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9. A useless book 

In the Gryffindor common room, look out for the Dark Arts Defence: Basics for Beginners book, sitting on a stack of volumes in the corner. Professor Umbridge assigns the book to the class in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, as a way of preventing them from learning anything useful.

8. Neville's lesson

Hogwarts CastleDon’t rush past the Potions classroom door as you race through the queue for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey – you’ll miss hearing a professor providing instructions to Neville Longbottom.

7. The enchanted benches

Image: Theme Park GC, Wikipedia (license)

The ride’s four-seater “enchanted benches” are each mounted on a robotic arm, which in turn are mounted on a busbar track.

6. The Hungarian Horntail

Image: Warner BrosAfter seeing a Hungarian Horntail dragon flying on screen, you'll then swoop into a physical set that recreates the bridge that leads to Hogwarts. There, you'll encounter an animatronic version of the dragon which will blow "fire" at you. In reality, this is a mixture of fog effects and flickering lights

5. The Acromantulas pit

Do you feel a little damp in the Acromantulas pit? Water effects are used here to create the senstation of being spat on by the creatures.

4. The Whomping Willow

Image: Warner Bros

After Hermione rescues you from the Acromantulas, your bench is sent off into the path of the Whomping Willow. The single branch that comes crashing down towards you is actually attached to another Kuka robotic arm.

3. The dementors

Image: Warner Bros

The huge dementors are all physical models. The final one attempts to such your soul out from inside you, in an effect that sometimes works, and sometimes doesn't. The "Dementor's Kiss" effect is achieved by snapping a quick photo of the riders and projecting it onto a fog screen.

2. An individual experience

 

On Spider-Man, the vehicles stop in front of individual projection screens. However, there was a danger that taking the same approach would chronically limit the capacity of the Harry Potter ride, and potentially enable riders to catch a glimpse of neighboring benches. The solution was to abandon the Spider-Man approach, and instead employ multiple parabolic screens. These move along in unison with the robotic arms, so that each group of riders has a screen to themselves (but the ride vehicles never stop moving). Each projection section of the ride is equipped with a huge turntable, carrying three of the gigantic screens. These are large enough that riders cannot see the edges, enabling them to seamlessly fly off into the physical sets at the end of each video section. The ride’s track follows a simple, slow path alongside the screens, but the extreme movements of the robotic arms convince guests that they are swooping through the skies with Harry and his friends.

1. The flying effect

RobocoasterNotice how well the movements of the robotic arm are synchronized with the on-screen action. The creators of the ride first produced a computer animation of what they wanted riders to see, then used that data to determine the movement of the final animation. The data was even programmed into the live action cameras and flying rigs used to record the movie, to get the precise movements required.
 
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Comments

Tons of inaccurate information here. I was on the opening creative crew and assisted vendors from multiple companies complete this project. I stop in from time to time to see how things are going. It's unfortunate this article is published with a lot of "assumed" information. The seats are not made by the stated manufacturer and the number of "video screens" stated are inaccurate, just to name a few.

One of my favorite rides ever!

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