Opening Date for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Diagon Alley

By Zach Cooper

Earlier today, we learned the long anticipated opening date for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter- Diagon Alley. It will open on Tuesday, July 8th. This opening date was mentioned numerous times on the TODAY Show, online and in a media presentation at Universal Orlando.

 

 

www.insidethemagic.net was at the announcement. Enjoy their video.



Tonight there will be a red carpet event for Diagon Alley, an hour of it being broadcasted at 8pm EST. This will includes interviews from celebrities and filmmakers. It has also been reported Steven Spielberg has been spotted inside Universal Orlando.

Interactive Wands Coming to Wizarding World of Harry Potter

By Zach Cooper

Earlier today, Universal Orlando announced that soon at Hogsmeade and the new Diagon Alley, guests will be able to cast spells of their own, bringing the movie to life in a whole new way.

 

With just a simple spell and a flick, you can test your wizardry powers by making things come to life. By standing on a special mark, one spell can do so much! This includes many window surprises.

 

Recently, Harry Potter stars Bonnie Wright, James Phelps and Oliver Phelps were able to try out the interactive wands, which you can soon pick up at a store in either Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley.

For more information, visit blog.universalorlando.com/interactivewands

Diagon Alley will be opening sometime this summer at Universal Orlando Resort- apart of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Knott's Berry Farm Freshens up "Camp Snoopy" & "Calico Mine Ride" for Summer

By Beemerboyz803

On Thursday, June 12, Knott's Berry Farm reopened their signature Calico Mine Train and their expanded Camp Snoopy area. Calico Mine Train has been operating at Knott's for over 50 years, and Camp Snoopy is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. 

 

Over the years, the Calico Mine Train, which was built by Walter Knott's friend on a handshake, started to show age. Past efforts to repair the Mine Train failed, but the new management stepped up after the May 2013 renovation of the Timber Mountain Log Ride. "Let's fix the mine train now," they said. So they did. New scenes were added, and old ones were fixed to make them look new. All of the trains were repainted, and a new scene was added to the end of the ride that resembles the final explosion scene added to the end of Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad during its January 2013-April 2014 refurbishment.
 

 

Knott's Berry Farm also refurbished their Camp Snoopy area of the park, celebrating 30 years of operation this years. To celebrate its momentous occasion, Knott's installed three new attractions in Camp Snoopy: Pig Pen's Mud Buggies, Linus Launcher, and Charlie Brown's Kite Flyer. The Grand Sierra Railroad was also refurbished with the "Peanuts" characters added inside the attraction. 

 

Also in Knott's, Raffi Kaprelyan, Vice President and General Manager of Knott's Berry Farm said the park's management plans to keep the trends of refurbishing the themed areas of the park. He said he has plans in the works on refurbishing and revitalizing the historic Ghost Town area of Knott's. Also, he let out a hint that they are hoping to add a new dark ride to the Boardwalk in 2015. Let's hope those plans come true.

Information from https://www.knotts.com/ and http://www.insidethemagic.net/.

Universal Orlando to Host Live Webcasts Featuring Harry Potter Stars

 

A clip from the "Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon", with a look at Diagon Alley.

 

By Beemerboyz803

From Wednesday to Friday, Universal Orlando will be hosting live webcasts to give viewers a glimpse at the new Diagon Alley expansion. It will feature some of the best Harry Potter film stars. On Wednesday, at 8PM, you can watch interviews of your favorite Harry Potter stars at the red carpet preview event for the Diagon Alley expansion. On Thursday, you can board the Hogwarts Express to King's Cross Station with the Weasley twins. And, on Friday, you can watch a virtual tour of Diagon Alley "behind the bricks", as they said. If you are interested in viewing the webcasts, they can be viewed at www.universalorlando.com/DAwebcasts.

Wednesday's webcast will air at 8PM, and Thursday-Friday's will air at 12PM. 

 

 

 

Wednesday, June 18 at 8 p.m. ~  The Diagon Alley Red Carpet Event

·         Enjoy interviews with some of your favorite Harry Potter film stars as they arrive for the exclusive red carpet preview event for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley.   

 

Thursday, June 19 at 12 p.m. ~ All Aboard: A Journey on the Hogwarts Express with Oliver and James Phelps

·         Join James and Oliver Phelps (Fred and George Weasley in the Harry Potter films) as they take you on a journey aboard the Hogwarts Express from Hogsmeade station to King’s Cross Station.

 

Friday, June 20 at 12 p.m. ~ Behind the Bricks:  A Tour of Diagon Alley with Tom Felton and Matthew Lewis

·         Get a virtual tour of some of the most iconic places within The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley with your hosts, Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films), Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter films) and Alan Gilmore (Art Director for the Harry Potter films and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter).  

Harry Potter Film Stars Receive a Sneak Peek of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Diagon Alley

(Photo credit: Universal Orlando) 

By Beemerboyz803

This past week, several stars of the popular Harry Potter franchise received a sneak peek of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Diagon Alley. James and Oliver Phelps (the Weasley twins) and Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley) toured the new area of the park with the VP of Universal Creative (Thierry Coup) and the director of art for the new area, Alan Gilmore. 

While they visited the new area of the park, that was recently added on to the area originally built 2010, they did some things/visited some places that fans could remember from the franchise.

• Took the Hogwarts Express 
• Visited Diagon Alley
• Visited Gringotts Wizarding Bank
• Ate at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor (Diagon Alley)
• Ate at Leaky Cauldron (Diagon Alley)

 

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Diagon Alley will open this summer at Universal Orlando Resort, connecting the two parks with the Hogwarts Express and giving guests a new thrill ride with Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts. Also, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter has been officially groundbroken for Universal Studios Hollywood, set to open around 2016. This summer, Universal Studios Japan will open their Wizarding World of Harry Potter. 

The King of Wooden Coasters Dies: Six Flags Magic Mountain to Close Iconic Colossus

By Beemerboyz803

The announcement was made. At the beginning of the month, Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, north of Los Angeles, announced the closure of their iconic wooden coaster: Colossus. For over 36 years, Colossus had operated at Six Flags Magic Mountain, a definite fan favorite. When it opened in 1978, it was the tallest and fastest wooden coaster in the world, at 125ft and 62mph. 

The coaster has gotten more famous over the years, and has changed hugely. For the park's October Fright Fest, the roller coaster operates backwards. The ride has gained more popularity since Goliath opened around the ride in 2000. Also, the attraction has been featured in movies and TV shows such as National Lampoon's Vacation and Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park. 

Many fans have mourned the closure of the "King of Wooden Coasters". Banners have been placed around the park, stating that it is the last chance to ride the king before it dies. 

Colossus is set to close forever on Saturday, August 16, 2014, when it will join Deja Vu, Psyclone, Flashback, and many others who closed before it. For those of you reading this post who love Colossus, we strongly suggest you visit Magic Mountain to ride the king one last time before it goes. 

We will for sure miss Colossus, for it has touched the hearts of many fans. I visited Six Flags Magic Mountain in August 2012 and was not able to ride Colossus because the line was too long. Now, I regret not waiting in line for Colossus. We hope the ride's legacy lives on forever. 

Flappy Bird Casts A Subliminal Shadow of Frustratio​n on Geometry Dash

By Beemerboyz803

Flappy Bird may have disappeared in early 2014, but Flappy Bird has been reincarnated into a different new game: Geometry Dash. Geometry Dash is a new bestselling game resembling Falppy Bird where compteitors have a square try to jump over square obstacles and try not to die, and pass the entire level. Like Flappy Bird, fans have been left frustrated after pointless tries at playing the game's hardest levels. 

One of the Geometry Dash levels, titled "Jumper", resembles Flappy Bird a lot, where the square avatar the player controls goes through various tubes resmebling a Flappy Bird game. However, this does not mean Flappy Bird and Geometry Dash are not bad games, but just addicting. I myself have played Geometry Dash, and agree that the games can get addicting since players want to beat their levels to gain new avatar colors or new types of avatars. Every month, a new level is released from the full version onto the free version. The free version comes with seven levels, but the full version comes with more than 10 levels and a level editor, to make your own levels and share with other people.

Flappy Bird has been rumored to come back in August by its creator itself, Dong Nguyen. Geometry Dash has been in stores since earlier 2014, and the full version costs $3.00 on iPhone, and $2.00 on Android. Flappy Bird may be gone for now, but its reincarnations have lived on in games like Flappy Cyrus, Splashy Fish, Fall Out Bird, and now, Geometry Dash. Who will be next?