Before we get to the meat and potatoes of today’s post, here’s a comparison requested by blog reader “The Englanderish.” We’re looking at the original design of this area (left) versus the Goblet of Fire redesign (right), but with their positioning adjusted so that 2the Great Halls line up.
Anyway, let’s build off of this previous post with interior photogrammetry for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey! The Hollywood version, that is. Here’s the single rider queue snaking up to the second floor to rejoin the main queue in the (roughly sized/positioned) Gryffindor common room:
As I’ve described in the past, this photogrammetry is just a tool to provide me with dimensions and layout for areas where I don’t have sufficient technical drawings. I’ve never seen any blueprints of this ride’s queue. So no matter how fragmentary these automatically generated models may be, they’ll be invaluable when I try to actually model everything.
Here’s the start of the Express Pass queue:
This room feels reminiscent of the Chamber of Reception. Not a bad way to make up for skipping the first part of the normal queue. Some of the talking portraits are also duplicated here, in order to provide a similar experience for riders with Express Pass.
The Express Pass queue ends up next to the main queue in Dumbledore’s office. From there they continue into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and proceed toward the Gryffindor common room:
I know it’s confusing to look at. Here’s a mildly helpful plan view of the second floor (first floor, for you Brits) so far:
Still more work to do, but I thought it’d be fun to share my progress.
Hogwarts 4D 
Thanks so much! It’s both really helpful reference for my map project and also just really damn interesting. The old reception pokes rather further out than the new doors and entrance hall, so if I want to somehow incorporate it into the courtyard version, I might need to be a bit creative.
The photogrammetry’s really cool – how many photos did it need? I also wonder how close these rooms are to their corresponding sets (and in the case of the express entrance, locations).
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You’re very welcome!
The photogrammetry does require copious amounts of photos – probably about 400 photos for the areas added in this post. I’m hoping to do some comparisons to the sets, particularly for Dumbledore’s office.
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The Bodley stairs might be cool to compare too. I can already see a couple of marked differences.
My rough approximate idea for my map I’m thinking for, is to incorporate the reception hall and old style hall into the cloister courtyard setup – the idea being that the main double doors with the clock arch lead under the staircase (there’s a cupboard there irl, I think), and the side entrance comes from the righthand cloister. Lotta poking around to get it working though. If you’ve still got the halls lined up, plan views would be cool to compare without having to rotate, but if you’ve already disassembled it then no need to bother – I can work with your existing and later plan views.
Either way, I’m hoping to have a mockup put together soon.
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Oh the stairs have some pretty substantial differences. They just did a fantastic job of bringing in the right familiar elements so it feels like you’ve seen it in the films. The single rider queue does a bit of the same thing.
Your combo sounds super cool! I can’t wait to see it. Sadly I don’t have them lined up anymore for plan views, but I believe in you! 😀
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No worries – I’ll just grab some of your prior and future plan views and adjust the angle as I need. And probably also cannibalise Bodley Tower’s actual blueprints and such.
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In unrelated news, I might’ve found an intact OOTP plan! (Also possibly a scan of the HBP plan that’s not split up or creased but not sure and that’s less essential). The caveat is the forum I’ve found it on only lets you see very lores thumbnails unless you have an account – and for whatever reason accounts on the site require a first name to be provided. I’m not really comfortable doing that, and as a result I can’t verify it’s the real deal beyond the proportions and style definitely looking right. If anyone doesn’t mind giving a name for an account (or just already has one), the post with the image is here:
https://www.therpf.com/forums/threads/harry-potter-free-paper-props-all-movies-and-more.108986/post-5139745
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Great find! I signed up and will repost them here.
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I don’t think that last one is OOTP – I think it’s just the same early GOF design I already had, but it’s more complete, which is amazing!
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Looking at it, judging by the change in ink, I think it’s been overlaid onto another version of the plan and then any differences touched up. I would say it’s overlaid on the HBP plan, but the extra alnwick bits look very accurate to the style and proportions to be a recreation – especially the handwriting annotations. Maybe, something from the deisng-editing process for film 4?
The PS plan is also way more hi-res than any copy I’ve found, I can read a lot more of the writing! And having the HBP plan as a single clean scan, even with the turbo-contrast photocopylike exposure, is really damn helpful.
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It’s definitely pre-HBP because it’s got the training grounds tower! 😀
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Here’s my contribution to the Hogwarts blueprint nerdery we got going on here! I know the Deathly Hallows version is probably the least rare of the blueprint variations out there, but on the plus side… it’s 16,000 x 10,000 pixels at 300dpi. Scanned directly from my master copy of the giant blueprint poster that shipped with the Wizard’s Collection back in the day!
Four versions for anyone stopping by in the future…
The original scan, pieced together as accurately as possible by hand in Photoshop from 15 individual sections:
A cleaned up version without the screenshots for you purists out there:
A B&W version which makes the linework clearer:
And a transparent PNG for anyone who needs one:
(aside: not sure how long this image host lasts, so might be an idea to rehost them here?)
By the way, Joe, freakin’ love this blog and the time sliders in particular. How would you feel about doing a post that brings together all these blueprints in one handy place for future visitors? Your commentary on the changes is always mega insightful.
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Ooh, thank you for those! I like the idea of doing a blueprint post. I might even do that today! (My next “normal” post will be covering my build of the owlery.)
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Ooooh, yessss! Blueprints are always great for my map project and even if there’s nothing new then I just love being able to geek out over the designs. I’m looking forward so much to the day I’ll be able to overlay every version of the castle and snip n splice the parts I want.
Also, fun note about the official DS blueprints – they don’t show the jutting battlements on the inside of the quad at the top of the high gloucester window level, which can be seen in the film but don’t have a lot of direct reference otherwise.
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