I'm baaaaaaaack!

So, a friend of mine and I decided that we were going to go to the brand new Harry Potter Exhibit at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. To say the very least, it was stu-freaking-pendous. We sat on a train and a bus downtown for about a good 40 minutes or so; WE WERE SO EXCITED SO THE TRIP WAS NO PROBLEM. We showed up to the museum and we were greeted by Hedwig.

Upon walking into the museum, they have a display of the Flying Ford Anglia from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: 

It was so weird to see it in its actual size; this became a common theme of the exhibit. My friend and I went looking for the rest of the exhibit, but we couldn’t find anything. After asking a security guard for directions, we moved to the second floor and waited to be let in (lesson learned here, folks: no question is a stupid question). We had tickets to be let in at 4:45pm; the time was 4:11. We couldn’t wait; my friend decided to go through and tell me some of the major plot points that have gone on throughout the life of the Harry Potter characters. I don’t care what you say: Snape is cool!

We killed half an hour talking about Harry Potter, and we were lined up to go inside. The exhibit workers put on their best fake British accent, and led us in a game of “I-say-Harry-you-say-Potter”. Yes, I participated (and felt like I was 8 years old the whole time); they then led us outside of the museum to the large tents that were set up right out front. My friend and I were very excited as we walked into a room with a hat on a stool. Can you guess what happened next?

THE SORTING HAT KNOWS ALL. HE WAS SUPER AND SENT A BUNCH OF KIDS TO THE GRYFFYINDOR (AND ONE GIRL TO HUFFLEPUFF). From the sorting hat, we were told to move through golden doors that were in front of us. We walked through the doorway into a room with 6 screens set up, one right next to the other. The screens started to show us different adventures that Harry Potter has overcome over the span of the last few years. The clips ended, and the left wall of the exhibit completely lifted up, exposing the true start of the exhibit.

It was magical.

As you move into the pure exhibit, you are overcrowded with the common outfits of Harry Potter and his friends; Nevil Longbottom’s accessories and clothing were some of my favorite to see (he had so much). After looking around for a quick second, the swarm of people that we were touring with decided to circle around Harry Potter’s common robes from the first movie, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. What I think we all found so fascinating is that they were really…tiny. I’m not kidding; Daniel Radcliffe was so young when they first started the series. It was so scary to see the actual size of his costume, and looking around, I ended up with that same feeling a lot.

From Harry’s clothes, we moved over to see the clothing and props from all of the teachers from his past; Professor Minerva McGonagall (P.S. – I am so taller than her), Professor Remus Lupin, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart, and Pamona Sprout were included, to name a few. What was the most awesome of all of the costumes and all of the props was Professor Sprout’s set-up: SHE HAD BABY MANDRAKES THAT CRIED WHEN YOU PULLED THEM OUT OF THE GROUND. I’ll never be able to get their shrieks out of my head (and I’m completely fine with that).

The professor display melted into a display with Buckbeak as the main attraction:

That ended up turning into Hagrid’s house, where a baby dragon’s egg was laid on the table shaking as though it was getting ready to hatch some dragon terrific. Hagrid’s clothing were the biggest surprise that I’ve ever experience; HE IS TRULY A GIANT. I did not know how to comprehend an outfit that big, so I moved over to the Quidditch section. There was this awesome game set-up with chasers and hoops that kids were fawning over. I couldn’t help myself, and I decided to play for a little bit too. Every time you made a score, you would hear a validating “ding,” and it totally made me feel like a better person on the inside. And then, I saw them.

Cedric. Diggory’s. Quidditch. Uniform. ROBERT PATTINSON WAS IN THEM. YES, THAT DOES MAKE ME COOL.

I saw Quidditch uniforms from over the years, and moving on, I saw some Dementors, Lucius Malfoy’s costume, Bellatrix Lestrange’s costume along with the Sorcerer’s stone and a vast amount of other crucial items that have helped Harry Potter.

I saw a big door down the hallway and ran towards it to see what was through the doors at the end; peering through, I saw a dining hall. THE dining hall. I jaw-dropped and stopped dead in my tracks, amazed to see tasty treats that had been shown throughout the movies, the costume that RPattz wore to the dance in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and so many other splendors. One of my favorites were the fake candles set up floating from the ceiling. I was too amused.

The dining hall turned into the gift shop, and everything was for sale. From Voldemort’s wand to a Dumbledore keychain, I had enough and just wanted to go get a dose of reality. Not being able to stop just yet, I went back through one more time and touched both of Cedric Diggory’s clothings (even though I know that I wasn’t supposed to).

Oops. Silly me. ;)

For anyone in the Chicago area that has $20 to spare, checking out the Harry Potter Exhibit wouldn’t be too bad at all. It’ll be here until September, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince hits theatres on July 15, 2009.