Universal Studios Hollywood sells out of online tickets for Harry Potter opening
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood opens Thursday.
If you still haven’t bought a ticket for the opening day of the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood, you may soon be out of luck.
The online tickets for Thursday have sold out, marking the first time the park has halted online sales. Some tickets still will be available at the gate, for $115, but the park is not saying how many.
Although tickets still are available online for Friday and Saturday, the park has sold out of premium VIP tickets and passes to skip to the front of the line for those days.
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“We have been getting ready for this exciting day for the past five years and share the exhilaration with those guests who’ve made April 7th a sell-out day,” said Larry Kurzweil, president of Universal Studios Hollywood.
The high demand is not surprising. When a similar Harry Potter attraction opened in 2010 at Universal’s Islands of Adventure in Florida, visitors stood for hours in queues for the rides and shops. Attendance for the park jumped 30% for the entire year.
The new Harry Potter attraction in Los Angeles is a six-acre expansion that features two new rides, a restaurant, a pub and eight retail shops for the sale of souvenirs, including magic wands, Hogwarts robes, Quidditch balls and chocolate frogs.
In hopes of spreading out crowds, Universal Studios Hollywood launched a demand pricing plan in February, which offers discounts of up to $25 a person to visit the park during off-peak days, such as Tuesdays and Wednesdays in September.
Visitors who buy tickets at the gate -- regardless of the day of the week -- will pay $115.
To read more about travel, tourism and the airline industry, follow Hugo Martin on Twitter at @hugomartin.
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