Wizards, Warlocks and Harry Potter Fans, Rejoice: Diagon Alley Has Arrived!
Harry Potter fans, Rejoice! You now have yet another reason to visit Orlando this summer: Diagon Alley — an addition to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter — officially opens at Universal Orlando Resort. Diagon Alley debuts four years after mobs of Harry Potter followers first descended upon The Wizarding World of Harry Potter — Hogsmeade. Visitors to Universal will now be able to board a real Hogwarts Express train from Hogsmeade to Diagon Alley, the cobbled passageway only accessible to (fictional) wizards.
Muggles (or non-wizards, in Harry Potter terminology) will be able to frequent the alley’s famous shops just as the wizards in the books do. Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, Quality Quidditch Supplies, Borgin and Burkes, and the popular pub Leaky Cauldron, are among the shops on display. Park attendees must purchase a park-to-park ticket ($136 for a one-day adult pass) to travel between the two Harry Potter attractions.
The main draw of Diagon Alley will be Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts – a ride that Thierry Coup, senior vice president of Universal Creative, describes as one that “raises the bar” for Universal.
Coup explains how the four-minute attraction works: Riders will enter Gringotts Wizarding Bank, a structure that towers over Diagon Alley and features a 60-foot, fire-breathing Ukrainian Ironbelly dragon on top. Individuals will be asked if they want to open a savings account by animatronic goblins that look remarkably like the creatures in the Harry Potter movies (Gringotts is owned and operated by goblins).
Two carts carrying 12 passengers each will then sail underground on tracks that twist and turn; the carts speed past customers’ bank vaults, which are hidden and protected in stone.
Riders will soon find themselves surrounded by Harry, Hermoine, Bellatrix Lestrange and Death Eaters who are engaged in an intense wizarding battle (duck!) after Harry and Hermoine are caught stealing a horcrux that belongs to Lord Voldemort (aka “He Who Must Not Be Named”).
Riders will feel sensations of “being launched, shaken, and dropped,” says Coup. But passengers with sensitive stomachs need not be alarmed – Coup notes that Universal “tamed down the amount of abrupt motion” that can be felt on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride (not recommended after a meal or for those who are easily nauseated). The Gringotts attraction will also be available to a larger range of Harry Potter fans – there is no weight restriction, unlike on the Forbidden Journey.
