*Updated March 28, 2024*
Epic Universe— Universal’s new high-tech theme park scheduled to open in Orlando in 2025 — is one of the most anticipated projects being worked on in the theme park world right now. For years, the company stayed tight-lipped about what was coming to the new park. However, they’ve recently begun divulging new and exciting details about Epic Universe and its lands
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the last decade-and-a-half of Universal history, Harry Potter fans should be VERY excited for Epic Universe.
FIVE themed lands are coming to the park (including a Super Nintendo World and a land themed to Universal’s classic monsters), but those into magic wands and wizards will be thrilled to know that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter will also have a special place in this park with a land themed to the Ministry of Magic! Let’s go over ALL the details.
Background
It’s no secret that Universal was struggling in the early-to-mid 2000s. Despite strong reviews from theme park press and fans alike, the opening of Islands of Adventure in 1999 had been a bit of a mess, mainly thanks to the somewhat confusing “Universal Escape” advertising campaign which failed to get the message across that IOA was a whole new park as opposed to an expansion of the original Universal Studios Florida park.
From there, the parks dealt with corporate upheaval, the unpopular closings of classic attractions, and the tourism downturn post-9/11. It was at this moment, when things seemed bleakest, that “The Boy Who Lived” fell into Universal’s lap…almost gift-wrapped by their competition.
The Harry Potter franchise first launched with the publication of the first book in the series in 1997. Over the next decade, Potter became a pop culture juggernaut, with each book — and then the corresponding film adaptations — permeating the zeitgeist. During this period, the Walt Disney Company began pursuing the theme park rights to the property.
As we’ve detailed previously, Disney had the inside track on landing them. However, the Mouse House’s unwillingness to allow Rowling and her team creative control of the lands, combined with their somewhat…unimpressive plans for the land (which mainly consisted of a light retheme of an area of Fantasyland and a slow-moving shooter-style dark ride) led to the deal fizzling.
Once Disney was out of the picture, Universal swept in with the speed of Professor Dumbledore’s phoenix (Fawkes) and snapped up the property. They gave Rowling and her team the creative control they desired and vowed to build a high-budget land from scratch, faithful to the descriptions in the books and set design of the films.
The first Universal Potter land, now called The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Hogsmeade, opened at Islands of Adventure to massive success in 2010. The land shattered attendance and merchandise records and was widely lauded by critics and fans alike thanks to its theming and groundbreaking Forbidden Journey attraction.
A second land — Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Diagon Alley, headlined by the Escape from Gringotts attraction and featuring a facade of Muggle London — opened at Universal Studios Florida in 2014.
The land was another rollicking success, and the Hogwarts Express that connected the two lands — and two parks — was a game-changer for the industry. In the near-decade since, Universal has continued to go all-in on Potter, opening versions of the original Hogsmeade land at their Japan and Hollywood locations, while adding the revolutionary Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure to the original.
With all these expansions in mind, it’s probably a no-brainer that Universal’s new Epic Universe park will open with a new Wizarding World land. However, based on everything we know, this land will be different.
The Ministry of Magic
The Harry Potter land in Epic Universe will be focused on the Ministry of Magic. Universal has said that we’ll be able to “discover a different era of the wizarding world in an all-new land that blends 1920s wizarding Paris from Warner Bros. Pictures’ Fantastic Beasts films with the iconic British Ministry of Magic from the Harry Potter series.”
In another description of the land, Universal says “From 1920s Paris to the 1990s British Ministry, explore international wizarding communities and the magic that connects them in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™ – Ministry of Magic™.”
Entrance
The entrance to this land, like others within Epic Universe, will be through a portal. This one seems to be topped with a statue of a hand holding up a wand.
Attraction
In terms of confirmed details about the main attraction in this space, thus far Universal has not shared a lot of information. In a video about Epic Universe, a Universal representative simply said “the ride inside of that world…I can’t tell you because it has to be a surprise.”
Rumors
Reportedly, guests will enter the land through a recreation of the Porte Saint-Denis arch, and find wizarding stores including shopping, sweets, and wands similar to those featured in the other lands, but with Parisian twists.
The land is rumored to feature a large theater show with a circus tent facade similar to the one seen in the Fantastic Beasts films. The show, which will allegedly be called Le Cirque Arcanus, is rumored to include wand duels and perhaps some audience interaction.
Speaking of beasts, further rumors suggest magical creatures will be sprinkled around the land and will interact with guests’ interactive wands.
Interestingly, despite all the aforementioned Fantastic Beasts elements of the land, its main attraction is rumored to be based specifically on the original Potter series. The E-Ticket attraction is rumored to take place inside the British Ministry of Magic as seen in the original Potter books and films.
Allegedly, guests will be transported from Paris to London through the magical Floo Network transportation system. Once they arrive, they’ll be whisked onto magic “elevators” — the next generation of the Scoop vehicle system seen on The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man and Transformers rides — on an adventure featuring the loathsome Potter villain Professor Dolores Umbridge as its primary antagonist.
The land was reportedly set to feature a large virtual reality attraction revolving around flying broomsticks, set within a facade of the French Ministry of Magic. The facade is reportedly still going to be part of the land, but rumors suggest the VR attraction has been dropped, and the area originally set aside for its show building will serve as a future expansion pad.
That’s what we know about the Ministry of Magic land for now, but we should get many more details as 2025 approaches and the opening of Epic Universe gets closer!
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Are you excited for the upcoming Wizarding World land at Epic Universe? Do you think it will be the peak of Universal’s Wizarding World lands? Or, on the flip side, are you all Potter’d out, and maybe wishing a different IP had gotten its slot? Let us know in the comments below, and keep following All Ears for the latest on Epic Universe!
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Any HP expansion sounds good. But they need to be careful not to oversaturate the lands with identical wand and gift stores. Paris sounds ok as a land and the London ride sounds good. But getting to fly brooms avatar style was surely a no brainer and seems a real shame if such a ride has been dropped! I’d have thought a new land needs more than one ride and a load of shops to sustain it.
Potter fans including our whole family can never get enough of Harry Potter. We bought season passes just to go again and again to do Harry Potter things. Never enough.Harry Potter fan base rivals Marvel fan base. Keep building
Looking forward to the Wizarding World updates. The Fantastic Beasts was intended to explain how Dumbledore got the elder wand FROM the Harry story…. too many took to proving a point to JKR to give FB a chance… they couldn’t separate their opinion of the author from than love of her art… plus the switching of actors playing Grindelwald due to THAT whole false accusation debacle… didn’t help the FB franchise either…
I think that for Potter lovers, a Fantastic Beasts themed park will be a bust. Stick to Harry, he’s the money maker.
I mean the Potter Lands are great and successful, but I think its enough Potter for the parks. Maybe they could have build a kind of throwback land together with classic monsters. So Jaws, Back to the Future and other moved out IPs could get back their places. Maybe they could also move Jurassic Park there and transform the IOA version into Jurassic World, fitting in with Velocicoaster.
Pretty sure they have confirmed several times there will be a Universal classic monsters space. I also can’t see them moving Jurassic Park given they just built velocicoaster. I’m an annual passholder and happy for more magic in the parks. It’s the reason I go.