biggest loves. the journey between the two is one of the epic journeys. we connected the dots and made an experience that connects the two. vieira: alan gilmore was the supervising art director on three of the harry potter films. we have the emblem of the hogwarts railways here on the side of the tender. the vision of the hogwarts express at universal is to re-create authentically and match the train as seen in the films. vieira: warner bros. filmmakers took j.k. rowling s imagined world and showed fans what it looks like. but now universal s team is creating a very tangible world where people can touch everything, feel, and experience it. mason: this is a really good example of the oil canning that we were looking for. yeah. the kind of emulation that happens. that lovely bumping in the surface texture that s really nice. that looks very realistic.
we have 37,411 square foot of sculpted stone inside this building. it s massive. vieira: when the group surfaces from its journey below, the tour heads to a place stuart craig has been looking forward to visiting the entire day. welcome to king s cross station. we are in the load station for the connector, which is king s cross station london. vieira: when work is completed in switzerland on the hogwarts express, the magical train will make its way to orlando and be installed here. craig: and the steam train comes right in here, everybody loads. it has the dimensions of a real station. so when that steam train pulls in here, i think it s just going be astonishing, really astonishing. vieira: it s still a long way away from opening day almost 12 months and the universal creative team has many challenges ahead. but if craig s tour today showed him anything, he says it s that the team is up to the test. there are millions of huge problems. nobody knows how they re going
and two members of the universal creative team take a nearly 5,000 mile trip from orlando, florida. it s really good to see this finally out in the sunlight and look at the various levels of aging. they re here at a facility in switzerland to get a look at the latest progress on what will be one of the biggest attractions in the wizarding world. the massive steam engine train that was so iconic in the books and movies, the hog ward s express. it is a lot better here. yeah. i think this is quite strong. even the level of rust that happens in the corners. this really captures what we are looking for. when the universal team was in the early planning stages of diagon alley, they knew they wanted a way to connect the two parks while keeping guests immersed wizarding world. it s not just a stroke of magic. it s a sproee stroke of genius. hogwart s express is my
it was nearly 25 years ago when j.k. rowling was travelling by rail and inspiration struck. i was on the train from manchester to london, and it came just came. vieira: had something like that ever happened to you before? yes, truthfully. [ chuckles ] i mean, other ideas have just come to me because i think if you are a writer, and that s what you spend a huge amount of time doing, ideas do come to you. but nothing had ever come with such a i thought, god, i d love to write that. and when i got off the train, i went straight home and i started writing. the author with the magic touch couldn t know then that the story she imagined would turn into seven books, eight movies, theme parks, and one rabid fan base. i ve read each book 10 times now, except the fourth one, which i ve read 11 times. vieira: by 2005, when the sixth book of the series goes on sale at midnight, more than 5,000 book-store parties nationwide celebrate what at the time is
you turn corners in the train, you can feel the train moving like that. hey, look. who s that? now, that part remember that? it was almost two years ago, right? yeah, yeah. i remember i only took one take, but someone else took a few more. i took one take. he took about 10. just saying. does your head fit on the ride, as well? just about. a big, wide screen. excellent. [ train whistle blows ] welcome to london, guys. welcome to king s cross. the first moments when they disembarked the train were quite special. here we are. oh, my god. we re in london. vieira: the station is a replica of king s cross in london. we spent two weeks working out how dirty the rubbish bins should be. .except for one thing. in the real version, passengers don t arrive or depart from platform 9 3/4. so, how do you get to that enchanted platform at the king s cross station in orlando? well, that s a bit of magic the universal creative team won t reveal just yet. from king s cross station, the group hea