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Pictures and Words by Gregg Condon  This past weekend after a lot of "media" stuff over the last few weeks I took a well deserved break to have just a "family" day at Universal Studios Hollywood. The rest of the family had yet to see Springfield and hadn't seen Harry Potter construction in person since Halloween Horror Nights, so we were LONG overdue. That said, I did take the Point and Shoot and got some pics, but they won't be "fancy" like the rest of our updates. =) The biggest addition since our last update is the new Wizarding World store at the front of the park. While this isn't EVERYTHING that will be offered in Wizarding World, it features a LOT more than we thought it would.  They've done a great job converting this store from Minions to Harry Potter.   Hedwig ... =(  Platform 9 3/4  What, the poster on the shirt doesn't move? =)   Hedwig, Fang, Fawkes, Buckbeak, Frog, Rat (Scabbers?)  House Robes, scarves and more. We're waiting to get these when WWHP opens. =)  House Flags   Lots of cool notebooks and journals for each house  Overall the store is great. They also have the wands, but again, we're waiting until we can go into the wand store and have our wands choose us. =) I was sorted into Gryffindor on Pottermore (yes, I'm that much of a Harry Potter dork) but I loved all of the house hats so I may end up getting them all at some point.
Ok, let's go check out what's going on with Wizarding World construction. That's new    At this point most of the stuff going on towards the park side is cosmetic.  Most of the major construction is going on at Forbidden Journey and the other side of Hogsmeade.   Lots of cranes over here   An overview, looking great.  A look into where Flying Hippogriff is going.  A look at the amazing detail  Just a few things going on around the rest of the park. It's time for Universal to ban selfie sticks on their rides. While in this particular section it's not a big deal, you start using them going down drops or on Mummy or Transformers, you've got a problem. Hopefully we won't get the metal detectors though. =)  Great thing about having a waterproof camera ... Jurassic Park splash!!! LOL  The Springfield version of The Kitchen Sink.  Framework going up for the even bigger Potter store (we've heard).  New signs for Hand Stamp requirements  Out in CityWalk they are of course promoting Jurassic World, which arrives in just a few weeks.  I'd like one please. =)  Alright, that's enough for this update. Just as an FYI, they are currently doing some night tours on the weekends prior to their official opening around July 4th. Not all elements may be working during this soft open period however. We'll try and get out there on a weekend night soon to get some pics and video.
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 After a month or so of soft openings and adding a few tweaks here and there, Springfield at Universal Studios Hollywood officially opened yesterday. To kick off the grand opening the park held a great "Taste of Springfield" event on Tuesday night. Below we'll show you some highlights of the event and some of the new touches they've added to Springfield. Written by Gregg Condon Before the event, signs were up indicating there was a special event. By 5:00pm all of Springfield and The Simpsons were closed in preparation.   Yay, it's finally open!!!   Universal doesn't mess around with their special events.   After spending some time in the park it was time to head out and check in for the event.  The Yellow Carpet  New movie coming to The Aztec!!  Larry Kurzweil and Al Jean did some great speeches opening Springfield. Unfortunately we apparently had the GoPro on "Picture" mode instead of "Video" mode. We are apparently still learning how to do this whole website thing. We'll figure it out one of these days. =)  And here come all of the residents of Springfield!!   And the great staff of Springfield.  Fireworks make everything more awesome!!   Flaming Moe!!! Be sure to check out the making of the Flaming Moe below.  Springfield looks so great at night.    Sideshow Bob is escaping!!!   The Springfield sign has been changed out to promote Simpsons Tapped Out. A little cross promotion is a good thing, as I'm totally addicted to Tapped Out. =)  We had a great night at Universal Studios Hollywood enjoying the food, hanging with friends, playing the games and generally just enjoying a relaxing night. Low key events like this are fantastic and allows the Universal Staff to just celebrate the great area they've created. Great job by Universal Creative and everybody else who had a hand in creating Springfield. It's amazing!!! We'll have a regular Universal Studios update in a few days. 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.  Now that Springfield is completed (although still in Previews) and Fast and Furious is pretty much done (we'll still have opening festivities in June),most of our Universal Hollywood Updates will now be moving over to what's coming in 2016. And obviously this change is going to be huge. Words and Photo's by Gregg Condon From near Shrek, it appears the outsides of these buildings are almost complete   A look through the Arch   By the time the park opened at 9:00am, it was clear that they'd already been working for a couple of hours.  Hogwarts is starting to receive it's rock-work.   Looks like they are doing it in layers to give it that forced perspective look.  The trees they planted a few weeks ago are already starting to come in nicely.       A close up on the area of Hogsmeade they are working on most now.  They are starting to work on Hippogriff as well.   A look at Hogwarts from CityWalk.  Just a couple of things going on around the park. Pinks has been closed and is now "Plaza Grill".  Although some remnants of Pinks remain. =)  Statue guy is the best.  Not really much to report on here.  Outside, work on the parking structure is continuing and they were planting some new palm trees around the new entrance area.   Alright, that's going to wrap it up for this update. We'll have more from Universal Studios in a couple of weeks as the official opening of Springfield approaches. Have a great week everybody!! 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)
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