I’m not usually one to jump on the waitlist for events. But when I saw in July that a new Harry Potter event was coming to Leesburg, Virginia, I put my name on the list for early access! After all, it’s not often that the Wizarding World has a new event–much less one in my state. I wasn’t surprised to see tickets going fast within an hour of early access opening up, but despite the rush, I was able to secure 2 tickets and parking for the 2nd weekend of Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience.
This past weekend, after several months of waiting, I grabbed my Hufflepuff friend and drove 4 hours up to Leesburg to see if this new event was worth all the hype!
Now, if you’re a HP fan, you already know that the options for diving into the Wizarding World are pretty much limited to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. While a number of off-brand events and experiences are available around the world, the “official” ones are few and far between. That’s part of what made this particular experience so exciting to me–not to mention it was within easy driving distance, unlike Universal Studios. However, this new event is only available in four cities around the world, which means it’s still fairly limited. But maybe that will change in the years to come!
If you’re thinking about grabbing your own tickets for the Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience, here’s what’s in store for you!
What to Expect at the Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience
First things first, I want to clarify what this experience actually is. I went into it with a much different picture in my head than what was in store. And while I came away pretty happy overall, it did throw me off just a bit.
This Forbidden Forest Experience is an immersive interpretation of what it would be like to walk through the Forbidden Forest at night. While you’ll occasionally stumble across some familiar characters, it’s almost like you’re on the edge of the different movie scenes that happen within the forest.
There are quite a few cool light and fog effects that make the forest feel spooky and appear to be filled with watching eyes. But it also has light-hearted parts where you’ll stumble across Niffler nests, pygmy puffs, and even blast-ended skrewts.
As you walk, you’ll be treated to a variety of soundtracks from the movie, plus the occasional audio clip to complement a scene. I also particularly loved the animatronics in several scene recreations and the well-hidden projector screens that help centaurs, dementors, and even a rare unicorn come to life right before you!
But this experience is also interactive! In two locations, you’ll be able to choose a wand and step right into the magic, including a chance to cast your own Patronus charm!
Quick Overview of Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience in Leesburg
Getting Started
Our journey began in a small “village,” right in front of the eye-catching stag Patronus statue. The village offered all sorts of tasty treats and merchandise to kick-start our adventure, from mulled cider to donuts decorated in spider webs and house-themed trinkets.
Once we entered at our check-in time, we were free to browse the village or hop right in line to enter the forest with the next group.
Our first stop was just a short way down the path, where a worker gave us a few standard rules for enjoying the event before sending us off into the forest.
Enjoying the Walk
The path was well-defined and even, so we had no trouble navigating it, even when the lights were dim. We figured out pretty quickly that everything was more enjoyable with less of a crowd, so we alternated between hanging back and pushing ahead of the rest of our group so we could get better pictures.
I loved that every single part of the trail was part of an atmosphere. The “scenes” were fairly spread out, but the walk to each one was its own experience. I thoroughly enjoyed scanning the woods for things like Niffler nests, glowing creature eyes, Death Eater symbols, and more! In many places, they cast cool light patterns onto the trail to resemble tree shadows, and they had just the right amount of fog to make things a little (but not too) eerie. In other places, the scene was lighthearted and just plain magical!
While the trails tended to be dim, the scenes were well-lit, so it was easy to get pictures of (and with) characters like Buckbeak, Grawp, Aragog, and Hagrid.
My favorite parts were definitely the interactive sections, however. We both enjoyed the opportunity to “cast” a Patronus (thanks to the magic of projector screens) and reenact the famous scene where Harry and Voldemort’s wands “lock.”
The Second Village
About 2/3 of the way through the forest, we stopped at a second village. This larger area was pretty much dedicated to food, with everything from marshmallows for roasting to turkey legs and butterbeer. While everything looked delicious, we’d already eaten and weren’t too keen to spend $9 on a skewer of marshmallows. This was also the only place to use the restroom on the walk.
We did opt for a cup of butterbeer each, but quite frankly were disappointed. It tasted extremely watered down and wasn’t worth the $9. (My biggest complaint of the evening.)
Wrapping Up
The last section of the trail led us through Aragog’s lair and to an epic stop where we watched the Patronus scene from The Prisoner of Azkaban take place right in front of us!
After that, the trail ended pretty soon at a big pop-up shop filled with merchandise spanning the Wizarding World franchise. They had gear from all four houses, stuffed animals, ornaments, candy, and more. It was a pretty good variety, but once again, the prices were equivalent to (or higher than) what you’d see at Universal Studios.
Quick Facts about the Forbidden Forest Experience
- Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience is currently running in 4 cities around the world: Leesburg, Virginia; Westchester, New York; Groenenberg, Belgium; and Cheshire, United Kingdom.
- The experience takes about 60 to 90 minutes to go through (we took 75).
- Tickets cost between $36 and $66 dollars per adult, depending on what night of the week you want to attend. Kids start at $25, and special bundles are available for families and groups.
- You will need to pick a specific arrival time with your ticket and show up 15 minutes early.
- Parking is $8 online or $10 on-site.
- Once you enter the Forbidden Forest, you can’t get back to the first village, so make sure you do what you want there before starting your journey.
- If you’re scared of spiders, there’s a separate trail around Aragog’s lair.
- The event is good for visitors of all ages! We saw families, couples, and groups of friends all enjoying it.
- The whole event takes place in the woods, so you need to dress appropriately and wear shoes that can get dirty/muddy.
- You can bring your own wand, but the staff will provide you with one for both interactive sets.
Closing Thoughts
Overall, my friend and I had a great time and really enjoyed our walk through the Forbidden Forest! Even though it wasn’t what we initially expected, it was very well done, and we had a good time.
I will say that we didn’t feel like it was completely worth the $66 each (plus booking fees). We settled on somewhere around $50 worth of enjoyment, but we don’t regret going at all. We were able to make a fun overnight trip out of it, and it was really cool to immerse ourselves in one of our favorite fantasy worlds for an hour!
I would definitely be interested in going again, although I may take a year or two off before then.
My only other complaints were the butterbeer (sooo disappointing!) and how expensive everything was on site. Especially since we’d already dropped money on top-price tickets and a hotel, we weren’t inclined to spend $48 on a stuffed Niffler. But I also realize that for die-hard fans, it’s worth a few extra Galleons to enjoy the whole experience.
If you’re interested in visiting this event, they still have tickets available at all 4 locations for 2022 and January 2023! Tickets are selling out pretty quickly for the rest of 2022, so be sure to grab yours before they’re gone!
If you’re going in a group, I definitely recommend having one person buy all the tickets in one transaction. We had an issue with tickets selling out within 10 seconds of buying mine, so my friend was unable to get hers at the same time as me. We had to cancel the transaction and pick a different time to attend.
Thanks so much for stopping by to check out this post! If you have any questions you’d like me to try and answer, feel free to drop them in the comments. And if you enjoyed this post, I’d love to hear that, too!
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