blooloop: In December 2022, attractions professionals from around the world gathered online to take part in the first-ever blooloop Festival of Innovation. As well as the announcement of this year’s blooloop Innovation Awards, the three-day virtual event featured expert speakers from across the industry.
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As someone who a) loves Harry Potter and b) wants to work in theme parks, I immediately knew I had to read this article. I didn’t know that there was a new development where you could tour Sprout’s Greenhouse and Gringotts, which is incredible. I’ve been to the Harry Potter store in New York, and it is just like what they’re speaking of: a free-entry attraction and enhanced retail experience, which is thrilling. There are some great interactive areas. I love that we continue to get even bigger and better Wizarding World attractions, because it’s such a rich property with a hugely devoted fanbase. It has the ability, because of its fantastical nature and large popularity, to continue making strides in the theme park industry. For example, Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure in Universal Studios Florida was a groundbreaking roller coaster. The Wizarding World in Orlando was a milestone which spurred Disney Imagineers. I saw the ads for the caster wands, which is definitely one of the first kinds of in-home immersive entertainment experience I’ve seen. What I’m curious about is seeing if they can take it beyond feeling “cheap.”
Things like this is how I know I’m such a nerd. I love the world of Harry Potter, and the work of so many creatives to try and create real life magic. I mean for so long people actually believed in magic, and it was an explanation for things people could not understand at the time. Now magic is technology. But technology is so advanced that people cannot tell if it actually is technology or magic. And then in other situations, it's more about a reminder of the things they love, such as hearing parseltongue from Nagini in the Harry Potter Store. Then there's things like the new wand that can be connected to technology around our homes, which start allowing people to actually partake in versions of the magic they can see on screen. Fans of Harry Potter, for the most part, seem to just want to be part of that world. They dont always want to be specific characters, as is so often the case in Most worlds. But The Harry Potter Wizarding World has gone beyond the story of the Golden Trio. People are invested in the success of their own Hogwarts houses, and the history of the wizarding world. It is a constantly expanding universe that fans are eager to take part in. Because simply existing in a world with magic is fantastical enough for people to create their own stories.
I forgot that even big companies hire other companies to do work for them. I have heard a lot about the store in new york, but I didn't know about the House of Mina Lima! Now I want to visit even more and see all the graphic work that that firm has done.
Also, WOW, the technology they are using to make the Tokyo tours is so cool. Real-life moving staircases? Are you kidding? That's so awesome! It stays insane to me how many people the wizarding world has connected to, and I know it has such a positive impact on so many people's lives. It makes me happy to see all of the global expansion happening that will make it more accessible to different audiences.
On a completely separate note, the end was such a tease! What is a caster wand, and how is it like a magic wand? I already like the ways that the wands in Universal Studios work as interactive elements within the parks, and I hope that feature remains even as the wands evolve.
The Harry Potter brand is so highly marketable so the existence of so many venues that offer a Harry Potter wizarding world experience does not surprise me at all. The content of the novels and their ideologies lend themselves to consumerism. Tying wizardry and the fantasy of being a wizard to spending money to practice magic.
This article also truly illuminated to me why Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the way it is. That is to say, so different from other theatre experiences and especially plays on broadway. Just in the lobby you are intended to take out your phone to check the VR activated by the walls in the theatre’s lobby. The lobby also currently has a telephone booth like in the show and novels. The production intends to sell my selling immersion. To the point that ushers are given scripts and directions on how to act with patrons before act 1 and after act 1.
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