Using the time-turner as an over-arching thematic icon, Wizarding World Paris spans two timelines. The world itself is set in 1927 Paris, the primary location for the underwhelming Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. The lone ride in the land, Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, takes place after the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two. I have never been to Paris and my memory of the Grindelwald movie is poor (perhaps deliberately so), but that aside, I really did feel like I had entered a real city outside of a theme park. Imagine Diagon Alley, if it was even more spacious and open-air.
This is easily the most real, authentic feeling land Universal has created. I didn't shed any tears upon entry, but I might as well have with how in awe and shock I was. There's even a small little mini-area that's like Paris' Knockturn Alley. There is a traveling show that performs in the main square on occasion, but I didn't get to see them.
I've been told that there are Hogwarts students that roam throughout the area. They might have been there, but I didn't notice them. There are many cool elements that interact with your wand throughout the land (if you purchased one for the hefty fee of eighty-five dollars. If you have an old wand, you can bring it to Wizarding World Paris, and they will update it to the second generation wand and give you a new map too). Luckily, there are always people standing around trying to activate one of these elements. If you really want to see some of the effects, just stand back, be respectful, and watch what they trigger.
LE CIRQUE ARCANUS
This show is certainly ambitious, to say the least. The queue is very cool, long, and circus themed. It's a neat, highly themed area that isn't painful to wait in until the pre-show opens. It's definitely one of the coolest and most unique queues (and pre-show rooms) in Epic.
Le Cirque Arcanus (Pronounced Leh Sirk Ar-Can-Oo) was a very popular traveling circus . Their collection of fantastic beasts and the tricks they would be forced to perform were the talk of the town...until Newt Scamander freed all the beasts (Apparently this occurred in the Crimes of Grindelwald film. Even the villain of this show, Ringmaster Skender, was apparently a side-character in that film as well.). The show has fallen on hard times since.
A desperate Ringmaster Skender sends his house-elf Burgle to, *ahem*, burgle away Newt Scamander's suitcase. With the suitcase and all of Newt Scamander's entire menagerie of fantastic beasts at his control, Skender might finally be able to bring Le Cirque Arcanus back to its former glory. Gwenlyn, a No-Maj new hire for the circus, might be the only one brave enough to save the innocent creatures inside Newt's suitcase. The pre-show gets you appropriately hyped for what you are about to experience, and the main theater is every bit as cool aesthetically as every other room here. Unfortunately, this show is an absolute mess.
There are only a total of three circus acts in the show, only one act out of those three was cool, and none of those acts involve fantastic beasts. What do I mean? Well, with Le Cirque Arcanus you essentially get two shows: a circus show and a special effects showcase. The only issue is neither is particularly memorable or coherent. The best part of the circus part is a performer who blows bubbles with her hands, fills one with fog/Co2, and then the entire room fills with bubbles filled with fog/Co2. This creates one hell of a cool effect when you pop the bubbles and they burst into willowy wisps of fog.
The best part of the sfx/tech showcase is when the stage rises up, revealing a whole set underneath as stairs unfold from under the stage above. It's an honest-to-God jaw-dropping moment. The biggest issues with the show are that the story makes absolutely zero sense and the pre-show promises an experience it never intends to deliver on. The pre-show sets audiences up for a circus show that is going to integrate fantastic beasts as part of the show. As I stated before, this never happens.
There are multiple fantastic beasts which appear through use of screens, large animatronics, puppets, and live actors. However, they are never utilized as part of the circus and are only ever seen inside the suitcase. In fact, it looks like Ringmaster Skender doesn't have a clue as to how he's going to integrate these creatures into his circus show. So, why is he going around advertising that fantastic beasts are back in Le Cirque Arcanus if he doesn't have any intention of showing them off to the public yet? It doesn't make any sense.
The icing on top of the cake is that god-awful surprise appearance from Newt Scamander via screen. The character looks like Eddie Redmayne, but he doesn't sound like Eddie Redmayne. It's distracting. One can only guess that the reason why a live-actor isn't used instead is because of some stipulation in the contract with WB/JK Rowling that says that only likenesses of the lead actors from the films can be only be utilized through screens or something.
The live-actors who portray Ringmaster Skender, Gwenlyn, and Skender's MC are all fantastic, with my favorite being Skender. The actor I got was very into the role, and played both the exaggerated and exuberant, and sinister and secretive sides of Skender to perfection. It's a shame he wasn't in the proceedings more often. The new tech or special effects are all pretty cool, but nothing is on the level of Toothless in The Untrainable Dragon. Maybe see Le Cirque Arcanus before you see The Untrainable Dragon, the show might impress and dazzle more that way.