Harry Potter the Exhibition... and the Pacific Science Center

I love Harry Potter, I've read the books twice and have watched all the movies so far.  I remember the first time I watched the first movie I didn't like it so I avoided the series like a plague.  What WAS I thinking?  I must admit the first book and movie are certainly my least favorite, but they weren't bad enough I should have avoided the series for years before finally reading and watching it.  Long story short, I love the series.  So when I found out that there was a Harry Potter Exhibition at the Pacific Science center I just HAD to go. 

The exhibition walks you through various props and costumes that were used in the actual filming of the movie.  You start out in a room where they do a little sorting hat thing, it's great for the kids but seemed a little cheesy the way it was done if you asked me.  From there you go into another room where you see some clips from the movie and at the end of that a whistle blows and the curtains pull back and they have the engine for the Hogwarts Express.   You then enter the castle where there are pictures both moving and not moving on the walls and you get to hear the fat lady scream over and over and over.  The screaming makes it a little difficult to listen to your audio guide at this stop, but it was neat to imagine what it would be like in the movie with the moving pictures everywhere.

From there you walk down the hall past all the house flags and Neville's robes and Luna's quibbler and glasses.  The next room is where you see Harry's wand and glasses, the Marauders map, Ron and Harry's bedroom, Hermione's time turner, Slughorn's robes, Professor Lockheart's books and robes and paintings.  The audio guide says that they each cast member had about 6 wands, 3 regular ones and 3 rubber ones for the action scenes.  There was just so much stuff I can't mention it all.  There were things from the astronomy room, including a tea cup complete with a grim inside.  Professor Umbridge's pink room, with pink walls, the pen Harry wrote with that cut into his hand, the kitten plates and all the other little details.  Lupins robes and the cupboard that the bogart was locked in and the giant jack in the box that one of the kids saw.  Then it's onto Professor Sprouts herbology area where you can pull up a Mandrake and listen to it scream, here the audio guide said that they were completely animated and in the film they had to be careful playing with the Mandrakes because they really did wiggle and bite (they also had to make sure no one took them home as quite a few of the kids wanted to keep them).

Next I headed down the hall to the Quidditch area.  First was a cabinet with Harry's and Malfoy's brooms and various binoculars and other mementos that were at the Quidditch world cup.  They had Harry, Ron's, Cedric, and Malfoy's quidditch uniforms as well as some uniforms from the world cup.  My favorite was Ireland's quidditch outfits, I must find me one for Halloween.  There was a thing for people to toss quaffles through the goal posts but I skipped that, they kids looked like they were having a blast. 

The haunted woods was the next area that we passed into.  There was a baby thestral that Luna saw and a couple centaurs, the head of the Hungarian Horntail, an acromantula and Buckbeak the hippogriff.  I found Buckbeak to be awesome to see, they actually made a life sized version for people to work with on the set, each feather was cut and painted and carefully placed.  They also had the outfits that Ron, Harry and Hermione were wearing in the pumpkin patch from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.  From here you pass into Hagrid's hut which is huge and has a dragon egg on the table that wiggles and makes little kids squeal, very amusing.  There was a large chair to sit in, Hagrid's enormous outfit and a book case full of monster books. 

After Hagrid's hut you move into a scarier room where you start to see some of the darker objects.  My favorite item in the whole exhibit was probably the rook that was in here from the chess match that Ron played in the first movie (there was also a pawn in the exhibit and a knight outside as well). Here you could see the angel of death statue, dementors, death eater robes, a petrified Colin Creevey, Lord Voldemort's robes, various outfits worn by Bellatrix, Kreetcher the house elf and various other dark forces items.

Next came the wall full of the educational decrees and the great hall.  In the great hall there was food from the dinning hall (which did not look all that tasty).  Clothing from the Yule ball and other dress outfits.  Candy and various other creations by the Weasley twins.  There was owl papers and Dumbledore's wand.  Rita Skeeter's quill and notebooks.  Last but not least you see Fawkes as you walk out. 

There was so much more stuff that I can't remember to write about right now.  But I had an awesome time.  For me it was very much worth going and seeing it.

After the Harry Potter exhibition we went and had a bite to eat in the cafe then wandered through the dinosaurs and various other stuff.  We went to see the butterflies and insect exhibit and wandered through just about every building we could.  It was a great day indeed!