NEW YORK — Harry Potter and his friends are “apparating” to New York City sometime this year.
Fresh off tours in Atlanta, Vienna and an upcoming stop in Paris, “Harry Potter: The Exhibition” promises “an immersive celebration of the entire wizarding world,” according to the organizers of the exhibit. It was developed by Imagine Exhibitions and Warner Bros. and launched last year in Philadelphia, drawing 750,000 people, according to NBC News.
The first exhibit bridges the viewer “From Page to Screen,” with a first edition of J.K. Rowling’s magical “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” showcased within a vault inspired by the goblin bank, Gringotts. Inspirational video and literary quotes about, “reconnecting guests to the story as they are introduced to the exhibition,” the organizers said.
From there, it’s on to the “Hogwarts Castle Gallery, “an immersive multimedia experience” featuring the notorious Whomping Willow, sinister dementors and the mischievous Marauder’s Map, where guests’ names will actually appear as characters’ names do in the books.
Visitors can also check out Hagrid’s Hut and the Forbidden Forest, the latter complete with an “interactive Patronus charm experience,” the organizers said, and see creatures such as centaurs and the arachnidly inclined acromantula up close and personal.
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