“A Hogwarts Express Adventure” Review: A Real Train, Real Magic, and 102-Degree Heat
The Hogwarts Express has always been the part of the story where the magic actually starts. So when a genuinely moving, fully dressed version of it pulled into Southern California, I bought a ticket and climbed aboard.
TL;DR
A Hogwarts Express Adventure is a real train ride with a live, hour-long wizarding show performed in your carriage. The performers are excellent, the effects are cleverer than expected, and the merchandise is some of the best I have seen at a Harry Potter event. The catch on my visit was the heat, 102 degrees, weak air conditioning on the train, and none at all in the merch tent. My score: 6 out of 10. Go in the evening, bring water, and budget for the shop.
A Note on Transparency
I paid for my own ticket. This was not a press visit, nothing was comped, and no one from the experience knew I was covering it. Everything below is my own experience on a single visit.
The Basics
Where things stand:
- Venue: Southern California Railway Museum, Perris, California
- Date visited: Friday, July 24, 2026
- Standard fare (12:00 and 2:00 departures): $82.25 adult, $72.25 child (ages 2–11)
- Peak fare (4:30, 6:30 and 8:30 departures): $93.25 adult, $83.25 child (ages 2–11)
- Pricing is all-in, fees and taxes included, with a $5.25 ticketing fee baked into each fare
- Parking: Roughly $6, pre-paid online
- Runtime: About one hour on the train, plus pre-show and post-show tents
- Temperature on my visit: 102°F
Parking and Check-In
Parking is simple, but you have to pre-pay online, there is no gate-side option. Mine came out to about six dollars, which is more than fair for the length of the visit.
Once you park, you head to the ticket booth to collect your actual tickets, and this is the first nice touch: you are handed a replica Platform Nine and Three-Quarters ticket. There is something printed on the back that does not make sense until later in the show, so do not toss it.
Platform Nine and Three-Quarters
Before the train, there is a barrier photo op built the same way as the one at Universal Orlando. You walk toward the brick wall, and whoever you came with films from the other side of a glass panel so it looks like you are vanishing straight through it. It is a small thing, and it works.
Past the barrier you enter the first tent, which holds merchandise and a few photo ops, along with the gate to the Hogwarts Express and a clock above it. Off to the left, a guard appears for a short pre-show to announce that it is time to board.
Once the gates open, there is a short walk to the train itself, and you can stop for photos on the way to your carriage. I was in the first carriage, so my walk was shorter than most.
All Aboard: The Train
The carriages are fully renovated and fully dressed for this experience, and it shows. There is air conditioning on the train, but it was struggling, enough that most people in my carriage did not realize it was running at all.
The show itself runs about an hour and is built for families. There is a story threaded through it, and the message lands on the idea that the houses are not as separate as they seem: a Slytherin can be loyal, a Hufflepuff can be brave. That is where your ticket comes back around. The back of your ticket carries a house trait, and it is often not the trait of your own house. It is a genuinely well-designed payoff.
The effects are better than I expected. Screens run the length of the carriage with LED strips above and below them, and the standout moment is a duel: two of the hosts take opposite ends of the carriage and throw spells that travel through the screens, so the magic appears to fly the entire length of the car at the other performer. Around that, there is sleight of hand, false-bottomed boxes, and a levitating feather, practical magic doing real work alongside the digital stuff.
The performers were the highlight. Energetic, well cast, and committed. Audience interaction exists but is minimal, a few questions, nothing more. You sit and you watch, and around the middle the pacing sags a little. Most of my carriage seemed happy throughout.
The Merch Tent and the Heat
Stepping off the train, a staff member was already telling guests that the air conditioning in the second tent was not working, and that water was being handed out because of the heat. There is a Hogsmeade Station bridge photo op on the walk over, and then you are inside, and the lack of air is immediate.
The merchandise is outstanding. They went all out. Nearly everything except the standard house merchandise is exclusive to this experience, carrying Hogwarts Express branding either as the main design or on the back label. I walked out with a pocket watch and two magnets, and honestly regret not grabbing more in the moment, I am already asking friends who are going to pick up a few things for me.
I filmed the entire shop. If you want the full merchandise lineup with every price, it is all in the video below, including the pocket watch, the exclusive Hogwarts Express branded pieces, and the things I talked myself out of and now regret.
Butterbeer
Butterbeer is available at a station inside the second tent. The frozen Butterbeer ran $15.06 after tax, and that price includes the souvenir cup. A word of warning for park regulars: this is heavily butterscotch, and it is not the Universal frozen Butterbeer. That is not a knock, it is just a different drink than the one your muscle memory is expecting. Regular Butterbeer was also available; I did not check whether the price differed.
There was no other food on offer during my visit.
One More Thing Worth Knowing
After I got home, I learned the experience cancelled its noon-to-four showings for the rest of that day because of the heat and the air conditioning failure, leaving a lot of people who had traveled in disappointed.
Worth noting: those are the two standard-fare departures. The cheapest tickets on the schedule were the ones that got cancelled. The experience announced the cancellations on its own Instagram account:
Final Thoughts: 6 out of 10
I did enjoy it. The train is real, the performers are great, and the merchandise alone is worth the walk through. But the heat is the story of my visit, bearable on the train, genuinely rough in that final tent.
Who this is for: families and kids, and die-hard Harry Potter fans. If you are an adult going in expecting a theme-park-grade attraction, parts of it will read as corny.
My advice: book an evening slot. Be aware that this costs you, the 4:30, 6:30 and 8:30 departures are peak fare at $93.25 an adult, eleven dollars more than the midday standard fare. On a day like mine, I would pay it again without thinking about it.
And if you are traveling in from out of state, consider waiting to see whether it comes closer to home. A cancelled showing is a much smaller loss when you did not fly for it.
And if the merch is the part you actually care about, I walked the shop on camera with every item and price. The full video is embedded above.
Tickets and dates for A Hogwarts Express Adventure are on our Things to Do page, along with every other Harry Potter event on the calendar.
Would you ride the Hogwarts Express in 102-degree heat, or are you holding out for a cooler date? Let me know in the comments, and don’t forget to follow along for more Harry Potter news.
