Looks very good, well done Universal 
-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
The Magic of Christmas at Hogwarts Castle
- Thread starter mergatroid
- Start date
RandomPrincess
Keep Moving Forward
Fun!
Jedi Stitch
Well-Known Member
I really do want to go do the Hogwarts Event with my daughter.
JoeCamel
Well-Known Member
Last night it started at 6:11
007mickey
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the quick info, do you know how many showings per night they are doing (typically)?
JoeCamel
Well-Known Member
Sorry
Magenta Panther
Well-Known Member
Looks more Dickensian than Rowling with those ghosts and the eerie atmosphere. Which is fine with me. Would love to see this in person. Maybe next year...
Parade looking great this year too (courtesy of Tim Tracker)
Also Celestina Warbeck Christmas show (Courtesy of Tim Tracker)
Figment82
Well-Known Member
Can’t wait to get over there to see all the new decorations at Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. We thought about going over last Saturday, but with it being the first day of the projection show, we decided to wait. Will probably try to go over during the middle of the week next week after the Thanksgiving crowds have subsided. It all looks beautiful!
Rob562
Well-Known Member
We just got back from our trip and were able to see the show on Saturday, the last night of our trip and the show's first night of public viewings. (There had been a night of AP previews and one of Team Member previews, too)
We had a good central viewing location by the Hogsmeade/Hogwarts signpost near the Frog Choir stage that gave a complete view of the castle as well as the surrounding trees. The show was cute, and I'm glad we saw it, but I wasn't blown away by it. I think "Celebrate the Magic" on Cinderella Castle did a better job of making it feel like things were really happening on/around the castle. (I haven't seen the new MK projection show yet, so I can't speak to that one)
As for logistics.... The shows ran every 20 minutes. It was quite evident that Universal was still working out some of the crowd flow aspects of trying to control the crowds in that part of Hogsmeade. The main bridge from Hogsmeade to Jurassic Park was a one-way exit out of Hogsmeade, but was open to people standing on it to view the show. They just had to have come from the Hogsmeade side.
The bypass bridge from JP to the front of Hogsmeade was open that evening, but hadn't been open earlier in the day. The little alleyway behind the wand shop was also kept as a one-way exit from the Hogwarts end.
They corralled the crowds in the front half of Hogsmeade. They'd let people into the Hogwarts end until the area reached capacity, then they'd stop everyone before Olivanders. (From that vantage point you can't see Hogwarts at all, so there's no spoilers if you're stopped there) Once the show was over, they tried to usher everyone to exit by either the bridge to JP or down the Three Broomsticks side of the main Hogsmeade street. Later on I saw that they'd employed the Disney trick of using lines of masking tape on the ground to show where people could and couldn't stand close to the Castle.
Now, the one interesting point of the crowd flow they have set up is that it essentially blocks off Forbidden Journey and Hippogriff from being accessed unless you approach the area as part of a show viewing crowd. (And if you're at the back end of the crowd, you're not getting to the attractions before the show) There were lanes kept free for people who were trying to exit either of the attractions without stopping to watch the show.
*However*, cutting the attractions off like this did have a benefit. On Saturday the park was open until 8pm. We joined the crowd around 7:05 and were let in to see the 7:20 showing of the show. When then show ended, we moved over near the stage until the crowd thinned out and then headed for Forbidden Journey. Despite the sign saying it was a 35-minute wait, it was virtually a walk-on. We were able to ride it three times in a row before it closed at 8:00. (For rides #2 and 3, there were so few Guests still coming through that they just closed off the Standby queue and sent everyone up the Express lane)
I didn't get a chance to see if there was one final projection show at 8 since we were still inside.
So, that was our experience. It may change as they learn things about crowd flow over these first few days and tweak their procedures, but that's what it was on opening night.
-Rob
We had a good central viewing location by the Hogsmeade/Hogwarts signpost near the Frog Choir stage that gave a complete view of the castle as well as the surrounding trees. The show was cute, and I'm glad we saw it, but I wasn't blown away by it. I think "Celebrate the Magic" on Cinderella Castle did a better job of making it feel like things were really happening on/around the castle. (I haven't seen the new MK projection show yet, so I can't speak to that one)
As for logistics.... The shows ran every 20 minutes. It was quite evident that Universal was still working out some of the crowd flow aspects of trying to control the crowds in that part of Hogsmeade. The main bridge from Hogsmeade to Jurassic Park was a one-way exit out of Hogsmeade, but was open to people standing on it to view the show. They just had to have come from the Hogsmeade side.
The bypass bridge from JP to the front of Hogsmeade was open that evening, but hadn't been open earlier in the day. The little alleyway behind the wand shop was also kept as a one-way exit from the Hogwarts end.
They corralled the crowds in the front half of Hogsmeade. They'd let people into the Hogwarts end until the area reached capacity, then they'd stop everyone before Olivanders. (From that vantage point you can't see Hogwarts at all, so there's no spoilers if you're stopped there) Once the show was over, they tried to usher everyone to exit by either the bridge to JP or down the Three Broomsticks side of the main Hogsmeade street. Later on I saw that they'd employed the Disney trick of using lines of masking tape on the ground to show where people could and couldn't stand close to the Castle.
Now, the one interesting point of the crowd flow they have set up is that it essentially blocks off Forbidden Journey and Hippogriff from being accessed unless you approach the area as part of a show viewing crowd. (And if you're at the back end of the crowd, you're not getting to the attractions before the show) There were lanes kept free for people who were trying to exit either of the attractions without stopping to watch the show.
*However*, cutting the attractions off like this did have a benefit. On Saturday the park was open until 8pm. We joined the crowd around 7:05 and were let in to see the 7:20 showing of the show. When then show ended, we moved over near the stage until the crowd thinned out and then headed for Forbidden Journey. Despite the sign saying it was a 35-minute wait, it was virtually a walk-on. We were able to ride it three times in a row before it closed at 8:00. (For rides #2 and 3, there were so few Guests still coming through that they just closed off the Standby queue and sent everyone up the Express lane)
I didn't get a chance to see if there was one final projection show at 8 since we were still inside.
So, that was our experience. It may change as they learn things about crowd flow over these first few days and tweak their procedures, but that's what it was on opening night.
-Rob
RandomPrincess
Keep Moving Forward
The movies mostly showed the ghosts as goofy but they all weren't goofy in the books.
JoeCamel
Well-Known Member
Pretty sure they are working out the crowd control so everyone gets a chance to see it. Those wand flashlight really don't fit in though. Maybe a real wand with a light up cattle prod tip would be thematically correct??
007mickey
Well-Known Member
Now that's crowd control, I'm in.
Looks very good, well done Universal
Of course Universal had to one up DHS and add pyro at the end of their show! Their Holiday Parade looks fantastic this year! If only they could put that type of effort into a regular night parade, they might force MK!
Too bad they got rid of Cinematic Spectacular before Christmas/New Years. Hopefully it'll be replaced by summer.
Celestina Warbeck was good too! Does she do shows all year? I've only heard of the frog choir and the ribbon dancers.
Yes, that's one of Diagon Alley's regular shows, along with the puppet shows.
Magic Feather
Well-Known Member
Personal Thoughts on Holiday Offerings:
Celestina Warbeck Holiday- A Solid, fun, catchy show
Magic of Christmas at Hogwarts-
The best nighttime show Universal has put out. Not the best thing ever though. Pyro was a nice touch, but still unnecessary. Main issue is that the location was not built to support crowds. Would definitely watch it if at UOR, but wouldn't make a special trip to see it. *Controversial Opinion Alert* Would honestly rather watch Rivers of Light than this.
Universal's Holiday Parade ft. Macy's-
In a professional theme park sense, this was a step up from Macy's Holiday Parade, but in a pacing, interaction, and fun standpoint, this missed the mark for me.
1. A night parade should not use floodlighting. It just shouldn't.
2. I saw one character interact with a guest sitting alongside the parade route. Other than that they were just dancing in the center.
3. The soundtrack (which was OK but not great)'s tempo was slow, but somehow the parade managed to be slower. This thing moved really slow, as in, put darker lighting on it and it could pass for a death march slow.
4. The soundtrack didn't fit the style of floats, all of the floats were more modern and "edgy" like PtN, but it tried to be a slower version of SpectroMagic.
Overall, while a step up for professionality, it seems the Holiday Parade was just ok.
Celestina Warbeck Holiday- A Solid, fun, catchy show
Magic of Christmas at Hogwarts-
The best nighttime show Universal has put out. Not the best thing ever though. Pyro was a nice touch, but still unnecessary. Main issue is that the location was not built to support crowds. Would definitely watch it if at UOR, but wouldn't make a special trip to see it. *Controversial Opinion Alert* Would honestly rather watch Rivers of Light than this.
Universal's Holiday Parade ft. Macy's-
In a professional theme park sense, this was a step up from Macy's Holiday Parade, but in a pacing, interaction, and fun standpoint, this missed the mark for me.
1. A night parade should not use floodlighting. It just shouldn't.
2. I saw one character interact with a guest sitting alongside the parade route. Other than that they were just dancing in the center.
3. The soundtrack (which was OK but not great)'s tempo was slow, but somehow the parade managed to be slower. This thing moved really slow, as in, put darker lighting on it and it could pass for a death march slow.
4. The soundtrack didn't fit the style of floats, all of the floats were more modern and "edgy" like PtN, but it tried to be a slower version of SpectroMagic.
Overall, while a step up for professionality, it seems the Holiday Parade was just ok.