Muggle Monday (12): Harry Potter: The Exhibition

It's time for Muggle Monday, in which I post a quote, a video, or a significant piece of news from the Harry Potter franchise. This is somewhat inspired by the Mundane Monday posts by The Mundie Moms.

But let's be real as to why I made up this meme: I just want the opportunity to post something about Harry Potter.

This week, I thought I would continue extolling my appreciation of the movies (after all, the last one EVER is coming out in under a month!) by posting an overview of Harry Potter: The Exhibition:

Harry Potter: The Exhibition is currently in New York so you know I made time to visit it when I was there in April. In this incredible exhibition, you get an up close view of many of the props, costumes, and sets used in the movies. I talked about gaining an appreciation towards the immense attention to detail that goes into these movies in my Harry Potter: Film Wizardry review last week, and this exhibition supplies an equally profound appreciation for them as well. No pictures were allowed but my memory is plenty.

The tour begins as you and a group of people are ushered into a room with the Sorting Hat. Three youngsters got the opportunity to be sorted and proudly told the Hat that they were all Gryffindors and the Hat abided their wishes, of course. It's a shame that so few people ever want to be placed in the other three, well deserving, Houses.



There were several sets featured, including (among others) the Gryffindor Boys' Dormitory (where you can see Ron's homemade quilt!), the Herbology Classroom (where you can actually remove a screaming mandrake from a pot!), and Hagrid's Hut (where you can sit in his enormous chair with only your feet hanging off the edge!).

You can also get a close look at more obscure movie props, like Lockhart's ridiculous photos of himself, Ron's Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle comicbook, and Luna's Spectrespecs (again, among others). Even though some of these props were only on screen for a second, the crew on the movies still went to the effort of making them and in doing so, gave a little nod to the books, which is awesome.

I loved the interactivity of certain parts of The Exhibition. They set up Quidditch hoops for people to attempt to throw quaffles through and I scored lots of goals! You should definitely try this out and challenge yourself to make as many goals as possible. But it only counts if you throw the quaffle with one hand only! Because I figure you'd be holding onto your broom with your other hand.

And it all ends with a gift shop, naturally. I almost bought a wand, a broom, a time-turner, and a Marauder's Map but was somehow able to show incredible restraint that is way beyond my regular maturity level. Good on me.

If you have the chance, and you are a big Harry Potter fan, and you are trying to pass the time until some sort of secret new project is revealed, then I highly recommend you make your way to Harry Potter: The Exhibition. It is only in New York until September 5, 2011 and it is the last North American tour stop! Presumably our friends across the Atlantic will soon get the opportunity to witness the awesomeness themselves :)