Harry Potter theme park

[Professor]

All aboard for the Harry Potter rollercoaster
By Paul Majendie
Thu May 31, 7:19 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - J.K Rowling, who became the world's first billion dollar author on the back of Harry Potter's success, has given the go-ahead for the creation of a Florida theme park dedicated to the schoolboy wizard.

"The plans I have seen look incredibly exciting and I don't think fans of the books or films will be disappointed," Rowling said of the Orlando park that is scheduled to open in 2009.

The park is a joint venture between Warner Bros Entertainment, whose Potter films have so far grossed more than $3.5 billion worldwide, and Universal Orlando Resort.

In a statement rich in entertainment hyperbole, the builders of "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter" said they planned to "create the world's first immersive Harry Potter themed environment."

Barry Meyer, chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Entertainment, said: "Over the years we've received thousands of letters from fans around the world wishing they could visit Hogwarts (School) and the wonderful locations described in each of J.K. Rowling's beloved stories."

The park's opening could help to quell the withdrawal symptoms of Potter fans around the globe who have bought 320 million copies of her wizard tales and turned every one of the films into a box office hit.

Pottermania is set to scale new heights in July with the last novel hitting the bookstands and the latest film being launched in a deluge of global publicity.

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the final installment in her hugely successful series, is being released on July 21.

Rowling is to mark publication with a moonlight reading for fans at London's Natural History Museum.

Sweepstakes are being conducted by her British publisher Bloomsbury Publishing Plc and American publisher Scholastic to pick the winning fans.

"Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix," the fifth film in a blockbuster series based on the books, is being given its official world premiere in London on July 3.

Rowling, whose books are always released under tight security, has said two characters will die in the seventh and final book but she has refused to give any clues.

The author has appealed to people to keep the end a secret: "I want the readers who have, in many instances, grown up with Harry, to embark on the last adventure they will share with him without knowing where they are going."

U.S. authors John Irving and Stephen King were so worried about the fictional hero's fate that they urged Rowling to spare the bespectacled hero.

[Professor]

We almost need a new board for new theme park articles. http://www.clicksmilies.com/s1106/cool/cool-smiley-010.gif

I'm going to this as soon as it's done. I promised my sister I would take her to Disney World when I had enough money, so we'll be sure to get this done.

ETA: Sorry I forgot the link- http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070531/people_nm/arts_potter_dc

[micfranklin]

I'm sure my mother and brother would book us for this park in a heartbeat. That said I'd go too.

[lily]

I'm surprised they haven't thought of it sooner, unless they were waiting for the final book.

[Drocket]

I'm surprised they haven't thought of it sooner, unless they were waiting for the final book.

Well, themeparks are rather obscenely expensive, so you really don't want to build one dedicated to something unless you're absolutely positive it'll have long-term appeal. If they actually do build this park, I'd expect them to still be paying off the cost to build it a decade from now. Is Harry Potter going to be a big enough draw that long after the final book that people will still be flocking there? Personally, I'm not too convinced myself. A section in Universal Studios or Disney World or something, sure, but a whole park just for Harry Potter? I dunno...

[lily]

I think some things last through the ages. I've often wondered why they never built a Star Wars amusment park.

[micfranklin]

I think some things last through the ages. I've often wondered why they never built a Star Wars amusment park.


OMG I was thinking the exact same thing! I really would spend all of a paycheck just to go there. Or even go to a real Jurassic Park.

[Professor]

Or a Lord of the Rings Park. I know a lot of people who would love that one. I think the reason they did the Harry Potter park there is because of the proximity to Disney world. It's a kid's destination, and kids like HP, it's the cult classic that came out during their generation.

As far as lasting power, I think Harry Potter has it. The American edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was published by Scholastic in September 1998. Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone, the British edition was published in 1997. It has stuck around for 9 and 10 years. I think it has staying power.

Sources:
American Edition (http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Sorcerers-Stone-Book/dp/0590353403/ref=pd_sim_b_5/002-5894438-6135253)
British Edition (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Philosopher%27s_Stone)

[micfranklin]

Awesome: theme parks based on my top favorite 4 movies of all time.

[Professor]

Or a Lord of the Rings Park. I know a lot of people who would love that one. I think the reason they did the Harry Potter park there is because of the proximity to Disney world. It's a kid's destination, and kids like HP, it's the cult classic that came out during their generation.

As far as lasting power, I think Harry Potter has it. The American edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was published by Scholastic in September 1998. Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone, the British edition was published in 1997. It has stuck around for 9 and 10 years. I think it has staying power.

Sources:
American Edition (http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Sorcerers-Stone-Book/dp/0590353403/ref=pd_sim_b_5/002-5894438-6135253)
British Edition (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Philosopher%27s_Stone)

[lily]

Somehow this doesn't seem as much fun as a Harry Potter theme park. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19211348/site/newsweek/?rf=nwnewsletter)

Rats, Pickpockets, Fog—It’s Dickens World!
The gloomy charms of Dickens World.




Web Exclusive Commentary
By Alison Moodie
Newsweek
Updated: 6:20 p.m. ET June 13, 2007
June 13, 2007 - A theme-park ride through a dank sewer? Dickens brought to
life in 21st-century England? This I have to see. “All ready, sweetheart?”
asks the woman helping me onto the boat, dressed as a peasant in a white
smocked dress and cheesecloth cap. Before I get the chance to answer, I’m
sent off on my own into the darkness. As the boat is carried along by the
current, I spy a few animatronic rats amid the sludge. It’s all rather
eerie, especially since I’m alone, and I’m relieved when the boat rises out
the river and I find myself flying above the rooftops of Victorian London.
There are church steeples, shops, houses and even a mock-up of St. Paul’s
Cathedral, with lanterns casting a glow that’s decidedly cheerier than the
sewer’s gloom. But it turns dark again and the boat is now heading for a
steep drop. I brace myself for the inevitable splash to come. But nothing
happens. The boat comes to a halt, and all I can see is the creepy
silhouette of what I hope is a dummy, and not a man, in front of me. Five
minutes go by. Five minutes in which I’m alone in a boat in a ride in a
theme park. Just when I start to get nervous, I am suddenly rudely jolted
from 19th-century England into the present day by a guard with a blinding
flashlight. “We’re terribly sorry, ma’am, but the ride is encountering some
problems at the moment. We’ll buy you some coffee, and it’ll be up and
running again in no time.”



This is Dickens World, a theme park like no other. Here the sights, sounds
and even smells of Victorian England are recreated as homage to one of
Britain’s best-loved authors. Since May 25, the park’s opening day,
characters and scenes from novels such as “Great Expectations” and “Oliver
Twist” have been coming to life and offering an entirely new way to enjoy
Dickens and his work. “It is a period of great romance and fascination for
the British,” says Kevin Christie, managing director of Dickens World. “The
attraction provides a backdrop for a period in history that overseas
visitors often expect to discover when they visit our country but can no
longer find.”