Universal Orlando unveils Harry Potter expansion plans
Universal Orlando has unveiled details of its extended Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
The Diagon Alley, set to open this summer, will have a new ride – Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts – which will be more suitable for younger riders than the award-winning Forbidden Journey.
The theme park is promising a "multidimensional, multisensory" experience as guests ride through the Gringotts bank vaults in specially designed vehicles that drop, spin and turn.
Diagon Alley will also have lots of new shops, including Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, selling novelty items and magical jokes, and Ollivander’s wand shop.
Other stores include Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions with Hogwarts school ties, scarves and jumpers, and wizard robes, Quality Quidditch Supplies with quidditch sweaters, brooms and snitches, and Wiseacre’s Wizarding Equipment with telescopes, binoculars and magnifying glasses.
The extension will be built on the site of Universal’s old Jaws ride, which closed in January 2012.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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