This is an On-Ride POV in HD of Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey at Universal's Islands Of Adventure Florida (IOA). Video includes just (Non-Night-Vision) POV.
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is an attraction at the Islands of Adventure theme park in Orlando, Florida, United States. It is the signature ride of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter area of the theme park, and takes riders through scenes and environments in and around Hogwarts Castle from the various books and films of the Harry Potter series. 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". It opened with The Wizarding World of Harry Potter section on June 18, 2010.
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey utilizes KUKA robocoaster technology, which allows the seats to pivot while being held above the track by a robotic arm. However, the ride is not a roller coaster but a scenic dark ride. The experience includes scenes such as flying around Hogwarts castle, encountering the Whomping Willow and a horde of Dementors, and being caught in a Quidditch match. The ride performs such movements as dropping, spinning around, twisting and turning. The ride does not ever go upside down, though there are a few moments when riders are flat on their backs. Over-the-shoulder bars are used to secure guests in their seats, and there is a single metal bar shaped somewhat like a parabola which gives guests something to grip. At the conclusion of the ride, guests exit into "Filch's Emporium of Confiscated Goods" gift shop. Universal Express Plus is not available for this attraction at this time, but it does offer a Single Rider queue.
To enter the ride, guests walk through the gates of Hogwarts and begin their journey in the dungeons where they see familiar items from both the movies and books. First, they enter through the castle doors and go to the lockers. Riders will then queue up outside in the green house and then enter the back castle doors. Fans will recognize such objects as the Mirror of Erised, the Hogwarts House Jewels, and talking portraits, and, as they proceed throughout the hallways, encounter various recreations of the rooms of Hogwarts castle, including the Headmaster's office, the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and the Gryffindor common room. In the Headmaster's office, Professor Dumbledore extends a warm welcome to all Muggles, informing them that Professor Binns is hosting a lecture on the history of the school. Visitors move on, to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom where Harry, Ron, and Hermione appear from under the Invisibility Cloak, urging guests instead to meet them in the Room of Requirement in order to sneak everyone down to a Quidditch match. Ron tries to perform a magic trick which goes wrong, resulting in one of several special effects to occur, such as snow falling down on visitors. Before continuing on, visitors receive a safety reminder from both the Sorting Hat as well as several paintings in the next two rooms.
The ride begins with a dousing of Floo Powder from Hermione, who asks the guests to say, "Observatory" in order to successfully transport them to their desired location, and the enchanted bench flies off through the Floo Network to the Astronomy Tower. The guests then come out of the Astronomy Tower's fireplace into a set of the Observatory itself, where they look out through the open arches to the hills and lake right outside of Hogwarts' bounds. As the guests fly out of one of the Observatory's 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 their Quidditch match. As Harry and Ron travel under a bridge, Hagrid yield the riders and asks them if they have seen a dragon. As Harry redirects the riders' attentions back to their journey, Hagrid's new pet Hungarian Horntail Dragon (which he lost, as per rumors told by the paintings and 'students' alike) ironically begins to chase the riders. The bench flies out of the projection screen and into into a set of the uneven bridge that runs over the valley behind Hogwarts and, after falling out of a hole in the floor of the bridge, encounter an audio-animatronic dragon, which breathes false fire at them.