when will "harry potter land" open at IOA?

anyone have an idea when The Wizarding World of Harry Potter will be opening at Islands Of Adventure? i know the official answer is just "2010", but if anyone has a more specific educated guess or any kind of inside info, i would love to hear it!

Late 2010. You won't hear anything till at least next year on a solid date, and even then, don't be surprised if parts are pushed into 2011.

It better not be that late if they intend to bank on cross promotion with the part one of the last movie. The movie is out in November, and you can be damn sure they're not going to miss that window.

Jeff said:
It better not be that late if they intend to bank on cross promotion with the part one of the last movie. The movie is out in November, and you can be damn sure they're not going to miss that window.

My only 2011 thought was with the crazy new robocoaster/robodark ride "Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey" or whatever it's called. I can see the rest of the palce, including the retheme of DD up and running by fall 2010 easy.

bummer, i thought the original announcement was for late 2009, so i was hoping 2010 meant early in the year. that jacks up my vacation plans big time!

Well you should be able to get on Rip Ride Rocket by the end of this year.............................maybe.

When they get done building it....Sarcasm off :)

Original press release said between 12/15/2009 and 06/30/2010. The official website now just says 2010. Don't know if the June 30 date still holds.

Potterland is the new attraction that I am most anticipating. I've already started saving up for it, and I have no idea when it will be opened. lol

I doubt it'll bleed into 2011. The June 30, 2010 date floating around is when it has to contractually be handed over (or something to that effect -- it was in a filing with the state).

And there's no way it opens without the robocoaster-based ride since it's the marquee attraction inside Hogwarts. And isn't it the only ride other than the Flying Unicorn and Dueling Dragons makeovers? It would be a colossal letdown if it just opened with the shops and restaurants and the quick retheming of two existing rides.

With the Rockit fiasco, I doubt Universal will want to blow TWO summers in a row.

Wasn't there going to be a Hogwarts Express themed train ride as well? I am sure that that was in the original plans. It is/was to travel behind Dueling Dragons into an old employee section.

I hope it opens next year...I was so impressed by what I DID see of the Hogwarts castle (it's friggin huge and superbly detailed...they could make it a real movie set, I would bet) that I can't WAIT to see what they do with it. I think it's going to be amazing in a way that only Universal can do.

Yeah, what IS the problem with RRR anyway??!! It doesn't LOOK that complicated...of course, it was only halfway built when I was there..LOL. I think maybe the Hogwarts castle had progressed more than RRR! :P

I think UO is just hedging there bets
They are getting slammed because RRR was supposed to
be open by now so they changed from "spring 2010"
to 2010 just in case they miss this one also.
Grand Opening will not be until signature new ride is open
but we may be able to walk through new area before then.
I am still hopeful the new area will be open in spring 2010
But the ride may be delayed
When building new rides that have never been done before
there are delays that can't be anticipated .

bunky666 said:
Yeah, what IS the problem with RRR anyway??!! It doesn't LOOK that complicated...

The ride itself isn't that complicated, but keep in mind that EVERY seat has its own camera and its own audio system (and since everybody is picking different songs, they can't bleed into another rider's "space").

Hopefully the RRR nightmare is a thing of the past since they just began testing with team members, so the soft opening should just be days away at this point.

LostKause said:
Wasn't there going to be a Hogwarts Express themed train ride as well? I am sure that that was in the original plans.

You may be right. It's been a tight cone of secrecy at Universal as to exactly what we're going to experience there next year.

Nice freeform poem, Kevin38.

I'm not a huge HP fan (I fell asleep in the theatre during the first movie and waited until all the others were on HBO) but once this new "land" opens it may just entice me back to IOA. Let's just say I check out the construction updates and I like what I see : - )

Paris said:
Hopefully the RRR nightmare is a thing of the past since they just began testing with team members, so the soft opening should just be days away at this point.

Days? The ride finally soft opened about an hour after I wrote that.

This is fodder for another thread, obviously, but it's great to see the LAST coaster of the 2009 finally open.

yes finally! I'm going to Universal in two weeks. Can't wait to ride! :)

It's not officially open. It's a soft opening, which means they're working out the kinks. It also means it could be open one day, closed the next, and when open only open for a few hours. It could easily close for a few weeks if they discover something they didn't expect. Don't get too excited yet GBHP.