Fire breath.

Diagon Alley.

What can I say?

Because of you, we lost a great friend. You replaced something that held a very special place in many people's hearts.

But honestly, I was never a huge fan of the Jaws ride. I rode it. More than once. I was ready to move on.

So, Diagon Alley.

You're the best. 

It is everything I wanted the original Wizarding World to be. Bigger stores. More interactivity. Expanded food options. It's an area that doesn't feel like you have to follow a constant flow until you find yourself out of it. There's a fork at the end of the main "street". Dark alleys. It may only have one true attraction and another that makes you exit the park, but it really is a fully immersive and fanciful place where I can get lost for hours.

When I decided that I wanted to write a blog entry that was Diagon Alley centric, I quickly realized it would take me forever to write it. There's too many things to talk about! Just the London facade area alone would be a whole entry to itself. Eventually, I'd like to discuss these points of DA in detail:

• Architecture
• Stores within the architecture
• Interactive wand experience
• New food and beverage offerings
• Live performances that take place in Carkitt Market (The Tales of Beedle the Bard & Celestina Warbeck and the Banshees)
• Knockturn Alley
• The Hogwarts Express
• Harry Potter and the Escape From Gringotts

...and then there's Jake. The dragon.

A Ukranian Ironbelly that sits atop Gringotts is almost an attraction itself. It's the first thing your eyes are drawn to when you step through the bricks from London. Your nose is drawn to that fish and chip smell, but that's another story. Even though there's an "auditory warning", people still wait there while holding their camera held high for that perfect photo. We will talk a little more about Jake's fire breathing later, now, lets talk about how she got here. And yes, you read that right. I said "she".
Some people believe that Jake is a girl. And yes. They still call her Jake. I'm ok with her being a girl and calling her Jake. I can't seem to remember that story from anywhere. But for arguments and this blog's sake, from here on out, I'll refer to the dragon as Jake and a female.

Like I said earlier. I wasn't a huge fan of the Jaws ride. The TM video "How to tune a fish" was better than the attraction itself in my opinion. I'd rather watch it than go on the actual attraction. But, I am a fan of a good homage and nostalgia. The thought of naming the dragon Jake after Captain Jake's Amity Boat Tours was ok in my book. Some people call it Neville. Some people call it Bruce. Apparently there's an official name for the dragon but it's kept under tight wrap and nothing but speculation is known. I like Jake. Not Captain Jake. Just Jake.

She was one of the last pieces added before Diagon Alley was complete and started being shown to celebrities and the general public. Twitter friends @AmusementBuzz and @HateToFly were one of the first people with photos of them lowering the dragon down on to the roof of Gringotts. The body was first installed without the wings attached. According to a HP fansite, the actual size of a Ukrainian Ironbelly is about 60 feet long!  If you went in the queue for the Simpsons Ride, you were able to catch a glimpse of Jake all the way in DA. Her body was clearly visible for about a day before they surrounded her with scrim and scaffolding. Eventually, one wing at a time was installed about a day apart from one another and finally she was complete.


 Next was fire.

We all knew once the dragon started blowing fire, that it would only be a matter of time before soft opens happened. False reports were coming out daily that people heard the dragon roar, and yet no video or audio surfaced to back it up. The making of Diagon Alley on NBC aired before any of the soft openings to the general public happened. No fire. Hardly a mention of Jake at all. They used CGI fire for the brief time she was on TV for the Fallon Show opening sequence. Weird, right? People were starting to doubt that the dragon would even breathe fire at all. But she does.

Every ten minutes or so, if the weather is right and barring any technical difficulties, she will let out a huge fireball and dazzle the crowd below waiting to capture the perfect moment. I don't have a photograph of it myself, but she has a constant pilot light burning on her tongue all day. Any time of day gets you a great shot of her breathing fire. Doesn't matter if the sun is shining, or it's dark as night. It's always impressive, and it almost always gets a round of applause from the spectators. At first, you hear her grumble just slightly. Just to grab your attention. Then she stops and it gets quiet. You almost put your camera down because you think it's not going to happen, and then suddenly... BOOM! She lets out a powerful four second blast of flame that pleases the crowd and startles the unsuspecting.

Why is she there?

Well, I'm not going to tell you. Read a book. See a movie. Or maybe, ride a ride. Any of those should help you Muggles who don't "get it". I've included below some of my favorite photos of Jake that I have taken. Enjoy!

Until next time....

mikey