This Immersive Harry Potter: The Forbidden Forest Experience Is Coming To The US

Calling all wizards, witches, and Muggles, because an immersive new Harry Potter experience promises to make you feel like you’re exploring the grounds of Hogwarts. Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience is heading to the Washington, D.C. area for fall 2022, so get ready to be transported into the Wizarding World. You’ll be able to lurk around the spooky smog and discover fictional Harry Potter critters like centaurs, “Fantastic Beasts,” and of course, those spine-chilling spiders that had Ron squealing and squirming. Make sure to keep your wand at the ready for this adventure, because there may be a moment where you have to cast a protective Patronus spell.

After its success in the UK at Arley Hall, Cheshire last year, the magical woodland light trail is arriving at Morven Park in Leesburg, Virginia this October. At Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience, you’ll finally be able to step into the “Wizarding World” and embrace your inner witch or wizard. It’s a fully luminescent, outdoor experience created by Warner Bros. and award-winning theatrical designers, complete with realistic sounds, lighting, special effects, and interactive moments from the films. You’ll also come across friendly creatures from the iconic films, like hippogriffs, centaurs, unicorns, and Nifflers.

If you make it through the end of the 90-minute walking trail, you’ll emerge from the forest into a Hogsmeade-inspired village where you can taste themed food and beverages from the franchise and purchase a new cloak or wand as a souvenir. The attraction is also partnering with One Tree Planted to give guests the opportunity to donate $1 towards planting a tree and contributing to their efforts of rebuilding forests after fires and floods, providing jobs for social impact, and restoring biodiversity.

In addition to adventuring through the Forbidden Forest, Harry Potter stans can also take a road trip over to Philadelphia where Harry Potter: The Exhibition is open for a limited time at The Franklin Institute. There, you can explore an immersive experience of visual storytelling and magical technology, and see original props and costumes from all the Harry Potter films — and even elements from Harry Potter and The Cursed Child. Here, you’ll learn more about the films and get to practice Quidditch, brew potions, and earn points for your Hogwartz house. Of course, like any Hogwarts student, you should never leave the school grounds to go to the “Dark Forest” alone, unless you’re brave enough to see what secrets you might uncover there.

Now that Harry Potter: The Forbidden Forest Experience is in the United States, you can plan an enchanting evening with your whole family or friend group. Tickets are available now, and start at $20 admission for children and $35 for adults, so make sure to snag them now before they sell out. Warner Bros. is also teasing that the “Forbidden Forest” will make its way to more cities in the future, so if you don’t live in in the Washington, D.C. area, keep your wand at the ready to see where in the world the woodlands will enchant next.