Universal Orlando’s Wizarding World Getting Ready for Gringotts
Universal Orlando is getting ready for the grand opening of Diagon Alley, their latest Harry Potter expansion which includes Gringotts Wizarding Bank, a London-themed land and the Hogwarts Express connecting Universal Studios and Islands of Adventures (& yes, a fire-breathing dragon at Gringotts). Universal also released a first look at the Goblins inside Gringotts Bank last Thursday.
With the growing excitement, everyone wants to know when the grand opening will be. While Universal Orlando remains tight-lipped as always, just last week, Jonathan Tisch, president of Loews Hotels offered some information on Fox Business’ Opening Bell about a possible date. Tisch’s “mid-June” statements seem in line with an anniversary opening for when Universal welcomed the first and wildly popular Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade (that world opened June 18, 2010).
Loews runs 4 resort hotels at Universal Orlando, including the newly opened Cabana Bay Beach Resort, which is the largest hotel to be built in the world outside of China with 1,800 rooms – and Universal will need every room and more when the expansion opens. Construction of a new pedestrian bridge which will connect Cabana Bay to the theme parks also continues.
From the looks of it, this new Wizarding World expansion is going to be a much larger expansion in size and detail than the original Potter land. Disney must be nervous. Get ready for some more amazing times at Universal Orlando! Some teasers and renderings below:
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