To start, let’s face facts: Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley certainly represent the two most theme-park-able places seen in the Wizarding World to date. Most of the memorable moments and action in the eight Harry Potter films occurs in and around the places those lands bring to life – Hogwarts, the Forbidden Forest, Hogsmeade Village, Diagon Alley, Knockturn Alley, Kings Cross Station, et al…
And while there are plenty more places seen or well-known via the films – Azkaban, The Burrow, Malfoy Manor, etc… – nearly all lack the essential quality of being “theme-park-able.” In other words, they don’t have the architecture to disguise showbuildings; the scale to be re-create-able; obvious attractions to house; places to dine, shop, and go to the loo.
Given all that, it becomes even clearer that Place Cachée is a fine expansion of the world, even if it might as well be an original creation for all the recognizability it brings. We have no doubt that – even for those with no allegiance to Fantastic Beasts or any remembrance of its fleeting glimpse at Place Cachée, designers will do wonders to make this Parisian streetscape feel like a corner of the Wizarding World. But just for fun, let’s play with some other ideas for corners of the Wizarding World that could be “theme park-able” themselves…
1. The Ministry of Magic
There’s no doubt at all that the most obvious “third place” to bring to life in the Wizarding World is the headquarters of the Ministry of Magic – the governing body of the British Wizarding World. Not only is the Ministry headquarters a distinctive, iconic physical “place” visited occasionally and memorably during the films, but it’s one that houses plenty of theme park-ability: the iconic atrium (above), of course; but also, warehouses stocked with prophesies; offices filled with flying paper plane memos; Dementor-guarded courtrooms; and no doubt just “off screen,” cafeterias, equipment shops, and potion stores for the hard-working bureaucrats of the Wizarding World.
Allegedly, a ride set in the Ministry of Magic was once a shoe-in to be added to Universal Studios Florida’s Wizarding World (which makes sense since the Ministry is located in London, just like Diagon Alley) as a future expansion. But as Park Stop reports, the size of the planned Ministry of Magic attraction physically outgrew the expansion pad available at Universal Studios Florida, while its scope grew to that of a compelling E-Ticket headliner for Epic Universe.
The result is that now, the anchor attraction of Epic Universe’s Parisian Wizarding World will actually be set not just in the modern Harry Potter timeline, but back in London. According to Park Stop, guests will travel back to the U.K. by passing through the green flames of the Floo Network, emerging in the iconic corridor of fireplaces feeding into the Ministry’s grand hall (an opening act to rival even Gringotts’ atrium). From there, guests will be carried along by the crowd en route to the post-films, expanded-canon trial of notorious Potter baddie Dolores Umbridge when (you guessed it) something goes terribly wrong.
It’s sure to be a spectacular attraction. But we’ll go one further. We’d say that the Ministry of Magic could actually be an entire land in its own right. There are fully indoor lands out there (including Mermaid Lagoon at Tokyo DisneySea, Kung Fu Panda Land of Awesomeness at Universal Studios Beijing, and some EPCOT pavilions like The Land and The Seas), and given the funding available for Potter projects, we have no doubt that Universal could build an entire, self-contained “Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic” land.
Imagine guests entering via the Ministry’s recognizable corridor of Floo Network fireplaces (above) to find bustling wizards and witches en route to their offices; places to grab a working lunch and stock up for Ministry missions; the real, authentic commotion of this bustling space. Especially given Florida’s climate, the Ministry is a space we want to revel in, not just see as part of a queue line. It almost seems silly to have built Place Cachée – a space that’ll be lovely, but also have very little “seen-on-screen” relevance to guests – when the entire space could’ve been enclosed to create a compelling land-sized Ministry.
(By the way, rumors suggest that this third Potter land may even be called “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Ministry of Magic,” outright ignoring the Parisian setting altogether!)
2. Godric’s Hollow
Godric’s Hollow is a quaint village located in the West Country of England. It’s a tiny town named for its most famous resident – the long-dead Godric Gryffindor for whom Hogwarts’ Gryffindor house is named. It’s also a town with significant history in the Wizarding World, including the childhood home of the Dumbledore family and – most importantly – the cottage in which the Potters hid from Voldemort, still half-destroyed from the Dark Lord’s spell backfiring all those years ago. Yep, it’s Godric’s Hollow where Voldemort cast the spell that scarred Harry Potter and left the Dark Wizard powerless.
In many aspects, Godric’s Hollow is highly theme-park-able. Because it’s a cute little English village, the town is home to an inn, a church, and no doubt various shops run by magical and Muggle alike. At the center of town is a war memorial that – when approached by the magically-inclined – transforms into a statue of the Potter family. It’s also home to the cemetery where Lilly and James Potter were laid to rest – a significant (if slightly irreverent for a theme park) landmark.
Of course, it’s also not very theme-park-able, because nothing significant really happens there in the films’ timeline, and even if it did, hiding a showbuilding in a little English village wouldn’t be an easy task. Even so, Godric’s Hollow does lend itself to the broad “arc” of the Wizarding World lands’ shared narrative, in a sense: that our journey begins at Diagon Alley where we prepare and set-off, then travel to Hogwarts and Hogsmeade where we are immersed in magic, and then our journey takes us to Godric’s Hollow where we reflect on the Wizarding World’s past, present and future.
And just as Universal Creative has been tasked with creating “expanded lore” stories to fuel Escape from Gringotts and the rumored Battle at the Ministry E-Tickets, so, too, could they create a compelling E-Ticket in Godric’s Hollow. (Imagine, for example, Harry Potter and the Rise of the Dark, where guests join a post-Hogwarts Harry, Ron, and Hermione as they return to Godric’s Hollow to thwart a final, last gasp meeting of Death Eaters intent on electing from among them a new Dark Wizard to rise in Voldemort’s stead…
So sure, Godric’s Hollow may feel a little “flimsy” in its ratings of theme park-ability, but it might not take too much stretching to turn this snow-capped English village into a very cool space to bring your Wizarding World journey to a close.
3. Ilvermorny
First described by J. K. Rowling on the official canon-containing website Pottermore, Ilvermorny is the school of Witchcraft and Wizardry serving North America. Yes, the United States’ own version of Hogwarts. Supposedly started by an Irish witch named Isolt Sayre who traveled to the United States by ship in 1620, the magical boarding school is located somewhere in Massachusetts, though its exact location is hidden from Muggles – er, uh, “No-Majes” to use the American lexicon – by dense fog.
No doubt taking a page from the architecture of America’s historic, castle-like Ivy League universities rich with High Victorian Gothic architecture, the sprawling, magical campus of Ilvermorny is home to four houses named for native mythical creatures – Thunderbird, Wampus, Horned Serpent, and Puckwudgie.
The four represent adventurers, warriors, the intellectual, and healers, respectively. Very, very little is known about Ilvermorny or the magical New England fisherman’s’ village that serves as its gates. Likewise, there’s a world of distinctly-American magical creatures who could inhabit the pine forests, river valleys, and mountain streams that surround it. And that’s the best news yet.
At last, there’s literally an entire untouched corner of the Wizarding World left to explore; one not tied to the existing mythology, and one where Warner Bros. and Universal Creative can work together to literally create a whole new world. Ilvermorny is a sketch in the Wizarding World’s canon, ready to be filled in. Universal Parks could be the place to do that. Imagine being able to “live your own Wizarding World adventure,” exploring how the magic of the Wizarding World inspired colonists to build enchanted coastal villages and tame sea monsters; how American students buy wands made of wood reclaimed from Isolt’s ship; how students are sorted and what classes they attend… It’s all waiting to be written.
When the details of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge were made official, one of the more controversial elements of the land was that rather than selecting a planet already seen in the Star Wars films, the area would be set on a planet invented just for the parks called Batuu. Though the heroes and villains we know would be on hand – and though the land looks and sounds and feels like Star Wars – some fans just couldn’t get behind the idea of eschewing Tatooine or Coruscant or Naboo in favor of a planet no one had heard of or seen before. Disney’s call to “Live Your OWN Star Wars Adventure” was clever, but not everyone got on board.
It’s possible Universal would run into the same issue here, but with Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley so perfectly capturing the most iconic spots in the Wizarding World we’ve seen, what would be the harm in bringing to life a part of the Wizarding World we haven’t? I mean, if it came down to 1920s Paris or Ilvermorny – both needing to write their own stories from scratch – wouldn’t Ilvermorny be at least as interesting to visit? To see a part of the Wizarding World that’s never been given physical form before, exclusively at Universal Orlando?
Magic in the Making
It’s interesting… when all’s said and done, Warner Bros.’ Fantastic Beasts spin-off series will probably always be remembered as a bit of a “brand withdrawal” at best, and a downright embarrassing misfire at worst. But even as the three released films fade from memory, the world introduced in Fantastic Beasts is being cured into concrete as we speak at the industry-changing Epic Universe. That’s an unusually ambitious permanent ode to an already-fizzled franchise!
Likewise, seeing Universal play within the confines of the Parisian streetscape they’ve built is an interesting example of challenging the flexibility inherent in the “Living Land” model. How can a land explicitly designed to tie into Fantastic Beasts be severed from its source material and absorbed into another? Hey, even if Epic Universe’s land had kept its tie-in to the spin-off series, there’s every chance that – like Avatar – the theme park land would’ve resonate beautifully, standing strong all on its own!
But for now, it looks like we’ll see Place Cachée recast as an “expanded universe,” “build-your-own-adventure” entry in the Wizarding World saga, severed from Fantastic Beasts and absorbed into Harry Potter. Of course, that won’t stop us from daydreaming…
Which is why we want to hear yours. Were fans too hard on Fantastic Beasts? How can Universal balance what’s built into its new Wizarding World with the franchise’s future? Should Universal leave their new land set in the 1920s, or advance it to modern day and the Harry Potter mythology to align with the ride inside? If you could build your own Wizarding World, where would you like to see it set? Let us know in the comments below!
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