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I'm in Sydney for various nefarious purposes, so I thought I'd go see the Harry Potter Exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum. After all, we'd been to the Lord of the Rings one many years ago, and it was totally mind-blowingly amazing (to the point where I was almost crying over the dead Boromir in the boat because it looked so REAL, even close up).
( And herein are some brief notes I took whilst there )
Yes, that's the *short* version. Which probably explains why, by the time I came out, the picture taken of me at the beginning had been taken down from the long line of "Do you want to buy your picture", and they had up the ones from an hour later :-)
Was it worth the $32 I paid to go through? Yes, definitely. The quality of the props, the care they took in evolving things as time progressed, all worth it.
Biggest criticism, though? It was, as might be expected, a "no photography inside" exhibition. I was good (got one shot of the Anglia on the way in that was in open space, and that's it). I was expecting to buy a ton of pretty postcards for a bunch of weirdos I know (surely not anyone reading this!) and a nice t-shirt and perhaps a poster or a book...
The gift shop had run out of Gryffindor and Slytherin t-shirts. (This is the third day of a three-month exhibition). Otherwise, there were Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tshirts, the guide (as overpriced and under-content as any similar publication), simple black mugs, lollies, keyrings, wands (incredibly overpriced, and only four choices, none with Dragon Heartstring), and brooms (non-vibrating).
No generic "Hogwarts" Tshirts. No postcards, pics, posters, books, wizard hats, inflatable Jason Isaacs dolls, school robes, potion bottles or imitation jewellry (time turners, lockets, etc). It was the most pitiful, dusty, understocked gift shop I have ever seen! Ok, maybe I ask too much. Maybe it's not reasonable for a gift shop to sell potion bottles. But I know a ton of that stuff is out there - and considering the age of most of the visitors (hint: NOT kids), the museum has missed a MAJOR chance for money.
I also didn't take the audio tour - it wasn't really something I tend to do. But stopping to write down the names of all the Gryffindor Quidditch Captains from 1688 to 1724 probably shows that SOMEONE is a tragic fangirl.
Who is still squeeeeeeeeee-ing.
( And herein are some brief notes I took whilst there )
Yes, that's the *short* version. Which probably explains why, by the time I came out, the picture taken of me at the beginning had been taken down from the long line of "Do you want to buy your picture", and they had up the ones from an hour later :-)
Was it worth the $32 I paid to go through? Yes, definitely. The quality of the props, the care they took in evolving things as time progressed, all worth it.
Biggest criticism, though? It was, as might be expected, a "no photography inside" exhibition. I was good (got one shot of the Anglia on the way in that was in open space, and that's it). I was expecting to buy a ton of pretty postcards for a bunch of weirdos I know (surely not anyone reading this!) and a nice t-shirt and perhaps a poster or a book...
The gift shop had run out of Gryffindor and Slytherin t-shirts. (This is the third day of a three-month exhibition). Otherwise, there were Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tshirts, the guide (as overpriced and under-content as any similar publication), simple black mugs, lollies, keyrings, wands (incredibly overpriced, and only four choices, none with Dragon Heartstring), and brooms (non-vibrating).
No generic "Hogwarts" Tshirts. No postcards, pics, posters, books, wizard hats, inflatable Jason Isaacs dolls, school robes, potion bottles or imitation jewellry (time turners, lockets, etc). It was the most pitiful, dusty, understocked gift shop I have ever seen! Ok, maybe I ask too much. Maybe it's not reasonable for a gift shop to sell potion bottles. But I know a ton of that stuff is out there - and considering the age of most of the visitors (hint: NOT kids), the museum has missed a MAJOR chance for money.
I also didn't take the audio tour - it wasn't really something I tend to do. But stopping to write down the names of all the Gryffindor Quidditch Captains from 1688 to 1724 probably shows that SOMEONE is a tragic fangirl.
Who is still squeeeeeeeeee-ing.
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