UNIVERSAL ORLANDO RESORT - At the opening presentation today for the media preview of Harry Potter Diagon Alley here at Universal Orlando, Universal Studios executives announced that the Harry Potter Diagon Alley theme park addition to Universal Studios theme park will officially open on July 8, 2014.
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"This is one of the biggest moments in Universal theme park history," said Davis. "We have been looking forward to this day for four years." He noted that today's announcement came on the fourth anniversary of the opening of the original Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogsmeade, which opened on June 18, 2010. Davis said that Universal is "bringing a level of authenticity to the theme park experience that no one else in the industry can match.
"When we opened the Wizarding World of Harry Potter we changed the theme park experience forever," said Davis. "Today we are reinventing the theme park experience once again."
The Universal Orlando Resorts COO added that "We are far from finished. We have many new stories to tell. In the next few months we will be making many more exciting announcements." Media guests were gearing up for a red carpet opening reception Wednesday night (June 18) at Harry Potter Diagon Alley with cast members from the Warner Brothers films, to be followed by a media preview experience of the new rides and attractions the following day.
Davis said he could not wait to see the media members' first reactions to Harry Potter Diagon Alley and predicted that the details and authenticity of the London-themed area "will blow your minds." "As Harry Potter said himself when he first discovered Diagon Alley, 'I wish I had multiple sets of eyes to take it all in.'"