My

PhD research focuses on film and television-based tourism, which normally

centers around the idea of visiting the actual locations of filming the most wellknown example is probably the Lord of the Rings filming sites in New Zealand, but
there are others, and its actually quite a growing sub-type of tourism (and tourism
research). However, for Harry Potter fans at least, there is an alternative place to visit.

What I am going to be focusing on here is a new section of the two Universal

Studios theme parks in Orlando the Wizarding World of Harry Potter that
presents itself as a complete recreation of two locations in the Harry Potter
universe, the wizarding village of Hogsmeade and the London neighborhood
of Diagon Alley. These have been very successful, both with the general public
and the often-critical Harry Potter fans, and I wanted to explore why. As its
success is looking to be followed up by similar Avatar and Star Wars parks, it is
crucial to see how these spaces are understood and made meaningful in order
to understand he complex interactions at the intersection of fandom,
commerce, and physical space.
Theme parks, and themed spaces more generally, are often viewed
intellectually as inherently negative, particularly within cultural studies or
geography. Baudrillards famous concept of the simulacra, for example, took
Disneyland as its ultimate form the premier deceptive fake. This is a popular
sort of way to think about theme parks and theming. The imagery and idea of
the theme park, in this tradition, are frequently utilized as a metaphor for
contemporary cultures preference for surface imagery, the need for
entertainment at all times, and/or the increasing commercialization of space
and everyday life, as well as being considered genericizing, overly expensive,
and lets face it, tacky.

However, there are alternative perspectives. S.A. Clav describes theme parks as
cultural creations equivalent to a painting, a photograph or a film. They are
codified places of performance which have been created to be 'passed
through. (2007, 178) This is not to say that they arent heavily commercial,
corporate, and geared towards consumption but that they are deliberately
created, and this is how they should be evaluated- they should be thought of,
in some way, as deliberately-made art forms, or perhaps, a medium
themselves, with their own media specificities and qualities. They are set-apart
spaces in which fantasies and cultural icons can be played with, performed,
and engaged with in an embodied manner, and to engage more fully with the
imagination for the duration of the visit. It is meant to be a story.
A similar idea is discussed by Meryav Koren-kuik, who looks at the Disney
parks as spatial narratives, but ones connected to other media. Part of the
cultural construction of the Disney parks was promoting them as the
opportunity to enter into the fantasy worlds of the Disney media narratives. It
is attachment to the Disney worlds that gives the park meaning and appeal.
Compared to written narratives, the spatial narratives of the Disney parks are

in theory corporeal narratives they offer immersion and interaction at the

level of the body and utilizing all the senses, compared to the more cerebral
sense of immersion that one gets from written or filmic ones.

This key idea, that of immersion into narrative space, brings the concept of the theme
park closer to the idea of simulation and simulated spaces as discussed by media
scholars, where immersion is a trait of particular kinds of art. I am, of course, not the
first to make this connection. Marie-Laure Ryan notes that the Disneyland tourist
deserves credit for the ability to appreciate the art that goes into the production of
the fake. Erikki Huhtamo connects theme parks, and especially Disneyland, as tends
to be common, to a longer interest in immersive simulations, something he refers to
as the cultural topos of immersion. For Huhtamo, this interest in being completely
immersed in a mediated simulation is something that has been activated, even
created, at different points in the history of popular art, and encourage a sense of
delight in the ability of fictional or far-away worlds and events to come to life
through technology, with an embodied sense that the viewer/user is really there
even as they know its just an illusion.
Ryan goes further in her conceptualization of immersion, linking it to the experience
of narrative itself. For Ryan, immersion into a narrative or textual world is the
experience through which a fictional world acquires the presence of an
autonomous, language-independent reality populated with live human beings.

(Ryan 2000, 14) As Ryan describes, this sense of being immersed into a storyworld is frequently viewed with skepticism by cultural critics, who see it as a
sort of deception, or an insufficient distance from the text, which is thought of
as necessary in order to truly appreciate the authors work. However, it is a
undoubtedly popular form of reading, and one that gives quite a lot of pleasure
to the reader and viewer, and player. It allows them to contemplate other
worlds, to emphasize with characters, and expand their imagination.

This idea of narrative immersion is further expanded by Michael Saler,. He describes

virtual worlds as acknowledged imaginary spaces that are communally
inhabited for prolonged periods of time by rational individuals, To Saler, a
fictional world becomes virtual when it is adopted and discussed by many, who
group together in order to make the imaginary world more virtually real by
probing its details, reconciling its apparent contradictions, and filling in its
lacunae. It is not as if these fans believe that the world really exists, but that they
use what Saler calls the ironic imagination, the ability to treat a fictional world as
if it were real while still knowing that it is a fiction. He describes it as a double
consciousness, allowing the (modern) subject to be emotionally invested in
and contemplative about a fictional world, while maintaining the knowledge
that it is fictional.
This idea of the ironic imagination is a useful one, and has parallels in other
concepts of how fans relate to texts. Both Henry Jenkins and Camille Bacon-Smith
talked about the idea of television gossip among fans the use of discussing
characters as if they were people that the fans knew, and the pleasure that fans get
out of such gossip. Contemporary transmedia campaigns also frequently utilize
paratexts that blur the lines between the world of the text and the world of the fan.

Essentially, theres a lot of joy out of acting as if a favorite narrative exists in our
reality.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter fits into this sort of framework essentially, we
can define it as spatial transmedia, or more accurately, adaptation, an extension of
the Harry Potter narrative world into the medium of the theme park. By drawing on
the media specifity of the theme park the ability to be physically present in a
narrativized environment a new connection to the Harry Potter universe is possible.
However, defining the park is only part of understanding it, and what its existence
and success suggests about the role of simulated spaces today. It is just as important
to understand what the actual people who visit are looking for and get out of the
experience.
To that end, I conducted participant observation at the Wizarding World of Harry
Potter for in December of 2014, after which I conducted 15 interviews with Harry
Potter fans who have visited the park. Interviews lasted for about 30-75 minutes,
depending on interviewee. Ages ranged from 17-44, with most falling somewhere in
the middle, and the majority of interviewees were from the United States or Canada,
with one from China. The interviews have been transcribed and analyzed, and from
these interviews and my observation, Im going to talk about some main themes.

Now, the first thing worth mentioning when talking about the Wizarding World of
Harry Potter experience is that the people who go do really love it. My interviewees
were uniformly positive, excepting some complaints about the crowds, and you see
similar reactions in online spaces like Tumblr, Harry Potter fan boards, and themepark fan boards. In fact, sometimes in writing this, Ive found it hard to say things
other than it is really cool, and all the fans think its really cool! To the majority,
probably the vast majority, of visitors, it is an amazing place. They feel, as the
interviewee here did, that they were having an real experience with their beloved
universe.
This sense of realism, or even authenticity, stems from a few sources. One is that of
the involvement, or at least the believed involvement, of series creator J.K. Rowling.
Harry Potter fans usually see series creator Rowling as a guardian of the brand. Her
notorious protectiveness of the world suggests that what she does approve is of high
quality that, essentially, its OK if she says its OK. Part of the information available
to audiences about the Wizarding World is about Rowlings involvement, which is
incorporated into the parks mythology. Her approval of the park gives it a certain
sense of authenticity to many fans if she says this is how it is, it is.

What came up most frequently, though, was detail. Fans responded to the level and
amount of detail from the series in the parks, and felt that it has a great deal of what
was described as small or little things, minor elements that added up to
something that felt like an authentic whole. They mentioned things like door
knockers, the sound of a house-elf cleaning, or the signs on the buildings. Many were
also pleased at the incorporation of things that they remembered from the book
series but were left out in the movies. That the details were there made it feel like an
authentic recreation or another form of adaptation of the original series - rather
than just a theme park, and made the fans more willing to accept it as one. Indeed,
some fans saw the theme park as a better adaptation than the films. It is the book
that provides the authenticity, and while the park does conform to the visuals of the
films, it has enough book details to satisfy.

The details also contributed to a sense that this was better than other theme parks. If
theme parks are generic and cheap, WWOHP is specific and of high quality. Visitors
see the park as that took time and care to achieve. This was often contrasted to other
theme parks, both in the sense of the general idea of theme parks and the other
sections of Universal Studios it felt like much higher quality, higher skill, and higher
effort. It was not cheaply or crassly made. Instead of a normal theme park, it is
instead an accurate adaptation of the series and especially of the books.
That the film series is an adaptation as well also provides an interesting
comparison to other locations of film tourism. While the film set, a tourist
attraction outside of London, can boast the real place of filming and actual
props, it has no more claim on being the real Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade than
WWOHP. They are both interpretations of a space that first existed in the
imagination. The theme park is just another adaptation, and is judged on its
own character as a medium whether or not it gives the imaginary world a
convincing physical

Once the space is accepted as authentic, then the pretending, the ironic imagination,
can really kick in. In tourism studies, there is the concept, developed by David Crouch,
of the embodied knowledge of a place gained through tourism the way in which
physical embodiment creates a certain knowledge of place, even if the place is
already known. A similar process is underwent at the Wizarding World of Harry
Potter. While most of the people there already have knowledge of the narrative world
being depicted, the real pleasure from going to the park comes from gaining an
embodied knowledge. Within this space, accepted as Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley, or
the best youre going to get, the fan can physically do things she or he has always
wanted to do. They can drink butterbeer, ride the Hogwarts Express, even acquire a
wand and perform spells (thanks to newly-installed infrared sensors set up at specific
locations). This is, in essence, Saler s ironic imagination, but instilled in a situation
that has more markers of authenticity than what a fan by herself, or even a group of
fans, can put together. It is a more intense experience of the ironic imagination,
coming ever closer to the idea that the fantasy world is somehow real. Theyre
actually entering into the book or the film on a very physical level, made all the
more pleasurable for the effort they feel was put into creating the illusion.
The setup of the parks encourages this kind of feeling. Rather than reminders of

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Harrys adventures, they are presented as real encounters with the story-world
itself through place. There is a sense of interaction with the narrative world through
what the park offers to visitors, and even a sense of agency within it they can do
what they want to within the space. However, in comparison to how agency is
thought of in say, video game studies, this is a very different sense of interaction and
agency. The space is not set up for the visitor to believe that he or she is Harry, but
that she is simply part of the world. Its a minor agency, but it is a very embodied one.
Now, for a video game, this sense of minor agency is likely not enough the player
wants to be doing something that affects the narrative. But here, where the narrative
world already has meaning, it is enough to do small things within the simulated
space, to play with this border between fantasy and reality. Indeed, some embrace
this aspect quite deeply, developing their own wizarding identity or character, and
being that character throughout the time they are there. Mostly, though, the
important thing is having an embodied and physical encounter with the narrative, and
gaining new knowledge of it.

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Whats worth noting is that most of this is based around consumption. However, it is
consumption filtered through the idea of as if. Buying is tied directly to the narrative
world the shops all have different things available in them, with names and products
that correspond to the books and films. There are local specialties and products that
you just cant get anywhere else. The experience is akin to the tourist experience of
an area. I know when I travel, I do much the same things that I did in the Wizarding
World, and that the interviewees reported doing walk around the streets, go into
some stores, have something to eat, maybe get a drink and do some peoplewatching. As the urban tourist experience is centered around different forms of
consumption, so too is the Wizarding World tourist experience. Which then
contributes to the pleasurable as if sensation of the environment if I were a witch,
and I went to Diagon Alley, this is what I would do. It feels realistic enough to be
meaningful, especially if you want it accept it which most do.

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This conceit has made WWOHP extremely popular, both in Orlando and Osaka, and
so it is therefore quite crowded. Many interviewees did complain about the lines and
the crowds, especially in the smaller Hogsmeade area. However, what is interesting is
that not everyone did. Some even found the presence of others invigorating either
because it contributed to the busy, city-like atmosphere or because they felt that
other people were there for the same reason they were: because they loved Harry
Potter. Research on fan conventions often discusses the feeling of belonging that fans
get at these places it is a place they can be themselves and be as fannish as
possible, in a way that they dont feel like they can be elsewhere. For many
interviewees, WWOHP is thought of in the same way. They feel immersed not only in
their object of fandom, but in the fandom, the group of fans, itself.

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This is also another function of the details mentioned earlier. They were pointed out
as a sign that the park was created with fans specifically in mind they didnt cut
corners or leave things out to appeal to the masses. Because it is so detailed, it is
seen as a place for to indulge in fandom, featuring everything that a real fan would
want to see and do (and buy). This is not so much an appropriation of space by fans,
as discussed in some of the other studies of fandoms relationship to place, but of
feeling that it is a place created from the ground up for fans. Indeed, fan culture is
to some extent embraced within the park: in addition to permitting cosplay (or
at least not banning it), the park hosts a yearly A Celebration of Harry Potter
event with cast members of the film and special exhibits, and fan convention
GeekyCon holds an Open at the Close experience where convention
attendees, for an extra fee, are admitted after the parks official closing time.
By hosting such events, Universal Studios presents itself as a site of fan
culture, a positioning that has, generally, been accepted.

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So to sum up, for many fans, visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a
great experience. It offers, and gives, an embodied encounter with the
narrative space, one that feels real. Of the fifteen fans Ive interviewed, and all
the Tumblr and message board posts Ive read, there is a sense that fans see it
as a suitable site of pilgrimage and affection, one where they can experience
not only the narrative but the broader fan community. It is a place that
inspires considerable emotional reactions and connections, and one that is
often very meaningful.
I certainly dont want to take anything away from the experience, or downplay
how emotional and important it can be. However, its worth closing with this.
In 1992, Henry Jenkins famously described fans as poachers taking what
they wanted from popular texts. Fans developed their own interpretations,
often quite critical ones, and utilized their creativity and imagination to take
these objects of popular culture into directions that media producers and
corporations didnt often putting themselves in direct opposition to said
corporations. Twenty-three years later, the fans have been embraced by one
of the largest media conglomerates and see this embrace as positive, a sign
that their fandom is valued and valuable. The poachers have, perhaps,
become the game. What does that mean for the future?

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