Universal City, California, December 8, 2015 – It’s official:  “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™” will open at Universal Studios Hollywood on Thursday, April 7, 2016, marking the highly-anticipated arrival of the West Coast’s dynamic new immersive experience at The Entertainment Capital of L.A.

            This eagerly-awaited news coincides with the launch of the destination’s spellbinding campaign, which is stylistically designed to sweep guests into the land’s magical world through the lens of imagination.

            The campaign is anchored by a new television spot designed to build suspense and enthusiasm while evoking a sense of wonder and succinctly capture the magical appeal that “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” has for cross-generational consumers as it announces the April 7 opening date. 

            In making the exciting announcement, Universal Studios Hollywood illuminated the land’s Hogwarts castle to signal the arrival of today’s momentous news.
            To see the new campaign spot including a glimpse of the new land and today’s news, please click here.

More than five years in the making, and inspired by J.K. Rowling’s compelling stories and characters that were brought to life in the Warner Bros. films, “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” is being masterfully recreated with impeccable detail as a real-world interpretation at Universal Studios Hollywood.  The land will be faithful to the visual landscape of the fiction and films, including Hogwarts castle which will serve as its iconic focal point.

From its snow-capped roofs and cobblestone streets to the historic British sensibilities that characterize the whimsical look and feel of the land, “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” will transport guests of all ages to the very places they read about in the stories or watched on the silver screen.

Upon entering the land through the archway, Hogsmeade will bustle to life with the same vitality of a quaint local village: merchants hard at work, a train conductor welcoming new arrivals and a pub packed to the gills with hungry patrons, but with the added element of enthusiastic guests intent on experiencing them all, including the land’s signature ride, “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey,” and the family outdoor coaster, “Flight of the Hippogriff™.”

An achievement in pioneering theme park ride technology, “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey” will make its U.S. debut at Universal Studios Hollywood in hyper-realistic 3D-HD designed to further immerse guests in an already engaging storyline.  The multidimensional thrill ride features a groundbreaking robotics ride system, fused with elaborate filmed action sequences and immersive visceral effects.  In this updated adaptation of the ride, guests will sport Quidditch-inspired 3D goggles as they venture through journeys experienced by Harry and his friends, spiraling and pivoting 360-degrees along an elevated ride track on a whirlwind adventure of a lifetime.

Also within “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter,” the enchanting family coaster, “Flight of the Hippogriff™” will open as Universal Studios Hollywood’s first outdoor roller coaster.

“The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” will resonate with immense detail, inviting guests to revel in Harry Potter’s world with the opportunity to enjoy authentic food and beverage at multiple locations, including Three Broomsticks™, and Hog's Head pub, as well as the Magic Neep and Butterbeer™ carts.

A foray through the shops will add to the authenticity of the land with eight retail venues and locations, including Honeydukes™, Ollivanders™, Owl Post™, Zonko’s™ Joke Shop, Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment, Dervish and Banges, Gladrags Wizardwear and Filch’s Emporium of Confiscated Goods™.

Currently, Universal Studios Hollywood in-park guests can experience and purchase authentic merchandise, including wands, robes and other collectibles from "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter," available within the Features Presentation shop, located just inside the theme park’s main entry.

As the countdown to the April 7th opening date continues, the website invites guests to learn more by signing up for the latest news and information at www.universalstudioshollywood.com/harrypotter/signup.

Join the conversation online using #WizardingWorldHollywood. Like Universal Studios Hollywood on Facebook and follow @UniStudios on Instagram and Twitter.
 
About Universal Studios Hollywood:  Universal Studios Hollywood, The Entertainment Capital of L.A.SM, includes a full-day, movie-based theme park and Studio Tour; the CityWalk entertainment, shopping and dining complex, the Universal CityWalk Cinemas and the “5 Towers” state-of-the-art outdoor concert venue. World-class rides and attractions include the renowned, behind-the-scenes Studio Tour featuring the intense “King Kong 360 3-D” attraction and the all-new “Fast & Furious—Supercharged” thrill ride as the Studio Tour’s grand finale.  Other popular rides include the 3D-HD adventure, “Despicable Me Minion Mayhem” and immersive “Super Silly Fun Land,” the critically-acclaimed mega-attraction, “Transformers™:  The Ride-3D,” “Revenge of the MummySM—The Ride,” “Jurassic Park® —The Ride,” “Springfield,” hometown of America’s favorite TV family, adjacent to the award-winning “The Simpsons RideTM” and the “Nighttime Studio Tour” which runs on select evenings.
 
About Warner Bros. Entertainment: Warner Bros. Entertainment is a global leader in all forms of entertainment and their related businesses across all current and emerging media and platforms.  A Time Warner Company, the fully integrated, broad-based studio is home to one of the most successful collections of brands in the world and stands at the forefront of every aspect of the entertainment industry from feature film, television and home entertainment production and worldwide distribution to DVD, digital distribution, animation, comic books, video games, product, and brand licensing, international cinemas and broadcasting.

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From Thanksgiving weekend. You can see all the great progress on Joker. 

As is par for the RMC conversions, much of the old structure is now gone. 

Working on the new first drop

Supports for the station turn around ... scroll down to see how different it looks this week. =)

Let's move on to this past weekend and we can see there's definitely been some progress made in the past week. 

It's a rainy Chanukah day today at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. ​

A lot of work is happening on the Joker. The drop out of the station is up! ​

All this track was added in just the past week. 

Everything is a walk on today. Gotta love the off season! ​

More Joker updates, with the top of the lift hill peaking over the park and the bottom of the first drop ​

Thanks again to Stephen and Andrew for two great weeks of updates!!! We really appreciate it. 

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Today is the national "Day of Giving", a day when we are to encourage people to give to charity and help out their fellow man. This is a great thing, and is something we encourage all of you to do. 

Many corporations are doing "matching" donations in honor of the Day of Giving, so be sure you are looking to see where your giving could have the most impact. In addition, many employers (mine included) do a "match" for charitable donations throughout the year. 

Today we are also announcing that ALL of our site revenue for December will be donated to the amazing Give Kids The World. 

Click to make a donation to Give Kids The World today. 

If you donate to GKTW today (Tuesday December 1), an anonymous donor is matching your donation up to $50,000. So lets make sure GKTW hits that $50,000 total for today. This is a charity that is near and dear to our hearts around here. Information on the Day of Giving event is below. 

We have one day for giving thanks. Two days for getting deals. And one day for giving back.
#GivingTuesday is a global day of giving where people from all over the world give to their favorite charities.
Together, we can make a difference in the lives of children with life-threatening illnesses.
On this day only, your donation will be matched up to $50,000 by an anonymous donor which means you can DOUBLE your impact!
Happy Holidays and Happy #GivingTuesday!

In addition, below are some of the great charities that are near and dear to us, even if you can't give of your hard earned money, find a way to donate some of your time to help. 

All of these charities need volunteers for one thing or another. There are also walks offered by pretty much all charities now and are a great way to stay fit while giving something back. 

Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Los Angeles
National Multiple Sclerosis Society
Alzheimer's Disease Resource Center

Today (December 1) is also World's Aids Day, so here are a couple of great charities in honor of that. 

Broadway Cares
Until There's a Cure

Thanks for all of your support for our site and hope you have a great holiday season and a happy New Year. 

Gregg, Chris, Matt and RD. 

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Written by Gregg Condon

Welcome to the LA Zoo Lights

Ready to flip the switch

Christmas in Southern California ... =)

The lights are beautiful

One of the improvements this year is a night tour of The Lair

Musical Flaming O's

One of the biggest improvements this year was moving the elephant light show to a much bigger area to improve the bottleneck that was created last year. 

​Be sure to check out the video of the show below. 

Disco Christmas

Love the tunnel of lights

Be sure to check out LA Zoo lights now through Jan 3

Be sure to enter our contest (details above). We'll also be at the "Reindeer Romp" this Sunday so we'll be checking out all of the daytime holiday fun at the Zoo. 

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During our visit of about 10 hours we spent time enjoying Ghost Town, a few of the shows, relaxing in Santa's Cabin and only rode 1 actual ride (Christmas on Engine 41) and we still didn't manage to see everything. There's simply that much to do. ​

The Chicken Dinner Restaurant, which is undergoing some major changes over the next few months

Obligatory Ghostrider Construction shot ... 

Engine 41 is all decked out for the holidays. 

​Be sure to get a seat inside one of the cars, we sat on the outside and there really wasn't much that was "Christmas" about it. 

Future stage location

Current stage location

The Christmas Snoopy on Ice show is back and is absolutely fantastic as always. This is always a crowd pleaser. 

Sup man ... 

Toy Soldiers

Snoopy!!!! 

The Calico Saloon show, always a treat and great fun. 

The Christmas show is pretty much a variation on the normal show, but still great fun. 

Obligatory Coaster shot ... 

The Tree Lighting show is a bit long, but the crowd seemed to enjoy it and we certainly aren't the target demographic for this. We kept waiting for the Hangman, err, hang person, err, Shannon to show up. =)

Knott's looks beautiful all the time, but nighttime during the holidays really brings out the beauty in this park. 

Absolutely perfect shot of Ghost Town by Matt ... 

Thanks once again to Knott's for an amazing day in the park, we had an unbelievable time and can't wait to head back for more Merry Farm!! 

Welcome to bizarro Dark Harbor, err, Chill. =)

Snowman says sup ... 

Awesome Carolers 

For those familiar with Dark Harbor you'll be pretty familiar with the layout of Chill

Our favorite part of Chill was easily the Ice Kingdom

Sliding in a tube ... check

Stage for singers ... check

Ice House ... check

Everything in the house is made of ice ... including the walls. So yeah, it's cold. They give you parkas but we suggest gloves as well. 

Great scenes made of ice

Ice Slide!!! 

Great Cancy Lane with lots of snacks and more

Ice Skating in the shadow of The Queen Mary

Opening night featured skydivers lighting the tree

Penguins!!! 

Thanks Queen Mary for a great night of fun. Everybody should go  check out Chill, it's great family fun!!