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The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Creates Magic for Orlando Tourism June 18, 2010 -- Today is the grand opening of Universal Orlando's Wizarding World of Harry Potter. A portion of Universal's Islands of Adventure theme park has been reshaped into the magic-filled city of Hogsmeade from the popular Harry Potter books and movies. And, as 90.7's Nicole Creston reports, the effect of the Wizarding World on Orlando residents, even those who aren't fans, may be magical, too.
Erin Pyne of Orlando is the author of "The Ultimate Guide to the Harry Potter Fandom" and she’s been Orlando fan club president for 11 years running. She thought she may be hard to please when it came to bringing J.K. Rowling’s richly detailed books to life, but the park’s creators went to great lengths to replicate the experience of Harry Potter’s world. "It’s so immersive," Pyne says. "You walk in, and suddenly you’re in Hogsmeade, surrounded by everything from the books. And what you imagine it to look like is exactly what it looks like." She got a preview of the new attraction at a soft opening for test audiences earlier this month. "When I walked up to Hogwarts Castle for the first time, I started to cry," she laughs. "It was so beautiful!" In the Harry Potter books and films, Hogwarts houses the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but inside the park’s castle is the most highly anticipated of the three new Potter-themed rides. It’s called "Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey," and it’s a high-tech broomstick flight through even more locales from Potter’s stories. The other two rides are re-vamped roller coasters that were already in the Islands of Adventure theme park: "Dragon Challenge," a do-over of the old "Dueling Dragons," and "Flight of the Hippogriff," a family-friendly experience that was previously a tour of the adjacent Jurassic Park area. Analysts say the park’s investment in the Harry Potter brand was a smart move, because of its legion of fans worldwide. Dr. Duncan Dickson, hospitality professor at the University of Central Florida, says he can only compare this grand opening to one other monumental theme park event. "It probably goes back to the excitement around opening the Magic Kingdom in 1971, Mickey coming to town," says Dickson. "(It has) that level of excitement." The home of Mickey has a plan to capitalize on this new excitement, as well, by resurrecting an iconic parade from its earlier days. "Disney’s positioned themselves well with bringing back the Main Street Electrical Parade, so that people that are coming for Harry Potter can go back and see the Main Street Electrical Parade, which their mom and dad probably took them to see when they were little kids. So, there’s a lot of nostalgia built up there," Dickson explains. "I think all the parks are going to do quite well thanks to Harry Potter coming to Orlando." And Erin Pyne says diehard Harry Potter fans like her will probably keep coming back for more of the Wizarding World. "There’s so much to see," explains Pyne. "You’re trying to take it all in, so you have to go a couple of times." That kind of attendance all summer long could make some real magic for the theme parks, as they face their own version of a dragon challenge...an industry-wide slump in ticket sales and a slow economic recovery.
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