02:19 - Source: CNN
Harry Potter attraction opens at Universal Hollywood
CNN  — 

Always secretly wished that an owl – or a half-giant, if you’re really special – would one day fly into your apartment to deliver a parchment bearing news that you’ve been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?

Us too.

Universal Studios Hollywood is now home to the next best thing – the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It’s about 10 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

DAVID SPRAGUE/Universal Studios Hollywood
Universal Studios Hollywood opened its Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction on April 7. The new addition took five years to create.
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Visitors arrived before dawn to be among the first to enter Wizarding World's "Hogsmeade" village on opening day.
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The gargoyle guarding the headmaster's office at Hogwarts will likely make Dumbledore fans a little nostalgic for the books and films.
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The animated talking portraits are convincing -- until you realize they won't open up to expose a secret tunnel for you to climb into.
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Wizarding World has two roller coasters -- the outdoor "Flight of the Hippogriff" and the 3-D-based "Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey" ride, located inside Hogwarts castle.
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The Hollywood opening means Universal Parks & Resorts now has three Wizarding World of Harry Potter attractions. The Orlando version opened in 2010, while Universal Studios Japan -- located in Osaka -- welcomed its Wizarding World in 2014.

The park unveiled its long-awaited $500 million attraction – five years in the making – on April 7, 2016. Tickets for opening day sold out days in advance, causing the park to halt online sales for the first time ever.

Thousands of fans gathered at the entrance before dawn, waiting to be among the first to set foot in Hogsmeade, the quaint cobblestone village where Hogwarts students – and now muggles, too – can enjoy a butter beer or have a wand “choose” them at Ollivanders Wand Shop.

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Universal Studios Hollywood attracts millions of visitors each year to its movie-based theme park and studio backlot, where tourists can explore how movie magic is made.

Meanwhile J.K. Rowling’s fictional universe is still enthralling fans across generations almost two decades since the first novel, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” came out in 1997.

One of the main Potter-themed rides at the new Universal Studios Hollywood park is the Forbidden Journey, a roller coaster that combines motion thrills with 3D HD technology – a first in the U.S.

It takes riders through the classrooms and corridors of Hogwarts and up above the castle grounds.

Economic wizardry?

The new Potter attraction will likely bolster Southern California’s reputation as one of the world’s theme park capitals.

“I literally have six wands in my office at city hall,” gushed Eric Garcetti, the major of Los Angeles, on the red carpet at the Potter park’s opening.

The Democrat – and Potter superfan, apparently – has set a goal to attract 50 million tourists to Los Angeles by 2020.

The Wizarding World made its debut in Florida’s Universal Orlando in 2010, and in Japan in 2014, which have both boosted revenues for parent company Comcast Corporation.

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