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Where Guests would have the chance to visit Briar Rose as well as Flora, Fauna & Merryweather at their cottage in the woods.
Mind you, one aspect of this Disney Princess-based expansion of the Magic Kingdom that Jay Rasulo didn’t touch on was why the Mouse felt compelled to greenlight this project in the first place. Could there be a particular reason that Mickey was – in effect – doubling the size of Fantasyland in 2012 & 2013?
You don’t suppose that Disney World managers are doing this in response to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which begins its roll-out next Spring at Universal’s Islands of Adventure?
This past Tuesday, Universal Orlando officials held a webcast where they shared lots of imagery related to this eagerly anticipated project. Including pieces of concept art that revealed what Dueling Dragons would look like after it had been turned into the Wizarding World’s Dragon Challenge coaster.
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There were also some images of the rethemed Flying Unicorn kiddie coaster. Which – once work is complete – will be renamed Flight of the Hippogriff.
But as the Wizarding World’s brand-new premiere attraction, “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey” … All that the Universal Orlando reps would do was show what the entrance of this ride looked like …
… as well as revealing how the post-show gift shop would be laid out.
Beyond that, Universal Orlando officials were pretty tight-lipped about this state-of-the-art ride which will reportedly use “ … entirely new technology to bring the magic, characters and stories of Harry Potter to life in ways never before experienced.”
If you’d like to get the lay of this new land at Universal ‘s Islands of Adventure, might I suggest that you check on this virtual fly-through of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
Looks pretty interesting, don’t you think?
So – come 2013 (when construction is supposed to finally be complete on ALL of the Fantasy Forest) – which do you think is going to be the bigger draw: The Magic Kingdom’s new Disney Princess-themed expansion or the Wizarding World of Harry Potter?
Your thoughts?
I like the Laugh Floor too. I think it's well-conceived and well-executed and a heck of a lot of fun. I didn't like the Nemo show though; I saw better mixes of song and puppetry years ago in the Sid and Marty Krofft shows at the Six Flags parks. And the Stitch ride is a beautiful, expensive, brilliantly-executed disaster. There is not a moment of fun in the whole thing. Next to the comatose yeti in the Everest ride, it's the biggest failure in the Disney parks yet.