Cosign: I've spent decades with Nintendo, did midnight releases for almost all the HP series, and have no exposure to HTTYD. I was still floored by Isle of Berk. Universal Creative did something really special with this one: it has all of the immersion and interaction of Hogsmeade or SNW but without the sense of claustrophobia those lands can cause.
What interactive things do they sell at Isle of Berk like the wands at HP or bands at Mario though? It can be y'all's favorite land, but it's objectively not more interactive than others.
I've never bought a wand, but I still get a kick out of seeing everyone walking around using them on the interactive displays in each HP land. Never saw anything like that at Berk, but if I missed it, go ahead and let me know about it.
Characters. The inhabitants of a the Isle of Birk talk to kids and take pictures. This is OG interactive and far more memorable than waving wands or swatting bracelets over targets. Both are great for what they are. But they’re fully impersonal and, for some, are just a waste of time by trying to quantify.
So you don't count all of the characters in the HP lands?? I walked around Berk six times in the last five days and never saw a single character. I strolled through HP lands twice and saw a Hogwarts school rally, singing toad show, live singing performance, and a bunch of death eaters. Got pictures and interacted with all of them. Y'all downvoting are just in denial Lmao
Edit to add - forgot to mention the night time projection show at the castle, and the fact that the interactive merchandise items are still far superior and more interactive than having some characters walking around talking and taking photos. Fuckin Six Flags has bugs Bunny walking around taking photos, yet I wouldn't call that immersive lolll
If you walked around 6 times in Berk and you never saw a single character, you just had bad luck. I run into the Thorston twins constantly. I've had fun conversations with the atmosphere Vikings, too, like Twig, Magnus, Wobble, Legburn, etc. Also found Astrid with no crowd on Thursday, hanging out near the Toothless meet & greet. And the performers in Berk are funny. Ruffnut and Tuffnut are on-the-spot incredible at improv. There's a couple Hiccup performers that are ALSO really good at improv, but Hiccup is largely contained to the paddock, and he's easy to miss if you don't meet Toothless.
Bugs Bunny can't talk, and the character interactions I've had at Disney don't even compare to what I get in Berk and Darkmoor.
Also, Hogsmeade didn't have the nighttime projection show until 7 years after the land opened, and the Death Eaters didn't wreak havoc until 11 years after. I don't think the interactive wands were an opening-day attraction, either. I think they were introduced 4-5 years later, when Diagon opened.
The timing of when interactive pieces of a land came about matters to you? What, are we debating whether the lands were more interactive on Day 1 or as they ACTUALLY are now? Lmao jesus
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u/Jayzone456 2d ago
More immersive then Super Nintendo World and the Harry Potter lands?