Abu Dhabi Set To Get World's First ‘Harry Potter’ Land With Hogwarts Castle And Diagon Alley

Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi will be getting not only a Hogwarts Castle, but also a reconstruction of Diagon Alley (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Universal Studios/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)

NBCUniversal via Getty Images

The Harry Potter theme park land being built in Abu Dhabi is set to cast a powerful spell as it will be the only one with replicas of both the iconic Hogwarts Castle and the Diagon Alley street according to a government-issued construction permit.

The land is part of an expansion of Warner Bros. World which, at 153,000 square meters, was the world’s largest indoor theme park when it opened in 2018 on Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island. The expansion is expected to increase its footprint by around 26% and the permits reveal that it will also include a roller coaster themed to Warner’s DC Comics character Superman.

Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi will be the seventh theme park worldwide to feature Potter attractions and the first which isn’t operated by Universal Studios. Universal’s rights come from a 2007 licensing agreement signed with Warner Bros., which distributed all 8 movies about the boy wizard along with the three Fantastic Beasts spinoffs.

Universal subsequently opened Potter attractions in almost all of its resorts which had a magic touch on their attendance as this report revealed. This success was driven by three factors. The first is the strength of the brand as more than 600 million Potter books have been sold while the movies about them have grossed a combined $9.7 billion and the latest Potter videogame generated $850 million in just its first two weeks.

Indeed, Potter is so popular that Warner is rebooting the movies for a series on its HBO television network to bring them to the attention of a new audience. The originals are famous for their spooky intricate sets and Universal’s theme park attractions recreate them with a fastidious attention to detail. Even if you’re not a fan of the films you can’t help but be impressed by how immersive they are.

All but one of Universal’s resorts feature a full-size movie-accurate recreation of the magical village of Hogsmeade which looks like a scene from a Christmas card. Its main street is lined with shops and restaurants in cottages which have sharply sloping roofs, carved wooden doors and ornate iron signs swinging above them. Artificial snow is piled up in their gutters, smoke seems to billow from the chimneys on the roofs and the windows of the cottages are filled with moving models of colorful creatures from the films.

Even Disney aficionados agree that the land was a game-changer when it first opened in Orlando, Florida, in 2010. It spurred Universal’s chief rival Disney to respond with elaborate lands based on the Avatar and Star Wars movies. As industry expert WDW News Today explained“the fad didn’t get started until Harry Potter. It took the other companies a bit to get caught up.”

The third secret to the success of Universal’s Potter lands is the caliber of their rides which use every trick in their spell books to make fans feel like they are actually in the movies.

‘Harry Potter’ rides have previously only featured at Universal Studios theme parks. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times ).

Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

One ride is attached to a robot arm on a roller coaster track to give guests the impression they are riding on a broomstick alongside the stars of the movies. Another is an innovative roller coaster that turns to face soaring 3D screens showing Potter and co being chased through the vaults of a bank. The latest Potter attraction is in the new Epic Universe theme park and is set in an enchanted elevator – actually a ride car which rises and falls as it roves around.

Although Universal’s resort in Orlando features reproductions of the Dickensian Diagon Alley and Hogwarts Castle (or, as it’s formally known, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry), they are split across two theme parks. The original concept art for Universal’s mega park in Beijing showed that it would be home to both of these legendary locales but those plans were eventually scrapped. They are locked in for Abu Dhabi according to a government-issued construction permit.

Construction of the expansion at Warner Bros. World is already well underway. Themeparxthe world’s leading site which tracks theme park construction, has posted photos of building work on the site adjacent to the golden hangar-like theme park which is designed to look like the exterior of a sound stage where movies are made. The photos on Themeparx show a construction sign on the site describing it as the ‘Warner Bros. World Phase 2 Expansion’ and in the last few days it was joined by a QR code which links to a permit from the Department of Municipalities and Transport.

This describes the work as the “proposed New Expansion to the existing G 1 Warner Bros World in Yas Island on sector YS4 plot C2 consisting of proposed G 1 Superman coaster and harry potter Diagon Alley, proposed B G 2 Harry potter Castle, proposed G Harry potter Ride and Fores.” Desert Thrillsa YouTube channel which specialises in Middle East attractions, pointed out in a video that the ‘Fores’ likely refers to an area themed to the Forbidden Forest Potter location with its sinister giant spiders and soaring sentient trees.

Like its counterparts in other parks, Diagon Alley is expected to contain models of colossal colorful characters embedded in its wonky buildings while Harry’s alma mater of Hogwarts is a Gothic church-like structure with towering grey turrets and ornate arches. Desert Thrills speculates that, like Universal’s parks, the castle could be home to the land’s flagship ride.

Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi will also get a new Superman ride in its Metropolis land.

MSM

The permit isn’t the only evidence for the Superman ride. The construction site is adjacent to the area in the park which was once occupied with wash rooms and lies between Batman’s base of Gotham City and Superman’s home, Metropolis. Photos on Themeparx show that the area is now covered by barriers bearing the logo for ‘Lexcorp’, the fictional company run by Superman’s arch rival Lex Luthor. The barriers indicate that this area will be the entrance to the new attraction and, ahead of this, the park’s existing 360 degree Superman show has been closed.

The permit lists Egis Middle East Engineering as the consultant and Zublin Construction as the contractor. Furthermore, the construction sign states that themed entertainment expert TAIT is the creative consultant which makes sense as its Thinkwell division worked on Warner Bros. World and two other Yas Island theme parks – Ferrari World Abu Dhabi and SeaWorld Abu Dhabi.

This line up of experts is the magic formula that should make Abu Dhabi’s Potter land the most immersive in the world. That’s because Thinkwell was behind the only Potter attraction which is more immersive than the Universal lands. It helped to create the backstage tour of Britain’s Leavesden Studios where all of the Potter movies were made. It takes guests deep behind the scenes of them showcasing concept art for the characters, models of all sizes, costumes complete with video descriptions and of course props.

Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi will be the first non-Universal theme park to get ‘Harry Potter’ attractions.

MSM

They range from rows and rows of wands to cabinets containing full-size robotic creatures from the films which move at the push of a button. There are no rides but plenty of photo opps in front of green screens which insert guests into scenes from the films. Then come the sets. Guests can step into the famed Great Hall of Hogwarts Castle, pull up a squealing shrub from its greenhouse and walk through Harry’s foster family’s house.

The sets are all either the actual ones that Daniel Radcliffe and co walked on or are replicas based on the original blueprints from the movies. They look even more authentic than the lands at Universal’s parks and as this report revealed, it has been a dream ticket for Warner. So successful indeed that it has spawned a second site in Tokyo with another in Shanghai on the way.

No expense is being spared as the construction work is estimated to cost between $545 million and $816 million according to Middle East business intelligence title TREE. The higher end of this spectrum is around the cost of building an entire theme park though it’s a drop in the ocean for Miral, the company which operates the parks on Yas Island.

Miral is backed by the Abu Dhabi government and its budget is complemented with brains. As this report explained, Miral has followed a smart strategy of ensuring that each of its parks is better than their predecessors and this has made the company unquestionably the world’s leading theme park operator alongside Universal and Disney. So well-respected indeed that Disney chose Yas Island last year as the home of its seventh resort.

Miral’s success is thanks to its tremendously talented team, led by its dynamic chief executive Mohamed Al Zaabi. A supremely-talented manager, Al Zaabi began his 25-year career in business working for the UAE government. He eventually switched to Aldar Properties, Abu Dhabi’s biggest listed property developer, where he rose to the role of director of strategic investment. This gave him high-level experience of the role real estate plays at the heart of the UAE’s economy and he put it to use when he moved to Miral in 2015.

A tireless worker and master multitasker, back in 2023 Al Zaabi told me that the Potter land had already been “through many stages of design and many drafts and versions” since it was announced the previous year. “I’m sure the quality of the master plan, the quality of the design, will be either at the same level or I’m pushing my team to be even better than what you have seen in Warner Bros.” He added that it “will be a gamechanger for us.”

It is unclear if Abu Dhabi’s Potter land will be based on the books, the movies or the upcoming HBO series, the latter of which poses a potential problem for Universal. All of its rides prominently feature the characters from the Potter films who have been recast for the HBO series so if it is a huge success, Universal’s attractions would look outdated. In contrast, Miral has had time to decide which version of the characters to use.

Likewise, it’s unclear whether the Superman coaster will be based on the comics, like the rest of the DC land in Warner Bros. World, or the recent blockbuster movie starring David Corenswet. The latter seems most likely due to the success of the film and Corenswet’s promotion of Warner Bros. World last year.

An announcement about which characters will be in the Potter land was expected last year as this report explained. However, Al Zaabi told Al Etihad News in January that news is now due in 2026 and it is thought that this could come at the inaugural IAAPA Middle East Expo which is due to take place in Abu Dhabi from March 30.

The event is still on track to take place despite the military action in the region and IAAPA said in a statement on its website that it is “closely monitoring the current situation in the Middle East as developments continue to unfold. The safety and well-being of our members, exhibitors, attendees, and partners remain our highest priority. We are in communication with relevant stakeholders and will provide updates or guidance as needed. At this time, we continue to assess the situation carefully and thoughtfully.”