It’s time again for an update on the construction of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal’s Islands of Adventure. There’s a lot more to see since our last update as Hogwart’s Castle is starting to really look like a castle. The new area of the park is set to open next spring. Let’s [...]

We previously reported that Legoland in California was the first theme park U.S. theme park to have a Street View on Google maps. But now Universal Orlando has been added. There’s no link for the Street View while looking at the normal top-down view on Google maps, but as you can see above, all of [...]

In a webcast on Sept. 15, 2009, Universal Orlando revealed a few more details about the upcoming Wizarding World of Harry Potter expansion of their Islands of Adventure theme park. The Wizarding World has been announced to be opening in Spring 2010. The formerly-rumored attraction names were confirmed to be true and the following details [...]

The Walt Disney Company announced today they’re acquiring Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion in cash and stock. This means Disney will own rights to 5,000 Marvel characters such as Spider-Man, Hulk, Capt. America, The X-Men, Dr. Doom, Fantastic Four and more. So what will this mean for the future of Universal Islands of Adventure and [...]

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal’s Islands of Adventure seems to be moving along well. It’s set to open in 2010, although Universal officials haven’t said if that means spring, summer or fall. I walked all around the park today checking out the progress. The top photo shows the entrance to the land. [...]

Element Skateboard Team members (from left) Chad Muska, Chad Tim Tim, Bam Margera, Collin Provost and Mike Vallely signed autographs for fans on Aug. 3, 2009, at Element’s newest store located at CityWalk. They also had a chance to ride on The Incredible Hulk coaster at Islands of Adventure. Photos by Kevin Kolczynski, Universal Orlando [...]

The Internet has been buzzing over the past couple of days with the possibility of the discovery of a few names of various rides, shops, restaurants, and other elements to be included in Universal Orlando’s upcoming Wizarding World of Harry Potter addition to their Islands of Adventure theme park. A search on the Web site [...]

Today’s Orlando Sentinel front page story is on the future Wizarding World of Harry Potter land at Universal’s Islands of Adventure. After some digging and talking with people “in and around the project”, they’re reporting some details on the main ride that will be housed in Hogwart’s Castle: From orlandosentinel.com: The castle will also house [...]

This new Wizarding World of Harry Potter artwork has been released by Universal. It doesn’t give a lot of new information, but it confirms the new land, or at least some of it, will be based on the movie versions of the Harry Potter series and not just the books. Daniel Radcliffe and other actors [...]

The Summer 2009 issue of Orlando Attractions Magazine is now available for preview and pre-order. It’s our first quarterly issue and the first of our new and improved editions featuring nearly 20% more pages, thicker paper, more high-quality photography, and more articles than ever before. Feature articles in this issue include: • COVER STORY: Hitch a [...]

We’ll start our photo update with a look at the soon to open Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster in Universal Studios. They’ve taken some of the construction walls down at the end of 57th Street allowing a better look at the twisted steel at that end of the coaster. The cars weren’t being tested [...]

Thanks to a Twitter tip from Orlando Attractions friend Matt Pezzula (@matpez), we’re able to present these models of some of the buildings and features at the upcoming Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal’s Islands of Adventure. The pictures were downloaded from the public Picasa web album of danswingler, presumably art designer Daniel Swinger, [...]

A new poll has been added to the official Web site for Islands of Adventure’s upcoming “theme park within a theme park”, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. This poll asks you to tell which Harry Potter item scares you the most. The choices are: The Whomping Willow A Hungarian Horntail An Acromantula A Dementor [...]

Let’s start our update with what’s most interesting to most people, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. You can compare the above photo with a part of the concept art below. It looks to be the entrance to the new “world”. I took this picture by the old entrance to Dueling Dragons. Just past that [...]

A design company out of California had posted (and has since removed) a compilation of images from apparent design work they created for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, slating to open at Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure theme park in 2010. While I am personally not a big enough fan of Harry Potter to [...]

Volume 2, Issue 3 (April / May 2009) of Orlando Attractions Magazine is now available for preview and pre-Order. FEATURES: • COVER STORY: Idol Opportunity Visitors to Disney’s Hollywood Studios get into the act in the new American Idol Experience. • Unleash Your Inner Celebrity VIP tours offer a unique way to see Orlando’s theme [...]

From cruisenewsweekly.com: Royal Caribbean and Universal Orlando Resort, are joining forces to introduce the Way More Than a Cruise vacation package. The land and sea vacation packages combine a three- or four-night stay at Universal Orlando with a three- or four-night Bahamas cruise aboard Royal Caribbean’s Monarch of the Seas, or a seven-night Caribbean cruise [...]

Here are some observations from my visit to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure over the weekend. There’s a new sign, a new skateboard shop and a three new restaurants in CityWalk. See my other blog posts for more information on these. A look at the new permanent stage. It’s currently being used for Mardi [...]

Atlanta Braves Right Fielder and Golden Glove winner Jeff Francoeur spends some quality time with his wife, Catie, (above) and her brothers Sam, 14, and Lee, 19 (below) at Universal while in Orlando for spring training on March 9, 2009. Shown here on The Incredible Hulk roller coaster, the Atlanta native began his major league [...]

While I was riding The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man ride at Universal’s Islands of Adventure over the weekend, the ride unfortunately stopped. We sat there for a while and the lights came on as we rode slowly through the rest of the ride. I had my iPhone with me so I snapped a couple of [...]