Add Some Magic to Your Holiday Travels: On Location Tours and “FantasticNYC”

Last month, we reported that New York City’s NYC & Company, the official destination marketing organization for the five boroughs of New York City, has partnered with Warner Bros. to develop a city-wide celebration of the Fantastic Beasts film. NYC & Company and Warner Bros created the FantasticNYC tour, with experiences in three different categories: Magic NYC, Hidden NYC, and Beastly NYC.  As part of this initiative, they teamed up with On Location Tours to create the Fantastic New York City Tour, highlighting the NYC locations that inspired the filmmakers and 1920s New York City.

If you are traveling to NYC, like Newt, or a New Yorker, like Tina, Queenie and Jacob, this tour is a fantastic opportunity for Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts fans to add a little magic to their time in the city. Some of the tour highlights include Central Park Zoo, the Woolworth building (secret home of MACUSA), the Statue of Liberty, and more.

The Press release stated:

• –Bergdorf Goodman: The 1928 Bergdorf still stands, and now features eight floors of women’s clothes and an on-site restaurant. There’s also a men’s store across the street.
• – Central Park Zoo: After extensive renovations, the zoo is very different from its 1920s incarnation but the sea lion pool remains a focal point. Today, Central Park Zoo is a pioneer in re-creating natural habitats in urban environments.
• –Lower East Side: While new buildings and chic nightlife have moved in, you can still recognise some of the architecture and visit surviving businesses from the 1920s, like Russ & Daughters (an appetizing shop) and Yonah Schimmel (which serves knishes). The Tenement Museum, a National Historic Site, offers tenement and neighbourhood walking tours along with other educational programming.
• -Statue of Liberty: Ellis Island has long since transitioned into a second life as a museum, but the island and the Statue of Liberty remain powerful symbols of America’s history as a nation of immigrants who came to these shores looking for a better life.
• -Times Square: Still the site of the New Year’s Eve ball drop, the iconic square features adjoining buildings that are adorned with video billboards and even brighter lights.

On Location Tours describes their part in the event, writing:

“On Location Tours is thrilled to team up with NYC&Co. and Warner Bros. Pictures to bring you the Fantastic New York City Tour, inspired by Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Jazz Age New York City. The highly anticipated film takes place in an exciting new era of J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World—1926 New York—and will take you on a whirlwind adventure through a side of this magical universe you’ve never seen before, marked by glittering skyscrapers, smoky speakeasies and dark secrets.

“On the Fantastic New York City Tour, you’ll experience Chinatown, the Bowery, SoHo,Chelsea, Greenwich Village and Times Square, as well as many historic New York City landmarks. We’ll take you back to an era when flappers danced the Charleston in gilded skyscrapers, gangsters stole through shadows in dark alleyways, and jazz played all night long. Are you ready to see just how fantastic New York City can be?”

 

On Location Tours’ Fantastic New York City Tour has a limited run until January28, 2017. For a more detailed description of the tour and to book tickets, please visit: https://onlocationtours.com/tour/fantastic-beasts.

Sounds like a truly magical and fantastical experience, especially during the holiday season! If you take the tour, share your experience and let us know what you think! See reviews of the tour from MuggleNet here.