First Look At The Entrance To The Harry Potter And The Forbidden Journey Attraction In The Wizarding World

in Theme Parks, Universal Orlando

Harry Potter Entrance

Universal Orlando has released a new photo offering a first glimpse at the elaborately-themed entrance to the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey attraction, the cornerstone of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter expansion to their Islands Adventure theme park.

The Hogwarts Castle entrance is seen in the background of a photo from a recent series of pictures featuring several Harry Potter film stars taking a tour of the Wizarding World:

Since the ride’s entrance area is not at the center of attention in the original photo, I had to enlarge and crop the full image, resulting in the somewhat blurry picture you see above. (If/when Universal releases a high-resolution copy of this photo, I will update this post.)

Blur aside, and a few new details can be seen in the photograph.


When walking to the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey attraction, the obvious focus is the immense replica of Hogwarts Castle towering overhead. Guests pass between two winged hog statues to enter the castle grounds.

Update: Just after posting this, I was told by someone who attended a recent Wizarding World preview that the pillars underneath the winged hogs “have a fiber-optic effect in them … that magically makes the words ‘Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey’ appear every few seconds. Amazing.” He noted a similar effect as the Hollywood Tower Hotel signposted outside Disney’s Tower of Terror attraction.

But this shot also reveals a first look at the “test” seats, located just to the right of the entrance. These seats give approaching Guests a chance to see how it feels to pull the over-the-shoulder harnesses down, which will be required to ride. According to The Disney Blog, these seats also feature a sensor informing Guests if they are too large to fit the harness properly. Since the ride will feature “dramatic aerobatics,” placing Guests on the end of a large robotic arm, it’s certainly necessary to make sure they are safe. And while just two seats are placed here for testing, it has been said that the ride will feature 4 side-by-side seats per “enchanted bench” ride vehicle.

Posted next to the test seats is what appears to be one of the ride’s many safety signs, letting Guests know what to expect. At the top of the sign, the black rectangular area is likely where the attraction’s wait time will be posted. It should be noted that there are appears to be space for up to 3 digits there, indicating that wait times are surely expected to top 100 minutes.

Hogwarts Castle has shaped up to be one of the most impressive attraction entrances in all of Orlando’s theme parks. When the Wizarding World of Harry Potter grand opens on June 18, the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey attraction will certainly be the center of attention.

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