During a storm over Universal Orlando Resort on July 29, 2025, lightning struck a tree next to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, leading the ride and other sections of the park to be evacuated.
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey Lightning Strike
TikTok user @d0mesticdoobie (Tyler Orth) shared the following video of the flaming tree, right next to the exterior greenhouse queue of Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. The ride is inside Hogwarts in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade at Universal Islands of Adventure.
Orth wrote in the caption, “I just got in line when I saw the lightning hit and the loudest boom, about 60 seconds later the fire alarm comes on and we all have to evacuate!!”
Another user, @ccdacoolnessqueenmom (Christy Collins), shared a closer video of flaming leaves and branches falling from the tree as a Team Member seemed to usher guests from the area. It appears the outdoor portion of the queue was not full of guests when the lightning struck, so guests inside Hogwarts may have been evacuated through other emergency exits.
Yet another video, posted by user @sanbb_ (Santino), was taken from near the interactive wand tent in the uncovered portion of the queue, showing the fiery tree in the distance as a crowd of guests left the area.
The weather didn’t just affect the Harry Potter attraction. User @earp_drivesxtravel was about to board Jurassic World VelociCoaster when they had to “evacuate the park because of a tree burning down and lightning”. It seems the full park was not evacuated, but given that the VelociCoaster is outdoors, it ceases operations when lightning is nearby. The Jurassic Park land is also located next to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, so areas may have been evacuated while the fire was put out.
News 6 reported Orlando Fire Department units were dispatched to the park around 7:30 p.m., and the call was cleared 30 minutes later. There were no injuries reported.
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