PHILADELPHIA -- In the middle of our third lap around the parking deck of a North Philly storage facility one night in June, as I stood with eight strangers in the back of a flatbed trailer being pulled by a Jeep Wrangler, I began to wonder “How did I get here?” and, more importantly, “How in the hell did the guy driving us get here?’”
Not only was Rob “Potter” Green, creator of the Hogwarts Express Magic Art Car, operating his 40-minute immersive Harry Potter ride called “Escape the Forbidden Forest” with lights, sound, fog, projections, and puppetry by himself, he was doing it as he drove us in circles and three-point turns around other cars in the parking deck.
Safety restraints were in place, but they were foam pool noodles and it wasn’t clear how long they’d hold.
