50 Fun Facts About The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

A 60-foot statue of which creature perches atop Gringotts Bank in Universal's Diagon Alley, above the ride entrance?

A dragon crowns the bank and appears to breathe fire over the street below. Inside, riders watch Harry, Ron and Hermione flee the vaults on the back of one.

Diagon Alley at Universal Studios Florida stands on the site of a ride, closed in January 2012, based on which film?

Jaws and its seaside town of Amity were demolished to make room for the wizarding street. A hanging shark statue was kept elsewhere in the park as a tribute.

Which rival theme park company was first in talks to build a Harry Potter land, but pulled out over creative control?

Disney planned a Harry Potter section in a corner of Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom. It walked away after finding the author's creative demands too strict, and Universal took the prize.

Which drink from the Harry Potter stories is poured in regular and frozen forms from a cart in Universal's Hogsmeade?

Butterbeer is served without alcohol at the parks, so children can order it too. Guests can also buy it in a souvenir mug to take home.

The Hogwarts Express at Universal Orlando carries guests from Hogsmeade to a replica of which real London station?

King's Cross is where Hogwarts students board in the stories, and Universal's version is a quarter-scale copy of the real terminus. Guests reach its platform by appearing to walk through a brick wall.

Which animatronic menace from the Hogwarts grounds swipes at riders on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey?

The Whomping Willow knocks riders out of the Forbidden Forest and into the middle of a Quidditch match, where Slytherin promptly scores against Gryffindor.

The Ministry of Magic land at Universal Epic Universe drops guests into which European capital in the 1920s?

Paris of the 1920s comes from the Fantastic Beasts films, whose wizarding shopping street is the French answer to Diagon Alley. Guests then jump forward in time to reach the British Ministry.

Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, the Epic Universe ride, sweeps riders into the trial of which villain?

Dolores Umbridge tries to slip away from her own trial, so riders join Harry, Ron and Hermione in the chase while dodging Death Eaters.

Each row on Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure seats one rider on the motorbike and the other in what?

A sidecar rides beside every bike, copying the flying motorcycle Hagrid uses in the first and seventh films. Each train carries seven of the pairs.

Which actor filmed his final performance as Hagrid for Universal's Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure?

Robbie Coltrane was in poor health, so only his face and head were filmed and then digitally placed on another actor's body. He died in 2022.

Which guardian of the Philosopher's Stone appears as an animatronic on Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure?

Fluffy, the three-headed dog, appears beside the track midway through the ride. The animatronic was finished only about two months before the coaster opened in 2019.

Hagrid's flying motorbike, copied for Universal's Hagrid coaster trains, first belonged to which Harry Potter character?

Sirius Black is named as the bike's original owner in the ride's pre-show, where an attempt to duplicate it by magic ends with pixies blowing up the copy.

Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts at Universal Orlando is set during the bank break-in from which story?

Deathly Hallows sees Harry, Ron and Hermione raid a Gringotts vault for a Horcrux, and the ride drops guests into the bank at the very same moment.

Which Death Eater torments riders on Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts?

Bellatrix Lestrange cuts off the track and tips it downward to punish the intruders. Ralph Fiennes also returned as Voldemort for the ride.

Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans fill which sweet shop in Universal's Hogsmeade?

Honeydukes also stocks Acid Pops, Exploding Bonbons and treacle fudge, turning sweets that J. K. Rowling invented for the books into things guests can eat.

Which Diagon Alley shop from the Harry Potter books was given an extra branch in Universal's Hogsmeade?

Ollivanders admits about 20 guests at a time to watch a wand choose one of them. The wrong wands make flowers wilt or set off a thunderstorm indoors.

Which Hogsmeade inn at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter serves shepherd's pie and fish and chips?

The Three Broomsticks hides shadowy house-elves in the rafters above diners' heads. Its menu adds pumpkin juice and strawberry-peanut butter ice cream to the British pub classics.

Which pub from the Harry Potter stories is the main restaurant inside Diagon Alley at Universal Studios Florida?

The Leaky Cauldron is described in the books as a dark and shabby inn that gives wizards their way into the shopping street from Muggle London.

Which film composer conducted the Orlando Philharmonic at the grand opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter?

John Williams scored the first three Harry Potter films and wrote the series' famous main theme. The 2010 ceremony ended with a fireworks display.

A Hogwarts lake and, for a few years, live owls set apart the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in which country?

Japan got its Wizarding World at Universal's Osaka park in 2014, the first one built outside the United States. The live owls were retired in 2018.

Universal builds every Wizarding World of Harry Potter land under an exclusive licence from which film studio?

Warner Bros. made the Harry Potter films and sold the theme park licence to Universal, which is why its own studio tour near London is not styled as a theme park.

On Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, riders tumble past a Basilisk skeleton inside which hidden part of Hogwarts?

The Chamber of Secrets scene ends with the benches being drawn into the mouth of Salazar Slytherin's statue as the Dark Mark rises above the bones.

Before the lift hill on Universal's Flight of the Hippogriff coaster, riders are told to do what to the creature?

Bow to it: on the way to the station, Hagrid's voice gives a lesson on how to approach a hippogriff properly. The trains are styled as wicker replicas of the animal.

Which creature from the Forbidden Forest spits water at riders on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey?

Aragog, the giant spider, is a full-size figure that looms over the benches, and many smaller spiders line the route back toward the castle.

What do inspectors check before guests may board the Hogwarts Express at Universal Orlando?

A ticket for both parks is needed because the train leaves one theme park and arrives in another. The trip lasts about four minutes and shows a different film in each direction.

Which wizarding vehicle squeezes between buildings in the window film shown on Universal's Hogwarts Express?

The Knight Bus also shrinks to slip under a bridge as the train nears London. Another waits on the waterfront outside Universal's Diagon Alley as an interactive experience.

Which Weasley brother, played by Domhnall Gleeson, hosts riders on Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts?

Bill greets guests in his office at the bank, then casts spells mid-ride to stop their cart from falling and to douse an attacking beast's fire.

At the climax of Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, Harry casts a Patronus Charm to drive off which creatures?

Dementors appear to draw out the riders' souls: each face is projected onto a cloud of fog while cold air hits the bench and a heartbeat thuds through its speakers.

Riders board the enchanted benches of Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey in which part of Hogwarts castle?

The Room of Requirement is where Harry, Ron and Hermione promise to meet guests, after stepping out from under the Invisibility Cloak earlier in the queue.

Which famous Hogwarts object delivers a safety reminder near the end of the Forbidden Journey queue at Universal?

The Sorting Hat is voiced on the ride by Leslie Phillips, who also spoke its lines in the films. Earlier in the queue, Dumbledore welcomes Muggles from his office.

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey lifts its benches above the track using what kind of technology?

Robotic arms let each bench tilt, pivot and even lay riders flat on their backs, though the ride never turns them upside down.

Flight of the Hippogriff at Islands of Adventure opened in 2000 as a coaster themed to which other creature?

Unicorn-shaped cars carried riders on the original version, which was called the Flying Unicorn. It closed in 2008 to be rethemed for Harry Potter.

Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure opened with seven of what, then a record for any roller coaster?

Launches fire the bikes forward and, after a dead-end spike, backward as well. The last of them pushes riders to the coaster's top speed of 50 mph.

Which creature, never shown in any Harry Potter film, appears on Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure?

Blast-Ended Skrewt figures spray smoke at riders inside Hagrid's hut, then glow all around them in a cave after the coaster's surprise drop.

Which magical plant traps the bikes just before the free-fall drop on Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure?

Devil's Snare lets go only once riders chant a light-making spell along with Hagrid, and then the whole section of track falls 17 feet.

A swarm of which creatures forced Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure to shut down briefly in 2019?

Bees surrounded the coaster less than four months after it opened. The following year a small backstage fire forced a full evacuation, with no injuries.

At Universal Epic Universe, which wizarding transport takes guests from 1920s streets to the British Ministry of Magic?

The Floo Network's fireplaces send guests forward in time from the 1920s to the 1990s as well as to another country.

In the circus stage show at Universal Epic Universe, a ringmaster steals a creature-filled suitcase from which wizard?

Newt Scamander is the hero of the Fantastic Beasts films, and the ringmaster wants his animals to restore a failing circus. The show mixes live performers with puppetry.

Riders on Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry sit in vehicles themed to which feature of the Ministry of Magic?

Its elevators go in every direction rather than just up and down, and each vehicle sits on a scissor mechanism so it can rise and tilt during the chase.

Which Dark Arts shop is the only store in Knockturn Alley at Universal's Wizarding World of Harry Potter?

Borgin and Burkes sits in a dingy side street off Diagon Alley in the novels. It is the lane's lone shop at Universal, though the books give Knockturn Alley many.

Guests boarding Universal's Hogwarts Express seem to vanish through a brick wall thanks to which classic stage illusion?

Pepper's ghost lets guests in the queue watch those ahead of them appear to walk straight through the bricks to Platform 9¾. The walkers themselves only pass down a dark corridor.

Although it looks like a steam train, Universal Orlando's Hogwarts Express is actually pulled along its track by what?

A moving cable hauls both trains from an engine house, so they always set off together and pass at the halfway point. The locomotives' driving wheels are fake.

The Hogwarts Express trains that link Universal Orlando's two Harry Potter lands were built in which European country?

Switzerland's builders made them in the town of Goldau from aluminium and plastic, then weathered the finish so they would pass for an old steam train.

Which Auror greets passengers as Universal's Hogwarts Express arrives at its London station from Hogsmeade?

Alastor Moody waits on the platform at the end of the trip, while Hagrid does the same job for trains pulling into Hogsmeade.

Singing sorceress Celestina Warbeck performs live in Universal's Diagon Alley with which backing group?

The Banshees back a singer whom the books mention only briefly, in a remark by Molly Weasley. Universal gave her a full stage show of her own.

The first Wizarding World of Harry Potter took over part of which original land at Universal Islands of Adventure?

The Lost Continent was a land of myths and legends, and two of its coasters were simply rethemed for Harry Potter rather than torn down.

Riders leaving Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey exit into which Hogsmeade gift shop?

Filch's Emporium of Confiscated Goods is also where guests collect their ride photos, a joke on the caretaker who seizes pupils' belongings.

Which manufacturer built Universal's Escape from Gringotts and Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure coasters?

Intamin gave Hagrid's ride a section of track that drops in free fall with the train on it, one of very few such elements on any coaster in the United States.

Before Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, the same ride technology was rumoured for a ride based on which film?

Van Helsing, Universal's monster-hunter film, was to get the attraction until the plan was scrapped. Harry Potter later took both the technology and the plot of land.

The London Symphony Orchestra recorded the music for Universal's Hogwarts Express at which famous studios?

Abbey Road hosted the session in March 2014, a few months before the train opened, and each direction of travel got its own piece of music.