Harry Potter Fest At Chestnut Hill 2016
I don't think I need to repeat that I love Harry Potter, and have read the books multiple times again, right? When I found out there was a Harry Potter Festival near by, we put it in the plans of places to visit this fall.
Parking
We headed out there late morning on Saturday. We got stuck in traffic for a long time as we got close to the festival. Eventually, I kicked Roger out of the car while he went to find a bathroom and I went to park the car. He doesn't do well at being stuck in traffic, and I use the opportunity to sing in the car, and paint my nails.
Parking was not available anywhere near the festival, so I ended up parking about 1 mile away.
The Festival
I walked with many witches and wizards to the festival, saw a Hagrid, students from all houses, but mostly Gryffindors. This was amazing! I know a lot of people love Harry Potter and seeing them dressed up, declaring that love was very a great experience! It made me wish I had dressed up.
When I arrived to the festival the streets were crazy crowded, and due to the amount of people, there was no phone signal at all.
We got in line at a candy shop for chocolate frogs, but by the time we got to the register, they were sold out. The Festival was only about 2 hours in, and things were already sold out in many places.
We went to try to find some food, but all the places had really long lines. We wanted to eat at a place called Molly Weasley's Kitchen, but the line was just too long.
After walking the crowded streets, we lined up at a burger tent. While waiting, we spotted this awesome and creative person :
The burger was the most delicious Festival Burger I have EVER had!! It was fresh, juicy and the bun was fresh baked and crunchy! I loved it!
We continued to walk around to check out the shops, but it was really crowded and we had a hard time moving or finding anything. Most places were sold out of things. The line for butter beer was long at every shop we tried.
Everything was Harry Potter Themed!
A favorite was Professon Trelawney Tarot reading!
The whole festival was amazing to me. Yes, it was crowded, and there were huge lines for everything, but I would absolutely go back next year.
But it wouldn't be fair to leave this post without Roger's complaints about the event.
* Lines were too long for everything
* There were not enough bathrooms for the amount of people that were there- I had to use a portable toilet that was overflowing. As a runner, I can say that I have seen many, and very strange things at portable toilets, but an overflowing portable toilet had not been one.
* Lines for food were too long
* Traffic getting in was a nightmare
* Everything was sold out early
If you are interested in going, the event is held every fall in October. Check the website for dates. I would strongly recommend spending the night to avoid traffic, and go after eating.
Here are a few articles on the event.
ABC 6
Philly.com
PennLive
If you are not a Harry Potter fan, but you still skim through this post, Thank you!
Tell me about you!
What fictional fandom would you attend a festival for? I would not mind attending a Doctor Who festival!
How do you deal with large crowds?
Do you prefer to be stuck in traffic, or to hear somebody complain about traffic?
What do you do when stuck in traffic?
  |
| Festival cups were sold out. Sold out seemed to be a theme for a lot of things |
Parking
We headed out there late morning on Saturday. We got stuck in traffic for a long time as we got close to the festival. Eventually, I kicked Roger out of the car while he went to find a bathroom and I went to park the car. He doesn't do well at being stuck in traffic, and I use the opportunity to sing in the car, and paint my nails.
Parking was not available anywhere near the festival, so I ended up parking about 1 mile away.
The Festival
I walked with many witches and wizards to the festival, saw a Hagrid, students from all houses, but mostly Gryffindors. This was amazing! I know a lot of people love Harry Potter and seeing them dressed up, declaring that love was very a great experience! It made me wish I had dressed up.
I found Roger and we started walking the very crowded streets. Each shop had a Harry Potter Themed name, and a lot had some type of HP merchandise. 
We got in line at a candy shop for chocolate frogs, but by the time we got to the register, they were sold out. The Festival was only about 2 hours in, and things were already sold out in many places.
 |
| The awesome mural at the coffee / candy shop we stopped at |
We went to try to find some food, but all the places had really long lines. We wanted to eat at a place called Molly Weasley's Kitchen, but the line was just too long.
After walking the crowded streets, we lined up at a burger tent. While waiting, we spotted this awesome and creative person :
The burger was the most delicious Festival Burger I have EVER had!! It was fresh, juicy and the bun was fresh baked and crunchy! I loved it!
 |
| The Pretzel Sword was delicious ! |
 |
| There was a line to take a picture with Aunt Petunia |
Everything was Harry Potter Themed!
A favorite was Professon Trelawney Tarot reading!
The whole festival was amazing to me. Yes, it was crowded, and there were huge lines for everything, but I would absolutely go back next year.
But it wouldn't be fair to leave this post without Roger's complaints about the event.
* Lines were too long for everything
* There were not enough bathrooms for the amount of people that were there- I had to use a portable toilet that was overflowing. As a runner, I can say that I have seen many, and very strange things at portable toilets, but an overflowing portable toilet had not been one.
* Lines for food were too long
* Traffic getting in was a nightmare
* Everything was sold out early
If you are interested in going, the event is held every fall in October. Check the website for dates. I would strongly recommend spending the night to avoid traffic, and go after eating.
Here are a few articles on the event.
ABC 6
Philly.com
PennLive
If you are not a Harry Potter fan, but you still skim through this post, Thank you!
Tell me about you!
What fictional fandom would you attend a festival for? I would not mind attending a Doctor Who festival!
How do you deal with large crowds?
Do you prefer to be stuck in traffic, or to hear somebody complain about traffic?
What do you do when stuck in traffic?
An overflowing port-a-potty?! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I WOULD DIEEEEE. THAT IS SO GROSSSSSSS.
ReplyDeleteThis looks like so much fun though! My kids would love this. I'm glad you guys do stuff like this together!
Yes, it was gross... But I would rather pee in an overflowing portapotty, than get a UTI. I am the one weird person who doesn't get grossed out at pee.
DeleteIt was a lot of fun, I pretended there were not thousands of people around me and I enjoyed it!
Your kids would have loved it! there were a lot of kid friendly activities!
Oh man... I love Harry Potter but the crowds may have been too much for me here. The overflowing port a potty thing sounds awful.
ReplyDeleteI could not believe the crowds!! We read about a woman who had a panic attack in a shop, because there were so many people around. They could do better at organizing more toilets for sure!
DeleteYes, Harry Potter doesn't seem to be for everybody, but It's all good.
ReplyDeleteWe watched the movies when they first came out, because of my brothers, but I had NO IDEA what was happening in them!! At that time I had only lived in the USA for 3 years, and I had a hard time understanding English accents.
The burger was delicious!! I would stand in line for 20 minutes for the burger again!!
I read the whole thing even though I barely know anything about Harry Potter! I kept thinking how fun the festival would be for someone who was into HP! But I am with Roger- traffic, crowds, long lines, no bathrooms... all make me very GRUMPY!
ReplyDeleteThank you!! It was amazing! Roger swears he will not go again! We'll see!
DeleteI love Harry Potter too. That festival sounds fun but too big for it's britches. Have you ever been to the Harry Potter world at Universal? It's amazing!! I'll be checking out the one in CA in January. The butter beer is to die for.
ReplyDeleteit got too big, too quick! there were lots of complaints on twitter and other social media about it. I would love to go to the one in Universal, but we gotta save money for it. that is in my bucket list for sure!
DeleteOMG I SO WISH THEY HAD SOMETHING LIKE THIS NEAR ME. I feel like, because there's Orlando & the real HP world so "close" to me, no one puts on these fun knockoff festivals and I wish they did because I am ALL about it!!!
ReplyDelete