#HarryPotter20: Must See Dance Video plus Photos of London’s Harry Potter World

Just in time for the 20th anniversary celebrations today of J.K. Rowling publishing the Harry Potter series of books, check out this very creative video that tracks the arc of the novels from beginning to end! And below, learn about why YOU should definitely check out “The Harry Potter Experience!”

My son and I DEVOURED the books which we began reading when he was 7 years old on a trip in our VW van from California to Yellowstone and back. Lots of time to read! And of course we loved the movies.

A few years ago, my son attended a “Hackwarts” Camp where he made a book of monsters, a lamp for his protonus, and so many other cool things, and then I helped my son participate in a Hot Topics Hogwarts House Pride Contest by taking and submitting a few of the photos above and pictured in this post. While he didn’t win (and he was too young to compete on his own anyway), it does testify to the power of Harry Potter.

Last summer, highlights for my son of our four-week trip to Europe was the day we visited Stonehenge — and the next day when we toured Harry Potter world. Both days really brought a sense of magic into our lives — and it was fun too to see the movie magic at work.

And what work! Until you’ve been to the Harry Potter Experience, you have NO IDEA what was involved in making those movies! WOW! To make those world feel so real required a great deal of depth — depth that is all there to be seen for the actors and now for visitors.

Early on, they realized they needed to save the props to use in future films — and then they realized they would be enjoyed by fans like us long into the future.

Being able to see and look at ALL THE PROPS from everything — the actual items they used in the movies — is hard to imagine — and hard to beat. ` We’re so grateful that they had the foresight.

You can buy butter beer of course as well as souvenirs and they also have photo ops and other fun activities — where you can ride a broom and ride on the train and more…

Next up for these Harry Potter fans?

Well we weren’t able to get tickets for The Cursed Child in London but it is coming to San Francisco and we will be there!

on the Tower Bridge in London post Harry Potter Experience

And would we do it again?

Absolutely! We just need to get back to England which we would do in a heartbeat!

Not to mention that we just discussed how we wished we’d paid for the audio guide and how each year they feature a different book and themes and ideas from that book. When we were there, the special exhibit was The Goblet of Fire. Next time, it will be something new! (And hopefully next time I won’t be quite so exhausted — but that’s another story of another day!)

“The Making of Harry Potter Experience” has many after hours and special holiday events as well … check them out on the website here.

Finally, I can’t say enough about how wonderful and helpful everyone was who works at The Harry Potter Experience. We were having a hard time figuring out where to go next, and my son was so exhausted by that point (so was I!) They helped us charge our devices, navigate websites, and find a hostel in London where we could affordably stay as well as figure out how to get there from where we were. We are eternally grateful to the people in customer service at The Harry Potter Experience!