Everything we know about Epic Universe guarantees that the brand-new theme park is going to be incredible when it opens next May. However, one of the lands that has me the most excited has to be the Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Ministry of Magic, a land that will combine two eras of the franchise into a single land. And a new piece of information adds to the land’s mystery, though it makes me wish the Wizarding World had a translation spell.
The Ministry of Magic land’s big attraction will be set in the era of Harry Potter and focus on the trial of Dolores Umbridge. But, meanwhile, the other half of the area will be set in France, as it was seen in the Fantastic Beasts movies. The Discover Universal Blog reveals that the land will include audio tracks of people chatting as a way to give the area life but, of course, that means they’ll all be speaking French. Associate producer Cara Pfost Brown said…
We’ve recorded these little vignettes and stories to kind of populate our French city with French wizarding people. So if you’re stopping by a storefront, you might overhear the storekeeper talking to clients or you might overhear some gossip.
Universal Orlando Resort receives a significant share of international tourists from Europe, so there will be those who will actually be able to understand the French conversation. Yet, for the rest of us, we’ll have to resort to other means to figure out just what the people of Wizarding World Paris are actually saying.
It makes one wonder why there was no spell in the Harry Potter universe designed to translate various languages. It seems like it would be useful and help people communicate the details that make theme parks amazing. Seriously, how was there not a charm that could be used for translation of any kind?
That rambling aside, I love this addition to the land. While I’m certainly going to want to learn what everybody is saying, just being able to walk around Wizarding Paris and hear conversations in French is going to add so much to the experience. It’s these little details and more that make theme parks wonderful. Admittedly, I'm not even that big a Harry Potter fan but everything about this new land that I’m hearing is making me one.
And this is just one of the many new lands coming to Epic Universe. The new theme park will also have Super Nintendo World, the amazing-looking Dark Universe, a land dedicated to How To Train Your Dragon and the completely original Celestial Park. Tickets for Epic Universe are now on sale. Also, the new Grand Helios Resort -- which looks to be one of the nicest theme park resort hotels ever and will have its own dedicated entrance to the park -- is now accepting reservations.
