Last Thursday my friend Bryan and I went to the Harry Potter exhibit at the Museum of Science. We probably chose the worst day to go in terms of weather, as it was pouring buckets, but we also chose the best day to go because there were hardly anyone in the exhibit.
When we entered, it was really cool cause they had a pretend Sorting Hat so people could get “sorted” into the house of their choosing. It was really adorable watching two twin brothers get sorted into Gryffindor. 
(Two other girls got sorted into Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw)
The exhibit was amazing! The first part felt like Disneyland – we walked into this room, they showed a short intro film, and then these doors opened and whisked you into the exhibit, with smoke and the train from the movies. The walls were lined with paintings of professors, some were videos so they were moving around.
There were so many props, all which were used in the movies. Here are some of my favorites:
- The wizard chess pieces (they had a knight, rook and pawn)
- Victor Krum’s costumes (from the ball and quidditch)(I have a crush on Victor Krum :B)
- All of the wands (I think my favorite was Snape’s)(his stuff had an Asian flair to it which I thought was pretty cool)
- The beds from the Gryffindor dormitories
- The prop dragon (they only had the head and the neck), who I affectionately named Bobo (if I had my way, all red dragons would be named Bobo)
- The death eater’s costumes were fascinating in a terrifying way
The giant clown jack-in-the-box was terrifying, even moreso than the giant spider.
Parts of it were interactive as well:
- You could pull mandrakes from pots that actually screamed (ugh)
- Quaffles that you could throw through hoops (me and Bryan dominated)
- Hagrid’s armchair that you could sit in (ginormous, obviously, and very comfy)
It was such a well-organized exhibit – Bryan and I were there for over an hour and it didn’t feel like it at all! I would recommend the audio tour as well – it was really cool hearing the people involved talk about their experiences and how they made the decisions that they did. It really submerses you into their world. I commented to Bryan, “Why are people getting depressed about Avatar? If people are going to be depressed about a place not existing it should be the Harry Potter universe, not Avatar.”
Their next stop is Toronto I believe; if it ever reaches your part of town I highly recommend it.
