Potter

FANS are getting a sneak peak inside the new Harry Potter theme park at Warner Bros. World.

Potterheads will be able to immerse themselves into the world of Hogwarts within three magical lands.

In a teaser video, Warner Bros. has revealed what awaits fans in its upcoming Harry Potter theme park in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.

The caption read: “It’s official! Hogwarts Castle, Diagon Alley and the Forbidden Forest are coming to @wbworldyasisland, Abu Dhabi. BackToHogwarts.”

For fans of the series, it’s believed that Mr Weasley’s car – the Ford Anglia – will form part of the new attraction.

Reports suggest that the ride will simulate scenes from the franchise when it soars over the English countryside.

ALL IN

UK holiday parks where you can go ALL INCLUSIVE from £25pp with shows & waterparks

RETRO RATES

Our fave childhood holidays that have stayed ridiculously CHEAP – from £9.50pp

It could follow the Hogwarts Express steam train, battle the Whomping Willow and face the giant spiders in the Forbidden Forest.

Previous reports suggest it will have its own Diagon Alley and Hogwarts castle.

According to Gulf News, the project is estimated to cost somewhere between $545 million and $816 million (£600million).

The Yas Island Theme Park first announced that it was adding a Harry Potter-themed land in 2022 and it’s expected to open in 2029.

The Harry Potter development will be the first of its kind in the Middle East.

The Harry Potter land will be entirely indoors so it can be used throughout the year – even in the summertime when temperatures soar above 45C.

With it being indoors, visitors can expect some immersive-looking scenery from the world of Harry Potter.

The land is part of the Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi which is the world’s second largest indoor theme park which has a total of 29 rides.

Currently it has six themed lands such as Bedrock where visitors can explore the Flintstones Bedrock River Adventure.

Gotham City is home to Batman and the Joker attractions, Metropolis has DC characters, Cartoon Junction has rides inspired by Tom and Jerry and Scooby Doo.

Other themed areas include Dynamite Gulch and Warner Bros. Plaza.

France’s Cassandre Beaugrand earned her fourth straight win in the World Triathlon Championship Series as Britain’s Beth Potter came second in Weihai.

Olympic champion Beaugrand surged away in the final kilometre of the 10km run to finish in one minute 49.20 seconds and maintain her perfect record in this season’s Championship Series.

Beaugrand’s victory in China followed a thrilling tussle up until the final stretch, as Olympic bronze medalist Potter finished six seconds behind the 29-year-old.

Germany’s Lisa Tertsch was third, a further 18 seconds back.

“This one was definitely not easy,” said Beaugrand.

“I was feeling great on the swim, great on the bike. The run was quite hard with Beth pushing the pace. I just tried my best to keep up and trust my finish.”

Beaugrand exited the two-lap 1500m swim in third behind Britain’s Tilly Anema and Brazil’s Vittoria Lopez.

After a close bike section, where a pack of more than 30 cyclists merged together at the front, Beaugrand, Potter and Tertsch started to break away on foot.

In the final lap as Tertsch started to fade away, Potter fought valiantly but she could not keep in touch with Beaugrand’s searing pace.

The men’s race was won by Switzerland’s Max Studer, who finished in 1:41:08.

Spain’s David Cantero del Campo finished 10 seconds behind, with Canada’s Tyler Mislawchuk in third, a further seven seconds back.

There is one more regular-season event in the Czech Republic on 13 September, before the Grand Final in Spain on 23 September.

DOWNTON Abbey and Harry Potter star Dame Maggie Smith left a £16million fortune to her two actor sons, probate records published nearly two years after her death reveal.

The double Oscar winner, who died at a London hospital in September 2024 at the age of 89, left a net estate valued at £15,977,325.

Her will divides the bulk of that fortune equally between her sons Christopher Stephens, who works under the stage name Chris Larkin, and Toby Stephens.

She also left her West Sussex farmhouse, Douglas Lake Farm at Fittleworth, to a family trust she had set up with the two brothers in 2019.

The five-bedroom house, where she raised her sons and lived for more than 40 years, sits on a secluded plot with barns, a stable and a vineyard.

Born Margaret Natalie Smith in Ilford, Essex, in 1934, she was brought up in Oxford and made her stage debut at the Oxford Playhouse aged 17.

JUST WED

Inside Emily Atack’s ‘beautifully chaotic’ family wedding held in her GARDEN

shock claims

ITV star slams ‘toxic’ husband who called her family ‘scum’ amid divorce

She won her first Oscar in 1970 for playing the teacher in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and a second in 1979 for California Suite.

She was made a Dame in 1990 and her other films included A Room with a View, Sister Act, Gosford Park and The Lady in the Van.

A generation of children knew her as Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films, a role she played across a decade from 2001 to 2011.

Her role as the acid-tongued Violet Crawley in six series of ITV’s Downton Abbey from 2010 won her three Emmy awards and a fresh television audience around the world.

In all she won two Oscars, seven Baftas, four Emmys, three Golden Globes and a Tony award, and was appointed a Companion of Honour by the late Queen in 2014.

King Charles and Queen Camilla also paid tribute, saying: “As the curtain comes down on a national treasure, we join all those around the world in remembering with the fondest admiration and affection her many great performances, and her warmth and wit that shone through both off and on the stage.”

Harry Potter co-star Daniel Radcliffe, said: “I will always consider myself amazingly lucky to have been able to work with her, and to spend time around her on set. The word legend is overused but if it applies to anyone in our industry then it applies to her. Thank you Maggie.”

Hugh Bonneville, who played her son in Downton Abbey, said: “Anyone who ever shared a scene with Maggie will attest to her sharp eye, sharp wit and formidable talent.

“She was a true legend of her generation and thankfully will live on in so many magnificent screen performances.”

Her sons announced her death in a statement issued through her publicist, in which they thanked hospital staff for their care during her final days.

They said: “An intensely private person, she was with friends and family at the end.

“She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother.”

She married the actor Robert Stephens in 1967, the father of her two sons, and after their divorce married the playwright Beverley Cross in the mid-1970s.

Mr Cross wrote the musical Half a Sixpence and the screenplays for the fantasy adventure films Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of the Titans.

Her will directs that any copyright, royalties and unpublished works she inherited from him after his death in 1998 should be shared out separately.

The proceeds are split equally between his daughter Philippa Maughan, his son Shaun Cross and her own two sons.

She signed the will in September 1996, when Mr Cross was still alive and named as her main beneficiary, but he died 18 months later.

The full value of everything she owned came to £16,003,613, with debts and expenses of just over £26,000 taken off to reach the final figure.

Speaking in a magazine interview in 2019, she was dismissive of the two roles that had made her famous to a new generation of viewers.

She said: “It wasn’t what you’d call satisfying. I didn’t really feel I was acting.”

She added that she was grateful for both jobs, which between them introduced her to millions of filmgoers who had never seen her on stage.

Dame Maggie once summed her life up by saying: “One went to school, one wanted to act, one started to act and one’s still acting.”