The Wizarding World expansion of IOA is starting to show vertical construction. Several months back I'd noticed a pad of land cleared just north of Dueling Dragons and assumed this to be Hogwart's, but someone emailed me this was Project Strongarm (aka, the Kuka robotic arm technology to be used to bring the "flying car" to reality). But that pad is now built up with a concrete skeleton several stories high. It looked to me like what Hogwart's should look like, yet Russ from OrlandoRocks told me this is to be the boutique shopping center they are building to connect with some condos on property. I'm not sure what Universal is thinking by building this.

Just where is Hogwart's supposed to go? Is the queue building for Dueling Dragons, already a castle, going to be re-themed? That would make sense if the dragon ride becomes a dragon-chasing-broomstick ride. Dueling Dragons is supposed to be re-themed anyway. Will they just attach a Harry Potter on a broomstick in front of each ride vehicle, so it looks like us dragons are chasing the boy on the broomstick around Hogwart's?

I suppose Hogwart's could be the vertical construction now underway behind the Flying Unicorn child coaster. There's a steel skeleton for a building there.

But it has the shape of a warehouse building, with tilted roof, which implies it won't be the castle. Will this maybe be the home of Project Strongarm? If so, where is Hogwart's?

It seems certain that Poseidon and Mythos will stay there, but lines are still being drawn to determine when the Lost Continent area will end and the Wizarding World will begin. As long as they get rid of that awful stunt show for Sinbad, I'll be happy.

There have been whispers recently about the possibility of Wizarding World downplaying any rides, and focusing only on "about being there" in that universe. That could be ominous. Will be it be amazingly interesting to "be there" in the Potter universe, or is that just an excuse to save money by not building rides? As always, everything depends on the execution and the level of detail.

On Saturday, I experienced the VIP Tour at Universal Studios, a guided experience that visits both parks on the same day and offers true backdoor access to the E-Ticket rides, so you get on all of them in a very short amount of time. The tour was originally created for celebrities, but now is open to anyone.

Our guide Kendra was hugely knowledgeable, much more so than the typical Disney Guest Relations host for similar tours. That's a credit to her and to the training at Universal. She told stories, shared secrets, and fed tidbits of information to our party at a nonstop rate. This is a first-rate experience, which surprised me since Universal has disappointed me so much lately. You get an immense amount of history (but only if you want it, which we did), you get a REAL "front of the line" pass. We were escorted backstage to see the Spider-Man vehicle bay, we visited the parade float storage between parks, we dropped into the production offices, and we stepped inside a real soundstage between the parks to get a lot of inside scoop. The tour includes free valet parking (a value of $11+) and free water and granola bars when you begin.

Pricing varies. The basic tour is $125 (or $100 if you stick with just one park) and lasts seven hours, with an hour off for lunch on your own. However, admission is NOT included. Factoring in admission, you'll pay $205 per adult (over 9 years old) to see both parks in a single day. Steep? Yes, but consider what you get for it. That price includes valet parking, all the rides with essentially zero wait, and you get the backstory and history of things that really does offer value. A private tour is available too, customized to your party size and length requirements (you can also add the Meal Deal if needed).

It's a much better deal than comparable Disney tours, which don't come anywhere close to letting you on ALL the major rides. The question of value depends on your goals. Do you only have one day to spend at Universal but don't want to choose parks? A parkhopper won't help, since the lines are usually 30-60 minutes, and you won't come close to doing everything. Frankly, the VIP tour might be worth the extra expense. I'm a tightwad, so it surprised even me to reach this conclusion, but in this case, spending more does make sense if you want to see it all in just one day. If you have two days, I'd spend a bit less and pay for the Express pass on the two days, but for a single day, the VIP tour might be the right ticket.

On the VIP tour, I had a chance to see Disaster again, so I felt it might be interesting to see if my thoughts had changed. The baby swap policy hasn't changed (I asked), so my annoyance at that still stands. The fake storyline ("I'm casting all of you for the finale!") hasn't changed, either, and on second viewing, it's just as painful. I think I actually winced physically. It's involuntary.

But while the bad stuff was still bad, the good stuff was still good. The celluloid illusion of Christopher Walken on the set, by virtue of multiple instances of the Pepper's Ghost effect occurring simultaneously, was still impressive. If anything, more impressive than my first viewing.

And the wrap-up movie at the end of the ride is still funny, and in fact funnier, than the first time I saw it. The Rock just hits all the right sarcastic notes to poke fun at action movies, and the audience interaction bits get funnier each time I see them.

On the whole, I have softened my take a slight bit. I still think the fake storyline is a major derailment and a horrible excuse for a plot, and it will still limit how often I got to see this. But just maybe I won't automatically pass this by, especially if the line is short.

More than a year ago, I tried the Meal Deal for myself, and found the experience wanting. Since I revisited Disaster, I thought I'd revisit the Meal Deal. Is it worthwhile?

The answer, by and large, still depends on how large an appetite you have. For $20, you get unlimited food (but not drinks!) at one theme park. Pay $24, and it could be in both parks. You can only use your pass at four restaurants per park, and it goes without saying we're talking about fast food. Still, each park has at least one location with some variation (Chinese, fish and chips, rotisserie chicken, etc), so it's not all pizza, hamburgers, and pasta.

What's the experience like? Often, there are long lines at these eateries, especially when compared to the non-plan restaurants. Equally obvious is the fact that the food at the plan restaurants is more bland. What's the incentive to offer great food if it's pre-purchased?

It all boils down to price for me. If you feel like you can eat three times or more in one day, at a cost of $8/plate, then you'll "save" money by buying the plan. If you eat just twice, you won't. It's as simple as that. Of course, it's a different question whether you really want three lackluster burgers per day! Trying to cheat the system with a buddy is dishonest, and ill-advised (they advertise that they will charge you if they catch you).

You can add $5 to use the pass in the evening at CityWalk (specifically, just at Pastamore, the Latin Quarter, Bob Marley, or Pat O'Brien's). Not having eaten at those places, I can't say whether this is worthwhile. My heart says yes, particularly for Bob Marley or the Latin Quarter, but I don't have direct experience to call upon.

Two of the above events, the Pirates Dinner Adventure and the VIP Tour of Universal, were arranged for me (and some other webmasters) by Orlando Fun Tickets (OFT), so I need to express a note of gratitude.

OFT is a MiceAge/MiceChat advertiser and also recently started occasionally "sponsoring" my column, though this happened without my knowledge and does not impact my impartiality, since their ads help defray website operating expenses and do not put a dime into my pocket.

Readers should be assured that I can see the inherent conflict of interest in both of the items above, and I'm aware that my credibility is at stake here. This is why I'm promising you a write-up of OFT as a Disney-related business with the same frankness and honesty that I employ when I approach everything in this space.

Let's start with assumptions. I don't know about you, but I tend to associate ticket sellers in the Orlando area with bait-and-switch operations, and I approach them with a great deal of suspicion. The vast majority of ticket sellers and resellers ("We buy unused tickets!") are shady operators. These guys hang out in 7-11s and IHOPs, and can offer steeply discounted tickets because their line of business isn't ticket sales at all; they are out to sell you condos and timeshares, and they require you to sit through a pressure-cooker presentation before you can get your very cheap tickets. Disney isn't giving them a deal on tickets; they are buying the tickets themselves and giving them to you at a loss, which they make up courtesy of those high-margin timeshare sales.

There are so many of these annoying operators in the streets right around Disney, in fact, that I have tuned them out completely and I have mentally painted all ticket sellers with the same brush. Only Disney itself (and perhaps AAA) seemed reputable. So when Orlando Fun Tickets invited me to visit their main office (not in an IHOP, natch), I came with a healthy dollop of skepticism. How exactly are they different?

For starters, they don't sell timeshares, condos, or any other property, not do they seem to accept advertising from them. This is just a ticket-based company. It is, in other words, a legitimate business which does exactly what it claims to do. It sells tickets. If you had asked me if there was such a thing as discounted Disney tickets, I would have said the answer is no. Disney doesn't discount because it doesn't need to discount, which is by and large true. But OFT tickets, it turns out, does offer discounted Disney tickets. They sell in such bulk that Disney does grant them a small discount, most of which is passed on to the OFT customers.

The discount is quite small for single day tickets, but rather substantial for the longest, most expensive tickets. If you're buying four tickets for your whole family, these are savings that will add up pretty quickly. Here are a few selections to help you compare:

Since the amount of discount over rack rate is not linear, but rather bounces up and down, you'll want to head to their website and do the math yourself for your own desired tickets.

The tickets sold by OFT are real Disney tickets, not vouchers, and will work right at the gate. They are even printed on the same cardstock.

The OFT office was large, clean, and a bit Spartan in a pleasing way. We got to see their back of house operations, which impressed me with their scope. There was a large call center, several more offices than I'd expected, and even two in-house programmers. Their phone system alone was massively expensive. All this led to an inescapable conclusion: this was not a fly-by-night operation. I'm not sure why, but this inspires more confidence in me that purchasing tickets from them would be safe.

I was also happy to learn that most of their staff comes from the theme parks. The managers had management experience with Disney, and the customer service reps came from Busch, Universal, and Disney too. That gives them a big knowledge base to work from, another thing to inspire confidence.

In the context of interviewing their staff, I became aware that OFT has only one serious competitor, another apparently honest operator who sells tickets without timeshares. In recent weeks, this operator has lowered its rates to compete with OFT. Until then, they had kept a wider spread of the discount from Disney. I view this development with hearty cheer, as this is yet another example of the customer winning when competition develops. Is the other company as reputable as OFT? I can't say, without direct knowledge of their operations and philosophy. Certainly OFT would be hard to beat on customer service and corporate vision.

OFT sells much more than just Disney tickets. Name an attraction in the Orlando area, and they'll sell you tickets for it, with varying amounts of discount off the rack rate. They will soon be expanding dramatically in Las Vegas, where they already own the domain name of bestofvegas.com, and they plan to sell tickets to shows, hotels, tours, clubs, and even dining reservations.

Much of their business, though, comes from Disney tickets. OFT is one of the only companies out there (AAA is another one) that Disney allows to use the Infinity ticket system, which prints real tickets good right at the turnstiles. Speaking of AAA, let's pause for a moment to compare them. Because their volume is so large and their reach so national, AAA may actually beat OFT's ticket prices by a slight margin.

It must also be said that OFT is not the cheapest when it comes to delivery. You can have your tickets delivered to your hotel in Orlando (they have a dedicated person for this), but it costs $12 per party for this service. To have your tickets mailed to you before your vacation costs $10 per party (their main competitor may offer free shipping, but uses unsecured United States Postal Service).

The cost of these services puts a serious dent in the savings offered by OFT, but there's a way around it: in person pick up of tickets at their office is free. Their office is located not too far from Crossroads, a shopping center near Downtown Disney at one time owned by the Disney company. Specifically, it's up SR-535 one additional shopping center, where the Hooter's and Kobe Steak House are located. You can see the Hooter's from Interstate-4. It's a full mile from DtD, though, so only the intrepid should consider walking there.

OrlandoFunTickets.com

To conclude, then, let's consider the bottom line question. Is it worth it to use OFT for your tickets? If you already belong to AAA and Disney is your only destination, the answer is probably no. I'm not sure if I would join AAA just for their discount, though, since the membership fee would probably neuter the financial advantage.

The answer is a bit murkier if you don't have AAA, and you are visiting just Disney World without a car. Since you can't reach the OFT office easily, you'll want to pay to have it delivered. Is it worth the $10 or $12 fee to save money on the tickets? That depends on what kind of tickets you are purchasing, and for how many people (see the chart above to do the math). But even if the brute force calculation shows you are "breaking even" by using OFT, it's probably worthwhile to use their service. This way, you arrive at the parks with your tickets already in hand, and can skip the lines.

Things start to clear up if you do have a rental car in Orlando. There's no question in that event that using OFT makes sense. Disney gives you no discount, so taking the OFT discount is a no-brainer.

Likewise, if your vacation plans include other destinations beyond Disney, using OFT makes a lot of sense. You can line up your tickets before you even leave for vacation, saving you valuable time and even stretching out your expenditures over time. And not to be forgotten: you save money that way on all your park and attractions admissions. For me, anyway, that's the bottom line.

The proof of any review is in the actions of the reviewer. Would I use OFT to buy my tickets? If I still lived at a distance, the answer is yes. I always rented a car in Orlando, and would have saved money at OFT. Would I use OFT right now? Well, I can't. They don't yet handle annual passes and Florida residents. But both are in the works, possibly, so by the time my renewal window comes up, it may be possible. If it is, I won't hesitate to use OFT, assuming I receive an extra discount in the process. Doing otherwise is leaving money on the table, and OFT is a professional, legitimate business I have confidence in.

As always, I urge you to do the math for yourself and your own situation. So long as it saves you money, I think using Orlando Fun Tickets makes sense.

Kevin is the author of five books on Disney theme parks, including:

• Magic Quizdom offers an exhaustive trivia quiz on Disneyland park, with expansive paragraph-length answers that flesh out the fuller story on this place rich with details.
• 101 Things You Never Knew About Disneyland is a list-oriented book that covers ground left intentionally unexposed in the trivia book, namely the tributes and homages around Disneyland, especially to past rides and attractions. Disneyland's rich history is kept alive today in little touches that are all but invisible, and this book shines a light on those tributes for all to enjoy.
• 101 Things You Never Knew About Walt Disney World follows the example of the Disneyland book, detailing tributes and homages in the four Disney World parks.
• The Unofficial Dining Guide to Walt Disney World provides current menus and prices for all restaurants at Walt Disney World parks and hotels, including Downtown Disney and even the non-Disney restaurants in the area around the Disney property. Updated several times within each year, the Dining Guide makes for a perfect companion in the parks to avoid excessive walking. Its best feature is the collection of indexes, one for each park. You're standing in line for Space Mountain and crave spaghetti? No problem. Flip to "S" in the index and you'll find out which places in the Magic Kingdom offer it. No need to run around everywhere!

More information on the above books, along with ordering options are at this link. Kevin is currently working on other theme park related books, and expects the next one to be published in early 2008.