It took me four tries to cast the right spell before I finally got a child who wanted to dive into a world of wizardry with me, and it turns out we were just in time. My youngest child is nine years old and found our copy of Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone over winter break, and we began reading it together at bedtime. She had no idea when we began that in less than two months she’d be able to walk through the world premiere of Harry Potter: The Exhibition right here in our own city! My other muggle children want to go of course, but my youngest got the honor of attending the media preview today. The exhibit is from February 18 through September 18, 2022, and covers 20,000 square feet of space featuring Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts, and the expanded Wizarding World including Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The exhibition was created and developed by Imagine Exhibitions in partnership with Warner Bros. Themed Entertainment in association with EMC Presents.

Advance tickets reservations are required, and upon check in you’ll receive a bracelet. You register at a kiosk and have your photo taken, choose your house, your wand, and your patronus, and then use this bracelet at various sites around the exhibit for interactive purposes and to collect your photos at the end. Look for the snitch to show you where to scan your bracelet for these interactions! Your first bracelet scan is mirror with a camera where the sorting hat appears on your head and your house is selected. From there you can explore your house and view featured costumes and props, murals, and literary quotes. Don’t worry- no matter which house you are sorted to, you can explore all 4!

Perhaps one of the most awe-inspiring things to see is the projection-mapped Great Hall, where the seasons change, the lit up candles float in the air, and you feel as though Nearly Headless Nick might just be floating right above you! Further on are the Hogwarts classrooms where you can try your wand at casting a spell, planting a mandrake, mixing up a potion, and more!

Curious but aren’t actually a super-fan? No worries. In each section of this exhibit you’ll find a large description to fill you in on what is happening, what makes that part special, and more. You’ll go in curious, but leave even more curious and eager to both crack open the series and watch on the big screen! There really is something for everyone, and we think that this exhibit is fun for families, as well as a date night or outing with friends.

If you want a few more insider insights as to what else you can see keep reading, but if you’d rather be surprised stop here and head over to fi.edu to get your tickets reserved today!

Here are a few more things we were super excited to experience- a quidditch turf where you can toss a quaffle into the hoops, Hagrid’s Hut where you can see his enormous chair and his dragon egg, and… Harry’s cupboard under the stairs!! AND you can even go inside it!!! For all of the magical wizardry things in this vast space, somehow that tiny space that gives us an insight into his first 10 years of life not knowing his wizard destiny really made this so special.