Photos/video: Details emerging onsite at Wizarding World of Harry Potter

p1000227

As you’ll see in the video and photos below, most of the scaffolding has come down in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal’s Islands of Adventure and many of the small details are starting to appear.

First let’s take a video tour, then we’ll get into some detailed photos.

Wizarding World of Harry Potter construction update for January 2010

p1000232In the top photo you can see the new sign hanging at the entrance. It states “Please Respect the Spell Limits. In the close-up photo above you can see some wiring that isn’t hooked up yet, so I assume the sign will be illuminate in some way.


p1000233Looking just beyond the sign and into Hogsmeade Village you can see all the windows of the Owlery.


hogwarts-panoramaA panoramic view of the back of the Three Broomsticks restaurant. Hogwarts Castle is on the left.


p1000243This window looks like it’s been through many winter storms.


p1000248Notice the three broomsticks engraved into the cornerstone of the building.


p1000250The construction is now going over the queue line to Dueling Dragons. I think this is where the entrance will be to the ride when it becomes Dragon Challenge.


p1000253More great details can now be seen in the windows of the buildings in Hogsmeade Village. Notice the plaid wallpaper and what appears to be a lamp on a shelf in the top window.


p1000260Some of the tarps have come down around the Dueling Dragons building, but there’s not much to see. It looks like they’re redone the rock work on the outside.


p1000261The castle looks best from the Dueling Dragon’s queue line. Let’s zoom in for some of the details…

p1000256

p1000257


p1000265This shot from Jurassic Park shows the large show building you’ll actually be entering through the castle entrance. This building will house the new Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride.


p1000210Here’s the view from the front of the park, with the DIRECTV blimp flying above.

• For more information on the Wizarding World, be sure to read the Winter 2010 issue of “Orlando Attractions Magazine.”

MouseFanTravel

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

26 Comments

  1. It might just be me or my computer, but there is no video, just a blank spot where it should be. Technical issues maybe??

  2. Do we know when it is opening yet? Taking my friend to Orlando for the first time in June hoping will be ready by then do u think?

  3. im going in july i hope is open by then and dont make like what they did with rip ride rockit last year that was suposed to open in spring and did open in late summer but about what i see they got hogwarts done, hogsmade too n now they are working in dragon challenge i think they can get it done by late spring.

  4. Omg… my heart is pumping. It seriously is. The castle looks AMAZING. Like in my dreams. These pictures remind me how much I wish Hogwarts was real… This is the closets thing I’m going to get to Harry Potter. But still, I can’t wait to go. I’ll probably go next year, plan a big trip to Orlando. I want to wait a bit, cause it seems that the twin’s joke shop isn’t included. So hopefully by the time I go, it’ll be there. They should have included the Burrow too. Oh well.

  5. On the second photo from the bottom it shows a large white building which is actually the inside of the ‘castle’. It is quite frankly an insult to the real hogwarts. why can’t they bother to build a REAL castle. It still looks good though

  6. It looks seriously AMAZING. I can’t wait to see it!

    Also, Universal say that it will be open Spring 2010, maybe even as early as the end of March!

  7. They can’t build the REAL castle, Becky, because the real castle is huge and they just don’t have that much room. Besides, no one sees the building, so who cares? Just be happy they’re building HP world at all…

  8. Oh yeah, there actually is a real Hogwarts in Scotland- they use it for the set of hogwarts, at least. It think it’s got a hp museum inside or something like that

  9. The castle used in the filming of Harry Potter is acutally Alnwick Castle in Northumerland, England – not Scotland. The castle is medieval and is the ancestoral home of the Earls and Dukes of Percy. This is the link to their home page:-
    https://www.alnwickcastle.com/
    visit the site and you will learn more of the casle history and also the fiming of Harry Potter. I live in the North East of England, so naturally I’m proud of my local heratige.

  10. Eliza- it isn’t a HP museum in Scotland, it one of several churches. In addition to the churches, they have also filmed at universities, built set pieces on sound stages, and used CGI for all the castle scenes in the movies.

  11. Sorry Gala. but Heather is right. (nowI get to show what a HP dork I really am…)

    Alnwick Castle -Exterior shots minus the Turrets and towers. which do not really exist…

    Gloucester Cathedral- interior corridors

    Duke Humfrey’s Library, Bodleian Library- Library scenes

    Christ Church College, St Aldate’s – Oxford- The Great Hall and Great Staircases

    Lacock Abbey – Wiltshire -Hogwarts School, Various interior scenes)

    Durham Cathedral – Durham Interior Hogwarts Shots.

    And to my knowledge Alnwick castle has no museum of Harry potter (or to be fair they did not as of the time when I visited two years ago).

  12. I heard that you will be able to walk around inside the castle and in the castle will character look-a-likes! Also, and I’m not sure if this is true I only heard it from a friend, that you can somehow get an acting job if you act like a wizard/Hogwarts student if you walk around talking in a British accent and you carry a wand around. Also Zonko’s joke shop will be in Hogsmeade.

  13. Going to Orlando 23rd March for 3 weeks, do you think it’ll be open by then or is it still anyone’s guess? Thanks x

  14. I think they should make the castle into a hotel!and u should get to pic which house u get to be in and stuff and stay in the dormitries!!!