Seven cool things about Ascendio, #5

Ascendio is H.P.E.F's upcoming eighth and final Harry Potter convention. Taking place at the luxurious Portofino Bay Resort at Universal Studios in Orlando, FL from July 12-15, 2012, Ascendio offers a unique way for fans to celebrate Harry Potter at the heart of the Wizarding World. Online registration for the convention will close next Monday - June 25, 2012. That is why this week we are featuring one cool thing about Ascendio each day here on MuggleNet.

Tonight's very special evening edition of our Ascendio preview is about the exclusive party-in-the-park event, called "Night of a Thousand Wizards 2." Like the first Night of a Thousand Wizards (which happened at H.P.E.F's "Infinitus" in 2010), the Wizarding World of Harry Potter will close to the public as scheduled... but remain open for Ascendio attendees! This will happen the evening of Thursday, July 12th - the first day of Ascendio - beginning at 10pm and lasting until 1am. During those hours, all conference guests will help themselves to unlimited pumpkin juice and butterbeer, and a tasty selection of English desserts.

Included with the ticket for "NaTW2" is a dinner voucher to use before the park closes, and MuggleNet is very pleased to announce exclusively: Universal has confirmed that guests for "Night of a Thousand Wizards 2" will have access to the Wizarding World theme park starting at 2:00 PM on the day of the event! This means Ascendio guests will have up to eleven hours in the park with their ticket, the final three of which are for an exclusive night-time session of rides, food, fun and games.

Two other amazing things about this special Ascendio park event:
- Costumes will be allowed into the park during the party, giving fans the opportunity to get some great shots of their characters in and around the castle.
- Special guests of Ascendio will ALSO be in the park at the same time as guests, during Night of a Thousand Wizards 2. These guests include members of Team StarKid, the Hillywood Show sisters Hilly & Hannah Hindi, Mark Oshiro (a.k.a MarkReads), Andrew Slack (founder of the H.P. Alliance), TIME columnist and fantasy author Lev Grossman, and Harry Potter film actors Chris Rankin (Percy Weasley) and Afshan Azad (Padma Patil). There will even be a charity auction during the party where guests can win the exclusive privelege to ride the theme park rides with the special guests.

MuggleNet is looking very forward to joining hundreds of Harry Potter fans at Ascendio. Individual day passes are available as an alternative to full registration. For more information, visit the Registration page!