It seems like we’ve been anticipating the Diagon Alley expansion for a long time without a sense of progress, but today Universal Parks folks sat down and detailed the kind of attractions the massive expansion will boast as an addition to the already massively popular Wizard World of Harry Potter.
Non-spending-all-your-cash attractions will most notably include a ride that park planner intend to eclipse the infamous Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, which from what I understand is either the best thing to ever happen to you in a theme park, or the place you most likely last saw a complete stranger puke without alcohol being involved. The ride to beat Forbidden Journey is going by the name Harry Potter and the Escape From Gringotts, and will attempt to recreate for the individual fan Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s escape, on the back of a blind dragon, from the most heavily guarded building in Anglican wizarding society: Gringotts Bank. The exterior of the ride itself (or, of the park’s replica Gringotts) even features a dragon perched on the roof, that belches fire “quite frequently.”
Diagon Alley is planned to double the size of Wizarding World, expanding the “locations” featured in the park from Hogsmeade and Hogwarts to Diagon Alley (obviously), the Leaky Cauldron, and King’s Cross Station, from which visitors will be able to take a Hogwarts Express train to travel between the two halves of the park.
But it wouldn’t be a real theme park based on a fictional retail shopping center without shops and restaurants to test the limits of your wallet, and so this post would not be complete without mentioning that the park will come complete with Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions, Magical Menagerie (which will sell only plush animals, thank goodness), Wiseacre’s Wizarding Equipment, Quality Quidditch Supplies, and Scribbulus; as well as the restaurants The Leaky Cauldron and Florean Fortescue’s Ice-Cream Parlour.
For more details on Universal’s announcement, check out USA Today.
