Hippogriffs, centaurs, unicorns, and Nifflers began magically appearing on Morven Park grounds in mid-September as part of the U.S. debut of “Harry Potter, A Forbidden Forest Experience” (https://hpforbiddenforestexperience.com/leesburg/).
Of course, all the installations of the outdoor trail experience for Harry Potter fans were a closely guarded secret, except for a few scenes we were able to pry from the publicity department of Warner Bros. Themed Entertainment which developed the experience with publicists and theatrical producers Fever, Thinkwell and Unify.
The outdoor experience, inspired by the Haunted Forest depicted in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling and associated movies – particularly the Fantastic Beasts movies – opens in October in Leesburg and Westchester, New York, as well as Groenenberg, Belgium and is returning to Cheshire, London. Here, the experience will run from October through January. October has already sold out with limited availability in November and December. Plenty of tickets remain for January.
By then, some 200,000 visitors will have made their way through the show, said Stacey Metcalfe, executive director and CEO of Morven Park, adding that it was a huge honor to be selected for the show’s limited U.S. run. Heather McGill, Producer and Creative Director at Unify said, “The venue at Morven Park offers us beautiful, dense woodland with pathways, which is perfect for our guests to enjoy the magic of this experience.”
In addition to the trail populated by fantastic beasts, which can be enjoyed at visitors' own pace (estimated to take 60-90 minutes), Potter fans will find a themed village at the end of the trail with food, drink, and a gift shop with merchandise from the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts movies. Ticket prices range depending on the session time, but start from $25 for children and $36 for adults, and will be available on Fever’s marketplace here. (https://feverup.com/m/116915)
Each location of Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience has partnered with a charity to help contribute to reforestation and sustainability projects. The Leesburg and Westchester locations have partnered with One Tree Planted (https://onetreeplanted.org/). The partnership provides guests the option to donate the price of a tree. Donating $1 will buy a tree within One Tree Planted projects and contribute towards creating the forests of the future.
“The venue at Morven Park offers us beautiful, dense woodland with pathways, which is perfect for our guests to enjoy the magic of this experience.”