If you enjoyed this update please share with your friends and make sure you "like" us on Facebook and "follow" us on Twitter and Instagram. Also, be sure to join our new Mailing List to receive our newsletter (will be sent out about every two weeks)
If you have any comments, please share them below. |
Categories
All
Archives
April 2024
|