Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey

The ride is located in the castle of Hogwarts

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is a ride in The Wizarding World Theme of Harry Potter the theme park Universal's Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida. The passengers are guided past scenes and locations in and around the Hogwarts castle known from the Harry Potter books and films. The first version of the ride was opened in Universal's Islands of Adventure on June 18, 2010 in Orlando. Currently two similar rides at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka and Universal Studios Hollywood are built; the former is expected to open in 2014.

Description

In Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey Robocoasters KUKA are used which allow free movement around three axes of rotation of the robot arm mounted on passenger carriers. However, the ride has more characteristics of a theme ride on a roller coaster. The trip includes a flight on the broom at Hogwarts, encounters with the Whomping Willow and a group of dementors, and a Quidditch match. The passengers are tossed around by the robotic arms wildly and placed on its back, but never upside down. To ensure the passengers, suitable shoulder-strap retention system used. At the end of the ride takes visitors in the gift shop " Filch 's Emporium of Confiscated Goods". Since August 2012 it is in Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is no longer possible to shorten the waiting period by the Fast Pass system. For individuals, there are still the single -rider input.

Waiting area

Visitors enter the building through the gates of Hogwarts and begin their journey in the catacombs in which familiar objects from the books and films are. Visitors then can include their luggage in lockers. The queue then takes you outside, through the greenhouse and back into the castle. Here are other known objects, such as the Mirror of Erised, the Hogwarts House Jewels, and talking portraits. While visitors go through the hallways, they will pass recreations of rooms from Hogwarts, including the Headmaster's office, the classroom, in the Defense Against the Dark Arts is taught, and the Gryffindor common room. In the Headmaster's office, visitors are greeted by Professor Dumbledore and made ​​aware that Professor Binns gave a presentation on the history of the school. In the room where the defense against the dark arts is taught, Harry, Ron and Hermione will appear under a invisibility cloak and invite visitors to a Quidditch game. Previously, they would have to meet but the Room of Requirement. Then Ron tries to show off a magic trick, but this is not possible, so one of various special effects, in this case, a snow shower is triggered from the ceiling. Before visitors enter the station, the Sorting Hat and the talking portraits remind them again to the safety instructions.

Station

Next, the visitors in the Room of Requirement again find the same time representing the station. The seats move in a uniform speed through space, parallel runs an approximately 50- m long conveyor belt, through which the passengers can safely climb. At the end of the room to collect the benches and using flea network, the journey begins. The subsequent journey combines real scenes with the entire field of view enclosing projections.

Ride

At the beginning of the journey interspersed Hermione a pinch of Floo powder on passengers and asks her, " observatory " to say to make the floo brings them to the desired location. Then the banks depart towards the Astronomy Tower. The visitors left the Astronomy Tower through the chimney and into the observatory, where they look through the open windows of the lakes and mountains beyond Hogwarts. At the time, the visitors fly to the through one of the windows to the outside, the robot arm moves the benches in a gentle motion before a full-screen canvas and the passengers follow Harry and Ron on a flight around Hogwarts Quidditch game. The magic seats come to a halt on a bridge, where the visitors of gamekeeper Hagrid asked if they had seen his dragon. At the urging of Harry visitors continued their journey, pass under the bridge and take on the dragon, who immediately starts chasing the visitors. The robots move the seats from the screen spits into a real backdrop of the bridge, where there is an animatronic dragon, who, contrary to the visitors 'fire' in the form of angeleuchtetem fog.

The magical benches seek protection from the dragon in a backdrop of the forbidden forest, where visitors encounter an animatronic of Aragog, the water splashing on them. Hermione sells Aragog and the passengers escape from the Forbidden Forest while other spiders put in their way. After the forest was deserted, the passengers encounter the Whomping Willow, which guards the entrance to the secret tunnel leading to the Shrieking Shack. The magic seats soft from the blows of the crop first, but eventually hit what passengers catapulted directly into the 360 ° projection of the Quidditch arena. At the time, to the Slytherin scored a goal against Gryffindor, Dementors suddenly get into the arena. Harry tries to rescue the passengers by having them escorted back to Hogwarts under the stands through it, but the magic benches are followed up by the Dementors and get into the long- abandoned Chamber of Secrets. The benches move again before a real setting where one of the Dementors appears and chases the passengers. The skeleton of the long-dead basilisk is on the bottom of the chamber and pushes dust into the air, which forms itself to Lord Voldemort, while the benches are drawn into the mouth of the statue of Salazar Slytherin.

Following many Dementors emerge from the darkness, one of which floats down and tried to absorb the souls of the passengers in it. This effect is realized by the faces of the passengers are projected onto a wall of fog in front of the Dementor passengers blown cold air in your face and the sound of a heartbeat is played from the built- in benches sub- woofers. Once Harry has awakened the passengers out of her daze, he proposes the Dementors with a Patronus charm to flight. After the last Dementor is sold, get the passengers into the final projection carousel where the stones fall down outside the Chamber of Secrets. The passengers float over the black lake, back to Hogwarts through the main hall to the great staircase, where they cheer for teachers and students. Professor Dumbledore transports its passengers to the conclusion through the Floo back to the Room of Requirement, where the ride is over and they leave the benches again.

Security Restrictions

While it is permitted anyone to go through the waiting area, the passengers must have a minimum size of 1.20 m. The security restrictions provide no maximum weight, but the passengers must be able to connect the shoulder strap. Before the entrance and at the end of the waiting area there are test seats that signal the visitors by lighting up different colored lights, whether the ride is suitable for them. People who usually need a special seat in other rides due to their body size, usually have problems to connect the shoulder strap. If passengers can not be backed up by the shoulder straps, they may not use the ride. To solve this problem, universal has changes in the restraint system of some seats made ​​in order to promote even larger passengers. In the course of these modifications, neither the size of the seats were adjusted, or the safety of smaller passengers at risk.

History

In January 2007, the first time there were rumors that Universal a Harry Potter theme area planning in the Islands of Adventure. There were other rumors about a project code-named Strong Arm, should be used in the Robocoasters from KUKA. On March 31, 2007 Universal officially announced that a topic with the name of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter would be obtained in cooperation with Warner Bros. in the Islands of Adventure collection. Initial construction work in late October 2007 have been made to the new themed area, with the work on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey began in February 2008. The construction work was completed in the second half of 2010. The ride took on 1 June 2010 on its operation, the official opening took place on June 18.

On December 6, 2011 it was announced that Universal would open another Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood; one of the attractions would be another version of Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. 5 May 2011, a report appeared that the Universal park in Japan in 2014 would also receive a Wizarding World of Harry Potter, including Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey in the Los Angeles Times.

Transport system

The transport system of Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey was built by the Canadian plant builder Dynamic Structures, which was already responsible for several rides in several Disney parks. There were Robocoasters KUKA used that were previously found only as firmly anchored in the ground versions. Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is different from these rides in the sense that the robots are moving in an endless transport system through the hall. The vehicle bases are thereby supported by four heavy duty rollers which are guided by a guide rail over the shod with steel planks concrete floor. The passenger carriers are mounted on the arms of the robot. So is the Robocoasters ermöglichst to go through the hall and at the same time with the theming elements (real scenes, projections ) perform synchronized movements. This system was first introduced in 2004 at the IAAPA International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. A major disadvantage of this complex driving system is that the passengers in the event of an emergency shutdown can not be evacuated quickly and therefore sometimes have to remain for a long time in an uncomfortable position.

Shaping

The ride was designed by Universal Creative in collaboration with Warner Bros. Recreation Group. Thierry Coup, who has already worked on The Amazing Adventures of Spider -Man, Shrek 4-D and Revenge of the Mummy, was Creative Director in the planning process.

Occupation

In the video clips of Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey many of the familiar from the films actors have participated in:

• Harry Potter played by Daniel Radcliffe
• Ron Weasley played by Rupert Grint
• Hermione Granger played by Emma Watson
• Albus Dumbledore played by Michael Gambon
• Rubeus Hagrid, played by Robbie Coltrane
• Draco Malfoy played by Tom Felton
• Ginny Weasley played by Bonnie Wright
• Fred Weasley played by James Phelps
• George Weasley played by Oliver Phelps
• Professor Flitwick played by Warwick Davis
• Neville Longbottom played by Matthew Lewis

Reception

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey has been praised by most critics for its innovative technology and theming. Stated Arthur Levinde of About.com that he felt moved to a " truly magical place. In some wonderful moments floo, the flying benches and the Whomping Willow had not only seems real but actually real. " He assessed Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey with five out of five stars and wrote that the ride was the best of its kind. Robert Niles of Theme Park Insider praised Universal Creative for the attention to detail of the ride. Niles wrote that the company continued its expectations as high as possible and that the ride the " most advanced and most enchanting in the history of the theme park industry" was. Ricky Brigante of Inside the Magic describes the ride as "a stunning journey that should not be missed " and criticized at the same time, the disjointed plot.