Monday, February 1, 2010

Wizarding World tidbits: more on JK Rowling tasting butterbeer, Forbidden Journey ride to have authentic Potter props and rooms in queue


Speaking with MTV's Hollywood Crush Blog, Universal's VP of creative development Thierry Coup (who we interviewed yesterday) has revealed more cool details about the park.

On the butterbeer front, we've learned more concerning JK Rowling's tasting of the drink:

Thierry: "It was really fun to be a part of the whole tasting different [attempts at butterbeer] to try until J.K. Rowling really felt, okay, this is it, this is what I always thought butterbeer should taste like," Coup shared with us in a phone interview. "It was a very exciting moment to see her smile and actually taste it. It's a delicious thing, first of all. It's everything you expected it to be."

We've also learned that there is plenty of work going on to make the Forbidden Journey queue as entertaining as possible:

When we asked him how young children would feel about some of the rides, he said even if they don't want to ride Forbidden Journey, the walk through Hogwarts castle would be worth it because they would be able to "visit all the iconic rooms" described in the "Harry Potter" books and movies.

Since Universal has been working with the films' production designer, Stuart Craig, and art director, Alan Gilmore, the rooms are supposed to be very accurate representations of the interior of Hogwarts — so much so that most of the props used in the rooms are the actual props from the films and are on lease from Warner Bros. Later releases from Universal will tell which rooms are going to be included in the castle — and whether actual actors will be recreating the scenes promised for the Forbidden Journey ride.