Wizarding World of Harry Potter will grand open on June 18, ride details emerge
(Photo: KEVIN KOLCZYNSKI, UNIVERSAL ORLANDO / March 25, 2010)
Now it’s official.
Universal Orlando Resort will announce today that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter addition to their Islands of Adventure theme park will indeed open on June 18.
We were asked to keep quiet on this date after we posted it early yesterday, but now that the Orlando Sentinel has posted it in an embargoed-until-midnight article, I assume the word may officially be spread.
The Sentinel’s fantastic article on their web site revealing new details about the Wizarding World. It includes the above image of Dumbledore’s office, faithfully recreated from the films.
More details surrounding the land’s main attraction, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, have emerged from the Sentinel’s article:
Be sure to read the whole Orlando Sentinel article here for more details.
As for the grand opening date of June 18… some Wizarding World-related vacation packages currently being offered hint at an earlier soft opening date of May 28.
It is common for major attractions and expansions to open weeks (sometimes months) before the official grand opening to allow time to work out the bugs. When the Islands of Adventure theme park was first ready for the public, it soft opened in March 1999 but did not grand open until May 1999. Not everything within Islands of Adventure was ready for the soft opening, so it’s possible that only the Hogsmeade Village area of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter will be ready in time for a soft opening in May.
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Has your stance on the Harry Potter movies changed? You sure post an obsessive amount of Harry Potter information for someone that has no interest in the movies (which you once said on Inside the Magic).
I’ve still only seen 2 of the movies so far, but I do plan to watch the rest before the Wizarding World opens. My interest level in the film and book series remains low, but I am excited for the theme park addition. The Forbidden Journey ride sounds like it’s going to be a lot of fun, whether you’re a Potter fan or not. The surrounding Hogsmeade Village will be an impressive area to walk around and take in all the detail.
If my goal is to cover the most exciting additions to theme parks in this area, I certainly can’t ignore the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, regardless of my personal feelings toward the subject matter.
Great answer. I understand all your points. Makes sense. I mean, you don’t need to be a fan of Spider-Man to appreciate the Spider-Man ride at IOA. Nor do you need to be into the Twilight Zone to love the Tower of Terror.
Hats off to Ricky! Keep up the good work covering the Wixarding World! You’ll enjoy the rest of the movies….and the books if you get a chance to read them between “now and then”.
We were kind of bummed out u phere in Maine to know the WWOHP was going to open so late. JUne 18th!! MY Oh My! We thought it would be SOONER, so way back in SNOWY JANUARY (Maine) we made vacation requests and flight RESERVATIONS to be there around our 40th Wedding Anniv April 25th. NOW, one can’t change flights nor vacations….huge penalties there!!
SOOO, we are PRAYING and HOPING that there will be soft openings in April that we can attend…sometmes around our 40th wedding Anniv. Between April 18-27. If we could just walk around and look, it would be a blessing to us!
If you hear anything of the sort, let us all know?
Thanks! Keep up the good work!
Senior Citizen Harry Potter “MAINE-e-acs”
Glenda & Conrad