Latest / Revelio: A Wizarding World Podcast / Episode 20: Stepping into the Theme Parks - Hogsmeade

Transcript

Episode 20: Stepping into the Theme Parks - Hogsmeade · Revelio: A Wizarding World Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to episode twenty of Ravellio for May
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: twenty ninth, twenty twenty five. I'm Amy and I'm Tom,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: and we're missing the cold today. She is left us
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: to go to Orlando.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Sadly, yeah, sadly for us, but good for her. She's
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: going to have a nice time.
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: She is not going to the Wizarding World. I don't believe.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Just Disney, but still just Disney. Still good. So in
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: this episode, will we speaking of theme parks, We are
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: going to be discussing the history of the Wizarding World
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: at Universal theme parks, but first.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Rustling to w W in the Wizarding Wireless Network.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: Now for the latest headlines.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: All right, I think the biggest news of the day
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: is that Epic Universe is open.
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: Yayyay.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: So the park held special opening ceremonies at each of
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: the portals to the different lands on Wednesday May twenty second,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: or no Wednesday May twenty first, getting my dates confused,
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: and then official opening day was Thursday May twenty second.
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: So as of this.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Morning, May twenty third, the day we're recording this, the
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: wait time for Battle of the Ministry was two hundred
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: and seventy minutes, which is four and a half hours.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: Wow. Wow.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: So that's a little rough. Hang in there, everyone who's
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: in line. Hopefully it's worth it.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: Oh it's crazy, that's rough.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: I like, I have the app downloaded on my phone
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: form my June trip and I just keep looking at
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: it because I'm like so curious.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: But yeah, that's crazy to.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Put into context. It's bad, but it's not as bad
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: as it could be because I know from personal experience
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: unfortunately that on day two of Hagrid's Motorbike Adventure being open,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: the wait time for that was eight hours.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: Wow, So it could be worse.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Also, Battle of the Ministry is clearly like the popular
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: ride that everyone's running to right away. I've seen a
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: bunch of videos online of people just running to that
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: ride as soon as park opens. They are not opening
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: the ride like right as soon as the park opens, too,
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: so you're standing in line to wait for the ride
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: to open, and then standing in line in the actual line.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: So I wouldn't recommend running straight to that at Rope Drap.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: So is it like people are running straight to Ward?
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: But within the Harry potter Land or just Epic universe,
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: it's like the go to.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: It seems in Epic Universe in general is the go
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: to because all the other rides and attractions. Last I
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: looked last night, the way times were like five to
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: fifteen minutes. And that's even for like the other like
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: coasters like the How to Train Your Dragon one and
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: stuff like that.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: So yeah, yeah, speaking of Potter Mattess still going strong.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, so definitely interesting. Yeah, we'll be monitoring that.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Hopefully it settles down though, because I know with Hagrids,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: like the wait times are still pretty long even now
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: years later, but within like a few weeks of that opening,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: it kind of even out a little bit and it
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: was more around like the two to three hour range
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: for wait time rather than eight, which is still insane.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: Like when you think about theme park running hours, it's
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: like spending I mean as much almost as half of
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: your day in a queue, which is like, okay, you
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: have got to be prepared to just you know, go
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: to the park for that. You know, either you're an
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: annual pass holder and you can just afford to do it,
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: but you know, if you're there and you're going right now,
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: like a day after, like we're recording this a day after,
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: it's officially opened, so if you're there, you'd better just
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: be ready to spend you know, at least kind of
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: like half of your day there.
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I wonder too with this being the holiday weekend
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: here in the US, Like, I wonder if that's contributing
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: as well, So it'll be interesting to see after, you know,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: it's been open for a couple.
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: Of weeks, what the deal is there?
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: Mm hmm.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah. We also have six new interactive wands that are
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: available at Universal Orlando. All of these are Fantastic Beast
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: character wands, so we have u Lali Hicks, Bundy, Broadacre, Creten,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: spare Bone, Ember, Fourth at Dumble Doore, Skender, and Anton
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: Vogel and those are all available to purchase in Epic Universe,
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: which makes sense because there's a bunch of Fantastic Beast
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: stuff in Epic Universe.
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: As we know.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: These are first gen wands, so they will not work
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: with the new second gen wand magic locations. Again, not
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: really sure why they keep introducing first gen ones, but
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: here we are. Yeah, so this is the first time
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: those character ones have been available in interactive versions. The
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: Noble Collection has previously sold them as wand replicas.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: Crazy to think that just now they're being introduced after
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: so many years when we've had replicas, like you said,
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: like the Noble Collection has had those replicas since twenty sixteen.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: Obviously they've become more and more as the movies have
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: included more characters and new wand designs and stuff. But like,
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: it's crazy to think that just now they're doing this,
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: and they're doing it, like you know, they're not even
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: doing them second gen ones. So I mean, yeah, one
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: would think, Okay, it's a new park, they're obviously making
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: this experience with second gen wands, and they're using first
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: gen WANs introducing first gen ones for this new park
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: that requires second gen ones. So yeah, it doesn't quite fit.
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's weird. I don't know.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: The whole timeline of including Fantastic Beece is a little strange,
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: but I mean, I guess originally when Epic was supposed
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: to open, I mean, it was delayed quite a bit
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: by COVID, So like, originally it probably could have opened
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: around the time the Secrets of Dumbledore came out, which
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: would have made all of this make a little more sense.
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: I guess. But no, I'm glad that Fantastic Beaece is
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: getting a little love better late than ever.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: But we do have a new second gen WAND that's
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: also being introduced into Epic Universe alongside these first gens,
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: which again weird. But the new second gen WAND is
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: carved to mimic the Phoenix archway that leads into plast Cachet,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: so it's pretty cool the pictures, it looks really cool.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: M hm.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: So there is at least one second gen option to
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: buy an Epic. Yeah, and then this piece of news
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: is not really Harry Potter, but it's related, so I
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: thought i'd bring it up. Rath Finds is taking on
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: another iconic villain role. He is going to be President
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Snow in the upcoming Hunger Games film adaptation of Sunrise
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: on the Reaping, which, if you have not read Sunrise
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: on the Reaping yet, it is set twenty four years
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: before Catnus's Games and it follows hay Midge Abernappy as
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: he enters the arena. So they needed an actor who
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: was older than Tom blthe Snow from Songbirds and Snakes,
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: but younger than Donald Sutherland's so thus raise Fimes.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean the casting has been on point. So far,
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: it's like they've been listening to all of the fan
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: castings and you know, they hit the nail on the head,
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: Like I mean, I've loved every single choice. So I'm
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: really excited because he plays such a good villain. He's
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: terrorizing as Voldemort, So playing someone like Snow is going
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: to be so interesting to see and I'm gonna be
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: for sure frightened by him.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, definitely, Yeah, I can't wait. And then lastly,
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: we have some it is about the TV show and
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: there's photos that have surfaced online that are reportedly of
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: Leavesden and the expansion for the HBO series. I say
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: reportedly because the sources I found are all tabloids, so
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: take it with a grain of salt.
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: But according to.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: Metro, building is underway on the Privet Drive set, as
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: well as buildings to act as a schoolhouse for the
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: young actors on set and a healthcare facility. Yeah, so,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: I mean it makes sense, sounds like something they need,
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: but you know.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: Mm hmm. I mean it also makes sense that they
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: are building up sets now and that like, yeah, like
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: it's supposed to be Privt Drive and from the looks
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: of it, it looks to be, it seems to be
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: something very like, very different from from the films, Like
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: to those who believed it was going to be the
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: same sets, it does feel like they're you know, throwing
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: in a new layer into this iteration, which I think
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: I've always said this, and I've been very outspoken about it,
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: but I think it's a right way to go, just
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: to make sure they both keep separate. And you know,
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: so I'm curious to see how much more of these
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: creative risks they are willing to take to you know.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: So from the looks of it, if it is indeed Drive,
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: it looks like they are really trying to give it
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: a new spin, like straight from book to small screen adaptation,
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: instead of going through that kind of like filter from
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: the films.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: So we'll see, yeah, yeah, and that's all we have
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: for the news.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: Okay, So moving on to our main discussion this episode,
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: speaking of parks. You know, as I said, we are
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: recording this the day after Epic Universe officially open to
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: the public, so you know, we've got a lot of
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: theme park content penned up and we're really excited. So
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: if we want to start this episode, we will do
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: more than one episode. On theme parks, just because it's
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: so expansive and there's so much to cover, and so
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: we wanted to start a little bit by telling a
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: little bit about the history how it came to be
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: focused on Hogsmead and and yeah, so well, we all
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: know that the Harry Potter franchise obviously became a global
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: phenomenon in the late nineties and early two thousands, so
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: it immediately raised the question whether, you know, when will
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: will we see this world come to life? And I
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: believe it wasn't really a matter of you know, if
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: it will happen, but more like when and where will
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: it happen? Yeah, like every major franchise has at least
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: a ride, a theme ride dedicated to it inspired by it.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: So yeah, like it was always, you know, with a
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: question like when is it going to happen? So something
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: that I this is a fun fact that I that
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: I didn't have any idea up until yesterday. I was
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: blown away by this because it's not something super huge,
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: but I was still like, wow, like it's amazing how
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: many things get kind of like lost a little bit
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: after years, especially things that are really from the early
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: two thousands. So this isn't. The wizard World of Harry
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: Potter was not the first Harry Potter themed attraction, So
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: we're talking about like immersive attractions, not like the Harry
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: Potter Exhibition, which is more like a literal exhibition of
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: props and costumes from the films. But this was an
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: actual walkthrough experience and it was in Warner Brothers Movie
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: World in Australia, which hosted Harry Potter Movie Magic Experience.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: So this ran from two thousand and one to two
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: thousand and two. It had two themes, one for Sorcerer's
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: Stone and one four Chamber of Secrets, and it was
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: a walk through attraction that allowed guests to visit familiar
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: locations such as Diagon Alley, Olivanders Shop, the griffind Of
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: Common Room, the Forbidden Forest, the Hogwarts Express, and Harry's
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: Room under the Stairs. So yeah, I was able to
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: pull up some images that I found and it's crazy.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: I had no idea about this either.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: This is really funny and the pictures are will have
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: to like include these somewhere, I know.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I was gonna say, like if we can somehow
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: like include them in our socials and something like that,
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: because people have to know about these things. There's like
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: little bits of information and trivia and fun facts that
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: you know, like this scale, like it's a scale replica
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: of Diagon Alley. Yeah, and I was like, where did
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: this come from? I thought it was a movie set
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: at first, and then it was like no, no, this
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: is actually and from what I read, this was kind
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: of like you had this you know, tour guide who
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: he was like an interactor, and you know, you enter
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: through what is the leaky cauldron, so the brickwell and
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: he taps with his wand there's a video of it,
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: and the brickwall opens and it just leads you straight
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: into diagon Alley and it's kind of like, yeah, you
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: just walk through these iconic locations and you you know
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: there's some like yeah, like a Hagrid figure and Ron
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: and Hermione like cutouts and yeah, like it's it's super
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: super interesting to read about these things all these years after.
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: The pictures are just hilarious because they're like so two
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: thousand and one.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like so they took a picture from an actual photo,
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: you know, and scanned.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: It like looking at a history book.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I wonder if yeah, like well this this
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: right actually, so it just lasted for the first two
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: films and then it didn't come back. For Prisoner of Azkaban,
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: it was re themed to the Matrix Experience, but some
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: of the props that we're used for this are still
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: scattered across like the the Warner Brothers a studio, this
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: kind of like theme park that they have. So yeah,
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: I wonder if Lucy knows anything about this.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: I didn't even know there was like a Warner Brothers
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: thing in Australia.
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: I had no idea.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: It's yes, But maybe that's why we don't know, because
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: unless there's something that you know is in United States
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: or United Kingdom or even Japan, which are like the
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: biggest markets, these things kind of come unnoticed and you
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: don't know about them until you read it and it's like, wow,
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: it even has a Wikipedia page, And I was like, what.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: Maybe we have to send our friend Lucy on a
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: little quest. She can go to is there now and
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: see if she can spot at a Harry Potter props.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that would be cool. So yeah. Unfortunately this
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: didn't come back for Prisoner of Azkaban. So in the
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: year two thousand and three three a rumor emerged of
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: a Harry Potter attraction at either Disney or Universal, but
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: at the time Warner Brothers, who held the rights, publicly
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: denialed denied all these rumors. However, both Disney and Universal
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: indeed entered negotiations for the theme park rights. In the
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: year two thousand and four, JK. Rowling signed a letter
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: of intent with Disney planning in Harry Potter Miniland in
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom, and according to a well known
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: Disney historian, Jim Hill, the company's plans included a small
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: area between Fantasyland with two small rights and minimally themed restaurant,
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: and a twenty eighteen podcast episode, he stated, and I quote,
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: this was tiny, any biddy, there were there were two attractions. Basically,
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: it was going to be Buzzle here. You're going to
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: be in an omni mover attraction with a wand instead
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: of a gun, and you were moving through basically a
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: dark arts teaching classroom. The other aspect was going to
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: be a care of magical creatures petting sue.
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: Oh thank god they didn't do this.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: Oh God, I'm sorry, Disney.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: I love you, but this sounds like terrible idea.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: But it's also something that Disney would have done at
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: the time. I mean, it makes total sense.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: And the thing is, if we had it, like we
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: would probably love it, but we've now been spoiled with
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: knowing what we can have.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Like it's it's it's crazy to read all this because,
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: like I said, it's things and and and facts that
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: kind of like get a little lost over that people
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: are not so publicly known. So knowing all of this
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: and knowing what what direction it could have veered into, like,
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: I'm just so thankful for what we have, like you said.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: So Obviously JK. Rowling was not convinced by the idea,
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: and she always insisted that she would only agree to
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: it if it aligned with her vision, and same thing
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: happened with the movies and with the screenplay and everything
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: that she's done ever since. Has always been respecting her
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: world and her foundations. So they, for instance, wanted to
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: include outside brands like Coca Cola and merchandise in the
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: Lands gift shops, and we know for a fact those
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: things are not what you will find at any of
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: the theme parks, as they do not pertain to that world.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: So I think it speaks volumes of how you know,
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: her intent to make it a fully immersive experience that
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: allowed visitors to fully dive into the Wizdarm world. And
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: you know, obviously, like Disney wasn't willing to give in
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: to her demands, so they ultimately terminated negotiations. And I mean,
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: like it totally makes sense. Can you imagine like Honey
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: Dukes selling Cua cola people sipping on coke instead of
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: butter beer or you know, pumpkin juice.
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: It's yeah, that just takes away from it.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: Well. I feel like Disney also, they're kind of confined
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: to what they can do as far as expansions, Like
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: I don't think they have as much room to work
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: with land to expand on things. So it makes sense
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: that they wouldn't be able to do quite as much
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: as someplace like Universal could have done when they had
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: areas that they needed to refurbish or on used land
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: adjacent to their parks. So you know, ultimately it worked
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: out the way it was supposed to.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so down the line, Universal was finally the one,
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: as we all know, who would bring this world to life. Initially,
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: it is rumored it would be a smaller scale part
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: that would work as a refurbished version off the Lost
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: Continent as per early conceptual arts. So these conceptual arts
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: are very different from what we got. It's literally that,
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: you know, it's literally the Lost Continent, but with these
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: kind of like rebranded shows and you know, like it
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: even had like a Hogwarts castle towering over, but I
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: mean it didn't really feel that that, you know, it
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: didn't you wouldn't have feel as immersed, to be honest.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: It just looks like they plopped Harry Potter themed stuff
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: into Lost Continent. Like it doesn't look at all like
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: the Scottish Highlands. Just like what what is Yeah exactly
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: where in the Mediterranean apparently, Yeah, but there's.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: Hogwarts, yeah, exactly. Yeah, it would have been something a
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: little weird, to be honest. I mean, still better than
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: what Disney had planned. But yeah, you know, I feel
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: like they actually chose the right route with literally taking
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: down everything that was there, clearing it off, everything, and
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: just building up from the ground up from the you know,
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: from the scratch. So in January two thousand and seven,
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: about dot com reported a rumor from a quote highly
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: reliable source that the Universal Islands of Adventure Parks Lost
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: Continent era was going to be re themed to the
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: stories and characters of one of the most popular children's franchises,
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: which obviously turned out to be Harry Potter, not that
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: we could think of anything else. And the Wizarding World
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: of Harry Potter was announced on May thirty first, two
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: thousand and seven, and I feel it was such a
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: pivotal moment in everyone, Like it's one of those things
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: that we all remember where we were and what we
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: were doing. Like I remember coming back from school and
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: just reading that and I just was so happy. I
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: was like, oh my god, it was like my birthday
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: times four, and oh it was. And when we saw
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: that first conceptual art, like what do you remember that
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: when you know where you were and what you felt
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: when you saw that.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: I don't remember the concept art so much as I
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: remember all of like the TV.
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: Commercials and all of that.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: And like I had never even knew that Universal Orlando
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: existed as a theme park before the Harry Potter stuff
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: was announced. And then just like begging my parents, like
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: where are we going to go?
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: When are we going to go? Please, let's plan on
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: a vacation. We got to go.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: And yeah, I didn't get to go until I was
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: in college. But but just yeah, all the commercials that
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: were always on TV. There's always like news updates of construction.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: It was just it was so cool, so exciting.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: The drone videos that we got the aerial footage and
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: we started seeing that castle being brought to life just
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: was so emotional and like I remember seeing this concept
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: art and being like I cannot believe, Like I can't,
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: I can't fathom this, Like it's not something I can
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: even imagine being brought to life. Like I was probably
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: thinking they were being too far fetched with the idea
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: at that time, because like this is too good, like
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: this is too immersive, There's no way they're going to
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: pull it out. And well eventually they did, and it
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: was a massive collaborative effort between Universal Creative, Warner Brothers,
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: and key individuals who helped bring the magic of the
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: books and films to life in theme park form. So
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: some names included are stud Craig Just, a production designer
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: of the Harry Potter films. He played a pivotal role
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: in adapting locations like Hogsmeat and Hogwarts Castle. We also
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: have Ellen Gilmore, who is the art director of several
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: Harry Potter films, and he ensured to translate the film
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: sets into functional, immersive environments for the theme part. And
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: among them there were also architects, engineers, and special effects
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: designers who replicated things like moving portraits, the talking sorting
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: had and the illusion of walking through Hogwarts corridors. So
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: I mean, obviously this wasn't an easy task.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and to make it feel immersive and like the
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: streets close enough, but also have enough room for the
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: crowd control. Like it's crazy when you think about the logistics.
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, because when you see the films and you see
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: Hogsmeade from the films, you see it, it's all like
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: much narrower and it's very like compact. So you were like,
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: how are people going to walk through this? Like it's
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: it's not the same, and there's gonna be crowds, like
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: you know, like three times more, four times more. Like
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: the capacity really had to be you know, like you said,
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: it had to be more grand, but not take away
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: from that immersiveness and not be like, Okay, this is
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: theme park, We're not in the world. So it makes
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: sense that there were so many people designed, like in
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: the design of the park and the you know, logistics
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: and everything that you know, really helped bring this to
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: life again. It was a very hard task. Many times
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: they fail, and you know it was and it was
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: Harry Potter. So they had to make sure they either
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: get it right or they got it right.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: Oh yes, that would be a very angry mob at
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: their door if they got it wrong.
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, sorry, I mean yeah, Harry Potter fandom and nutshell.
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: And so the park opened on June eighteen, twenty ten,
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: in an event that included the stars of the Harry
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: Potter movies such as Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Michael Gamblin,
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: The Phelps Twins, Bonnie Wright, Tom Felton, Matthew Lewis, and
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: Warwick Davis. It opened featuring three rites. So these are
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: a flight of the Hippogriff Dragon Challenge which is formerly
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: known as Jeweling Dragons, and the Jewel in the Crown
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: attraction which was Harry Potter, and the Forbidden Journey where
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: you fully immerse yourself. Yeah, it's yes, it's like it
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: doesn't get old, like even fifteen years after it being opened,
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: like we're we are getting close to the fifteenth anniversary
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: and it still looks so good as the first. You know,
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: the first time I stepped into it, and the first
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: videos I saw, I remember logging on YouTube and just
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: seeing videos from the you know, from people who were
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: going before the you know, like before the opening date,
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: and I was like, oh my god. And I remember
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: seeing video from Ollivanders and Dervision Bangs and everything. I
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: was like, Wow, my god, this is so good. So yeah.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: In Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, you immerse yourself
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: into Hogwart's Castle, meet iconic characters along the way, such
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: as a Golden Trio and Dumbledore, and you embark on
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: a scenic dark ride. The storyline of Forbidden Journey Ride
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: for those of you who haven't been there, invites Muggle
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: guests to step into the wider world as if they
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: were students at Hogwarts. Using flu powder, visitors magically arrive
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: in the Astronomy Tower, where their adventure begins, and from
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: there they embark on a thrilling journey to catch up
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: with Harry Potter, who's headed to a quidditch match, and
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: along the way, guests fly around the towers of Hogwarts, Dutch,
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: the Womping Willow, fand off a swarm of demandors, and
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: finally soar into the stadium for an epic moment in
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: the wizarding world's most iconic sport. So yeah, and for
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: this ride, they got the original cast to reprise their roles.
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: So between the shooting of Hapblook Prints and Deathly Hollows,
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: there was this kind of like tiny break between them,
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: and the filming took place between around late twenty eighteen
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: two thousand and eight, sorry, and early two thousand and nine,
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: during a break in production for the final Harry Potter films.
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: Definitely All was Part one and two, and Universal and
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: Warner Brothers coordinated with the actors to shoot exclusive the
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: scenes for the ride at Leeds and Studios, the same
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: place where the films were made, which all helped to,
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: you know, really give us something new, not just like
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: rehash like or reuse material.
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: I think that's what makes this ride stand out still
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: is because it had that original cast, which I mean,
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: we're going to talk about diegon Alley on our next episode,
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: but I mean we know for that one they couldn't
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: get the actors to reprise their roles.
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: I love that ride, and you.
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: Could tell yeah, I love that ride, but like, yeah,
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: Forbidden Journey is just like that much better because.
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: They had them so yeah, and the original voices, which
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: we will get into also on the next episode. Yeah,
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: but it was so good. It was it was so amazing.
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: I literally cry the first time I wrote it, not
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: because I was scared of anything, because it was so
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: emotional and it was like my inner child and it
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: was coming full circle. It was also the time that
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: the films were coming to an end, so it was
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: like living this full circle moment of being able to
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: enter Hogwarts and fly through the through the through the
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: castle and you counter Dragon and the mentors and you know,
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: you meet your favorite characters along the way. How it
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: was such, you know, such an amazing, you know moment
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: that I think none, no fan that has been there
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: forgets about it. It's such so unforgettable and wow, I
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: still love it to this day.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: I count myself very lucky that I don't get motion sick,
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: because I can't imagine not being able to go ride
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: this ride when I go to Universal, Like if I'm
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: just there and I'm like, hmm, I've got a couple
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: of minutes. I'm going to run into the single rider
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: line and you know what's through once.
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, definitely the first time I went there. I
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: think I I wrote it like six times and it
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: was not even enough, like I would have done it
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: like six more times. It was just so that it
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: was that magical. You know, there are good rights, but
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: there are unprecedented magical you know, showstop and rights like
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: this that you don't get over it. And yeah, I'm
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: also thankful I don't have motion sickness because it's it's
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: not fun.
• 32:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: So, speaking of this ride, I wanted to go over
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: a few things that are in the ride Q because
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: this is one of those rides that even if you
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: can't ride it or like don't want to ride it again,
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: going through the line is totally worth it because there's
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: so much to look at, so a few easter eggs
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: and things to look out for. Here in the line
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: for Forbidden Journey, you have the house points glass files
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: that are full of the gems, so you can see
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: which house is in the lead for the House Cup.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: There's the entrance to double Doore's office with the big
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: phoenix sculpture, and that looks really great. Right in that
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: same area there's the Unicorn tapestry replica, which we see
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: this tapestry briefly in Harry Potter and the half Blood
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: prints in the corridor near the Room of Requirement. And
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: if you don't know, this tapestry is actually based on
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: a real one. That is the seventh in a series
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: of tapestries made in the Netherlands around fourteen ninety five
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: and fifteen oh five. The original Unicorn tapestries are on
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: display at the Cloisters in New York City, so it's
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: very cool recommend seeing. Yeah, the pen Sive is also
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: tucked to the side in Dumbledore's office, so you can
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: check that out. The mirror of ArisID makes an appearance
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: once you get into the portrait gallery room. Not only
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: do we see the four Hogwarts founders, but portraits were
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: also included for Harry Potter, decorator Stephanie McMillan and w
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: B exec Bob Whitecamp and both passed away during the
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: construction of the Diagon Alley Park, so this is kind
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: of a nice way to memorialize them in their contributions
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: to both the films in the parks.
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: It's really nice. It's a nice it's a nice fact
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: to eat that and know that there will be forever
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: mortalized in that way, in that magical way. And people
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: will be you know, able to see them, and they
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: played such an important role in these films and bringing
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: these films to life, so it's a nice it's a
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: it's a beautiful nod to them and way to also
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: celebrate them.
• 34:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely.
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: So there's several rooms that you go through in this queue,
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: and one of them is the Defense Against the Dark
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: Arts classroom, which also contains mementos from every DA DA professor.
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: We have Quarrel's traveling trunk, Lockhart's autobiography, loop and spine candles,
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: Moody's walking stick stick, and Snape's slide projector. So next
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: time you walk through, see if you can spot all
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: of them. The desks that are in this classroom are
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: actual props from the movies, which is pretty cool.
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: I love that. I love those facts. Mmmm.
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: The chalkboard that we see in the classroom was originally
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: a replica, but the real one was relocated from the
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: Hollywood Ride to the Orlando Ride and has been there
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: ever since, so that's pretty cool. And just beyond the
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: Fat Lady's portrait, as you near the ride vehicles, there's
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: a cabinet there that contains some more actual film used props.
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: As well, so you can check that out.
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, those bits are so good, like it's it's really
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: because it's also kind of like you're bringing a bit
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: of the studio tour into this attraction. And I never,
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: I never really paid a ten mention to the fact
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: that these were like the actual tests from the Dada class.
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: So knowing that, next time I visit, I'm gonna be like, oh,
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: that's a prop that's actually where you know Dan Rupert
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: and Anastat and h that's crazy.
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's pretty cool.
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: So beyond the rides, visitors can enjoy immersive entertainment like
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: Olivander's wand Shop, which, if you're lucky enough, you get
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: to be selected to have your own wand Choose you,
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: the tri Resart Spirit Rally, and the Front Choir. The
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: village also includes iconic shops and eateries from the books,
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: such as Honey Dukes, Dervision Bangs, Oliveanders and Three Broomsticks
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: and the Hogshead Pop. Do you have any favorites.
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: Like, ooh at Honeydukes, I really love the Ginger Newt
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: They're really good. It's like a ginger snap cookie. It's
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: very good. On the Three Broomsticks I like to get
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: the cornish pasties.
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: You're very good. It comes with a salad, which, like
• 37:15
  Speaker 3: if you're in a.
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: Theme park for several days, eating a salad just feels
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: so good.
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: It just hits different after all the fried food.
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: And all of the rides and just looping and just yeah, yeah, yeah,
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: I love. I mean it might be in a popular opinion,
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: but I love the lemon drops. I've become I became
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: so addicted to them. I bought like the cup with
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: the you know, like it was like this display and
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: I with a lemon drops, and I love those so much.
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: But I haven't really I'm very Basically, I've always bought
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: like the chocolate frog and the lemon drops and the
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: birdieot beans, which ones the peppermint toads. I'm scared to
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: try those because because of the peppermint, like, I don't
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: think I will like them, but I'm curious.
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: They're more like they're chocolate, and it's like peppermint and
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: feuse chocolate.
• 38:25
  Speaker 3: Basically, yeah, it can't.
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: Be that bad. And other than that, like the attractions,
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: I was never chosen, but I did witness the show
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: and Olivander Shop. I highly recommend it. It's a great
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: immersive I can immersive experience. And I love the frog choir.
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: That's very fun because you get to see it's not
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: just them singing, you also have like the frogs and
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: they're also they're also singing and you. I love the
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: fact that it kind of like each of the because
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: it's a student per house, and each of the students
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: like kind of represents a side of the house. So
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: I love that part. And they're so in character all
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: the time. It's a lot of fun to watch. Yeah.
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I actually was chosen for Ali Vanders on my
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: first visit, so it made it so much more special.
• 39:23
  Speaker 3: It was very cool. Yeah, I don't know why they
• 39:26
  Speaker 3: chose me.
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: There were little kids in the room, but they were like, yeah.
• 39:30
  Speaker 3: We'll lack her do it.
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: It looked like a hardcore fan coming up.
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: That was very cool.
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: Wow, and you do you obviously you still have your wand.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: Yes, which interestingly I forget how they did it, but
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: they used to do when the park first opened somehow
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: align like they're questioning of you during the experience to
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: get your birth date, and I don't remember how they
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: did it, but they did it in like a tricky
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: way that he wasn't like super obvious. So my wand
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: that chose me Alivanders is the same as my birth
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: month wand because they would align the wand woulds with
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: a birth month, so and strangely also aligned with my
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: Potter more wand That's what.
• 40:23
  Speaker 3: It was meant.
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: That's the craziest part, destiny.
• 40:27
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: So moving on a little bit about numbers, this is
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: also something that I wanted to tap into. So after
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: opening Hawks Meat, Universal's revenue increased by forty percent and
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: the first quarter, according to the tea ae COMM Global
• 40:50
  Speaker 2: Attractions Attendance Reports, between two thousand and nine pre Wisarding
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: World and twenty eleven, Universal or WANDOS annual attendance jumped
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: from four points a million to seven point six million visitors. Wow,
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: so it became a pretty big competitor to Disney Parks. Yeah.
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: I mean, like I said, like it was really the
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: only reason I went to Universal the first time. I
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: wouldn't have ever gone if the Pizardian World wasn't there.
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: Mm hmmm mmm. Yeah. So again speaks volumes of how
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: much Harry Potter Mania was at that time and still
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: is at that time. Like you you were saying We've
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: got like four hours for the Ministry Ride. People just
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: warm all the way to the Ministry of Magic Ride.
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: Like it's still doing numbers and people still love it,
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: and that's why we're here, and that's why we're doing
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: this podcast. I loved I love doing these bits because
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: it's kind of like reassuring of how big the Potter
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: phenomenon is. We're not the only crazy see people exactly. Yes,
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: we're not alone here and Comcast Universal's parent companies, said
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: Harry Potter paid for itself in the first year, well
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: thanks to increased ticket sales, merchandise and food revenue.
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: Nice.
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Like I can't imagine how much money they make
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: off merchandise.
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. When you see like full families walking
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: around all in the robes, all with the every single
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: one of them, and you're like, okay, if the robe
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: is one hundred dollars, the lands are like sixty five
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: to eighty.
• 42:37
  Speaker 3: Now multiply that by four, Like I just said, it's crazy.
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: It's crazy. And then food yeah yeah, and the shops
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: like there's so much, Like I mean, there's every things
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: that you will find in every Potter shop, but there
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: are a lot of theme park exclusives to this day.
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: So yeah, like it's it's incredible how it paid for
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: itself in that first year. Just off of that, in
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: twenty ten, Islands of Adventures saw its largest single year
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: at tennis jump in history, growing by nearly thirty percent. So,
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: I mean, I feel like Islands of Adventure wasn't as
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: popular obviously before the Wizarding World because you got Universal,
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: which is a different park. So what did you have
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: in Islands of Adventures prior to Hogsmeade that was.
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: Maybe like the comic the comic like Marvel, like Spider Man. Yeah,
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: because other than that, there's not there weren't any like
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: big ips over there.
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: No, no, I now.
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: It's dealt up with like Jurassic and all that, right,
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: But yeah, m hmmm hmm.
• 44:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Then on May eighth, twenty thirteen, Universal anounced a
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: whole new land Diagon Alley. It's right next door at
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: Universal Studios, Florida. So it opened in twenty fourteen, and
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: for the first time, guests could ride the Hobwards Express
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: between the two parks. So we added a new attraction
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: to Hogsmead that was the Howards Express, which you would
• 44:36
  Speaker 2: literally ride a train from one park to the next,
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: mind blowing, like who would have guessed they would ever
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: become a reality? And yeah, diagon Alley felt like walking
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: straight into the films from Weasley's Wizard Weezes to Knocked
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: her An Alley and the Escape from Gringott's Ride which
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: featured Bill Weasley, the Golden Trio, Valdemore and Bellatrix. But
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: as we said, we will dive a lot more into
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: diagon Alley and an upcoming episode, so stay tuned for that.
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And after diagon Alley opened, that did not mean
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: Hogsweed was done growing, So in January twenty eighteen, the
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: Dragon Challenge was permanently closed.
• 45:24
  Speaker 3: There had been some issues.
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: With that ride for a little while, and I think
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: they just decided, okay, it's time to retire that move on,
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: so rumors began to swirl about what would replace it
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: in Construction on a new ride began shortly after the
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: demolition of the Dragon Coaster, and it was announced in
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: February twenty nineteen that the ride would be Hagrid's Magical
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: Motorbike Adventure, and the opening date was set for June
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: twenty nineteen. This remains one of the most popular rides
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: in Islands of Adventure always got a really long wait time.
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, still got to experience that for myself because I
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: just when I went to Orlando, obviously I wrote the
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: uh the Dragon Challenge, which I was I was, I mean,
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: I wasn't. I wasn't sad about it closing much because
• 46:20
  Speaker 2: it was a refurbished ride. But it did have a
• 46:23
  Speaker 2: nice walkthrough Q where it kind of like you were
• 46:26
  Speaker 2: inside the tent of the Triwizard Tournament. There were some
• 46:29
  Speaker 2: nice like animations going on there. I think there was
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: what I think the Goblet of Fire was there too.
• 46:35
  Speaker 2: There was a prop from the Goblet of Fire and yeah,
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: like that's a little it's a shame. But at the
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: same time, uh, from what I've seen, this looks so
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: much better and yeah, and it's got hat grate on it.
• 46:51
  Speaker 3: So right.
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: I actually never did Dragon Challenge because I'm not a
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: huge coaster person and with it going upside down, I
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: was like, yeah, no, no thanks.
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: I mean I get you, because I'm not a coaster
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: person either, but I had to because it was Harry Potter,
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: so I was like, yeah, I mean I had done
• 47:11
  Speaker 2: The Hulk. Yeah, it was like and it was like
• 47:14
  Speaker 2: much worse. So when I when I when I wrote
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: the Dragon one, it was it was fine, but it
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: didn't feel like the coast like the roller coaster didn't
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: feel themed enough, Like it felt like a normal roller
• 47:27
  Speaker 2: coaster that was kind of like just decorated with a
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: few Harry Potter stuff in the queue, but it was
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: the same old ride. That's why I think it's good
• 47:35
  Speaker 2: that they upgraded it to this that looks a lot
• 47:38
  Speaker 2: more immersive from what I've seen.
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, and because it's Harry Potter. That's exactly what
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: got me onto Hybrids. I was like, Okay, it doesn't
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: go upside down. I could do this one and actually,
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: strangely enough, totally fine on this ride, even though it's
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: so fast. I think because it's so smooth, it doesn't
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: bother me. Like the drop at the beginning is pretty
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: much straight down, but I don't even get like the
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: stomach swoop because it's just so fast and smooth. So
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: I don't know, but yeah, I talked myself on it,
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: and I'm glad I did.
• 48:15
  Speaker 3: I do love this ride.
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: So you can either choose to ride on the motorbike
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: or in the sidecar the motorbike, you're up and like exposed.
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: More so, if you're kind of nervous about roller coasters,
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: I recommend the sidecar because you're kind of down in
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: and can like huddle a little bit.
• 48:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but it's pretty cool.
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: It's as you go through the ride, there's a bunch
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: of different animatronics of creatures. Uh, there's like the moment
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: where they want you to push the purple button to
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: go faster.
• 48:51
  Speaker 3: That's on the motorbike and that.
• 48:56
  Speaker 2: To that scene and deathly hollows mm hmm.
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: So it's very is a cool ride, and you know,
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: talking about how fully themed this ride is, the line
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: for Hagrid's is great. So even though it's a really
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: long wait time, there's so much to see in the
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: line and honestly it goes by pretty quickly. So a
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: couple things to look for at the entrance. Above the
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: entrance arch of the ride, Q there's the green Man
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: is carved into the wall and the green Man is
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: actually a symbol of nature in a lot of different cultures,
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: and supposedly JK. Rowling actually based Hagrid off of the
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: green Man, so it's a nice little nod back to
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: Hagrid's character as well. You get to walk by Hagrid's hut,
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: which looks phenomenal, just the way that the set Deck
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: Greaters did. This is great, Like, it looks super authentic.
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of fun little like things on the way,
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: like little carved pieces of wood or logs that are
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: like carved like creatures and things like that that are
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: scattered in among the trees. Once you walk into the ruins,
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: there's graffiti on the walls and there's a bunch of
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: like magical creatures and different little notes from former Hogwarts students.
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: There's like a little hippogriff drawing and next to it
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: says something like, lookout, Malfoyd, there's hippogriff behind you. There's
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: there's a heart with Jay and l for James and
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: Lily inside the heart.
• 50:46
  Speaker 2: Wow, that's a nice.
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: So there's fun little things to look out for. There's
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: a bunch of references to the Dragon Challenge ride as
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: well in the graffiti and nice. Yeah, and there's a
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: whole like tachery room that's got dragon eggs in it.
• 51:02
  Speaker 3: So yeah, it's pretty cool.
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: There's also at one point you enter Hagrid's workshop and
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: there's a ton of fantastic beast stuff in here. So
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: there's like posters on the walls of the different beasts.
• 51:17
  Speaker 3: There's books that are open.
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: On tables to different pages about different beasts. There's different
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: jars on the wall with different stuff in it.
• 51:28
  Speaker 2: Uh, so there's there's quite a bit to look for.
• 51:30
  Speaker 2: Here is a monster book of monsters there.
• 51:35
  Speaker 3: Yes, yes it is. I forgot about that one.
• 51:39
  Speaker 2: I love that prop. Yes, it's so nice and I
• 51:44
  Speaker 2: also feel like it's the ultimate Robbie Coltrane monument. Sadly
• 51:49
  Speaker 2: he passed away, but he was able to film footage
• 51:54
  Speaker 2: for the ride, right.
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: Yes, yep, yep, he's there's like a little pre show
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: that sometimes friends and sometimes doesn't, depending on if they
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: need to break up the line or not.
• 52:04
  Speaker 3: But he is in the pre show.
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: There's there's a really good animatronic as well during the
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: ride of Hagrid. So that's pretty cool. Yeah, there there's
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: quite a bit.
• 52:23
  Speaker 2: Mm hmm. That's nice. Yeah. I can't wait to go back,
• 52:31
  Speaker 2: hopefully next year. I really want to go back, and
• 52:33
  Speaker 2: especially now that we've got Epic Universe. Yes, like you
• 52:37
  Speaker 2: do all three back to back and yeah, like I
• 52:42
  Speaker 2: can't wait to see this ride because I'm also get
• 52:44
  Speaker 2: a little I don't get motion sickness, but I do
• 52:46
  Speaker 2: get like a little scary, like a little scared before,
• 52:49
  Speaker 2: you know, doing these kind of rides because they're high speed.
• 52:52
  Speaker 2: Like I once went on the Mummy and I had
• 52:54
  Speaker 2: a horrible experience, and I was like, this is the
• 52:57
  Speaker 2: first and last time I'm I'm going on this ride
• 52:59
  Speaker 2: because I didn't not like it. But then you know,
• 53:03
  Speaker 2: I did dealing dragons and it wasn't the end of
• 53:05
  Speaker 2: the world. So I'm guessing like, Okay, it's hagrid, You're
• 53:08
  Speaker 2: gonna have fun. Like I imagine you know, looking uh
• 53:11
  Speaker 2: sideways and seeing like Easter eggs and knots and things
• 53:14
  Speaker 2: and everything like you know, and and just flying through
• 53:18
  Speaker 2: the ruins and everything like it must be really nice.
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: And being in the open air also brings a lot
• 53:23
  Speaker 2: of more, you know, at least to me, I feel
• 53:28
  Speaker 2: more safe somehow. Then when it's like when you're inside,
• 53:32
  Speaker 2: like like the Mummy ride, where you're yeah, it's all
• 53:36
  Speaker 2: dark and you can't see anything and it's very it's yeah,
• 53:40
  Speaker 2: it's not fun to me at least, So yeah, I'm
• 53:45
  Speaker 2: really curious to try this ride.
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: Well, and something like Hagrid's it doesn't feel rickety either.
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: Like I think part of what I don't like about
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: roller coasters is some of them like feel very rickety
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: to me and like they're going to fall apart, and
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: that kind of freaks me out at little bit. Something
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: that's like you don't feel any like the rattling or
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: anything like that. I'm like, Okay, I feel secure on this.
• 54:09
  Speaker 2: You should go to six Flags. You're gonna feel a
• 54:13
  Speaker 2: lot of rattling there.
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: I like refuse to go on like any of those
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: wooden roller coasters.
• 54:18
  Speaker 2: Good choice, Nope, good joy way.
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll never forget because Nicole and I both of
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: us are a little bit chicken when it comes to
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: roller coasters.
• 54:32
  Speaker 3: And we did this ride. When it first opened.
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: We were fine, like we had to really amp ourselves up,
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: but by the end of an eight hour wait, like
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: we were just like, get us on this ride so
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: we could get out of here. So we were fine
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: the first time, and then we went back. We had
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: to like amp ourselves up all over again to get
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: on this ride and then get on there and where
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: we were in line, we ended up in the front row.
• 55:00
  Speaker 3: And we bols just.
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: Like looked at each other at a certain point because
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: there's part where the track goes straight up and then
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: you drop back down. So we were like, oh, wait,
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: if we're in the front, we're going to be all
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: the way at the top and we're going to get
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: the biggest drop.
• 55:22
  Speaker 3: Scared that entire time waiting for that part of the ride.
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: Pad it behind us, like watching us, like just lose
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: our minds.
• 55:36
  Speaker 2: We were fine, But did you feel the difference? Is
• 55:39
  Speaker 2: it that much?
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: Okay, because if you're in the back, you hardly go
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: up the vertical, so you don't really get much of
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: a drop back down. But if you're in the top car,
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: you have to travel all the way back down.
• 55:54
  Speaker 2: But you see, there's people who love that and wait
• 55:56
  Speaker 2: to to get that front uh, you know that front space,
• 56:01
  Speaker 2: like and I'm not like I I'd rather go all
• 56:05
  Speaker 2: the way back or in the middle somewhere, but like
• 56:08
  Speaker 2: I'm never going to go up front, Like I'm never
• 56:10
  Speaker 2: going to be that person.
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, So yeah, if I can do anyone can
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: do it.
• 56:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, I hope, I hope I I I mean
• 56:22
  Speaker 2: I'm definitely going to do it. Because again it's Harry
• 56:25
  Speaker 2: Potter and Hagrid and why not but yeah. And then
• 56:30
  Speaker 2: one that we didn't mention but we deserves an honorable
• 56:33
  Speaker 2: mention is Flight of the Hippogriff because I love it
• 56:36
  Speaker 2: tends to get it's so overlooked, I think by people.
• 56:40
  Speaker 2: And again you get to see Hagrid's Hut from the outside,
• 56:46
  Speaker 2: and then when you you start thinking it's going to
• 56:50
  Speaker 2: be you know, very mild, but the drop is actually
• 56:54
  Speaker 2: a little more intense than you imagine, you know, because
• 56:57
  Speaker 2: you're in this. You're in this, like the it's like casket,
• 57:02
  Speaker 2: Like it's like, how do you call it, like a basket,
• 57:08
  Speaker 2: It's like woven, it's a basket. Yeah. Yeah, so you're like, oh,
• 57:11
  Speaker 2: this is just going to be fine, like this is
• 57:13
  Speaker 2: for little kids, and once that drop happens, it's like whoa, Okay,
• 57:17
  Speaker 2: I was underestimating it because it's actually pretty cool and
• 57:20
  Speaker 2: you get to see this full scenic view of Hogwarts,
• 57:24
  Speaker 2: which I think it's the best part of the ride. Yeah,
• 57:27
  Speaker 2: that's very amazing. I love that ride. Yeah, but it
• 57:31
  Speaker 2: tends to get overlooked for some reason because there are
• 57:33
  Speaker 2: two amazing rides that are you know, obviously the most
• 57:37
  Speaker 2: popular ones. But yeah, So moving forward to July, fifteenth,
• 57:46
  Speaker 2: twenty fourteen, the Wizard World when International Universal Students Japan
• 57:54
  Speaker 2: opened its own version of Hogsmeat, which I would love
• 57:58
  Speaker 2: to further discuss, but we wanted to give this a
• 58:02
  Speaker 2: special episode as well because there's a lot to unpack.
• 58:06
  Speaker 2: So yeah, more more on that later. And then on
• 58:11
  Speaker 2: April seventh, twenty sixteen, Universal Studios Hollywood brought Hogsmeat to
• 58:15
  Speaker 2: the West Coast. Later on September twenty, twenty twenty one,
• 58:22
  Speaker 2: Universal Beijing Resort opened its own opened with its own
• 58:26
  Speaker 2: Hogsmeat Village. So there's a lot of expansions that we're
• 58:31
  Speaker 2: going to be tapping into and discussing because they're each
• 58:34
  Speaker 2: unique and they all have their own like special elements
• 58:41
  Speaker 2: or yeah that I think makes each of them different
• 58:46
  Speaker 2: in a good way.
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I would love to get to all of the
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: parks one day, that'd.
• 58:52
  Speaker 2: Be said, like I don't want to because I know
• 58:54
  Speaker 2: we're going to discuss this what the japan want, especially
• 58:56
  Speaker 2: on a snowy day when I've seen some of those
• 58:59
  Speaker 2: pictures and the lake and it just looks magical, like oh,
• 59:07
  Speaker 2: it's so good, Like yeah, so yeah, we'll definitely be
• 59:12
  Speaker 2: discussing a lot more on those parks, expansions, and uh, last,
• 59:19
  Speaker 2: but not least, in on May twenty second, twenty twenty five,
• 59:23
  Speaker 2: Epic Universe finally opened its gates to the public. This
• 59:27
  Speaker 2: grand opening event included stars from the films such as
• 59:30
  Speaker 2: Warwick Davis, The Phelps Twins, and even a Demi.
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: Guys this dummy guys like it kind of creaked me out,
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: to be honest, because all I was picturing was whoever
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: was inside that suit?
• 59:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, because it's not obviously. I think one of the
• 59:49
  Speaker 2: dragons though, from How to Change Your Dragons, I think
• 59:52
  Speaker 2: those dragons are animatronics, right, I think so?
• 59:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 59:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and those are so good like the videos I've seen,
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 2: They're so cute and adorable. But this has some weird
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 2: thing where it does look realistic, but like you said,
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 2: you just imagined the person underneath the costume. So yeah,
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 2: and again, we covered a lot about this theme park
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 2: and its attractions and episode two and in our news
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 2: discussion in the last few episodes, so be sure to
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 2: check that out for more details. And yeah, I know
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 2: Amy and Nicole are going to be visiting Epic Universe
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 2: pretty soon. Yeah, so in a month. Yeah, so you're
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 2: really excited for them.
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: If you believe our social media accounts, we've all already
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: been there. There's pictures of us since front of the
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: portal and you know, super real.
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 3: It's definitely real.
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 2: I know it. It's whatsoever.
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: My favorite is the one photoshop of the three of
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: us and it looks like the way it's angle that
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: looks like your arms out taking the selfie.
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 3: O see the cutout like around Nicole's face.
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 2: Oh god, that's so I mean, it's epic. But yeah,
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 2: like I even had, like if I had sent in
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 2: a picture, but I have a picture of mine with
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 2: a buttered beer snipping on buttered beer, which would have
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 2: made much more sense and would have played better with
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 2: you too. But but yeah, it was great. It was great.
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 2: But yeah, we were already there.
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: Shout out to Liz, our social media manager, for teleporting
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: us there.
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 2: So yeah, we can't wait for Nicole and Amy to
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 2: tell us all about it. And again we're going to
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 2: dive further into the other iterations of Hawk'smead and then
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 2: Epic Universe on also Taigon Alley and yeah, we're just
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 2: going to be discussing this because it's such an interesting topic.
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 2: We love the theme parks we love Universal and we're
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 2: here for it on the long run.
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: So yeah, wait, why not do a little mini series
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: at all the parks?
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 3: Really fun?
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So yeah, that's our main discussion.
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: It's about to leave grab on to the Porky.
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: So for this episode's Porky, we're going to discuss some
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: theme park hacks. So if you are potentially planning a
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: trip to the theme parks, these are some things that
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: you might want to keep in mind, a few tips
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: and tricks. So for tickets, if you're going for four
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: or more days, with the current ticket pricing, it would
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: actually be cheaper to buy a seasonal past, which this
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: is the lowest tier of Universal's annual pass system, So
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: there's options to get you into two parks, three parks,
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: whatever it is. Right now, Epic Universe tickets are separate,
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: so you would have to facor that in but I
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: did look at the website and it seems like this
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 1: kind of aligns as maybe a better option than those
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: multi day tickets. Right now, there are some blockout dates
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: with this lowest tier of the past, so you do
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: need to check that before you book to make sure
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 1: you're not blocked out on the dates you've chosen. The
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: seasonal pass does also get you discounts on food at
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: most of the Universal hotels, so if you're staying at
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: an on site hotel, that might be a good option.
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: Another tip, bring a refillable water bottle or a collapsible
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: cup in your bag because it adds up to buy water.
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 2: You can resell it juice yes.
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 3: Or pumpkin juice yeah, or the fishy Green ale.
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: But if you have a refillable bottle or cup, you
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 1: can actually fill it up for free with water for
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 1: free at any free sale drink station, and you can
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: also ask staff to fill it with ice and water
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: at quick service restaurants. So it's a good way to
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 1: make sure you stay hydrated in.
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 2: The Orlando, Florida heat.
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: Another bit of advice, I would say travel light, so
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: bring a small backpack that can be squished flat, or
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: maybe use a belt bag because the free lockers for
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: the rides are very small. If you haven't been in
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: the past years or so, they made them smaller than
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: they used to be. They're about half the sizes they
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: were when the park opened. So yeah, don't bring unnecessary stuff.
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 3: Going back to the water bottle thing, if.
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: You are riding a ride and you've got a water
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: bottle in your bag, you probably want either one that
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: doesn't leak, or you might want to empty it before
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: you put your bag in the locker because the way
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: they are you have to put your bag like sideways
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: and the water bottle sideways, and I've seen lots of
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: drinks leaking out of lockers and that's not fun.
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I think this is actually a challenge for
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 2: people for parkos who kind of like stuck up as
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 2: much as possible, and they want to obviously because it's
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 2: also it's not only a theme park, but it's also
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 2: a great opportunity for photo ops. So they want to
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 2: bring all three types of ones and two types of
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 2: robes and they want to change and they you know,
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 2: so it's it's it's a good piece of advice for people,
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 2: especially if you're going there for more for multiple days,
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 2: you can just you know, choose one outfit a day
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 2: and travel lightly. And because I didn't know this, that
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 2: they had made the locker smaller, so this is actually
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 2: really good tip. But yeah, like it's not cool to
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 2: miss out on these photo ops opportunities, but at the
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 2: same time, you know, it's it's good to take these
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 2: into account.
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, if you do need to bring a lot of
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: stuff with you, there are lockers who can rent for
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: the day as well. But you know, if you're trying
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: to not spend the money on renting a locker, yeah,
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: maybe try to scale down your brain. Yeah.
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 2: Or if you're going with someone who has motion sickness,
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 2: well they can carry for you while you're on the right. Yes, exactly,
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 2: it's a win and win.
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 3: So going with the.
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 1: Packing light thing, if you're buying stuff and you're worried
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: about fitting it into ridelockers, if you're staying on site,
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 1: you can actually send all your purchases to the hotel
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 1: that you're staying at and they arrived by the like
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 1: the next day or something. So obviously, if this is
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 1: your last day in the park, it wouldn't really work.
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: But otherwise, if it's like the middle of your stay,
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: I would recommend utilizing that service.
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 2: That's a great that's actually a great one. Like I
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 2: had no idea you could actually ask them to ship
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 2: it to your or deliver it to your hotel because
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 2: many times, like you said, like whenever I've gone to
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 2: the theme parks, the last thing I do is buy
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 2: like my merchant stuff, because I know I'm going to
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 2: be you know, handling like two or three day from bags.
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 2: Like it's not always that much, but like if you're
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 2: there and you want to bring in like a huge
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 2: haul of merch, either you do it at the end
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 2: of the day because you're going to be carrying backs
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 2: all day and that's not fun, or this option seems
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 2: very convenient as well. So it's great.
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, especially if you're like jumping between the parks and
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 1: there's something you want to buy this in the other park,
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: but you don't want to carry it when you jump
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 1: to the Bandon park like it. Yeah, it just makes
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 1: it a little easier.
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you don't want to go I forgot my one
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 2: hundred and fifty dollar robe in yeah, in diagon Alley.
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 1: Another note about the lockers, they actually allow you to
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: open it twice before it rents out to another park goer.
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: So say you forget to take your sunglasses off your
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 1: head and you've already put everything in your locker and
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: closed the door, you can actually scan your ticket, re
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: open the locker, put it back in the locker, close it.
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 3: Again, and that's still your locker.
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: Like it's not going to let somebody scan and then
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 1: your locker opens and is theirs and they've got all
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: your stuff. You get two opens of your lockers, so
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 1: you're good that one's like reserved until the next open.
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 2: So say you have to open it twice, your time
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 2: runs out, you have to either rent it again or
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 2: make space for a new person. Yeah, but what if
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 2: you leave it all day inside the locker. I mean
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 2: it's like you could open it once, but it stays
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 2: there for like eight hours.
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so it times out after a certain amount of
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 1: time and then it locks and you have to pay,
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: I believe is what happens there.
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so it's like it all prey. Yeah, it's free
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 3: while you ride.
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: But if you try to like pull one of those,
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to rent one of the paid lockers.
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 1: I'm just gonna leave my stuff with the free locker.
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they know in any way they can.
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 1: Another piece of advice, make sure you have the mobile
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 1: app downloaded on your phone, because you can watch the
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 1: wait times, you can make dining reservations. You can actually
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: load your pass and everything into the app, So like
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: if you're trying to scan for discounts or anything like
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 1: that you can do that in the app, which is
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: kind of nice. And then speaking of dining and dining reservations,
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: if you order a head in the app, you can
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: just press the I've arrived button when you get to
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 1: your table, and that cuts out the time of looking
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 1: through the menu at the table and the food just
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 1: comes out faster because they've already started preparing it. That
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 1: can be done at both Leaky Cauldron and Three Room Sticks.
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 1: And if you're eating at Leaky Cauldron specifically, I highly
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 1: recommend ordering before you get in the line because for
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 1: some reason in that like stone lined area where the
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 1: line for that restaurant is, cell service cuts out. I
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 1: know for me, I always have problems getting into the
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: app in that line. So if you order, well you're
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 1: outside on the street, then get in line and then
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: say I'm here when you get to your table, it.
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 3: Just is a less smoother.
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 2: It makes sense because it's a magical building.
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 1: So yeah, exactly, if for some reason the app doesn't
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: work though, they do still have workers at the different
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: windows that you can walk up and order your food there,
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 1: So if you've run into a problem, you can't still
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 1: order in person. If you are going during Florida monsoon season,
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: which we know is all summer. Basically, wear walking sandals
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 1: because trust me, you really don't want to walk around
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 1: in soaked sneakers.
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 2: It's not fun.
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 1: It ruins your sneakers too, and the smell never goes away.
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: The water comes very fast and out of nowhere, and
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: the drainage can't always keep up. So if you get
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 1: stuck in a downpour while you're in the parks, you
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: will be wading through angle deep water. And yeah, I
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: recommend getting some waterproof walking sandals that are still comfortable
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: for being on your feet but will dry much faster. Yeah,
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: it could be crocs too, Yes, crocs another good option.
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 3: Water shoes, you know.
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, not that I would know this from experience
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 1: or anything, but there's a.
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 2: Good part, like when you live through it. I mean,
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 2: you have to go through hell, but you can help
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 2: other people later, and yeah, you learn from experience.
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: Been stuck in many a downpour. If you need to
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: get out of the heat. A little tip. Nocturn Alley
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: is cold and it's air conditioned. So if you are
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 1: in Diagon Alley and it's super hot and you just
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: need a break, just duck at a Nocturn Alley and
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 1: just sit there. You can cool off. There's a bench,
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 1: you can stand on the ground, whatever. It's a good
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 1: little break.
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: Islands of Adventure has early park admission for guests at
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: certain hotels, but not everything is open during early admissions.
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 1: Some rides are, though, so you can get in line
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 1: for Hagrids early, but I don't recommend you do at
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 1: the reason why people rush it first thing in the morning,
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 1: and then the weight time is usually really really high,
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 1: So in general I don't recommend riding hagrids in the morning.
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 1: Wait until like lunchtime or afternoon or even at night.
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 3: Sometimes the line goes down. That said, a.
• 1:14:22
  Speaker 1: Little trick you can use with that early parking mission
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: is go straight to the Hogwarts Express on the hogs
• 1:14:31
  Speaker 1: of each side. It'll open if early parking mission is
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 1: at eight. Hogwarts Express opens at nine, because the other
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 1: park's going to open at nine. But if you're first
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: in line at the Hogwarts Express and you take that
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 1: first ride over to Studios, it's gonna dump you right
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 1: by Diagon Alley, which is in the back of the park,
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 1: so you're gonna be the first ones in diagon Alley. Well,
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: everybody else is still back at the entrance coming in,
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 1: So it's a great opportunity to get onto gring Gots
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: with just a walk on, take advantage of an empty
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: diagon alley to take pictures, which is really cool. So
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 1: that's definitely worth it.
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's one of the main like whenever you want
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 2: to take photos and the streets are clogged with people
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 2: and you know, you're like, no, I'm just trying to
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 2: get my photo off, and I'm just trying to get
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 2: my nice and neat, clean picture and you got people
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 2: showing up and it kind of ruins the magic. So yeah, yep.
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 1: And then my last bit of advice here, Harry Potter
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 1: rides where the single rider line actually makes the difference
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 1: is Forbidden Journey and Green Gots, So single rider you
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 1: can actually get on pretty quickly on those two rides.
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 1: For Bidden Journeys usually like a walk on for single riders.
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: Gringots is maybe like fifteen minutes or so, wait, fifteen
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 1: twenty minutes. Don't bother with single writer on hygrids because
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 1: it can actually take longer than the real line sometimes
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: because of the way they load it.
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 3: So yeah, if.
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 1: You're thinking about they need to have odd numbered groups
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: in the main line to get you on, and then
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 1: there's you know, it's only.
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 3: Two spots per car, whereas.
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: Forbidden and Gringots there's more seats, so it goes quicker
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 1: when they're filling in the single writers.
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 2: Nonetheless, I think whether you have to wait a lot.
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 2: Of course, if we're talking about five hours, it is
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 2: a lot of time. But these queues are so interactive
• 1:16:49
  Speaker 2: and immersive and they're so good that they are fun
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 2: actually to walk through. So even if you're in the
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 2: Forbidden Journey and you have a thirty or forty minute queue,
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 2: it's fun because you get to walk through the castle
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 2: and you get to experience it. And many times if
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 2: you go as a single writer, you will have to
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 2: just walk through it pretty quickly. Because I went as
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 2: a single writer as both and I actually was like, okay,
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 2: I actually enjoyed the queue when I was going like
• 1:17:16
  Speaker 2: in a normal but in single writer it's like it's
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 2: so fast sometimes that you have no time to like
• 1:17:23
  Speaker 2: explore the castle or just take photos or so also, yeah,
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 2: it's keep that in mind. But if you're looking to
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 2: get into the right quickly, it's a good way to
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 2: you know, cut line a little bit.
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and then one that I forgot to actually
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: put in here.
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 2: Gringots.
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: If you are looking to just take pictures in Gringots,
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 1: you don't have to get in the line. If you
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 1: just tell one of the workers at the entrance, I
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: just want to walk into the lobby take pictures. They
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 1: let you go in and exit back out. So isn't
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 1: that a good way to get some photo apps? All right,
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 1: that's all my tips. I'm sure there's plenty more out
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 1: there on the internet, but hopefully that's somewhat helpful.
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 3: It's a noise.
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 2: So last week we asked our listeners what instances of
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 2: written or spoken words in the Harry Potter series do
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 2: you find hold power? And we got a few responses.
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 2: First we got from Jerry, she said, I didn't hear
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 2: the quick quotes quote mentioned. It took spoken words and
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 2: stored them into written words that packed more of the
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 2: feeling that Rita wanted rather than the truth. Then there
• 1:18:49
  Speaker 2: is the author's skillful, skillful use or choice of words,
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 2: otherwise we wouldn't have we would be having these discussions
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 2: years later, especially skillful in selecting names of people and
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 2: places and creatures. So many examples. It would take a
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 2: full episode to list. From book one, there is a
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 2: use of words that seem silly, but to me gave
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 2: the reader a strong hint of the character of Alva's Dumbledore.
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 2: In the Sorting Hat chapter after the Sorting Hat and
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 2: before the Banquette, he says, in part I would like
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 2: to say a few words, and here they are net
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 2: wi blubber ouvman tweak. That sort of summarizes his character
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 2: and personality to me about the verbal versus nonverbal spells,
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 2: I think in the Harry Potter books we don't get
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 2: a lot of examples of nonverbal spells, since the main
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 2: characters are children, and even though they are pretty talented,
• 1:19:49
  Speaker 2: they are not yet at their full power. But you
• 1:19:53
  Speaker 2: do see some of the adults use nonverbal spells very successfully,
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 2: like for example, to salmon cheers for the hearing, or
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 2: sleeping bags when the students spend the night at the
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 2: Great Hall. Missus Weasley cooking and doing other household tasks
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 2: doesn't always verbialize, and Dumbledore and Voldemort don't verbalize their
• 1:20:11
  Speaker 2: spells in their duel at the end of Order the Phoenix.
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 2: But we see this especially in the Fantastic Beasts movies
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 2: lots of nonverbal spells, and not justifighting. Queenie uses nonverbal
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 2: magic in her cooking and other household metal matters, for example,
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 2: But even nonverbal magic uses words. I feel sure if
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 2: we had had books instead of movies or as well,
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 2: as the reader might know what those words are from
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 2: the minds of the characters. But as it is, we
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 2: don't hear them, so we don't know what they are.
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 2: But I don't think Queenie can just think nice meal
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 2: with Apple's strudal dessert. Has to send her magic very
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 2: specific instructions, which is true. The Fantastic Beast films do
• 1:20:57
  Speaker 2: make a lot of use of nonverbal spells.
• 1:21:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I would imagine you would still have to think
• 1:21:05
  Speaker 1: the incantation, right, Yeah, yeah, good points for sure.
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 2: Then we have Carmen, who shared the Fallen quote. It
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 2: is our choices, far more than our abilities, that show
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 2: what we truly are. By the way, my favorite quote
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 2: in the Harry Potter series that was my senior quote,
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 2: says Carmen. Even though I just like Dublore heavily, I've
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 2: always thought that the quote meant a lot in a way.
• 1:21:39
  Speaker 2: It's ironic since he chooses to constantly keep Harry in
• 1:21:42
  Speaker 2: the dark so he can just Potter peer puppeteer his
• 1:21:46
  Speaker 2: journey to defeating Faldy, ignoring that. I do believe that
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 2: we can all make choices that to affect our live path.
• 1:21:55
  Speaker 2: We all have the capability of knowing of doing the
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 2: wrong things, but we can choose use whether or not
• 1:22:01
  Speaker 2: to do them by making the choice to do the
• 1:22:04
  Speaker 2: right thing. Stand up for our beliefs, speak up. We
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 2: know the person, We can show the person we are
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 2: far more than just knowing what we could do.
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, great example of.
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 1: Words in terms of like dialogue in the storytelling, for sure,
• 1:22:26
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of those really good quotes.
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 2: And how much power these words hold, not even you know,
• 1:22:32
  Speaker 2: it's not even an incantation, it's not even something magical,
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 2: but the meaning behind it it's so and I think
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 2: it's so relatable to everyone. And there's also another quote
• 1:22:43
  Speaker 2: that I love about that series says that we all
• 1:22:45
  Speaker 2: have light and dark. What's important is the path we
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 2: choose to walk on, and I also love and I
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 2: think it tides well with this quote as well. So
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 2: it's all about our choices and you know how our
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 2: abilities can power that or they can, yeah, enhance that,
• 1:23:08
  Speaker 2: but always making the choice that we feel is right
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 2: for us. So I think it's so powerful. And those words, like,
• 1:23:17
  Speaker 2: those words stick to me ever since I started reading
• 1:23:20
  Speaker 2: those books and seeing those films, and I think they're
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 2: really important. So that's a great that's a great example.
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's bords that transcend the story and translate right
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 1: into real life.
• 1:23:32
  Speaker 2: And yeah, last one will you take with you?
• 1:23:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 2: M hm. And last, but not least, we have a
• 1:23:39
  Speaker 2: message from Felicia, and she says, and she also quotes,
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 2: if you want to know what a man's like, take
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 2: a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 2: his equals, Like Carmen, I actually disliked the character to
• 1:23:53
  Speaker 2: whom this quote belongs in this case serious, but it's
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 2: always stuck to me. It's always stuck with me. And
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 2: she says that it was even on her profile page
• 1:24:04
  Speaker 2: back when she heard one of those. In a real world,
• 1:24:08
  Speaker 2: I apply it to the way people treat of refugees,
• 1:24:11
  Speaker 2: those in customer service positions, those of lower socio economic statuses,
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 2: et cetera, et cetera. And this quote is one of
• 1:24:21
  Speaker 2: the first things that made me think about what makes
• 1:24:24
  Speaker 2: someone a good or a bad person.
• 1:24:28
  Speaker 1: So another example of the power of words in storytelling
• 1:24:34
  Speaker 1: that have the ability and the opportunity to impact how
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 1: people reading those words go about their life.
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 2: Mm hmmmm hmm. Definitely. Yeah. And also it's funny because
• 1:24:48
  Speaker 2: both Carbon and Felicia were mentioning these characters that they
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 2: do not particularly love, but they still, you know, take
• 1:24:55
  Speaker 2: these elements from them and be like, you know, this
• 1:24:57
  Speaker 2: is like this is this word is like the here truth,
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 2: it's it's what I lit by is what you know?
• 1:25:04
  Speaker 2: I mean, there are two characters that I particularly love.
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 2: I know, they have their they have their flaws, they
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 2: have their you know, especially Dumbledore. He makes it hard
• 1:25:13
  Speaker 2: to love him sometimes. But yeah, I mean, you can't
• 1:25:17
  Speaker 2: hate that man, you cannot.
• 1:25:20
  Speaker 1: So yeah, okay, So our discussion question for this episode
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 1: is what was your initial reaction when you first heard
• 1:25:31
  Speaker 1: Harry Potter would be getting a theme park attraction. So
• 1:25:35
  Speaker 1: let's throw it back many years back to then let
• 1:25:38
  Speaker 1: us know what you thought. Uh, we would love to
• 1:25:41
  Speaker 1: hear from you, So drop us an email at Revellio
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 1: Podcast staff at gmail dot com, or reach us on
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: social media. You can find us on Facebook at Facebook
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 1: dot com slash revelliocast on Twitter at Revellio Underscore Podcast.
• 1:25:58
  Speaker 1: On Instagram at revellio pododcast, on TikTok at Revellio podcast
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 1: in on YouTube at Ravellio Underscore Podcast. You can also
• 1:26:07
  Speaker 1: support the show over on Patreon at patreon dot com.
• 1:26:11
  Speaker 3: Slash Revellio Podcast.
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 1: We have a lot of fun extras over there, some
• 1:26:16
  Speaker 1: digital downloads, wallpapers, puzzles, and extended conversations from some of
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 1: our episodes as well.
• 1:26:31
  Speaker 2: All right, so.
• 1:26:34
  Speaker 1: We are going to be talking a lot about theme
• 1:26:36
  Speaker 1: parks over the next several episodes, so hopefully we cover
• 1:26:40
  Speaker 1: everybody's favorite attractions. Yeah yeah, all right, So until next time,
• 1:26:49
  Speaker 1: I'm Amy
• 1:26:50
  Speaker 2: And I'm Tom managed