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Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
We have some news for fans of the Harry Potter cinematic franchise — or generally, the Wizarding World — as well as of Universal Orlando Resort. This news comes from an exclusive report earlier this weekend by Screamscape: the Ultimate Guide to Theme Parks.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Universal Orlando Resort
Universal Orlando is working on a third Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park at the upcoming Universal’s Epic Universe set to open in the summer of 2025. The theme park will essentially be “the French version of the Wizarding World”. It will feature “Place Cachée”, or “Hidden Place”, which is the French version of Diagon Alley. (This appeared briefly in David Yates’s 2018 installment, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.)
Guests will visit this French Wizarding World, which will have new merchandise and food options. Interactive Wands will have a huge upgrade of “more interactive elements”. A second attraction for this theme park was scrapped due to having to move it to the main Studios park. But that is beside the larger point of this article.
More specifically, a key major attraction is in the works, tentatively called, “The Battle for the Ministry of Magic”. According to Screamscape, this attraction begins with a Floo Network consisting of “a giant room full of fireplaces that will transport you BACK to the British Ministry of Magic”. The ride will take place in the UK and will involve “an in-storyline method of transportation to get all [of] the guests back to the British Wizarding World, and back again by the end of the experience”.
“The Battle for the Ministry of Magic”
The Fantastic Beasts era’s (early-20th century) theme of Place Cachée will yield way, through this Floo Network, to a time between the Deathly Hallows conclusion of the main Harry Potter story and The Cursed Child play.
Through the Floo Network, the guests will then “move towards the center of the Ministry rotunda, which will include the huge statue at the center”. It is here that they will then traverse various hallways, passing office doors and different departments within the Ministry. One office department includes that of the Aurors. They are essentially the police officers of the Wizarding World, as seen in the later installments of the Harry Potter film series.
The actual start of the attraction (that is, the ride itself) will be at the magical elevator bays. The original vision for this part was to have overhead tracks attached to the elevator platforms. Instead, this ride will have “heave” movements that involve lifting and dropping sensations, as if actual elevators. (Warner Brothers, take note. I want a Willy Wonka theme park with the full works, including the Great Glass Elevator.) At this portion of the ride, guests will find themselves loading into a dual-side station.
Guests will exit through a gift shop area and through the Floo Network. There, they can find themselves back at the Parisian Wizarding World theme park.
In terms of this attraction’s storyline, a key antagonist from the Harry Potter films will be at trial and two beloved Harry Potter characters will eventually become Aurors. From here, I will dive deeper into the details of the ride. This will involve potential spoilers for both Fantastic Beasts and Harry Potter, but more of the latter. Read ahead at your own risk.
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