Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is a dark ride located in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter themed areas of Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida, and Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, Japan. The ride takes guests through scenes and environments in and around Hogwarts Castle from the Harry Potter series of books and films. Mark Woodbury, president of Universal Creative, described the ride as an in-depth look at the world of Harry Potter, which utilizes never before seen technology which transforms the theme park experience as you know it. The original attraction at Islands of Adventure opened with The Wizarding World of Harry Potter section on June 18, 2010. An installation has also been announced for Universal Studios Hollywood, with it due to open in 2016.\r
Guests walk through the gates of Hogwarts and begin their journey in the dungeons where they see items featured in the movies and books. Passengers enter through the castle doors, go to the lockers, queue outside in the green house and then enter the back castle doors. Objects recognizable from the series include the Mirror of Erised, the Hogwarts House Jewels, and talking portraits. \r
The ride begins with a dousing of Floo Powder from Hermione Granger, who asks the guests to say, Observatory in order to transport them to their desired location, and the enchanted bench flies off through the Floo Network to the Astronomy Tower. The guests leave the Astronomy Tower through its fireplace and enter the Observatory, where they look out through the open arches to the hills and lake outside Hogwarts boundary. As the guests fly out of one of the Observatorys arches, the ride smoothly switches to a wrap-around projection screen and they follow Harry Potter and Ron Weasley around Hogwarts buildings and towers to a Quidditch match. As Harry and Ron travel under a bridge, Hagrid yields the riders and asks them if they have seen a dragon. As Harry redirects the riders attentions back to their journey, Hagrids pet Hungarian Horntail dragon begins to chase the riders. The bench flies out of the projection screen and into a set of the uneven bridge that crosses the valley behind Hogwarts and, after falling out of a hole in the floor of the bridge, they encounter an animatronic dragon, which breathes false fire at them.\r
The riders descend into a set of the Forbidden Forest where they encounter a figure of Aragog a large, sentient spider who spits water at them. As Hermione tries to help the riders away from Aragog and towards the castle, encountering many spiders on the way, they encounter an animatronic Whomping Willow which swipes at them, knocking them into the Quidditch pitch. The ride returns to a projection screen as the riders become caught up in Harrys and Rons game of Quidditch. As Slytherin scores into Gryffindors goal, Dementors arrive at the Quidditch pitch and Harry attempts to lead the riders away through the structure of the pitch and back to the school, but their bench falls into the long-abandoned Chamber of Secrets through a hole. The riders return to a real set as the Dementors appear from the pipelines and chase them. The skeleton of the long-deceased Basilisk lies on the floor of the Chamber, and expels Lord Voldemorts Dark Mark into the air as the benches are drawn into the mouth of Salazar Slytherins statue.\r
Many Dementors emerge from the darkness while one descends and attempts to suck out the riders souls. This effect is achieved by projecting the riders faces onto a cloud of fog in front of the Dementor, blasting cold air towards the riders, and using a heartbeat-like sound played through the sub-woofers built into the benches. After shaking the riders out of the trance, Harry causes the Dementors to flee with a protective Patronus charm.[11] After the final Dementor, and while Harry uses his Patronus, the riders enter the final video dome segment, where the cliffs outside the Chamber of Secrets cave in. They fly over the Black Lake, back into Hogwarts and through the Main Hall and Grand Staircase, where they are cheered on by a series of on-screen characters from the movies who appear three-dimensional. Professor Dumbledore sends everyone back through the Floo Network to the Room of Requirement, where they exit their bench\r
Cast:\r
Harry Potter as portrayed by Daniel Radcliffe\r
Ron Weasley as portrayed by Rupert Grint\r
Hermione Granger as portrayed by Emma Watson\r
Albus Dumbledore as portrayed by Michael Gambon\r
Rubeus Hagrid as portrayed by Robbie Coltrane\r
Draco Malfoy as portrayed by Tom Felton\r
Ginny Weasley as portrayed by Bonnie Wright\r
Fred Weasley as portrayed by James Phelps\r
George Weasley as portrayed by Oliver Phelps\r
Professor Flitwick as portrayed by Warwick Davis\r
Neville Longbottom as portrayed by Matt
