Harry Potter Forbidden Forest Grows in Illinois for Fall 2025

Immersive experiences are all the rage these days. If you’re a fan of a book series, movie or TV franchise you want to be able feel like you can be a part of that world. You are going to see more and more of these adventures being created for large fan bases across the country. How large? Harry Potter large.

Pretty sure this isn't how you're supposed to approach a Hippogriff

The Wizarding World was an immersive revelation at Universal Studios theme park when it opened and fans can’t get enough. These days Harry Potter’s Forbidden Forest attraction has had successful runs in New York and Washington DC and will now open in northern Illinois. This isn’t a fabricated indoor immersive adventure, it’s in an actual forest in Ingleside, Illinois.

You may have to run from Aragog (and all his family)

Should you be able to get tickets you will enter the Forbidden Forest and quite possible could encounter a glowing stag Patronas, or a Hippogriff, or even a Centaur or Niffler. Along your journey you can experience Butterbeer, cast spells and encounter situations involving characters from the beloved stories, as if you were in them.

Fantasy and reality meet and intertwine. That is the goal of immersive experiences, and Harry Potter’s Forbidden Forest beckons you to enter the darkened woods and leave this world behind, if just for 60 to 90 minutes. Tickets go on sale Wednesday July 30^th at 10a. Find more info and the wait list.