NEW YORK: Harry Potter - The Exhibition

Souvenir picture of us in the Great Hall

Harry Potter: The Exhibition is a traveling exhibition that features props, costumes, and artifacts used in the movie series. We were lucky enough that they were in New York the same time we visited New York. At first, we were debating if we would do it because it is not allowed to take pictures inside the exhibits. After a few more thought, the Harry Potter fan inside of us prevailed and went ahead with it.

The exhibit started with a "wizard" with the Sorting Hat asking for volunteers who wanted to be sorted. Before each sorting begin, he asked the volunteer his/her favorite Hogwarts house. Magically, they all ended up being sorted into their favorite house. After 4 volunteers were done, we went on to the exhibit.

Building poster/display. Definitely
caught people's attention

We then found ourselves in a dark room with a number of vertical screens. They started showing clips from the movie series apparently to refresh people's memory of the movies particularly the earlier ones. This we assumed was due to the fact that this exhibit started back in 2009 when the movie series is not over yet; so most of the exhibit will probably have props from the older movies. Later in the exhibits, we found out that our assumption was correct. After the collection of movie clips played, the room opened up into much bigger room with a Hogwarts Express train.

The first part of the exhibit were a collection of props and costumes mostly from the main characters of the series. From their school uniforms, their casual dresses and their pajamas. it was also setup in the Gryffindor common room set, with the props found in their rooms. Books, wands, and other school supplies were also in display. A model of Dobby the house elf is also present in the common room. The most memorable artifacts are the Triwizard Cup, Marauder's Map, Hermione's Time Turner, the Howler from Ron's mom, Tom Riddle's Diary, and the Goblet of Fire. At the end of this part of the exhibit are garden pots with Mandrakes in them that you get to pull out yourself.

Next is a hallway full of larger props used in the movies. The ones that comes to our mind as the most memorable are the Boggart closet and the huge Jack in the Box. This hallway then leads to a made-up Hagrid's hut. You get to see Hagrid's clothes, his huge chair and other bigger than normal appliances, as well as a dragon egg that moves every once in a while to make it look like it is about to hatch. Outside the house as you move on to the exhibits are other bigger props mostly related to Care of Magical Creatures. Buckbeak is the main feature of this part of the exhibit. A dragon(well, at least its head and part of its neck) and a huge spider is also displayed. Then you get to see a series of Quidditch uniforms and artifacts leading to a Quidditch practice booth where you get to throw a Quaffle into one of the three hoops.

Next up is the darker exhibit or the exhibit featuring the villains. Costumes of the Death Eaters are on display, including their scary masks. The skeleton figure in the graveyard from the fourth movie is the center-piece of this exhibit. But most people are more interested in the figure of Kreacher. Eerie figures of Dementors are also displayed.






Lastly, before we got to the souvenir shop, was the Great Hall part of the exhibit. It displays costumes mostly worn during the Yule Ball. In the center of it are other small props like Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans, and some Zonko's items. And as a highlight of this section, they have Godric Gryffindor's sword and Fawkes the phoenix.

Our loot! Harry Potter the Exhibition souvenirs