A Celebration of Harry Potter 2017: Day 2!

Jan 28, 2017

Posted by: Emma Pocock

Celebration of Harry Potter, Davis, Events, Fan Events, Fantastic Beasts Movie, Felton, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Honors/Awards, HP Cast, Isaacs, Lewis, MinaLima, Movie Art, News, Pottermore, Studio Tour, Theme Park, Warner Bros.

Day two of A Celebration of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando kicked off early, and after such a brilliant opening ceremony, guests were excited for more Potter-related fun!

Matthew Lewis, Warwick Davis, Jason Isaacs and Tom Felton are at the event, along with graphic designers MinaLima, the Cursed Child and Fantastic Beasts teams, Warner Bros. Studio Tour, Scholastic, Lego Dimensions, Harry Potter Expo and many more partners who will treat guests to exclusive panels and access to props, art, testers, talks, meet and greets and more.

A wand-raising ceremony was held outside Ollivanders in honour of John Hurt, who sadly passed away yesterday:

Universal hosted giveaways throughout the day, telling fans to be the first to find their location within 15 minutes to win a house scarf and an interactive wand. There have been several winners, and the competitions are happening all weekend, so if you’re at the event be sure to visit the @UniversalORL Twitter here.

Universal also surprised fans mid-afternoon with a house robe giveaway. The first fan to arrive at 12 Grimmauld Place won the day.

Here’s the lucky winner!

Not a Ravenclaw? No problem! Universal also offered a Hufflepuff robe to the guest who made it to the right place at the right time.

For the love of Newt, try not to be jealous, but that’s one ‘fantastic’ robing ceremony.  

If you missed out on those two contests, don’t despair, Potter fans. Universal is determined to make this a special once-in-a-lifetime event for all of you with ongoing opportunities. Here’s another–tweet a photo and you might be included in an amazing photo masterpiece!

Fans at home can also participate by showing their house pride. Tweet your support, Potter-heads!

The house with the most tweets wins. (Now there’s a contest we can properly get behind.)

The Potter celebration featured more than contests, however. There was plenty to do for fans of all ages! Beauxbatons gave an excellent performance on stage, after a vote was held on the official Harry Potter Film Twitter – see the footage below:

Paul Harris – Wand Combat Choreographer on the Harry Potter films – gave a masterclass on stage. As you can see, there were many guests who needed to brush up on their wand work!

Warwick Davis joined Nick Dudman – Creature Effects Supervisor – on stage for a ‘Creating Creatures of the Harry Potter Films’ panel, which was live-tweeted by Warner Bros Studio Tour London. Nick explained how a few of the creatures were created, with particular focus on the creatures that will be found in the Forbidden Forest expansion of the Studio Tour:

Warwick also shared a few of his memories of the creatures on set, including his experience of being heavily costumed for his portrayal of Griphook:

MinaLima have also been busy at the event, wearing brilliant matching t-shirts explaining which of them is Mina / Lima. We hope you all enjoyed their panel and meet & greet today!

Guests can also ‘Follow the Spiders’ to take a look at Aragog – who will be on display at the brand new Forbidden Forest expansion of Warner Bros Studio Tour London in March:

After that, head over to soundstage 21, where there’s much more to experience. See the Lego Dimensions display, as well as props from the films.

The Fan Mosaic is also housed on soundstage 21, and it’s a sight to behold. Here’s an updated photo.

Fans continued to take part in cosplay today as well, dressed as their favorite characters from the films. Here are a few of the ones we spotted!

With these two around, trouble is sure to follow… #HPCelebrationpic.twitter.com/sxfesfFrJp

In addition to all the wizards and witches you may meet milling about the park, don’t be surprised if you come upon some amazing fan art.

Or discover one of the many meticulously-recreated details that bring the films to the street, literally. Make sure you walk into every nook and cranny for hidden nuggets like this.

A few very lucky fans also came across one of the guests of honor–none other than Tom Felton himself–while embarking on their day’s adventure. He sweetly entreated the little girl not to be afraid, as he is far more friendly than his on-screen persona, Draco Malfoy.

Queen of hugs, sweet Juniper #hpcelebration #thegirlwholived   A video posted by Tom Felton (@t22felton) on

Highlight of my day was meeting Juniper @harrypotteruniversal #thegirlwholived #HPCelebration A photo posted by Tom Felton (@t22felton) on

Not one to discriminate, Felton made time for his fellow Harry Potter alums, as well. They sure look like they’re having a blast. (Thankfully, not of the blast-ended skrewt variety.)

They also participated in a panel from 1 to 2 p.m., and Harry Potter Film tweeted quotes from the event.

In case you missed it, here’s footage from the Q&A session with the talent!

If you thought fans would head home early after all this excitement, you’d be underestimating Potter fans! Day two closed with a fantastic evening program for guests still in the park, and it was absolutely worth the wait.

The program began with a video from the Cursed Child cast and crew. It showed highlights from set visits by producer Sonia Friedman and Jo and included comments from the cast reminding fans to “Keep the Secrets.” It closed with the message, “The Journey to Broadway Begins Here!”

Next, guests were treated to a video from Warner Bros. offering a sneak peak at the new HP LEGO Dimensions game, where fans can now play as Hermione Granger. Celebration participants can play the game as the most talented witch of our age in the Expo, but this version won’t be able to the public until March.

WB Home Entertainment then previewed the Blu-Ray of Fantastic Beasts, which is also available in March, as reported by Leaky yesterday. It includes cast interviews, behind-the-scenes features, a look at the special effects, and scenes that were cut from the movie.  

The four actors followed, with Davis, Lewis, Isaacs, and Felton answering questions for the eager audience. They were asked what stood out as a highlight at this year’s celebration. They all agreed that the fan enthusiasm and creativity grows every year. (Tom Felton cheered for the male Beauxbatons in attendance!)

Next, they were asked to divulge their go-to spell. Davis answered, ‘Wingardium Leviosa,’ for obvious reasons. After Lewis and Feton named their favorites, Isaacs observed that he always felt the Harry Potter story to be one of inclusion and learning to put judgment aside, so he suggested his own spell, ‘Prejudition Backsidem’–shove prejudice where it belongs! (It sounds like this one is much more desirable than the custom-made Slytherin spell, ‘Sectum Sempra,’ which Felton has the misfortune to experience first-hand during a dust-up with a classmate. Stand against bullying, kids.)

They also discussed their favorite scenes from the films and their feelings about doing stunts. Lewis and Felton were also asked what they gained from the film experience as child actors, and all the panelists were very complimentary of Daniel Radciliffe, saying he was kind, helpful, and motivating.

Near the end of the discussion, they all talked about their favorite fan experiences. Isaacs said he often comes into contact with Potter fans who say these stories have saved their lives. That, unlike his other work, these stories do much more than entertain–they touch people and make them feel less alone. Lewis then shared the story of a young woman who tattooed her name on his arm because, when she felt life no longer worth living, Neville gave her hope that she had more potential than she knew!

Before the evening concluded, the four actors discussed their current projects. Davis said his was top secret. (Star Wars?!) Lewis said he was simply happy to be at Celebration of Harry Potter. Isaacs is currently in the Netflix series, “The OA,” and has four films coming out in 2017. And Felton thanked Potter fans for being so supportive of his crossover to television in The Flash.

Watch the evening tribute here.

We hope all of you who are lucky enough to be at the event enjoyed the second day. You can read a summary of day one’s events here. And here is the schedule for day three!





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