For the most part, we couldn’t be more excited for Epic Universe.
However, we have to be honest that while the concept art and the photos we’re seeing of the new park look incredible, there are still a few things we’re a little worried about. One of them is the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Ministry of Magic land — how exactly are they going to pull this one thing off?
One of the biggest things that sets apart Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, the existing two sections of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Orlando, is their immersiveness.
If you have a park hopper ticket, you can take the ACTUAL Hogwarts Express to and from both parks (Diagon Alley located in Universal Studios and Hogsmeade in Islands of Adventure) without ever having to leave the “world” of Harry Potter. This is HUGE when it comes to feeling like you’re in the universe, and the Team Members really play along with you sometimes as well!
Now, if you don’t have a park hopper ticket, you can’t board the Hogwarts Express, or if the train is down, you’ll have to walk out of the front of either park, walk across CityWalk, and then arrive at the other, which breaks that immersiveness, but that doesn’t happen too often.
Our concern is this: the Ministry of Magic is located TOO far away from the existing two parks to be connected by the Hogwarts Express, so as far as we know, there will be no way to travel between the new and existing lands without having to break the magic and travel outside of the park.
Will this be a dealbreaker? From the start, that’s not likely for many Harry Potter fans, but as Epic Universe’s “newness” wears off in the first year or two, then families may choose to skip the park if they’ve got a short trip, seeing as transportation between Epic Universe and the other parks will be more time consuming.
Now, if Universal is able to introduce another form of Harry Potter specific transportation that would somehow exit from the back of Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley and be themed to the universe (say, the Knight Bus? Maybe?), it may be more appealing for Harry Potter fans looking to experience all three lands. Universal could have something up their sleeve about this and just not announced it yet, so we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled — stay tuned to AllEars!
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Are you looking forward to Ministry of Magic? Tell us in the comments!
Trust me, the little train ride between parks is neat and all, but majority of people do days based on parks, not lands! Yeah, everyone tries out the express, but usually experienced park goers aren’t riding that train all the time! Epic Universe is not gonna connect to the other two parks because of the unmanageability of it and simply put it isn’t a game changer!Epic Universe is set-up to make something happen that has never happened in a theme park, which is dividing everything up through portals and with that it is years ahead of the other two parks Harry Potter lands!