It was announced yesterday that Universal Orlando’s Diagon Alley theme park will be formally presented with Thea Awards at an official Gala in 2015.

The Thea Awards, sponsored by Economics at AECOM, were created by the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) to help realize a key mission of the association: bringing recognition to achievement, talent and personal excellence within the themed entertainment industry. From a modest beginning in 1994, the Thea Awards have become internationally recognized as a symbol of excellence.

Steve Birket, president of the TEA, says, “Each Thea-honored project represents a step forward in our industry and our collective drive toward excellence in the making of compelling experiences and places. We encourage the public and the press to learn about these achievements and their creators – and to celebrate with us.”

The following attractions where honored:

Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Universal Studios Florida [Diagon Alley//Hogwarts Express//Diagon Alley Retail/Dining] (Orlando) – AOA, Paragon Award

When The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Hogsmeade opened in 2010 at Universal’s Islands of Adventure, the superlatives that were bestowed upon that amazing project – retail, and food & beverage experiences, attraction and technology – were legion. Nothing like it had been seen before and no one could imagine that it could be topped. Four years later, Universal Studios Florida opened the audacious and incredible Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Diagon Alley. Not only was it more but it was also better. Better because the environments were richer, the experiences even more immersive and the world building more total than its predecessor.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Diagon Alley does something that no other theme park in the world has managed to do (with the exception of Universal’s own Hogsmeade): It has created a completely seamless storytelling experience without parallel that is unmistakably superior to anything. Thanks to the creativity, storytelling and technical prowess of Universal Creative, the brilliant production design of Stuart Craig and the strong collaboration with Warner Bros., Diagon Alley is bigger, richer and more detailed than what that same team created at Hogsmeade. From the Muggle world environs of London and King’s Cross all the way to the day-for-night environments of Knockturn Alley, the craftsmanship, attention to detail, delights and surprises that amaze around every corner are just… better.

The dining, food & beverage and retail experiences are richer, more varied and more immersive here, too – as a result of collaboration between Universal Creative and their colleagues in Food & Beverage and merchandise. Muggles can visit the Leaky Cauldron, taste Earl Grey and lavender or (of course!) Butterbeer ice cream at Florean Fortescue’s Ice-Cream Parlour. The world is so complete that even the mundane task of getting water from what would typically be a street cart or vending machine has been turned into a storytelling opportunity. Ollivanders wand shop has been expanded here and there are new retail environments to discover, including the dark Borgin and Burkes for all your Death Eater outfitting needs. Even transactions have been transformed for the experience as guests can trade their Muggle money into Gringott’s bank notes, while interacting with an animatronic goblin teller.

Audaciousness and innovation truly come into play when considering the Hogwarts Express. What could have been a mere transportation mechanism to commute visitors from one park to the next within the two worlds of Harry Potter, the Hogwarts Express is a near-perfect recreation of the experience Harry, Ron and Hermione have while riding from Platform Nine and Three Quarters at Kings Cross to Hogsmeade Station (and back again). This experience delivers on the uncanny sense that guests have traveled somewhere else… and, of course, you have. Recreating the stations, engine, train cars, compartments – even the views out the window to an all-media countryside and cityscape full of magic, creatures and surprises – not to mention more nuanced surprises along the way, turn transportation into yet again another innovation in seamless storytelling.

The Thea Committee created a new award category – the Paragon Award – for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Diagon Alley for the entire land, integrated retail and food & beverage in addition to the Hogwarts Express.

Harry Potter & The Escape from Gringotts, Universal Studios Florida (Orlando) – AOA, Attraction

he excellence of guest experience and placemaking in Universal Studios Florida’s new Harry Potter built environments continues with the innovative Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts. It begins with a highly elaborate, deeply immersive queue experience featuring a visit to the Gringotts Bank where animatronic goblin tellers appear to work in an incredibly imposing space and even interact with guests. An elevator ride (that could, in other circumstances, stand as an attraction in its own right) and filmed characters integrated into dimensional settings have been taken to a new level of believability in the lead-up to this incredible ride.

The ride system is outstanding in its ability to confuse the rider with its capabilities, performing as a coaster at one moment, an omnimover the next and then as a simulator with complex motion control. All of this is synchronized to the action in the show with media so well integrated into dimensional sets that removing the 3D glasses is the only way to tell for sure what is or is not constructed. Using what must be the largest screen images ever employed in a ride-through attraction, combined with extremely sharp-filmed imagery, delivers the convincing illusion of absolute reality.

The story is engagingly understated: We are merely here at the same time as Harry and friends were in the vaults during the last film – so the perspective is familiar to fans and also understandable even to those not conversant with the Potter ouevre. Music is a key part of making this adventure emotionally engaging as well. The final notes as the ride concludes are strong enough to get some riders welled-up with emotions – having just experienced something extraordinary. In the themed entertainment industry this attraction seems clearly to be the new yardstick by which all will be measured.

Interactive Wands – Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Universal Studios Florida (Orlando) – AOA, Technical Excellence

Within the land is a surprising array of innovative,  interactive wand experiences that allow guests to say a spell, gesture their wand a specific way to accompany that spell and watch – if they get it right! – as the results of their magic are seen in display windows, on the streets of Diagon Alley, in magical illusions and more throughout the environment. The uniquely devised and ingeniously applied, proprietary wand technology is the key. The end result is an “invisible” technology that engages guests and activates the land in a whole new way. The Thea Nominating Committee found this to be an impressive technology, impressively used.

The prestigious TEA Thea Award is considered one of the attractions industry’s greatest honors. The 21st Annual Thea Awards Gala, set for March 21, 2015, is a ticketed, black-tie dinner affair at the Disneyland Resort, Anaheim USA. Tickets go on sale in early 2015, and are available to the general public as well as to the industry. Title sponsor of the 21st Thea Awards Gala is AECOM.

Thanks to Mugglenet for the tip!