From copious media attention, I’m sure that you’ve no doubt gathered that last week was the much anticipated grand opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, Florida. While Feltbeats set up a Live Coverage Feed of what was going on in Orlando, we also had Feltbeats Army members there at the scene. Their reports should be here shortly. Meanwhile, here’s what happened in other news:

First, some of the cast members decided it would be a good idea to regale the audience with their siren-like voices. However, Tom Felton declined, humorously answering that, since he was a “professional singer” he rather wouldn’t like to “embarrass” his fellow friends and cast members. Noble, I’d say!

Secondly, the cast came crashing into the opening ceremony courtesy of one Stan Shunpike, another Ernie Nolastname [oh, actually it’s Prang. Who knew?], and their-ever handy big purple Knight Bus [Hopefully, no one got sick]. But by their exuberance in leaving the slightly insane bus, I would assume they were very grateful to come back on solid ground. They even invited that Death Eater Draco Malfoy in a show of future unity! Of course, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley must always break the rules, and, again, they graced the audience with their heroic entrance via our much loved, seemingly restored, second almost-sentient, and favorite Harry Potter car ever, the now-wild, blue Ford Anglia. Which, this time, did not crash into a Very Angry Tree Of Any Sort. They then Lumos Maxima’d [Sorry Dead Latin Language] the whole of Hogwarts Castle into existence – with a little help from the audience – and suddenly musical fireworks erupted – thank you Weasley Twins [and John Williams]. But all of this couldn’t happen until the cast made their way across a magical red carpet, of course. And Tom met up with the Feltbeats Girls.

Thirdly [that word sounds strange], The cast had a brilliantly, unlike-England day while they walked around in the overwhelming heat of Florida [Thankfully it wasn’t The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in the Sahara Desert, although I hear they have a lot of flying carpets there, and there would be plenty of space to expand the world, have a Diagon Ally, and put Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour, at least. I hear the Sphinx is fond of ice cream.] While they were there, they ambled over to the Three Broomsticks and had themselves a little Q&A session otherwise known as a Press Conference. No, Rita Skeeter wasn’t present, I’m afraid, though I’m sure there were lots of insects around. I certainly hope none of those antlers belonged to Prongs.

Fourthly [That sounds even stranger than thirdly], The Giant Hogwarts Envelop that was supposed to admit everyone into Hogwarts, for their advanced, just right, or late magical education, was flapping in the early morning humid breeze when the Hogwarts Express – magically not so sentient [a sentient train *shudders*] – came whistling in, and the cast members came out to welcome everyone inside. Thankfully, it appeared that Draco Malfoy took Professor Dumbledore up on the offer he presented him while on the Astronomy Tower in sixth year. Oh, yes, the envelop had already “opened” by then and winning schools were able to go into the park first, led by the cast members.

Fifthly [That’s the strangest one yet], Tom Felton came back home, posted a new twitter picture, and, drinking orange juice, he lamented that he really misses butterbeer [it’s probably not Floridian OJ, otherwise… okay, no, I’d want butterbeer too.] and Honeydukes. Which leads to this question: when you had to drink butterbeer on set, what exactly were you drinking? But Draco never actually drank butterbeer, not in front of a camera, did he? I guess I’d have to ask someone else… coughhinthintcough.

In Written News:

• About the park, Tom Said, “And here we are, a dream come true … They’re going to keep the candle alive, so to speak.” About end of production: Felton recalled the production officially ended when someone got on a megaphone and announced simply, “Thank you for your services.” Read the whole interview here on ABC News.
• On People.com: “If I ever get a bit homesick, I have somewhere to come now,” Felton, who plays Harry’s foe Draco Malfoy, says of the park, which recreates everything from Hogwarts castle to The Three Broomsticks pub in painstaking detail. “It’s incredible.”
• Ahhhh, it seems the babies still hate Tom. From the Orlando Sentinel: Tom Felton, who plays Draco, is accustomed to being the baddie. “I had a lovely child wlak up to me yesterday and say ‘I hate you,’ ” he said. “They all come with hugs and kisses for these two [Radcliffe and Grint], but none for me.”
• Article at Walleetpop with tiny segment of Press Conference video.
• Theme Park Insider got to speak to the actors in the press conference. See their answers.
• Confessing that he didn’t go up on stage to sing, like Rupert did, Tom told CFNews13, “I didn’t want to embarrass anyone. You know, I won’t lie, I’m a professional singer.”
• The Sun Interview. He says: “It’s crazy being back on the shelf. I forgot all about that. The last time I auditioned I was about 12” and [On immortalizing HP] “I wasn’t supposed to say anything, but we’ve all got lightning bolts on our [Location for Spanking]. No, I’m joking. But I did try and talk them into it.”
• From the Press Association: Tom Felton on Aging [Not too fun on second and third day] and Astoria [Played by Jade].
• From The Telegraph: Tom Felton said that, “he thought WWoHP worked ‘because it’s a combination of technology and subtlety, asking you to discover things rather than shoving them in your face’.” A simlar quote can be find in this article from the Guardian.

In Video News:

Tom Felton on The MSNBC’s The Scoop [Red Carpet Interview]-

Lumos Maxima –

Press Conference –

Grand Public Opening of the WWoHP-

Even More Videos-

• Tom on the red carpet – Via Feltbeats Phone Video [there should be a cleaner video soon] He’s there at about 1:25.
• Tom on the red carpet Take Two – Thanks TelevisionArchives of youtube for both taking this video and being right behind the Feltbeats Girls! It’s like that Two Birds With One Stone deal. Except, not quite as messy.
• GMTV interviews the cast. This can also be seen on youtube, here, thanks to RupertGrintNet
• “They did a little speech … said, ‘thank you for your services,’ it felt like leaving the army,” Tom Felton said. CTV interview on the Red Carpet Tom appears at about the 0:25 seconds and 1:10 minute marks.
• “I’m an adrenaline junkie,” Tom tells Access Hollywood in this video. Note: because the time decreases, Tom appears at about 45 seconds before the video is over.
• The Lumos Maxima Opening Ceremony [Wednesday Night] can be seen here, here, and here [this is the Lumos M scene]. [Thanks to InsideTheMagic]
• This is the Lumos Maxima scene from a side perspective – Via AttractionsMagazine and featuring the Knight Bus scene.
• A quick Summary of the Non-Public Opening Ceremony, via FloridaTodayOnline [thanks].
• A segment of the Press Conference is available here at WalletPop.
• Another video of the Press Conference Via Youtube’s Malibucreek (thanks).
• From The Leaky Cauldron’s Perspective, here are the videos of the Press Conference: Interviews with Dan, Rupert, Tom, and Sir Michael G – Part One, Part Two, and Part Three. Thanks Leaky!
• Thanks to AttractionsMagazine, we have the full Press Conference all in one youtube video. The sound quality is AMAZING.
• Also From CFnews13, we have a couple of videos that can be viewed here [Potter Stars In Town is a quick run down of a longer video] and here [this is the longer, full-interview video called Interview With Potter Stars]. The Tom Felton section of those can be viewed here, via Feltbeats admin Estrella89San [Thanks!]
• AttractionsMagazine posted an overview of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter featuring Tom, Dan, and Rupert walking around, eating/drinking, and enjoying their home away from home, so to speak. There is also an interview with JK. Rowling. You can see the same clip in this video, via 10Connect.com
• AttractionsMagazine posts a video of the Grand Public Un-Enveloping Ceremony. You can also see various other perspectives here [Thanks Sims89 of Mugglenet] and here [Via The Leaky Cauldron’s Pottercast]. Pottercast, Sims89
• Here’s a “Behind The Scenes” video before the Un-enveloping Ceremony, via Kitmacjac. [Thanks]
• MSNBC’s Today Show interviews the cast. Watch Here. Tom Felton talks at minutes 1:45 and 5:30.
• MSNBC takes a tour of WWoHP, meeting up with Dan at Zonkos and having a butterbeer with Tom and Rupert. Tom appears at about minute 2:45.

 

In Pictures:

For a Load More Pictures, please see our Gallery.

For Pictures from the Feltbeats Girls’ Adventure, click here.

 

Remember, Our CoverItLive feed will be available for viewing so that, if you wish, you could get minute-by-virtual-minute playback of what exactly went down during this past week, including all of our crazy conversations!

If you joined us this past week, either on CoverItLive itself, on twitter, either tweeting at the park or loading us with awesome comments and pictures and news articles that you’d found, or in any other way, thank you for making this past week memorable and awesome. I still want more feedback on how exactly pumpkin juice tastes like.

I would also like to heartily thank all the providers of the videos, articles, and pictures that we are able to show all of you guys in this post, with a special thanks to AttractionsMagazine for providing many of these clips. Thanks.

And with that: “Nitwit, blubber, oddment, tweak”!

 

[If you find that I’ve missed anything, please don’t hesitate to contact me at Tick-Tock@Feltbeats.com, contact the site in general at Feltbeats@Feltbeats.com, or just comment below with what I missed. Thanks for all of your help in advance.]