New ‘Harry Potter’ Theme Park Expected To Be Unveiled Tomorrow

Byexpertzeeshan

Warner Bros. is expected to lift the curtain on Tuesday on its most groundbreaking Harry Potter theme park land which is likely to feature one of the most requested rides in the history of the franchise – a simulated flight in an enchanted Ford Anglia car.

The theme park lands based on the Potter movies are renowned for being the most immersive in the industry. Located in six of Universal’s parks, they feature the same kind of intricate decor and detail you typically find on a film set.

All but one of the lands are dominated by the soaring spires of Hogwarts Castle. Potter’s alma mater sits on a man-made mountain and is home to a high-tech hybrid of a simulator and a roller coaster. However, for many guests, that isn’t the most enchanting aspect of the lands.

At the foot of the castle is a full-size recreation of village of Hogsmeade. Looking like a scene from a Christmas card it features a row of houses which appear to be made of wood and have sharply sloping roofs piled high with snow. Fake smoke billows from the chimneys and the windows are filled with moving models of the colorful creatures from the films.

Shops lie behind the façades while the castle is home to the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride which weaves its magic on guests before it even gets moving. This starts in the queue which snakes past eerily-realistic animated paintings of historic figures from Hogwarts. They are actually high-resolution screens which have an oily sheen and texture to make them look like paintings.

The line then passes through a vaulted office where a holographic projection of Hogwarts’ headmaster Albus Dumbledore talks to guests and miraculously seems to change perspective when viewed from different angles. The same effect is then used to make Harry and his chums appear on a balcony above the queue. They tell guests to join them on an adventure and, with a flick of their wands, they make snow (actually a fine foam) fall from the ceiling. The crescendo is an encounter with a talking hat which warns guests of the perils on the ride just around the corner.

Unlike most attractions, the track can’t be seen. Guests sit in a roller coaster-style seat set into a what appears to be a church bench. So the story goes, the bench has been enchanted, enabling it to fly alongside Harry on his broomstick. The seats have an over-the-shoulder harness as although the ride doesn’t go upside down, it moves at angles which none of its rivals can copy.

That’s because, ingeniously, the bench is attached to a robot arm which itself is moving on a track down below on the floor. This allows it to stop in front of huge curved projection screens and move in time with the images on them to make it seem like the riders are climbing, swooping and diving with Harry.

Another of the Potter lands features a recreation of the Dickensian Diagon Alley with massive models of colorful characters embedded in the wonky buildings. At the end of the street is the imposing Gringotts bank with its colossal marble columns and gleaming chandeliers hanging down from a domed ceiling. It is actually the queue area for an innovative roller coaster that turns to face towering 3D screens giving riders the impression they are being chased through the vaults of the bank.

The latest Potter attraction is in Orlando’s new Epic Universe theme park and is set in a magical elevator – actually a ride car which rises and falls as it roves around. The ride is hidden behind a building in a life-size recreation of a 1920s Parisian street, complete with a soaring scale model of the Arc de Triomphe. No stone has been left unturned in the designers’ quest for authenticity. The buildings are crowned with the traditional grey Mansard roofs that are common in Paris and have been artificially stained with soot. Wrought-iron Juliet balconies are found in front of the windows below and projections behind them show silhouettes of wizards dueling inside their apartments. There is good reason for this realism.

As I recently reported in Abu Dhabi-based newspaper The National, Universal’s contract with Warner Bros., which produced all of the Potter films, states that the lands based on them must be maintained “at a first class, world class level for destination theme parks unsurpassed in quality by any other destination theme park worldwide.” It sets a high barrier to beat but if any park can do it, it’s the one which is building the next Potter land.

That land is coming to Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi which recently became the first destination in the Middle East to win the Liseberg Applause Award – the theme park industry’s equivalent of top honors at the Oscars. Its Potter land will be the first ever inside a theme park bearing the Warner Bros. brand which raises expectations even higher. The park has a trick up its sleeve to ensure that the end result is even more spellbinding than its predecessors.

Warner Bros. World is indoors which shields guests from Abu Dhabi’s intense heat and also allows it to be decorated with much more elaborate scenery than outdoor parks, such as the ones in Universal’s portfolio, as they aren’t open to the elements. It means that the exteriors of the rides in Warner Bros. World are often just as detailed as the interiors of their counterparts at Universal. This has enabled the park’s operator, Miral, to build increasingly extravagant attractions and, as I have reported, it has become a powerhouse of themed entertainment. It is up there with Universal and Disney which announced last year that it was collaborating with Miral on its first resort in the Middle East.

Before the war in the region broke out in February, it was reported that the Disney resort is likely to open in 2033 whereas the Potter land is expected before then. An advertisement in May from Entertainment + Culture Advisors, a consultancy working on the expansion to Warner Bros. World, revealed that the Potter land is due to open in 2029. However, the opening timeframe hasn’t been officially announced and and concept art hasn’t even been released. In fact, a photo of Warner Bros. World accompanied by the Potter logo is the only new visual which has been released in connection with the expansion. Until now.

On Saturday, Warner Bros. posted a video on social media advertising its Back to Hogwarts Showcase, an annual event promoting upcoming Potter projects. The videos give glimpses of the announcements at the event and, understandably, the majority of the latest one focused on the Potter reboot series which is due to debut on HBO in December. However, a blink-and-you-miss-it scene shows a computer generated light blue 1962 Ford Anglia flying in front of the iconic sleek silver water tower at Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi.

The park’s water tower is one-of-a-kind so there’s no doubt about the location or that this is promoting a new development as the scene wasn’t in the videos which previewed the Back to Hogwarts events in previous years. Likewise, it seems unlikely that its inclusion was a coincidence or that plans have changed since it was released as it was only posted a day ago.

The computer generated car against the backdrop of the tower strongly suggests that a video has been produced for the expansion which will be discussed at the showcase. In the same way, the preview video for the 2024 Back to Hogwarts Showcase featured the Epic Universe Potter land which was discussed in-depth at the event. Warner Bros. has promised that the showcase will include “special surprises and unmissable announcements from across the Harry Potter universe” so it would make sense to shine a spotlight on the Abu Dhabi expansion. It would also make up somewhat for the lack of announcements about Disney’s Abu Dhabi park at its own D23 showcase earlier this month. As this report explained, Disney kept fans wanting more but they have been waiting even longer for news about the Potter land.

An announcement about the expansion was expected last year as I have reported. However, in January, Miral’s trailblazing chief executive Mohamed Al Zaabi told Al Etihad News that it was now due in 2026.

He previously revealed to this author that the Potter land had already been “through many stages of design and many drafts and versions” since it was announced in 2022. “I’m sure the quality of the master plan, the quality of the design, will be either at the same level or I’m pushing my team to be even better than what you have seen in Warner Bros.,” he said adding that it “will be a gamechanger for us.”

Although the contents of the land haven’t been officially announced, construction filings give a glimpse into what might be in store. Earlier this year Themeparx, the world’s leading site which tracks theme park construction, posted photos of building work on the site adjacent to the golden hangar-like theme park which is designed to look like the exterior of a sound stage where movies are made. The photos on Themeparx showed a construction sign on the site describing it as the ‘Warner Bros. World Phase 2 Expansion’ along with a QR code which linked to a permit from the Department of Municipalities and Transport.

This described the work as the “proposed New Expansion to the existing G 1 Warner Bros World” consisting of “harry potter Diagon Alley, proposed B G 2 Harry potter Castle, proposed G Harry potter Ride and Fores.” Desert Thrills, a YouTube channel which specialises in Middle East attractions, pointed out in a video that the ‘Fores’ likely refers to an area themed to the Forbidden Forest Potter location with its sinister giant spiders and soaring sentient trees.

As I revealed, if correct, this would make the Abu Dhabi park the world’s only Potter land with recreations of both Diagon Alley and Hogwarts. It is worth nothing that Hogwarts and the Forbidden Forest are both backdrops for showpiece scenes featuring the Ford Anglia. At one point, Harry and his friend Ron Weasley miss the Hogwarts Express train back to the eponymous castle so instead they follow its tracks in the car, flying across the English countryside. On arriving at Hogwarts, the car’s magic begins to fail and it plummets into the violent Whomping Willow tree, which inflicts severe damage, weakening it when an army of giant spiders later attack.

These dramatic events would make an ideal backdrop for a thrilling and immersive theme park ride. What’s more, it was rumored to be the theme of the centerpiece attraction in Universal’s first Potter land, which opened in 2010. As recently as 2020 fans suggested that it could be the highlight of Epic Universe but it was not to be.

One forecast that Epic Universe’s main attraction could be “one which Potter fans have been ‘asking for since the beginning’, which I feel could be the flying Ford Anglia.” The car is at the heart of some of the most show-stopping action scenes in the Potter movies and hasn’t been turned into an attraction by Universal so it’s a logical logical choice for Abu Dhabi. If it can replicate the thrills found in the film then it really will cast a powerful spell.

Additional reporting by Chris Sylt

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