Welcome to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

The Harry Potter theme park, in Orlando, has opened. The Telegraph discusses the fitting tribute to Rowling's work.

From the piece...

And lo, they shall likely find that – as much as any theme park spin-off can ever be – it is a fitting shrine to the world’s biggest ever film and book phenomenon, a 20-acre corner of Universal Orlando Resort that is forever Hogwarts.

There is room to expand but for now it is a bit of a squash. There is no Diagon Alley, no Platform 9 and three quarters, no Quidditch stadium and the castle has been daubed in a magic paint that masks the fact it is not to scale until you are right up to it. But what there is – Hogsmeade village and Hogwarts castle on a rock above – is ingeniously conceived and immaculately executed, with the sort of workmanship and attention to detail that smacks of museum conservation rather than theme park construction. In fact, it is more an exhibit than a conventional theme park, one that best rewards those who stop and stare.

While it has failed dismally to recreate the British weather, Universal – which worked closely with the creative designers of the Potter films – have worked hard on achieving something very close to the original. The hissing red steam train just inside the entrance has a conductor who, depending on whose shift it is, is either English or Scottish. Even the latter manages the sort of bonhomie that one may not encounter at Edinburgh Waverley station.