Photo Credit: @nicmessina1
“Today marks an incredible milestone in the history of Universal Orlando Resort. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is truly the most spectacular themed entertainment area ever created in history.” — former president of Universal Orlando Resort, Bill Davis, June 18, 2010.
It is hard to deny that the above quote still rings true 15 years later. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade opened its gates to guests on June 18, 2010, to incredible reception. Immediately, the Universal Islands of Adventure expansion was praised for its immaculate attention to detail that truly brought fans inside the “Harry Potter”films.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is not just any theme park land, but a groundbreaking one that ushered in a new era of theme park artistry. It is also a milestone for me, personally!
I first visited The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade in December of 2010, just six months after it opened to guests. While I had been to Islands of Adventure before this, I was nine years old in 2010 and had not yet braved a ride on the large coasters or drop rides. So, coming to the wizarding world was the first time I felt truly connected to a land in the park. Despite my then-fear of thrill rides, I absolutely loved Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.
I came back, of course, for my 11th birthday and many celebrations following. Notably, I took my high school graduation pictures (you know, the ones where you normally lean against a tree) in Hogsmeade and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley. I definitely earned some major fandom points with that one, I think. Into my adult years, I took a job with Universal Orlando Resort immediately after graduating college and have started my career here. I truly owe so much to the magic that The Wizarding World of Harry Potter has shown me throughout so many stages of my life.
To celebrate the anniversary of this incredible staple in Universal history, I wanted to dig more into the history of Hogsmeade and the talented individuals behind it.
Creating the World of The Boy Who Lived
“Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” published in June of 1997, was the debut novel of the Harry Potter series, and the beginning of a decade-long book frenzy. The first “Harry Potter” film, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” premiered in November of 2001. The adaption of the book series to film is still regarded among fandoms for its dedication to the source material and incredible casting. However, to some, the most recognizable elements of the series may just be the established aesthetic elements of the world, from house colors to the brilliant castle itself.
Bryn Court, senior director of sculpting and design at Universal Creative, has been integral to developing the magical world we know today from the very start. Responsible for the sculpts of the original Hogwarts crest to the largest statues in the series, Court has been with the franchise for 25 years. “I had a call in early 2000, I was just finishing off on a project and one of the art directors I’d worked with previously asked how much longer I had on set,” Court explains. “He asked, ‘Have you ever heard of Harry Potter?’ I thought he was talking about someone real, so I responded ‘No, why? Does he need a job?’”
From Page, To Screen, To Land
Striking while the iron was hot, the conceptual plans for Universal Orlando Resort’s magical addition started in the mid-2000s, while the Harry Potter films were still actively being made and released. Bryn Court remembers being on set when Universal knocked. “I think it was when we were working on the sixth Harry Potter film,” he says. “It was in the middle of production; I got a call that they wanted to give a facelift to a land in Islands of Adventure with some Harry Potter retheming.
“At that point, it was a pretty safe bet that Harry Potter was going to be popular, and we wanted to do it right. So, at some point, the decision was made to completely recreate the land from scratch.”
Developing a book series into a film franchise is no small feat. Taking that film franchise and making it a theme park for guests to explore and interact with is another challenge altogether. With such a dedicated fan base, how do you do it right?
The feeling that you are stepping into the films is no accident: Universal Creative partnered directly with Warner Bros. creatives to take fans into the films themselves. Everything you see, touch, and hear is not just designed to evoke the movies, but to replicate them as accurately as possible.
“We designed it from the ground up in the UK. There are a ton of sculptural bits and rock work, specifically around the castle, that we used in the film,” Bryn tells me, showing me side-by-side pictures of the boars from a scene in “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” and the twin boars that guard Hogwarts castle in Orlando.
“The winged boars at the entrance of Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey are made from the same molds we used in the sixth film,” he shares. “There were talks about redoing things, but we decided we’ve got the molds here, let’s use them.”
Hermione Did It…They’re Flying!
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened with four attractions: Dragon Challenge, Flight of the Hippogriff, Ollivanders Wand Shop, and the headliner: Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. With Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey inside Hogwarts itself, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, plan to sneak us onto the Quidditch pitch to see a match, and Hermione casts an enchantment that allows us to fly. But, Harry Potter stories can never go to plan, and our flight is interrupted by an array of magical creatures that take us off course. We must rely on Harry to help us get out in one piece.
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey was a first-of-its-kind experience, both from a guest and creative perspective. Devin Boyle, show design director for Universal Creative show programming, had already started his career at Universal and knew he wanted the Harry Potter project to be his next endeavor.
“I had been working on other Universal rides globally, but I started sniffing around in 2007 to be involved with Forbidden Journey,” he explains. “In 2008, the media elements of the ride began to come to fruition, and they were looking for the right programmer for the media scenes. Specifically, we needed to figure out how to integrate the media. So, that was when I became involved.”
With just a handful of months to program, Devin’s team was also handed the casual task of creating a fantastically themed experience from a ride system that didn’t yet exist in themed entertainment. No pressure. “I knew enough about what industrial robots were,” he shares. “They came to me and said, ‘it’s an industrial robot on a moving track,’ and I said, ‘Well, I can do that’.
The goal of the programming team was to give the ride vehicle the guests sit in its own character. “We call [the ride vehicle] ‘the magic bench.’ We wanted to make it constantly feel like you were in flight through the gentle bobbing that it does throughout the ride,” Devin remembers.
Sal T., supervisor of ride and show technical services in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, started his Universal career with Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and has never looked back.
“I got out of the military and came here,” he shares. “I started at Forbidden Journey back in March of 2010, so the building and the ride were essentially there. When I came in, we only ran maybe about 30 to 35 ride vehicles on the track at one time, so we were slowly trying to get to 47 on the track at one time. Luckily, we managed to do it and opened on time.”
A Magical Opening
On June 18, 2010, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter held its grand opening ceremony, complete with hundreds of fans dressed in robes and scarves despite the summer heat. They were joined by cast members from all eight films!
Sal remembers those few opening months well: “Pictures were circulating online of the (guests) in line for the wizarding world, all the way back to CityWalk, past the globe. I still have that picture today. That was kind of the moment where I realized this was a big deal, and that was when I knew this was life-changing, for both me and the theme park environment.”
Bryn (wrongly) assumed that the opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter may be his last hoorah with Harry: “The land opened, and we finished the films about the same time. I hung up my ‘Potter’ hat and had just been working on a couple of other films and got a call saying ‘They’re doing it again. Let’s get back together.’ I later found out we were working on not just Hogsmeade in Japan and Hollywood, but we also began work on a more secretive project that became Diagon Alley.”
Changing Theme Parks
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter changed the way themed entertainment operates around the world. From the several wizarding worlds that now exist around the globe, to the intricate theming of Universal Epic Universe, there is an increasing demand for highly immersive theme parks.
Bryn thinks he knew the future impact of the wizarding world all along: “I think we all knew it was going to be a huge success: giving the fans the feeling that they were in the movies. We just kept stepping up the game with Diagon Alley in 2014, and I think we will again in Epic [Universe]. The films are so iconic and established that there was a benchmark established that is hard to meet. To keep topping our success is the crazy part.”
Outside of seeing the excitement in the opening year, Sal felt something special when he was first introduced to the ride system: “The ride system is definitely game-changing. No one had used these arms in the entertainment industry before. We were the first ones to bring that technology to theme parks and now you see it throughout.”
Devin knew he was handling a gem in the hardest moments of its creation: “Working on the ride, I think it was the challenge that hit at home that we were solving problems that nobody had ever solved before; there was no instruction book for what we were doing. We couldn’t look at something else and say, ‘Well, they did it this way,’ because there wasn’t anything else like it. That defined it for me. Something this hard? Then it must be worth it.”
The Story Continues
I asked Devin what the reception was like in the wizarding world’s first months. “I think the acknowledgment that it was unique, and people didn’t understand where they were going or what direction they were going to move in, was really cool,” he says. “People just were so happy to see Harry Potter in a theme park, that it didn’t matter what we put in front of them, so the fact that we did something so unique I think was really cool.”
Bryn stepped away from Universal Creative in 2015 to begin work on “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” but was intermittently called in to assist on projects that later became Universal Volcano Bay and Skull Island: Reign of Kong in Islands of Adventure. He later accepted a full-time role with Universal Creative and contributed to Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, among other popular attractions.
Bryn’s work can also be spotted in the worlds of Universal Epic Universe, namely Dark Universe and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic. “I love the work here the most because you get to really see the fan’s reactions to it,” he says. “To see the fans getting emotional, to have their phones up for the dragon breathing fire. I have done a good amount here at Universal and elsewhere, but if my legacy is the ‘Potter’work, I would be OK with that.”
Hogwarts Forever
Universal Orlando Resort rose to a whole new level when it opened Hogsmeade to the world. Its daring spirit, innovative technology, and sophisticated storytelling made it a stand-out experience that still holds its weight even today.
All the hours, work, and brainpower it took to make The Wizarding World of Harry Potter a reality shine through in every guest experiencing it for the first time. For every challenge, there is now a Butterbeer mustache, a family picture in front of Hogwarts, or a shriek of delight when fans catch a detail they didn’t notice before. From the smallest owl to the scariest Dementor, the work of the team members creates the ultimate guest experience every day, even 15 years later.
Have you had your own magical adventures in Hogsmeade? Let us know your favorite The Wizarding World of Harry Potter memory in the comments below!
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