We previously told you that today’s USA Today would give you 3D peek of Universal Studios, Orlando’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter. You can take the printed map and rotate it in front of your webcam and get a closer look at the entire area from all sides and angles using augmented-reality technology. You’ll get to see Hogwarts, Hogsmeade village, where the Hogwarts Express arrived, and even blow on your computer’s microphone to make the banners wave.
Also, USA Today have a video online showing how to make the map come to life (thanks to UHP). Check it out here!
UPDATE: Universal Studios, Orlando, have updated their site with a release on what all will be included in Ollivander’s.
Visitors to the Ollivanders wand shop at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter will step into one of the most iconic scenes from the bestselling Harry Potter books and blockbuster feature films. With the assistance of a live actor, along with amazing special effects, guests of Ollivanders will get to experience the same type of magical moment Harry had in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” when a wand ”chooses them.”
You can see artwork of the shop in our gallery here (thanks to HPANA).
UPDATE 2: You can now print out a version of the map from USA Today. Go here to print out your map!
UPDATE 3: Okay, I just got through going through my very own 3D Wizarding World of Harry Potter experience! It was soooo awesome! Make sure to go get your map here, and then go here to start the fun!
UPDATE 4: A phone conference was held this morning with Universal Studios Orlando’s Vice President of Creative Development, Thierry Coup, and many Harry Potter websites. We have some notes for you from the phone conference (thanks to SS).
• Ollivander’s is set up so that it has an air of being around forever; you will be greeted by the wandmaker (not Ollivander, but working for him at Hogsmeade); you’ll walk in the shop, see stacks and shelves of wand boxes at numerous levels. It’s very intimate inside the shop, and very tall, according to Coup. Stuart Craig will be creating some of the wands, approved by J.K. Rowling. The wand will choose the wizard who owns it, which will be done by special and unique processes (though no detail yet). There will be a wand fitting, and if it doesn’t work out, there will be interesting effects, including flowers wilting and lightning at all angles of the shop itself. You will know that the wand you chose won’t be yours. If the right wand does choose you, you will have the option to choose it or not. There are 13 different types of wand wood for the choosing, which are unique to the shop; children will have their own special wands, too.
• At Dervish and Banges, there will be wand accessories that can be bought (though sadly can’t be revealed now).
• The wand choosing process can take up to two minutes at least to much more. Pricing range has not been determined; the wand choosing itself won’t be charged, just the wand itself.
• There will be wands from some of the main characters wands – hero wands – including in sets; this is different to personal wands that will be chosen for wizards.
• As for the shops in Hogsmeade, they are near completion, but there are still “final touches” to them.
• Hogwarts Castle, from the exterior, is “very large.” Iconic rooms, such as Dumbledore’s office, the Dark Arts classroom, and the Great Hall, amongst others.
• Many props were chosen from the Harry Potter film sets, such as the Flying Ford Anglia (which sadly did not fly).
• Owl shop and Dervish and Banges are the smallest, Ollivanders is slightly larger, and Zonko’s joke shop is the largest. There are no queues to get into the shops, despite being attractions as well as shops.
• There are plans of expansion within the park, and will include many more attraction sites (though no further word has been stated on this).
• The shops will be as close to the films’ version as possible (as shown by the early Ollivanders shop photos). Coup and the rest of his creative team opted to make it as faithful to the original project as possible.
UPDATE 5: Audio of the the phone conference with Universal Studios, Orlando, is now online. You listen below (thanks to SS):
Thanks so much to Universal Studios, Orlando, for all of this fun!
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