Neville Longbottom has words for London mayor: Harry Potter belongs in Florida!

At this morning’s press conference for the opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, actor Matthew Lewis, who plays the ever-important Neville Longbottom in the movie series, was asked what he thought about Boris Johnson’s recent dig at Orlando. The London mayor complained that the theme park for Harry Potter, as a British property, ought to be in Britain.

Lewis doesn’t think much of Johnson’s media diatribe. And he’s an Englishman, by the way.

Win an exclusive Wizarding World of Harry Potter magic wand!

On Friday, the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter opens it doors to the public. As part of the opening celebration, we received a gorgeous boxed wand, along with a few other goodies.

To celebrate the opening, we are giving one lucky reader the chance to win the wand – you’ll need to be a die-hard Harry Potter fan, because this is a very special limited edition prize.

To enter, just tell us in the comments how thrilled you are that the park is finally open – it could be a one word shout-out, or a long essay on how long you waited to finally be able to visit the new park.

To enter, simply leave a comment answering the question posted above.

  • The comment must be left before Thursday June 24 2010 at 5:00 PM Eastern Time.
  • You may enter only once.
  • One Prize Winner will be randomly selected to receive a special edition Wizarding World of Harry Potter magic wand box set.
  • Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, and the District of Columbia who are 18 and older.
  • The total value of the prize is approximately $50.
  • Click here for the complete official rules of this giveaway.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter open for guests tomorrow

It has taken several years to complete – but the Wizarding World of Harry Potter will open its gates to guests tomorrow, June 18. During the past couple of days, the park has hosted members of the press, as well as a few lucky Potter fans for a soft opening.

At last nights grand opening celebration, Harry Potter film stars Michael Gambon, Bonnie Wright, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint were up on stage accompanied by renowned composer John Williams.

To learn more about this amazing new theme park, and the attractions it offers, head on over to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter site.

[Image credit: Universal Orlando Resort]

London mayor rails against Wizarding World of Harry Potter’s Florida location

London’s mayor wants a piece of the Harry Potter pie.

With the Wizarding World of Harry Potter set to open at Universal Orlando next week, Boris Johnson is appealing to British children and their “Potter-fiend parents” to writ to Potter movie studio Warner Bros, Universal and Potter author J.K. Rowling to “bring Harry home to Britain.”

In a column in the London Telegraph, Johnson points out that the teen wizard is British. His Wizarding World is inextricably linked to London. And Johnson knows “somewhere that’s even better than Orlando at looking like London – and that is London.”

He makes a valid point. But the way he makes it is so… British.

Why, oh why, would anyone come to Florida to scamper through “the Styrofoam turrets of Hogwarts” and see “vast latex-covered Hagrids rolling bonhomiously down the street?”

Perhaps because they can walk the streets of Hogsmeade in November without an overcoat and galoshes?

“I want you to know that I have nothing against Orlando, though you are, of course, far more likely to get shot or robbed there than in London,” Johnson writes.

Ouch.

The mayor rails against the idea that the British would allow Americans to make money off a British invention. Of course, there’s no mention that they already left it to the American film industry to make the movies the Wizarding World is based on.

For what it’s worth, a Harry Potter attraction is coming to London in 2012. Warner Bros announced last month that it has bought Leavesden Studios in Hertfordshire — the filming location for all of the Harry Potter movies — and will open a Potter-themed tour attraction there that can accommodate up to 5,000 visitors a day.

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Abercrombie & Kent: Five cinema-cations around the world

You may not have that look that Hollywood craves, but you still want to get close to the action, right? You want to touch the greatness that comes with being splashed across screens from coast to coast. Thanks to the latest concept from luxury travel company Abercrombie & Kent, you don’t need talent. The latest “cinema-cation” packages send you to the locations where some of the hottest movies of the last year or so have been shot. There are enough options that you’ll definitely find something to match your personal style.

1. Sex and the City 2
After seeing this movie opening night on May 27, 2010, dash off to Morocco. A&K Group Managing Director George Morgan-Grenville was actually over there while movie was being filmed at the Amanjena Hotel and in the Djema el-Fna Square souks. The interiors and pool scenes, he says, were shot at the soon-to-open Mandarin Oriental Jnan Rahma and Palmeraie over in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. Suggests Morgan Grenvile: “Take a camel ride at sunset and spend the night under the stars in a Bedouin-style tented camp surrounded by the largest sand dunes in the world.”

2. Eat , Pray, Love
Before going to see Eat, Pray, Love on August 13, 2010, check out the treasures of Northern India with this A&K Journey for Women. You’ll take apersonal journey with A&K guide Shagun Mohan, who says, “We spend time with local women at a bead-making workshop in the holy city of Varanasi, witness a spiritual Aarti ceremony on the Ganges at night, see the Taj Mahal at both sunrise and sunset, and visit Khajuraho’s Hindu temples. This kind of journey is a life-changing experience for almost anyone.” 3. Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallow Part 1
Families can get a feel for Harry Potter‘s Great Britain ahead of the November 19, 2010 opening with the A&K Tailor Made Magical Great Britain package. According to Duncan Hambidge of A&K Europe, who has visited may Harry Potter film spots with his family, “One highlight for children is the Great Hall at Oxford University, Hogwart’s Dining Room. Another favorite is crossing the dramatic Glenfinnian Viaduct in the Western Highlands aboard The Royal Scotsman, the route taken by the Hogwart’s Express train in the Chambers of Secrets, The Prisoner of Azkaban and The Goblet of Fire.

4. The Hurt Locker
Last year’s Academy Award winner for Best Picture, The Hurt Locker captured the attention of audiences across the United States. A&K suggests following in the footsteps of Lawrence of Arabia if you’re looking for travel inspired by this movie. The A&K Extreme Adventures Jordan package is the way to go, led by Raed Omar Saleem.

Saleem’s been leading thrill-seeking visitors through Jordan since 1997 and recalls from a recent excursion, “In the middle of nowhere, we pitch our tents and gather around the campfire for dinner, recalling the hikes through ancient cities, the 4X4 treks and mountain climbs that brought us here. Without speaking of it, we all share the same sense of awe, the palpable sense that time passes through this desert yet barely seems to touch it. The moon-like landscape stretches to the mountains, bannered by multicolored striations in the rock. The smooth reddish sand is devoid of stones, and our camels’ toes rouse no dust as they thudded in their steady pace. There is no dust here in the valley of Wadi Rum, once a sea basin and later the place T.E. Lawrence found his calling. That is the beauty of the desert: it is nothing and everything.”

5. Creation: The True Story of Charles Darwin
Trace the history of life with the A&K Wonders of the Galapagos trip. Says A&K’s Ian Mackinnon, “The islands of the Galapagos offer an opportunity to interact with the natural world to a degree that’s virtually impossible anywhere else.”

He suggests, “Swim and snorkel with sea lions and turtles. Stroll past colonies of penguins and blue-footed boobies. Imagine yourself as Charles Darwin seeing a tortoise for the first time. Every island is unique; it’s no wonder Darwin was changed by his time there.”

I suggest: “Bring a creationist and ask constantly if he thinks dinosaurs walked the earth 5,000 years ago. Point and laugh.”