I finally went to Harry Potter: The Exhibition yesterday. I am glad that the initial plan to go on a weekend failed because I was too lazy to queue. Yesterday was awesome as there was hardly any queue. With less, crowd, there was more space and time for me to look and fiddle around.
I am not gonna write about what the exhibition is all about. I am sure there are plenty of information around. I am going to write what I think about the exhibition. One word to sum it up: disappointing! Perhaps my imagination about what I would be experiencing or seeing was too wild that reality shows otherwise. Haha.. Anyway, I bought and read 2 large books about the making of Harry Potter movies so I have seen plenty of the props in pictures. I was eager to see the real thing. But really, what's good in movies/photos is not so good in reality. Most of the clothes look "dusty" and worn out. And I doubt the "authenticity" as I don't think the actors and actresses were that small in size.
The lighting was pretty dim that it was pretty hard to read or scrutinise the details of the props. That is another minus point. I read that the exhibition is small bla bla bla but I never imagined that it would be that small. Haha.. Well, I won't complain about the size as there were only about 20 people inside the exhibition area. But I shudder just by thinking how chaotic it would be inside if I come on a weekend =x
Anyway, at the point of entrance, I was allowed to take a photo against a green screen. I thought that there would be more props instead of only Gryffindor and Slytherin scarfs (and what's the point of having 2 when only the Gryffindor one was offered?? I like green leh!). I also thought that I would be able to choose a scene or something so I was prepared to spend $20 to get the photo. Nah.. The end product was really the person (me) pasted on 6 backgrounds!! Aiiih!! There was an option of getting 3 photos for $50 (plus the digital copy). Since I am quite a narcist and I did not look so fugly yesterday, I chose 3 lor~~. For memory sake.. once in a lifetime. Haha.. I was expecting a CD for the digital copy but I was given a code to get from website. Each photo is only ~500kB size o_0 Bleah.. Although the dimension-wise is pretty big (2400 x 1800 pixels).
After that, the Hogwarts experience began with "boarding" the Hogwarts Express. It was bloody dark that people barely took notice of the train. And we were sort of hurried to go to the next segment which was interactive: the sorting hat. I prefer it to be random. It was lame because the MC was asking the persons who sat on the chair "Which House would you like to be?" and then the MC would press a button that the Hat will put the person on the House that the person wanted.
Then we entered the Great Hall to see random scenes from the first until the last movie. Kinda lame. Moving on is the exhibition hall itself. As I mentioned in earlier paragraph, I was not too impressed with the props lah. Even the wands look so thin and flimsy. I like my "pirated" China-made wands better haha.. Anyway, the thin wands make more sense that they can break easily in the story ba.. And because they are lousy, my money is saved lol.
Inside, there were only 2 things that visitors could touch: the Mandrake, and the Quidditch. The Mandrake was bad too.. It was supposed to be hard to pull but I found it quite easy. It used spring mechanism but I guess kids would find it hard to pull. The Mandrake's scream was barely audible -_-" I think the sound of the TVs or the Fat Lady's singing was louder and more irritating than the Mandrake's. Not impressed!! But the material of the Mandrake was kinda good. I felt like I just touched something disgusting and natural. Haha..
The Quidditch was the best part, in my opinion. Always thought that the Quaffle would be as hard as volley or basket balls. It was quite hard but still "squeeze-able". Haha.. But the size and weight are realistic enough for a sports game.
Fast forward to the end: the souvenir shoppe (don't ask me why it is called shoppe). The prices are ridiculous la -_-. The movie making book was sold for $200 when I bought it in Kino for less than $100. Siao.. I know the chocolate frog and the Bertie Bott's Beans would just be chocolate and Jelly Beans but I expected the packaging to be somewhat like in the movie.. NOT! I still buy one each ($6 each) for the sake of taking photo as a keepsake. Will update about the taste as well as the Chocolate Frog card after I open ba.
I bought Gringotts Coins replica from Noble Collection for $75. Cry :'( I mean I like coins.. But I should have realised that they marked up the price quite badly after I realised the book price mah.. Haiz.. I checked the retail price from the online shop (or even from Amazon) is about USD 30 only nia.. Kena ripped off. Anyway a bit more of the coins, the Galleon, Sickle, and Knut are plated with gold, silver, and copper respectively. They are quite heavy and the engraving is not bad lah.. The box is atrocious though -_- so cheaply made.. And there were only 5 sets left so the glass were either cloudy or cracked. Bleah.. I don't know the person lied to me or what.. She told me that everything was on display. There is still 1 month to go and no more coins? Bullshit!
I was also tempted to get Hogwarts (and the Houses) emblems. Lucky I did not buy. Haha.. Firstly, the painting was fugly. Not ugly, but fugly. Secondly, I realised (at home) that the one sold at the exhibition was not from Noble Collection and hence explain the fugliness.
Okay, time to show off my loots from yesterday :)
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| Entry ticket (Top) and Voucher to redeem the photo (Bottom) |
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| The $6 Chocolate Frog |
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| The $6 Bertie Bott's Beans |
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| Gringotts coins replica |
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| Everything that I got yesterday. I don't normally post my photo but I guess this is to small to see my face anyway :p |
Anyway, despite how bad it was, I still think that my $157 was well spent and I was happy. Haha.. It is once in a life time and I am a fan of Harry Potter anyways :p One thing I regret was not taking photo with the giant wall image of Harry, Hermione, and Ron prior to the entry. Gosh.. It was BEFORE the exhition so phototaking was still allowed. Oh well.. Too late to realise.. Only realised when asked to show the ticket further inside.
Mischief managed!
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