Harry Potter Exhibition and Movie

On Wednesday of this past week, we woke up early, and went to Chicago for the day. The event that we wanted to attend was the opening of "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" It was being shown at the omnimax theater at the Museum of Science and Industry. To make the day even more special we had tickets to the Harry Potter Exhibition. The exhibition is so large that they held it in it's own huge space. Our tickets were for 9:45and we were so excited. Seth had invited three of his friends to go along. We made our way up to the third floor and we were met by a fellow who entertained us with Harry Potter trivia until it was our time to enter the exhibit rooms. It was there that I found out that know picture taking was allowed. I was very disappointed,for I had planned all kinds of silly photos, but you will have to be happy with downloads.

The whole exhibit was very theatrical, with dark lighting and music from the movies in the background. We were moved on to a hostess who welcomed us and played sorting hat games with us. She asked for volunteers and Rachel's hand went right up. Rachel went to the front of the room, sat on the stool and was pronounced a member of Ravenclaw. She is the first member of our family to be placed in Hogwart's house. Curtains magically rose and we stepped into a new space. One wall was covered entirely with picture frames. The frames came alive and we had an introduction to the main characters of the books and movies. Another curtain parted and there was Hogwart's Express. We walked past the engine and made our way into the actual exhibits.

We entered into Hogwart's and we were met with hundreds of props and costumes from the movies. We had rented the self-guided tour electronics and all you had to do was press the display's number and you could have explanations and further details of all that was before you. The phoenix was there in Dumbledore's office as were all the papers and vials and clever little things that we recognized from the movies. We then moved on to the class rooms. Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts came next. We saw Snape's costume and Quirrel's turban and flowy robes. I was amazed at the detail that went into the designing and making of the clothes.

The sorting Hat really was very ugly and I swore I could smell it, too. It smelled old and greasy.

There were lots of costumes from when the kids were young and you could see them grow up as every movie they got bigger and bigger. Remember the first movie when the kid/actors were so small.

Dumbledore's robes were beautiful. There was hand work like you wouldn't believe on everything that he wore.

Hagrid's costume was huge. I know that Robbie Coltrane is a big man, but what they did to turn him into Hagrid was amazing. He was padded and wore lifts in his boots. The wig and beard are so big that they are really seven smaller hair pieces. I couldn't reach high enough to feel how much padding was in the shoulders, but there was a tremendous amount in the pants. He also wore a fat suit to make himself look so immense.

Professor McGonagle wore robes that were almost as beautiful ans Dumbledore's. Her robes are so dark that the detail doesn't show up unless you can get a close look. Her dress robes for the Yule Ball were especially smocked to make it look like snake scales. Snake scales gave her a very witchy feel. Her character got the most elaborate hats. They were gorgeous, with beautiful feathers.

Professor Umbridgewas all opposites. The softer she looked the harder and meaner she became. She had a series of this suit that got darker and darker as the movie progressed. It was supposed to be the same suit. It just changed as she did. At the exhibit they had her office all set up with the kitty plates on the wall and there was one plate off to the side of a really ugly kitty. It's nose was all turned up like a bulldog and it looked like it had been hit by a garbage can lid. Like in the cartoons.

You should have seen the teacups in Professor Trelawney's classroom, they were so dirty with tea leaves. The big thick eye glasses were there and the crytal balls. THey had to make one of the crystal calls out of plastic so it could roll down the stairs without breaking.

Gilderoy Lckhart's was the funniest of all. There were photos all over of him in different adventuring costumes. He was an aviator, he was T.E. Lawrence type, he was in athletic gear. It was all so egotistical. Very Humorous.


Next we went into Herbology and pulled up Mandrakes. They screamed when we pulled them up. They were also very ugly. They had grouchy little faces.

We next got to check out Quidditch. The quaffles are heavy but easier to handle because you can hold onto the denty parts. We got to trow the quaffles through the hoops but none of us saw a snitch.

The great hall room was big and filled with suspended candles and all the artficial food. THey had three tables full of the most delicious looking props I have ever seen. They also had one wall that was covered in candy from the candy store in Hogsmead. Little kids were so disappointed that it wasn't real. One child in our group almost started to cry. He thought it was such a cruel trick to have it look so enticing and then find out it was all fake.

This dress was beautiful. And Emma Watson is a very small girl to fit into it.

Some more of all that lovely fake food.

This is what the display looked like, only a little smaller and no kids sitting at the tables. We had a great time at the exhibit. There was so much more that I didn't tell you about. The pictures on the walls, the fat lady, The dragon and the dementors. There was quite a bit of dark side stuff with Voldemort. I shudder when I say that name. Anyway, it was so much fun. And ten we went to the movie. If you haven't seen the movie yet let me promise you that it is very good and entertaing to watch. We are going to see it again soon, because we watched it on an omnimax screen, which is five stories high and very curvy. Whenever the camera panned fast you could not keep up and I felt a little queasy now and then and had to close my eyes to get a sense of well-being. I felt very adventurous watching at that venue.
After the movie we had tickets for the Smart House tour. I will tell you about it another time as this is a total Harry Potter blog. Go see the movie. It's lots of fun.