A journey to the Harry Potter Fan Festival in Indianapolis

On Saturday, August 30, I was able to enjoy the Harry Potter Wizards Unite Fan Fest event in Indianapolis. A few weeks earlier, I was at the Pokémon GO Fest in Dortmund, and even though both events are organized in much the same way, I felt the extra effort that had been put into Harry Potter.

My objective here is not to compare the two events, but rather to give you my feelings about the Fan Fest and its many facets. Before you read on, and without any big surprises, I strongly advise you to attend should Warner Bros. Games and Niantic plan to organize another.

Introduction

Harry Potter fan since forever? Do you know John Williams' music by heart? Then this kind of event is for you!

In reality, the Fan Fest is for everyone. Children, mothers, teenagers, grannies, couples.... I encountered all possible age groups and demographics, and they all mixed together in an unparalleled show of friendliness.

Whether or not you've been a fan since the beginning, whether or not you like augmented reality games, whether you are at Level 7 or Level 34 — the Fan Fest will surely delight you. The activities of offer were varied and didn't require you to stay glued to the game for 10 hours straight — quite the contrary!

Of course, if you attend in order to complete all the in-game missions and the three Prestige levels of the Dragons Registry pages, then you will have to think about a power bank or two.

However, whether you attend to accompany someone or are a fan of the series, you can just as easily enjoy the sublime scenery, the music of the films, the food trucks and more — especially the giant tents where brilliant hosts offered quizzes every 15 minutes for the opportunity to win prizes such as T-shirts, stickers, and badges.

In fact, the Harry Potter Wizards Unite Fan Fest was an ingenious mix of enchanting atmosphere, diverse and varied activities, mad in-game bonuses and superb organization. All this comes with the sole aim of giving you a dream day.

I use the term 'dream' here because that is indeed the feeling I got from the event. When I arrived, I was immediately sold. All day long, I thought I was in another world. It was a bit like when you go to the movies, and come out of the theater wondering whether the world you live in is real.

Of course, I had to take pictures, gather information, and interview people for work, but the rest of the time I felt so good that I would have liked to have stayed and do it all again the next day. As I left the park, a kind of nostalgia immediately carried me away as I returned to reality.

I write these lines as I wait for my plane to return to France, and all I can think is that I want the Fan Fest to return as soon as possible.

Yes, I've been a Harry Potter fan since I was a kid. How could I not have loved this festival, you may ask? In all objectivity, you will be delighted by the Fan Fest — even if you only like a small part of the Harry Potter universe. It is an experience to be had at least once in your life.

I have to be honest here — I was specially invited (and therefore didn't have to pay), and I know that I would never have travelled so far by myself otherwise. However, should a Fan Fest come to Europe, I would obviously be very perfectly willing to pay for my ticket to attend. At a cost of around $30 to enjoy more than 10 hours of entertainment? It's absolutely worth it.

A multitude of activities

In-game activities

I've never won so many awards in the game. In fact, it's very simple — by paying $30 for your ticket, you ensure that you not only get to enjoy a day of madness, but also in-game rewards that would normally have cost you the same amount if you had bought them in the shop.

By completing the Fan Fest quests, I was able to win more than 400 Gold, a lot of experience points, potions, Family XP, and stickers to add to my profile picture.

With Dark Detectors on every Inn, I couldn't take a step without running into a rare Foundable. The Weasleys' Flying Car, Professor McGonagall, Dumbledore, Tom Riddle, Hermoine's Time Turner... I thought it would never end! By using a Baruffio's Brain Elixir, I was able to climb three levels in just a few hours.

With the world there was, Fortresses were invaded and I could easily finish high levels — therefore earning some great rewards. But as you can imagine, the best rewards were the Dragons. I had time to retrieve the 10 fragments needed for each Dragon, but I didn't want to Prestige the pages in order to start over. A lot of players did so, but I had to think about work first.

Quest Details

In-game, the Fan Fest is like a Brilliant event — you end up with a list of quests to complete in a given time. Whatever... The good surprise was that unfinished quests were still available even after leaving the park — or even the country! As for the Dragons, a special day has been unlocked worldwide!

The quests were simple enough to be completed in a single day, but still complex enough to be enjoyed for a long time.

In order to complete the Fan Fest quests, you had to walk around the park to discover different areas of Dragons and families of Retrievables.

There were four giant zones:

• Hogwarts School, with the Common Welsh Green
• Care of Magical Creatures, with the Antipodean Opaleye
• Dark Arts, with the Chinese Fireball
• Magical Games and Sports, with the Peruvian Vipertooth

That's what I like most about these kinds of events — yes, you may be glued to your phone, but you're also walking, having fun, meeting other people, admiring the scenery, taking part in trivia...

By completing the quests, we could unlock the following Dragons, as well as paintings of the four founders of Hogwarts:

• Salazar Slytherin
• Rowena Ravenclaw
• Godric Gryffindor
• Helga Hufflepuff

Collect Dragon Eggs, find fragments of the Welsh Green or Hogwarts Family Foundables, perform spells, make new friends, use potions... These were the quests to be completed.

Activities in the park

Each area was beautifully decorated, and had a tent in Harry Potter colours — all apart from the last area, which had a beautiful green house. These places made it possible to participate in the various quizzes, or rest on the very comfortable chairs.

The hosts created a good atmosphere, and four players were then selected to answer questions. I had the chance to go on stage, but I must admit that the questions in English were too difficult for me (I'm French)! I barely had time to understand the question before my opponent gave the right answer!

Moreover, the questions focused only on the Wizards Unite game universe and not on the overall series. Luckily, I was able to win a T-shirt, just because I'd come from far away to celebrate the event.

All this is to say that the staff members were particularly kind and generous.

At the end of the event, a giant group photo was taken. Again, the hosts did a crazy good job, and it really felt like being at Hogwarts....

Fabulous scenery and a dream atmosphere

White River Park is quite simply a beautiful place. In the morning, we had no luck because a storm had risen and the start of the event had to be postponed. At 11 a.m., rain threatened to fall and the light was not terrible, but the beauty of the setting made us forget everything else. Large expanses of green grass, a river, and sublime bridges — the location was perfect for such an event.

The pahts were filled with players and fans dressed as Dead Eaters, Newt, Luna Lovegood, Harry Potter and other iconic characters from the series. I don't think there was a single person without a magic wand in their hand!

Well-known music from the films was played on a loop, and even after a few hours it didn't feel repetitive, because the playlist was still composed of about ten different tracks — it didn't stop anyone from humming along to Williams' famous notes!

The areas were delineated by wooden signs indicating the Family of Foundables present. Each area also included Dragon Eggs on the ground, as well as other scenery such as Ministry memos, a giant Threat Clock, and an inflatable Niffler.

A store was available where you could buy Harry Potter T-shirts and accessories. It took about twenty minutes in line to even hope to get one of these precious items. AT&T, the official partner, was also on hand to give out flyers to win 50 Gold!

Battery charging stands were scattered throughout the park, as were stations to fill your water bottle. Everything was thought out so that visitors didn't have to say to themselves "oh, shoot, I forgot this or that" — meaning they could focus on enjoying every second of the event.

In the same way, the quizzes, tents with armchairs, and quests made it possible to get to know other fans of the series, and to have a good time. To help encourage this, one of the quests in the game was to make a new friend. Players helped each other and gave each other tips such as the locations of Dragons or Dumbledore!

While chasing a Dragon, I had the chance to meet John Hanke and the creators of the game. They were there to take a group picture.

I was able to interview Mary from Warner Bros. and ask her some questions.

Interview with Mary Casey

Mary Casey is the Executive Director of Product at Warner Bros. She was not part of the event planning team, but is on the side of the game developers and works more specifically on game design. She was one of the people who had the initial idea for Harry Potter Wizards Unite, and has been working on the game since the beginning.

Q: Did you expect so many players to be here at the Festival?

A: We were all surprised to see that the Saturday tickets had all been sold. It's impressive to see how much the players are fans of this fantastic universe that is Harry Potter. Even if not all Sunday tickets have been sold; it's wonderful to see so many people gathering around a game in a park! Couples, families, friends all having a good time.

Q: With Harry Potter Wizards Unite, this is the first time you've worked on an Augmented Reality game. Was it difficult?

A: We were lucky to have a great partner: Niantic! With their experience on Pokémon GO, it was easier to create a Harry Potter game as we wanted. They had all the necessary knowledge for development: augmented reality, GPS technology with the map, etc...

Q: Do you still play Pokémon GO?

A: I play it EVERY day!

Q: Are you going to do more Harry Potter Festivals in the future?

A: We don't have any plans for the future yet, but seeing all his fans together today obviously makes us want to do more!

Q: Can you tell me more about the next features in the game?

A: We can't tell people exactly what's coming up on the game but we have a lot of things under development (features and content)! The Sync adventure is coming soon.

Harry Potter Fan Fest in brief

Dreamlike.

I think that is the appropriate adjective to describe the Harry Potter Wizards Unite Fan Fest. It's a perfect mix of fan convention, Pokémon GO Fest, theme park, romantic waterfront walk, idyllic location, and the perfect place to show off your passion for Harry Potter without embarrassment.

Warner Bros. and Niantic managed to organize the perfect festival for both young and old, intrepid fans and companions, and cosplayers — even Muggles intrigued by the world of magic.

Don't forget that as of September 7, you will be able to meet Dragons in their respective regions:

• Oceania: Antipodean Opaleye
• Asia, the Middle East and India: Chinese Fireball
• Americas and Greenland: Peruvian Vipertooth
• Europe and Africa: Welsh Green

So, are you interested in the Harry Potter Fan Fest? Feel free to comment! I'm hoping the next one will take place in Europe (or even France!).

Many thanks again go to Warner Bros. and Niantic for the invitation, and Minuit Douze for the excellent organization!