Well, I don't know. Maybe I'm just tired today - too tired to contemplate a weekend drive into the foothills, let alone a trip to Orlando - but I can't work up any excitement about a HP-themed park.
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Universal Orlando Resort is opening a Harry Potter theme park that will let fans visit many of the iconic locations in the books and movies that endeared the boy magician to millions. [...]
"The plans I've seen look incredibly exciting, and I don't think fans of the books or films will be disappointed," said author J.K. Rowling, who has been working with a creative team to make sure the park resembles the books and films.
Maybe my problem is the idea of sharing my beloved Hogwarts with a lot of sweaty tourists. Or having to endure "Diagon Alley" in 100% humidity, looking for a nice bottle of water but finding only pumpkin juice that costs $8.00 a mug. Ick.
Or maybe it's the fact that this picture of the castle looks like it sprang from the vapid imagination of Thomas Kinkade. Everyone knows Hogwarts is gloomy and forbidding from the outside. It's an f'n fortress! And a British one at that. We all know the British and their large-scale architectural sensibilities. Hogwarts was built to keep out catapult-firing Muggles during the Middle Ages, not charm them with painterly light displays!
I want to see a "Malfoy Family Home" mockup as well. Have you ever wondered what kind of homelife Draco must have had: rather like being a Neo-nazi in a Jewish neighborhood trying to pass while waiting for the Reich to rise again...
But I really want to see Hermione's family. Does it strike anyone else as odd that in a thousand years not a SINGLE Muggle family has ever "blabbed" to their friends or neighbors that, "oh by the way, wizards are real and our son/daughter is currently off studying to be one". Or does the Ministry send around the Obliviator squad to keep things under control?
But I don't think Hogwarts was built to throw off Muggles. Remember, they can't see the place, they only see ruins.
Posted by: Anthony | May 31, 2007 at 01:17 PM
Animatronic Kreacher.
*shudder*
Posted by: maya | May 31, 2007 at 01:50 PM
Ay MEN Sister Bludgeon of Truth!
Posted by: Jo | May 31, 2007 at 02:06 PM
Even better: a "cross-over" exhibit at the park where Kreacher "sqaures off" in a comedy club against Miss Crabtree, the acerbic bus driver from "South Park"!
Kreacher wouldn't know what hit him...
Posted by: Anthony | June 01, 2007 at 05:26 AM