WICKERMOSS: EVENTS: Harry Potter, The Exhibition! Is the Wizard World Worth a Stop? ❤

If am gonna give a rating for the Titanic Museum™, 100th Year Anniversary
without batting an eyelash I do think it deserves a 9/10

But for Harry Potter™: The Exhibition
held once again at the Art Science Museum last

2nd June 2012 - 30th September 2012
you can simply invert the 9
and to me,
it's a melancholic 6/10.

It simply failed in many aspects.
I may not be a hard core Harry Potter /J.K Rowlin rollin' fan,
but it doesn't need a rocket scientist to be able to conclude so.

Just see my gleaming face before I went inside the exhibit itself.

The Flying Ford Anglia (Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets)

Seeing these at the entrance already gave me the chills.

Even this sign whispered in my ear....

"The Magic Awaits!"

One can also choose to rent the audio tour for $6.This already made me think twice:
If the exhibit is informative enough, why the need for these audio thingamajig?

--------------Uh.Oh.----------------------------

Upon entrance,

there was a curtain of light and it gave me the

Hello Mr. Thrill! Gimme more, Gimme more!!! vibe

That certain feeling I had when I stepped into the Titanic Museum enveloped me once more.

Then came the sorting hat ceremonies.

You should have seen the kids stare at me oddly when I answered Slytherin ..

and that I dig Voldemort and bluntly said that I am not a Draco fan, haha.

To be frank, I wanted to answer: I am a Gryfflepuff.

Oh well, sitting under that sorting hat myself is just surreal.

We were greeted by a male witch

(complete with a British accent some more)

who welcomed us to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry .

There was a pre-show area of Harry Potter Montage which showed the film clips;

exited by the sound of a train whistle and the roar of the Hogwarts Express

a replica of course*

After this, we were led to the Gryffindor Room as our first stop

--------------so did I experience any Magic after all?----------------------------

If you have watched my vLoG,

you'd pr0b'ly decipher on why I only included snippets with flooded costumes in it.

Thing is,

it's all about freaking costumes.

it's all about props.

in which some seemed to be questionable (the authenticity and stuff..)

I've seen 12 year old kids with dampened spirits while inside,

I've seen 30-40 year old men & women who looked bored.

That was how difficult it is to gauge this exhibit.

Disappointing or a dream come true?

Costumes were showcased on headless dummies;

inter-activities were limited as well.

The entire costume set was not an incredible collection;

and some of the props somehow looked like wickedly expensive plastic toys.

----------------------I do not have official photos but if you'd gonna sum up my vloG and some of my snapshots below, you might have an idea what was the real deal inside-------------------

There were different rooms or should I say sections inside:

Gryffindor Common Room,

Hogwarts classroom

Hagrids's Hut

Forbidden Forest

Dark Forces

The Great Hall

Monitors ceaselessly show clips from the different movies ;

They were all over the place and think it did help at all.

Not.

It was more of....a distraction actually.

Gryffindor Common Room

#The Password Lady

The Fat Lady is a portrait, who guards the entrance to Gryffindor Tower at the Hogwarts Castle. She asks for passwords before she lets anyone in, then swings her picture backward so that students could enter through a portrait hole. She tries to break a glass with her high- pitched voice.

#Uniforms/Wands (even beds!) worn by Harry, Ron, Hermione

Seeing those uniforms made me realize on the trio's younger days (boy, they were still lil dickens alright haha);

Draco's wardrobe is made of a material that really looked more classy than the rest; I just cannot take a closer look because it was too dark and I do not want to waste any more time scrutinizing clothings. GAH.

#Cursed Opal Necklace of Katie Bell

#Golden egg

The golden egg was the magical device / goal of the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament (it'd be much nicer it it opens up as well / see the Egg lit from within)

Hogwarts classroom

#The Quiddich Area where one can try to shoot some quaffles (standing on a solid ground of course); again the costumes worn by the cast during those games were displayed ..ahuh even Cedric Diggory's was there now known as Edward Cullen. And no, it does not sparkle...haha.

#The Mandrake - you can pull it out of its pot and the crying plants will shriek like starving kittens

#Others: Harry's Eyeglasses ; Nimbus 2000 broomstick; Hogwarts Acceptance Letter (green-inked); The Marauders Map; several of the Professor's costumes (Snape's which looked so priestly and yes, haunting in my eyes; Lupin's coarse-cloth vest..)

Hut of Hagrid

#Hagrid's sofa- you get to sit on it, where as I think 3-4 people can fit in

#Another headless Hagrid dummy with costume on

#I found myself amused by Hagrid's Signature Lantern

I am not so sure if it's Hagrid's gigantic size that made the room smaller tho..made the entire space look and feel crammed.

Forbidden Forest/Dark Forces

#The Dementors

#Centaurs, Angel of Death Statue, Acromantuala (spiders)

#The Horcruxes- Tom Riddle's Diary Ravenclaw's Diadem, Helga Hufflepuff's Cup, Salazar Slytherin's locket

#Voldemort's Black Robe

#NO VOLDEMORT whatsoever except for the solitary black robe

This section reminded me of those Carnival Haunted Houses.

It took me at least 10 minutes to look at Voldemort's costume; and it's a far cry from what I saw in the movies.

Just dark and no stark aura of fear came upon me.

Great Hall

#The Yule Ball Costumes - Hermione's was truly ravishing

#Buffet of Feast at Hogwarts- the plastic food made the entire room nominal

#Banners of the 4 Houses

#Triwizard Cup

#Dumbledore Robe-which should be majestic and all but it was not an exciting piece to see

Wished I have seen:

#Gary Oldman as Sirius Black replica ( instead of a still photo ) , wearing his Azkaban Prisoner Suit! Oldman looked smexy wearin' that suit!

#Severus Snape's shaggy hair! Everyone loves to hate Snape but I do find him smexy when he speaks.

#Lucius Malfoy platinum blonde hair...what is up with me and the casts hairstyle? hahah!

#Voldemort's vicious and deadly face and bare feet! err.. the nose! Where was the 'nose'? To me it is the deadliest one since Voldemort's entire emblem strikes fear right?

#Luna Lovegood wearing her wacky pair of Spectrespecs. In the film, these glasses allow her to see Harry while he's got on his invisibility cloak

--------------Exhibition was extremely short (took me only 20 minutes!)----------------------------

and the Souvenir Shop will make you be short of money afterwards too.

Souvenir Items were priced extremely high, gawdness!

Dumbledore’s Army Wand Set: $350

Harry Potter Film Wizard book: $120

Marauder’s Map: $60

Hedwig Tote Bag: $40

House Pens: $40 /each

House Scarfs: $40 /each

Harry Potter Exhibition Official Guide Book: $30

House Ties: $27 /each