What does it take to build a Harry Potter land better than any other in the world? For Warner Bros World Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, the answer appears to lie in meticulous detail, creative ambition and a level of control rarely seen in the theme park industry. The expansion is still under construction, but filings from Warner Bros suggest it is being designed to be unsurpassed by any comparable land anywhere. Site preparation began last summer, nearly three years after the project was first announced.
Warner Bros produced all eight Harry Potter films and the three Fantastic Beasts spin-offs, yet its own parks have never featured lands based on them. That is because it licensed the theme park rights to Universal in 2007. Universal has made the most of them: all but one of its seven parks now houses a Wizarding World of Harry Potter, famous for fastidious attention to detail. The first, which opened in 2010 at Islands of Adventure in Orlando, recreated the village of Hogsmeade down to artificial snow in the gutters and moving models in the shop windows, set in the shadow of a Hogwarts castle made to look even taller through the old moviemaking trick of forced perspective.
Universal’s later additions raised the bar further, from a Diagon Alley crowned by the Gringotts bank in Florida to the recent “Battle at the Ministry” ride at the new Epic Universe park. Much of that consistency is written into the licence, which requires the lands to be “at a first-class, world-class level for destination theme parks unsurpassed in quality by any other destination theme park worldwide.” The agreement even dictates that only products from the Harry Potter stories can be sold, so restaurants serve Butterbeer rather than Coca-Cola, and Warner Bros must approve major creative elements from architecture to signage.
Whether the Abu Dhabi deal carries identical terms has not been made public, though it is likely to be similar. What sets the emirate’s version apart is that, like the other parks on Yas Island, it will be indoors, shielding guests from the seasonal heat while allowing more intricate scenery that will not fade in the sun or be damaged by wind. The contents have not been confirmed, but the land is rumoured to be the first to feature both Hogwarts and Diagon Alley.
No expense appears to be spared, even on merchandise: a Miral job advert last year sought a designer to deliver “best-in-class” retail products for the expansion. A consultancy working on the project has said the land is expected to open in 2029, though Miral has not officially confirmed a timeframe. The commercial logic is clear. Speaking to analysts in 2020, Comcast chief executive Brian Roberts said Harry Potter had driven “incremental attendance of about two million people” at some of its parks in a single year.
