Why no Harry Potter characters?

[sadossey]

Why are there no Harry Potter characters in the parks? I know you couldn't have 12 year olds working but you could get younger looking college kids for Harry and his friends and definitely others like Hagrid and Dumbledore. My kids would love it if they did. Or do they and we just missed it last year? Or maybe the author didn't want it?

 

[DisneyWorldbuff]

Per JK Rowlings wishes

 

[the donut]

There's the driver of the knight bus, Stan Shunpike and the shrunken head. He's there most of the day.

 

[damo]

Rowling did not want character imitations.

 

[BrinkofSunshine]

There's the driver of the knight bus, Stan Shunpike and the shrunken head. He's there most of the day.

Actually, the Knight Bus conductor isn't Stan Shunpike. None of the characters that appear in the parks share the a name with a character depicted in the films, since those are considered to be the ultimate representations (i.e., Daniel Radcliffe is the only one who will ever be Harry).. Celestina Warbeck wasn't in the films, and therefore appears in the parks.

 

[RMulieri]

JK Rowling wouldn't allow it.It was part of the agreement with her when Universal built it.

 

[Kivara]

As a huge Potter fan, I'm so glad JK stuck to her guns on that one! In other areas, characters are in costumes/masks, etc. I think having anyone else staged as any of the characters would take you out of the realism they created.
You wouldn't want a 5'4" guy in a fake beard walking around pretending to be Hagrid...haha.

 

[Jarmo]

Kind of a funny standpoint now that some of the characters on Gringotts are computer animated, with noticeably different sounding voice actors

 

[Kivara]

That's a shame! I haven't been since Diagon opened.

 

[wookiebeck]

I never really even noticed the absence. The other peripheral characters are around and all of the other cast members fill out the environment for me. Completely immersive and I wouldn't expect to bump into Harry on an ordinary day (like bumping into a Hollywood star at home).

 

[Stacy's a freak]

I read somewhere that JK wanted the areas in the parks to not be one specific time in the story line. So if they put 12 yo Harry in the parks, it would define the time (in the storyline) of that park. So there would be no Prof. Lupin or Bellatrix would still be in Azkaban (for example). And if you picked a 16 yo Hermione, that would determine the timeframe of that park. I think it would be too confusing for the uber fans and the theming would have to be so story-timeframe specific that it just wouldn't work. So it's easier to leave the main characters out and just simply create the illusion of visiting these towns in her magical world. Does that make sense?

 

[hpriamson]

Kind of a funny standpoint now that some of the characters on Gringotts are computer animated, with noticeably different sounding voice actors

I thought the voices on Gringotts were all the original actors, but Harry, Hermione, Ron & Voldy were from scenes cut from the 2nd Deathly Hallows movie. That's why they don't address us, the muggles touring the bank, directly. As opposed to Bellatrix and Bill Weasley, who did film scenes specifically for the ride.

Now Hogwarts Express -there they definitely got new voice actors for the big 3, and none of them were a particularly close match to the originals. But neither of those changes was due to JK Rowling - I read that the original actors declined offers to film more scenes & lines for Diagon Alley.

 

[damo]

I thought the voices on Gringotts were all the original actors, but Harry, Hermione, Ron & Voldy were from scenes cut from the 2nd Deathly Hallows movie. That's why they don't address us, the muggles touring the bank, directly. As opposed to Bellatrix and Bill Weasley, who did film scenes specifically for the ride.

Now Hogwarts Express -there they definitely got new voice actors for the big 3, and none of them were a particularly close match to the originals. But neither of those changes was due to JK Rowling - I read that the original actors declined offers to film more scenes & lines for Diagon Alley.

I thought that Rupert did his own voice but the other two declined.

 

[hpriamson]

Here's the article I remember:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...ore-harry-potter-he-s-not-engaged-either.html

Daniel Radcliffe said that he wasn't asked to film any new scenes for Gringotts, so he assumed it was unused footage from the movie, and also stated he wouldn't be doing anything else for the theme parks in the future - he doesn't want to be 30 and still filming/recording Harry Potter.

Which makes sense for the big 3 if they want to continue their acting careers. Breaking out of the link to a famous role is hard for any actor, doubly so for child actors. And if the reports of the salaries they made are anywhere near accurate, they certainly don't need the money.