Halloween comes to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter... Japan

August 9, 2016, 10:22 AM · Halloween seems like an obvious holiday for a special celebration in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and that's exactly what's coming next month at Universal Studios Japan.

The Osaka park announced today its special Wizarding World of Harry Potter Halloween event, which will run daily in the park starting Sept. 14 through Nov. 6. The event will feature magical trick or treating for children by day... and a Death Eater attack at night.

Magical Trick or Treat
Concept art courtesy Universal Studios Japan

From 10am to 4pm daily, elementary aged children will be invited to use their wands to cast spells at a "mysterious wooden barrel" that has appeared in Hogsmeade Village. With each spell successfully cast, the barrel will overflow with candy for the young wizards.

Death Eater Attack

Then, as night falls, the happy Halloween is over and it's time for the holiday's scary side. At 6pm daily, the park will present a "Death Eater Attack" in Hogsmeade Village, as the Dark Lord's followers parade down the High Street.

Universal Studios Japan also promises special food offerings for the Harry Potter Halloween event, which will be announced later this month. But the complaints from Harry Potter and theme park fans in the United States that the Wizarding Worlds in Orlando and Hollywood aren't offering this event should begin pretty much immediately.

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Replies (9)

August 9, 2016 at 10:30 AM · Maybe they are doing it for orlando, but it may not have been announced yet. However I presume if they are going to do a haloween harry potter event then they would do it in diagon alley rather than hogsmede as diagon alley is in universal studios park where the haloween event is based.
August 9, 2016 at 10:35 AM · Yeah, I hate to be THAT person who begs for cool stuff at the foreign parks to come to the domestic parks. But come ON. They're freaking death eaters. This needs to be a thing at every Wizarding World, every Halloween.
August 9, 2016 at 10:45 AM · I predicted this years ago on this site lol
August 9, 2016 at 1:10 PM · As much as I want to see this in Hollywood right now, there's no good reason for USH to add this event this year, given the crazy crowd levels the park is enjoying right now in Potter's first year at the park. Plus, there's the inherent conflict with HHN.

In Florida, though, this event could fit nicely at IOA, since HHN plays over at USF and this would give IOA a nice complementary program to that.

August 9, 2016 at 1:14 PM · Any reason why they haven't done Harry Potter haunted houses for HHN?
August 9, 2016 at 1:38 PM · JKR must approve. Plus, it has to work for Universal from an operational and promotional perspective, too. Does the addition of a Potter house really sell extra tickets to HHN? Enough to make it worth the expense and effort? I don't know that it would.
August 9, 2016 at 1:55 PM · Isn't there like every year needs to be something new in there, like the interactive wands where added and last christmas they had decorations for the first time ever. Putting a fun Halloween kids event in the IOA Potter area would be a great addition. I hope it'll also spread to other area's in the park.
August 10, 2016 at 6:41 PM · I've expecting this since the WWOHP debuted in Florida in 2010. They could make some nice presentations with the Death Eaters, like the one that Warner Bros did in New York's Central Station to promote one of the movies that even included Voldermort.
August 12, 2016 at 9:58 AM · I'll be in Japan during that time. I will definitely have to go to this!

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