Universal's Harry Potter Celebration 2016: Expo Tour and Alan Rickman Tributes

Last post I covered all the awesome costumes from Universal's Potter Celebration, so now let's take a look at the special exhibits and events they had going throughout the weekend. 

First, and probably the biggest draw, there were several cast Q&As on the main stage:

These included the actors who played Ron, Cho Chang, Ginny, Neville, and Luna.  

 

We especially enjoyed Neville's 70's 'stache and sideburns - which he mentioned are for a new project:

 :D

The giant screens were really helpful, and even standing as far back as we were, I could hear a lot of their answers. (The Leaky Cauldron live-streamed some of these panels, btw, so click this way to watch video of them!)

The other two special attractions had enormous lines all weekend, so we didn't bother waiting for The Sorting Hat Experience:

Essentially a cast member holds the hat over your head, and a recording of the Hat's voice calls out which House you belong to. SO not worth a two-hour wait, unless maybe you have little ones.

The thing worth waiting for was the special Potter Expo:

This wait never went under an hour all three days we were there, and it even closed early 2 of the 3 days because the crowds were so big. Universal made the wait bearable by showing the cast Q&A or the movies on a giant screen over the queue, though, which was a nice touch.

Once inside you could shuffle through a short line arranged around a bunch of merchandise displays:

Oddly enough you couldn't buy any of this stuff there, though; this giant Fluffy and the Fawkes over head were from FAO Schwartz.

These Hedwig and Buckbeak hats were pretty much the greatest things in the entire building:

 

Your face sticks out Hedwig's belly, you guys. I want to hug whoever designed this.

 I also approve of anything with the Bertie Bott's packaging on it:

 

 LEGO Hogwarts:

 

And here's a gorgeous Patronus dress from Black Milk:

The reason this line existed was to pick up your free poster. And not only were they giving away something for free, it was something AWESOME for free:

The text is metallic gold, and it's printed on a heavy watercolor paper. Super pretty.

We got one per person, so I'm giving away our extra one at the end of this post. Keep reading.

Arranged around the big Expo room were a series of booths. Here's Mina Lima's:

They designed everything written or printed in the movies, and you can buy prints and note cards of their work - which tend to be quite pricey.

Their floor was fun:

And they had this sweet letter mobile that would be perfect for parties:

 

 Here's the Pottermore booth:

They had a series of computer stations to sort you into your House.
They also had this map just outside:

I know now this is a reference to the new Wizarding schools Rowling just announced, but at the time we had no idea. I'm really surprised they didn't call more attention to it at the booth.

I'm just now getting to the best part of the Expo - which unfortunately required waiting in yet another hour-long line:

This mini studio tour was designed to give us a taste of the big one in London. We had no idea what to expect inside, so I was pleasantly surprised in the end.

First, a pretty picture on the outside wall:

 

 The first room was the best: 

Here we got to watch two of the actual wand-makers from the movies make real wooden wands. The woman operating the lathe even designed the original Elder wand!

While they worked, a man off to the side told us what they were doing, and showed off some silicone wand molds and rubber prop wands they used while filming. 

The wands they were making here were a mix of movie-used designs and some super fun free-form stuff they came up with on their own:

 Look how cool: 

Tiny pumpkin!!

And look at this little owl, which was way in the back:

I'm making involuntary "gimmie" noises right now, you guys. Waaaaaaant. 

Next we were shuffled through here:

To look at this makeup table:

 

Here a lady showed us three of the screen-used items:

Ew.

This plastic dome is Harry's scar stencil:

 And that's one of Ron's wigs.

The final room was a quick photo op with a Death Eater wearing a screen-used costume:

The whole tour took less than 15 minutes, but that wand room alone was worth the wait!

Back out on the Expo floor, there was also a large display for the new Potter play, and of course a large gift shop area:

Fun goodies.

On Saturday there were several fan-organized tributes to Alan Rickman, and we ended up seeing three of them in the span of 15 minutes near the Night Bus:

 Wands up for Rickman.

The largest tribute was organized by MuggleNet, which first rescheduled from Friday to Saturday, then cancelled the whole thing 10 minutes beforehand on Facebook, and finally moved the event by just yelling at everyone by the bus to move over to Grimmauld Place, because a different group was now meeting by the bus? I think? It was all very confusing.

 

They held a reading on the steps, but most of us couldn't hear them, so we just stood around awkwardly until they raised their wands.

Personally I found the first - and smallest - tribute the most moving, since it was more like a silent flash mob of people raising their wands. This one was chaotic and loud, which was disappointing.

 And finally, to end on a sweet note:

 There's a new candy shop in Diagon Alley!

 Sugarplum's Sweet Shop replaces the old photo studio, which moved over by Madame Malkin's a month or two ago. The Sweet Shop had just opened the week before the Celebration, so it was a fun surprise:

 I love the window displays.

Even better, inside the shop John had a fascinating conversation with one of the workers about how her strict Warlock father home-schooled her instead of letting her go to Hogwarts. That's some A+ dedication to theme, my friends. Love it.

This shop isn't Potter Celebration-specific, of course, but who can resist ending with a little eye candy?

Hope you guys enjoyed your virtual tour!

***

Oh, and comment below if you'd like to win that Hogwarts poster! I'll ship anywhere, so international comments are welcome.  I'll announce the randomly selected winner in my next post.

 UPDATE: The give-away has ended, and the winner of the Harry Potter poster from my last post IS...

Kate Mulhauser

AND

the Christina who said she and her daughter would probably frame this and put it over their TV. (And I'll hold ya to that, Christina. ;))

Yes, I decided to give both our posters away. You guys are just too sweet, and I'm out of wall space anyway! So congrats to both my winners, and please e-mail me your mailing addresses, ladies!