A Magical Time At “A Celebration Of Harry Potter” At Universal Studios Orlando

Universal Studios Orlando hosted their second annual “A Celebration of Harry Potter” event this past weekend and the Cheap Seats were there to take in multiple events over the 3 day Potter party. This year’s event featured cast members Sir Michael Gambon (Dumbledore), Oliver & James Phelps (George & Fred Weasley), and Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood) in addition to wand demonstrations from choreographer Paul Harris, artist Kazu Kibuishi, and graphic designers Miraphora Mina and Eduardo Lima.

The event kicked off Friday night with an opening night event that featured the Universal Studios Wizarding World of Harry Potter dancers and choir performing in front of thousands of Potterheads in the music plaza. Host Scotty B. then introduced the crowd to special guests from Warner Bros. Studio Tour, along with Paul Harris, Kazu Kibuishi, and MinaLima. Cast members from the films were introduced last with the loudest cheers coming from Sir Michael Gambon’s entrance, which took place via a Ford Anglia driven across the stage. The actors were all asked what they were most looking forward to over the weekend (video below) and were cheered loudly with their responses.

Over the rest of the weekend, we enjoyed everything we could see in the Harry Potter Expo, including the multiple interactive photo opportunities, and the various costumes and props from the films. Highlights were photos taken at a table in the Great Hall, house pride pictures at the GIFN area, and (my favorite) pictures taken while riding Buckbeak! The props and costumes were outstanding to see in person with personal highlights that included the Golden Snitch and Bellatrix Lestange’s costume. We encountered the cast members from the films at multiple times in the Expo as well, including the Phelps twins surprising fans that were signing a huge wall which could be written on to express what Harry Potter means to you. We were also present when Evanna Lynch surprised fans at the GIFN photo opportunity to playfully take a picture in which a Pygmy Puff mysteriously grew in size while in between shutter snaps.

Outside of the Expo, we confirmed our house assignment by way of The Sorting Hat Experience. It turns out that our family is split between Slytherin (Mary & I) and Ravenclaw (Jessie). That said, both Hogwarts houses united to take in a wand dueling masterclass taught by Paul Harris. We will no longer live in fear of the Dementors that reside within the WWoHP now. We were also able to catch cast member question and answer sessions as well as a lesson in how to “Dance Like a Beauxbatons & Battle Like a Durmstrang”. We ended our Harry Potter Celebration experience by taking in a panel on “Creating The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” featuring Michael Aiello, Patrick Braillard and Alan Gilmore.

It was a really wonderful weekend of celebrating the Harry Potter world and Universal truly did an excellent job at putting the event together. We attended the event in 2014 as well and felt this year’s celebration was years ahead in ways of planning, including cast interactions and expo hall space (moving the sorting hat outside freed up a ton of space). Utilizing the outdoor music plaza for non-expo events was a fantastic idea that allowed many more people to enjoy the event without needing to spend excess time in line. We are anxiously awaiting next year’s event and hoping that Universal is able to spread the celebration out over multiple weekends, like Disney has done with Star Wars Weekends.