Browse by Tags

Greetings from the Universal Orlando Resort . Where I’m now in my final day of covering the grand opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter . Photo by Jim Hill It has been an absolutely amazing couple of days. And I’m heading back to New Hampshire tonight with all sorts of stories to share about...

It’s a problem that every theme park has faced at one time or another. As in: How to keep those turnstiles turning in the weeks & months just before a major new attraction opens. And in the case of the Universal Orlando Resort , there’s a very real fear among UOR managers that many Guests are now...

Denny P. dropped me a line on Saturday to ask: Did you see Jason Garcia’s story in the Sentinel yesterday about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter ? As a Disney fan, this sounds like complete hype to me. But what do you think? Is this Islands of Adventure addition really going to be a game changer for...

Go ahead. Admit it. At some point in your life, especially during this time of year, you’ve snuck around the house. Looked under the bed. Dug around in the back of the closet. Hoping that you’d then get a sneak peek at what you’d be getting for Christmas. Copyright 2009 Universal Orlando. All Rights...

If you did a quick tour of the Disney blogosphere this week, the big news coming out of Jay Rasulo’s presentation at the D23 EXPO this past Saturday would seem to be the Fantasy Forest project. Copyright Disney. All Rights Reserved Where Guests would have the chance to visit Briar Rose as well as Flora...

Mickey, meet Spidey. Spidey, Mickey. In a deal that (I’m sure) the Disneyana community will have trouble wrapping its head around, The Walt Disney Company announced plans today to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. in a stock and cash transaction worth an estimated $4 billion. As to what actually drove...

Harry Potter fans rejoice! Construction of Hogwarts Castle is finally, officially underway at Universal Studios' Islands of Adventure. Though site prep continues in the "Lost Continent" section of that theme park ... Photo by Jeff Lange ... If you look to the right of those enormous gates next to "The...

My apologies, folks. I know that JHM has been somewhat erratic lately when it comes to maintaining our usual Monday-through-Friday publishing schedule. It's just that -- in order to score new stories for this website -- I sometimes have to do a little traveling. That's what I'm doing today, anyway. Flying...

It's perhaps the most eagerly anticipated addition to Orlando's assortment of rides, shows and attractions in more than a decade: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter , which is slated to open at Universal Studios' Islands of Adventure in 2009 Copyright 2007 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved And...

What's in a name? Well, as Universal learned the hard way back in 1998, when it decided to rename its recently expanded resort " '>Universal Studios Escape " and thus confused hundreds of thousands of tourists ... Sometimes picking the wrong name for your theme park and/or resort can prove to be disastrous...