The Hogwarts Express has arrived in Perris, Calif.
The Southern California Railway Museum has temporarily turned into Platform 9 3⁄4 to host “Harry Potter: A Hogwarts Express Adventure.” The one-hour theater performance takes place on a moving train and features singalongs, spellcasting and House cheers. Tickets cost between $72.25 and $93.25 per passenger.
The experience is the first of its kind in the United States, said Jarrette Ireland, vice president and general manager of Colorado-based Rail Events Inc., and Kathleen Wallis, vice president of global themed entertainment at New York-based Warner Bros. Discovery.
As of July 23, the experience sold just under 11,000 tickets in pre-sales.
The train event commences as the Harry Potter franchise’s author, J.K. Rowling, continues to draw criticism for her opposition toward transgender women. She has long been criticized for transphobic commentary on X and for funding organizations that fight to exclude trans women from public life.
In Perris, local LGBTQ+ activists urge for a boycott. Ashley Williamson, lead director of R.I.S.E. Perris Pride, said that financially supporting the experience — and anything to do with a Harry Potter trademark — funnels money to Rowling, who puts that wealth toward initiatives targeting trans rights.
1. The cast performs with magic wands in “Harry Potter: A Hogwarts Express Adventure.” 2. A passenger holds a Platform 9 3/4 ticket. 3. The Hogwarts Express conductor performs in “Harry Potter: A Hogwarts Express Adventure.” (David Fouts / For The Times)
“What’s really terrifying is that influence. It’s already being felt in the United States,” Williamson said. “There’s a trans genocide happening. It’s very serious.”
Williamson, who is nonbinary and identifies under the trans umbrella, said it is “already very scary being openly queer in Perris,” where the Harry Potter experience is hosted. She, her children and other queer and trans folks in their circle have experienced hateful slurs, home vandalism and other queerphobic prejudice.
Asking the public not to purchase anything Harry Potter related, they said, is “the most we feel that we can do for our community.”
Responding to general concerns about Rowling, Wallis said, “We feel privileged to create these experiences for the fans who love the stories, and there’s a very deep fandom out there. A lot of these kids, my own included, grew up with these movies and stories, and they love to experience them in new ways.”
Warner Bros. Discovery did not respond to a request for comment about local advocacy at the time of publication.
Ireland said Rail Events “is really proud to welcome all guests to a great experience” and later clarified that it doesn’t have “a personal connection” to Rowling.
But Warner does. For instance, its new Harry Potter television series will air this Christmas.
There was no mention of Rowling during a recent preview of the train experience, which is geared toward children. Passengers travel through “Platform 9¾” and board the train, where four Hogwarts students belonging to each House greet them.
A cast member carries Fred Weasley’s Basic Blaze Box.
Passengers watch the performance in “Harry Potter: A Hogwarts Express Adventure.”
“Are you a Hufflepuff?” one of the Hogwarts students asked a visitor.
For those unfamiliar with the Harry Potter universe, each House embodies a trait: courage for Gryffindor, loyalty for Hufflepuff, wisdom for Ravenclaw and ambition for Slytherin.
When the train takes off, the students make these personality differences known. The Gryffindor and Slytherin maintain a traditional rivalry, the Ravenclaw nerds out about magical history and the Hufflepuff attempts to mediate them all.
To successfully complete their journey, each student must embody a virtue that belongs to a different House. The Gryffindor must hone wisdom, the Hufflepuff courage, the Ravenclaw ambition and the Slytherin loyalty.
Throughout the ride, the students put their new traits to the test: confronting a hippogriff blocking the tracks, capturing runaway chocolate frogs and facing off a soul-sucking dementor. By the end of the journey, they overcome their House stereotypes and learn they aren’t so different from one another after all.
A dementor puppet moves through the train in “Harry Potter: A Hogwarts Express Adventure.”
According to the experience’s website, the train travels along a route through the neighborhoods of Perris and starts and ends at the same place. When visitors disembark the train, they head to an area inspired by Hogsmeade, a village that sits outside Hogwarts. Here, they can purchase themed drinks, food and merchandise.
Navigating the logistics of “putting theater tech into a train” was a “real adventure,” Ireland said. Inside, TV screens replaced the overhead luggage compartments, and a strip of lights lined the carriages’ walls from front to back. Gray shades embellished with a circular “Hogwarts Express” logo covered all the windows, so visitors can’t see outside.
These elements aided the storytelling. The TVs played scenes from the Harry Potter films and helped suspend disbelief where magical creatures were involved, and the lighting system aided in spellcasting.
Streaks of light fly down the carriage in one dueling scene, and in the show’s climax, the lights go dark when a dementor — played by a hooded actor puppeteering the creature strapped to their torso — floats down the aisle.
It was the Hufflepuff who, with the help of passengers, vanquished the dementor.
1. The cast showcases floating feathers after performing a levitation spell. 2. A cast member carries a box of chocolate frogs through the train.
“Everyone, repeat after me!” the Hufflepuff called, wand pointed at the creature. “Expecto Patronum!”
As passengers chanted the incantation together, white light flashed through the carriage, and music swelled from the speakers. Defeated, the dementor drifted down the aisle and out of sight.
The experience will run at the Southern California Railway Museum through Sept. 27.
Ireland said future stops will be announced in the fall, with plans to expand throughout North America and, ultimately, to the United Kingdom.
If you go
‘Harry Potter: A Hogwarts Express Adventure’
Where: Southern California Railway Museum, 2201 S A St., Perris, Calif., 92570
When: Through Sept. 27
Tickets: $72.25-$93.25 per passenger
Additional information: harrypottertrainadventure.com
