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Universal Orlando Theme Parks has released more information about entertainment experiences that will be hosted at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter Diagon Alley. Two shows will be exclusively featured in the park. The first is a puppeteer performance of two stories from the Tales of Beedle the Bard: "The Fountain of Fair Fortune" and "The Tale of the Three Brothers". The second show will be a musical performance by Molly Weasley's favorite "wizard rock" singer: Celestina Warbeck and the Banshees. Molly Weasley's favorite tunes, “A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love,” “You Stole My Cauldron But You Can’t Have My Heart,” and “You Charmed the Heart Right Out Of Me,” are to be performed. Thanks to LeakyNews for the heads up, pictures of the incredibly detailed puppets can be seen here at LeakyNews. LeakyNews also reported interactive experiences with a Knight Bus conductor that greets visitors upon entering Diagon Alley, much like the Hogsmeade Hogwarts Express Conductor, and exchanging Muggle money for Wizard Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts, at Gringotts to be used around both parks. Details on how currency exchange works with Wizarding money, and how it will be used, are still being worked out.

Can't wait to get to Diagon Alley this summer? Neither can we. And now we are happy to announce that Universal is sending a winner from the Leaky Cauldron and three of his or her friends to Universal Orlando Resort to check it out early. Entry is free and easy and all the info is below:

Universal Orlando is giving readers of The Leaky Cauldron a chance to win a VIP trip for four to Universal Orlando® Resort!

Entry is free and easy: you can do it via the widget below. Followers of The Leaky Cauldron will receive added entries. Also, from now through June 8, you can enter by tweeting about the sweepstakes.

The grand prize is as follows:

A VIP Preview trip for four to Universal Orlando® Resort. Step into the magic and excitement of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™ - Hogsmeade™ at Universal's Islands of Adventure®, and, beginning Summer, 2014, explore Diagon Alley™ in Universal Studios Florida® and travel from one land to the other with a Park-to-Park admission ticket on the Hogwarts™ Express. 

GRAND PRIZE INCLUDES:

• Round-trip airfare to Orlando, Florida
• Ground transportation between the airport and hotel in Orlando
• Admission to both Universal Studios Florida® and Universal's Islands of Adventure® theme parks, including Early Park Admission* to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™ one hour before the parks open
• Accommodations on-site at Universal's Cabana Bay Beach Resort
• Tickets to Blue Man Group
• Admission to Wet 'n Wild® Orlando waterpark
• PLUS, attendance at a VIP Preview of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™ - Diagon Alley™

For more information on Universal Orlando® Resort and for great deals on vacation packages, click here!

The sweepstakes will run from June 3 to June 8, 2014. The winner will be chosen at random. You can enter for your chance to win via following instructions in the widget below! Please note that you must be 18 to enter and that one member of the traveling party must be over 21 in order to check into the hotel. This sweepstakes is only open to legal residents of the 48 contiguous United States and Washington D.C. (excluding Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, Peruto Rico, and all other U.S. territories and possessions), who are physically located and residing therin.

HARRY POTTER, characters, names and related indicia are trademarks of and @ Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Harry Potter Publishing Rights @ JKR.

(s14)

*Early Park Admission begins one (1) hour prior to regularly scheduled park opening to one (1) Universal Orlando theme park as determined by Universal Orlando. Valid at select attractions at each park. @2014 BMP. @ 2014 Wet 'n Wild. All rights reserved. Cabana Bay Beach Resort @ 2014 UCF Hotel Venture II. All rights reserved. Universal elements and all related indicia. TM & @ 2014 Universal Studios. All rights reserved.

J.K. Rowling is, once again, writing new material for Pottermore through news reports on the Quidditch World Cup. Ginny Weasley will be providing updated commentary on the tournament this week, and is expected to be "joined by her family" at the end of the week. As J.K. Rowling stated on Twitter:

My day job is in the world of high-tech. No, I’m not a brilliant engineer who designs all kinds of innovative, life-changing products. I only sell to them. For a fairly normal bloke, trying to relate to such people can lead to all kinds of challenges.

You have to understand, these are people who don’t see the light of day very often. Most of their time is spent on computers, whiteboards, and in dark laboratories concocting the next bit of technology that we normal folk can’t live without. They often spend sixteen hour days in their precious lab and forget to eat, sleep, shower, or have any useful form of human interaction. These people are completely devoid of emotion, but can chart its theoretical development in sixty-three different types of graphs. I am talking about the type who can build his own robot to maintain his house yet can’t waste enough mental energy to hit more than three of his seven belt-loops.

Now you know the kind of people I deal with on a daily basis. It can be fun. They look down on my intellect, but can’t understand even the most basic joke I throw out. When I rattle off something witty, I typically get a blank stare or an uncomfortable chuckle.

We have a small office in this world of technology. Ours is in the back corner of the building and on my trips to the lavatory, I frequently run into these geniuses – sometimes quite literally as they are too preoccupied with vast equations to look up when they walk. There is a door I walk past that leads to what I call, The Muppet Factory.

I don’t know what goes on behind that door because it has one of those coded locks  with a scanner on it. I’ve tried punching all kinds of numbers on it, but it is probably some precise code that average people don’t have enough memory to retain. All I know is that the people who come in and out of it resemble cartoon characters come to life. The first one I saw was a dead ringer for Beaker. A Keystone Cop emerged one day followed by Animal. Several other characters have been spotted lately. Olive Oil works there, but we have yet to see Popeye. It is simply fascinating.

Now, when I walk down that hall, I go very slowly and sing things like, It Ain’t Easy Being Green, and Mahna Mahna to see if I can lure one of them out. No dice, thus far. They stay in their lab building more Muppets or stealing people for their evil machine that does it.

In this world of High Tech, I wonder what the goal of their Muppet Factory could be. Is this fandom run amok? Or is it a demented project to design a more colorful and aesthetically pleasing exterior for engineers and programmers? It is beyond my intellect to know, but I remain curious. So if you see people walking around who look suspiciously like cartoon characters, be wary. They my just be plotting something that we won’t understand until we are all subject to the vain whims of our new dictator, Miss Piggy.

Earlier this month, the Harry Potter Alliance in Chicago had a read-a-thon for their Accio Books book drive. As many fans know, the Harry Potter Alliance (HPA) is an international non-profit organization, constructed by Harry Potter fans, that fights injustice using morals and themes found in the Harry Potter books. The HPA's Accio Books drive focuses on raising awareness for literacy needs world wide; in this specific event literacy needs close to home, in Chicago. 

LeakyCon was excited to announce the arrival of a new special guest, Hannah Hart, to LeakyCon 2014 in Orlando. Hannah Hart, an avid Potter fan, is most well known as a YouTube sensation with her series "My Drunk Kitchen." Ms. Hart will be leading a special edition of "My Drunk Kitchen" at LeakyCon 2014, with a Potions 101 class. You can read more about Hannah Hart and LeakyCon here and register for LeakyCon 2014 here.

Two new photos of what is to come this summer, with Orlando's new Wizarding World: Diagon Alley, have been released. These photos contain snap shots of what food will be on the menu in Diagon Alley's main restaurant: the real-life Leaky Cauldron! Tom Schroder, PR for Universal Orlando Resorts, posted two pictures, on his twitter page, of Leaky's potential lunch and dessert items that he was taste testing. The first photo shows a cheese platter, fish and chips, a "Bangers & Mash" plate, and other English foods. For dessert, the Leaky Cauldron is apparently offering a variety of cookies (blueberry and cinnamon sugar included), "Chocolate Potted Cream", "Apple Red Currant Tart", and a few more pastries and delicacies. Schroder also reminds us not to forget about ice cream, also stating in a separate tweet that Universal is working on unique flavors for Diagon Alley.

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Jane Friedman, a former editor at Writer’s Digest and now a superb blogger and commenter on the state of the publishing industry, spoke at the 2013 Midwest Writers Workshop about building a readership or audience on her personal blog at www.janefriedman.com. When she left Writer’s Digest, her blog there had a great following, but that belonged to WD. How did she regain a significant following of 750,000 readers/year? Watch Jane discuss her strategies here.

If you can’t see this video, click here.

Sarah Price, popular author of Amish fiction, is also a contributor to the One series, which is regularly posted about on this blog. Her story, The Power of Faith, is currently available for ONLY 99 Cents with author proceeds going to a great cause. You can get it here: http://goo.gl/xhE9w

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter has a new selection of robes and stuffed animals in Hogsmeade stores. Voldemort, Snape, and Dumbledore robes are now available, as well as Hermione's Yule Ball gown. New stuffed animals include Baby Norbert and a selection of owls.

Dumbledore's robes

Scholastic today announced a Fan Q&A with J.K. Rowling that will take place on the 11th of October at 12 noon ET and 5pm GMT. You can find out more information here on the Scholastic website for the newly launched Harry Potter Book Club!

Scholastic promises new commentary on the series from J.K. Rowling at the Harry Potter Book Club and no doubt we'll get a few tidbits (or more than a few, hopefully!) in the Q&A. Stay close as we find out more about the fan webcast, Rowling's first since 2007.

Potted Potter: The Unauthorized Harry Potter Experience will be making its way to Chicago in the fall, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, following its successful run in New York City. The five-week engagement at the Broadway Playhouse will begin on November 13. Tickets can be purchased at BroadwayinChicago.com or by calling (800) 775-2000.

In Potted Potter, Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner perform a retelling of all seven Harry Potter books in only 70 minutes, switching in and out of costumes, playing multiple characters, performing songs and even playing a game of Quidditch, complete with help from the audience.

Word through our (Leaky-only) grapevine has it that LeakyCon is set to make an announcement in about an hour. Keep an eye out! We're (ahem) told it has to do with an already announced programming event. (No, J.K. Rowling isn't coming to the conference.)

Guesses? Thoughts? Ideas? Leave 'em here! This post will be updated at noon.

Potted Potter, the off-Broadway Harry Potter parody show, has extended its run at the Little Shubert Theatre until September 2, 2012, according to Broadway.com.

The show opened on June 3 and was originally scheduled to finish on August 12. Tickets can be purchased at this link.

In Potted Potter, Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner perform a retelling of all seven Harry Potter books in only 70 minutes, switching in and out of costumes, playing multiple characters, performing songs and even playing a game of Quidditch, complete with help from the audience.

Bloomsbury wants to know: are you the biggest Harry Potter fan?

The British publisher of the Harry Potter series is hosting a competition to find the biggest fan in the U.K. and Ireland. Fans will only be able to enter the competition by submitting an entry though participating bookshops and libraries. More than 1,800 venues will be participating; a map and list of locations is provided on Bloomsbury's website.

Instructions to enter the competition are as follows:

The grand prize winner will receive a family holiday to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort and a leather-bound, signed, dedicated and numbered 15th Anniversary edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Fourteen runners-up will also be chosen, and they too will receive the aforementioned 15th anniversary edition of Philsopher's Stone.

The competition begins today and will run until July 31st. Good luck to all who enter!

The hard work Pottermore users have been putting into their potion making and dueling skills is finally going to be rewarded. The house points that have been accumulating are now being tallied toward the Pottermore House Cup! Pottermore Insider announced that the Pottermore House Cup will be awarded soon:

Monday, June 18, marks the second anniversary of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter! Universal Studios is celebrating with the promise of treats and discounted tickets. Orlando Fun Tickets wrote:

Bringing to life the wonder, excitement and adventures of the Harry Potter books and films, this spectacular world has captivated people from across the globe, ushering in thousands of fans on a daily basis to experience all things Harry Potter. And this Monday, as the attraction celebrates its 2-year anniversary, guests can expect even more Harry Potter magic at the park.

And as if all of that wasn’t enough to make the Wizarding World of Harry Potter one of the best attractions ever, Universal Orlando recently confirmed a Harry Potter expansion is in the works, though details have not yet been revealed.

Stay tuned to Leaky for more of the celebration tomorrow!

A new 90-minute Harry Potter walking tour has been created in the city of Edinburgh. As some fans may know, J.K. Rowling completed much of the Harry Potter series in Edinburgh and still lives there to this day. Because of the city's large connection to the Harry Potter series, The Potter Trail was created to take fans on a "dedicated" walking tour of sites where J.K. Rowling wrote and sites that inspired settings of the books. The tour was also organized to help support Edinburgh's status as a "World City of Literature", a title given to the city in 2004. The Potter Trail is set to launch this year during the city's annual Fringe Festival. The Potter Trail creator, Stuart Young, explains:

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