The First Photos of Inside The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios

June 17, 2010 at 8:30 AM | by JetSetCD | Comments (7)

There's now less than 24 more hours until The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opens to the public at Universal Studios' Island of Adventure theme park in Orlando, and Potter fever is running high.

Up until now, very few glimpses of the new park have been revealed, but last night they opened it up to media and special guests for a ceremony with the stars of the movies. We were right there, and although we'll have more on the happening of last night very soon, let's focus on the basics first and foremost.

The Wizarding World has everything you'd expect of a theme park, just more compact and infinitely more focused, as every detail is overseen by JK Rowling and the people behind the movies. There are a restaurants, a full shopping street in Hogsmeade, two roller coasters, several other "experiences" like having your wand choose you in Ollivander's, and finally the ride/virtual reality experience in Hogwarts Castle, called "Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey."

As we experience the park and note the fine details, we'll keep updating this story with additional photo galleries, so keep checking back through Friday.

Since we just finished reading the entire Harry Potter series like two weeks ago, you can expect our references to be accurate and our fervor great—but not everything can be good; it's definitely a very pricey park to enjoy. We'll get back to that later as well.

Disclosure: We're at The Wizarding World as a guest of Universal Studios, but all views expressed here are completely our own.

[All Photos: Jaunted]

Comments (7)

Return to » The First Photos of Inside The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios

I think Orlando's a great place to feature Hogwarts, and all the places from the books. I haven't been there yet, but I've heard that it looks and feels like the real places, so if you get that genuine feeling, does it really matter where it's built?

I think there's appeal in both places, and they should both get one!

These are not the first pictures from inside the wwohp. There are millions of pics online. As for the area...love it. Its amazing and England couldn't handle the demands this area puts on an area.

While there aren't millions of pics (yet), our pictures are our own and not sent by their press people, and they come during the first official day of the park's existence since last night ended the "test phase."

I wish that the park was located in California, but I'm super happy that it's in the states at all. England got to host all of the movie locations so I'm glad that we get SOMETHING. The park looks just as magical as I imagined. I watched video footage of the opening and actually started crying. All of the wands and fireworks and the glorious John Williams score - it was almost too much. I wish that I could've been there!

I think that both England and Florida should have theme parks- but does it make it less original if there are 2?

Orlando is a magical city already and a perfect place to bring the magic of the movies alive! The pictures are fabulous.

Jaunted

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