This weekend, there's big magic happening in the Big Apple! Yes, fans congregated around the famous Grand Central Terminal for our special Back to Hogwarts weekend event - including a dramatic 11am countdown on the 1st of September to cap things off. And fans were left extra-spellbound by a very familiar face...
From Friday to Saturday
Vanderbilt Hall's magical makeover
Located on the iconic 42nd street in Manhattan, Grand Central Terminal has been one of New York's most beloved train stations since 1913. Since then, its beautiful architecture and Beaux-Arts design has made it one of New York's top tourist destinations. And a great place to catch trains, of course!
This week, we went inside the station to give the grand Vanderbilt Hall a proper Hogwarts makeover, complete with house banners and our very own version of Hogwarts' high table. Yes, the Vanderbilt Hall has become the Great Hall.
We even had our very own version of Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore (courtesy of the New York's Cursed Child family!) join us for the fun, feeling like a real-life start-of-term feast.
A fabulous Cursed Child wand dance kicked off the weekend
The production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in New York is still casting a spell all over Broadway - and we were honoured to see some of the cast appear at Grand Central to help open our fabulous weekend.
Performing the famous Wand Dance from the award-winning play, it was the perfect way to kick off proceedings.
If you've never seen it before - we fully recommend, by the way.
Fans got snap-happy with photo opportunities and immersive experiences
Now it was time to get the weekend party going. Fans (dressed up to the nines, of course) descended upon Vanderbilt Hall to try out some beautiful photo opps scattered across the room. For example, we simply adored the LEGO edition of the Mirror of Erised, which used special motion-capture technology to transform the subject into a cute little minifigure.
For Cursed Child fans, a beautiful bookcase and Time-Turner display (reminiscent of Hermione's Ministry office in the play) made us feel like we we characters in the production.
Then there's the small matter of the upcoming game Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions - which set up an incredible, immersive experience for sporting fans. Vanderbilt Hall's guests were invited to a pre-match pep talk, an examination of a Quidditch tactics board (from a real-life Quidditch coach too!) and got to fully envelop themselves into the game.
Seeing as Muggles usually have a tough time finding Hogwarts - we brought Hogwarts to New York.
A smorgasbord of magical goodies
Alongside Hogwarts itself, we also gave visitors a little Diagon Alley moment. Time to shop! From a personalised Hogwarts letter station to magical objects to wands upon wands upon wands... there was Harry Potter goodies as far as the eye could see. You could even pop outside for a refreshing Butterbeer.
The Sorting Hat made an appearance, naturally
On top of everything else, we like to think the four Hogwarts houses found a few new members this weekend!
Yes, it wouldn't be Back to Hogwarts season without our favourite shabby Sorting Hat, with many fans trying their luck with our mini-ceremony.
And yes, yes, we also sorted a dog.
Even Dobby turned up to look around!
Yes, everybody's favourite house-elf was on hand at the Vanderbilt Hall as our official correspondent to check out every activity. He's living his best life and we're just happy to be along for the ride.
Amazing LEGO giveaways
LEGO and Harry Potter has always gone so well together, like salt and pepper. Lucky then, that ticket-holders in New York were able to snap up special Hogwarts Express sets!
You can see all of LEGO's recent sets at our Back to Hogwarts gift guide.
Back to Hogwarts day
Kierra Lewis was on hand to be our Master of Ceremonies
Kierra Lewis recently became initiated into the wizarding world family by experiencing the Harry Potter stories for the first time - much to the amusem*nt of all of her followers. And look at her now! Hosting the iconic countdown to 11am on Back to Hogwarts day in New York City, doing an amazing job. We love this for her.
Bonnie Wright came along to say hello!
And Kierra wasn't alone! Yes, we brought along Harry Potter royalty, Bonnie Wright (AKA Ginny Weasley) to come and join the festivities. And needless to say, the guests was just a little bit surprised!
We even had a string quartet!
As Dumbledore once said: "Ah, music. A magic beyond all we do here!" To stay true to the headmaster's wise words, Back to Hogwarts day was soundtracked by a talented string quartet to mark the Hogwarts Express's departure. And better yet, they were playing Imogen Heap's ethereal score from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. No, you're crying.
And just like that, Back to Hogwarts day spread the magic once again, and we loved celebrating in such a special way in the city that doesn't sleep.
Thank you dearly to everyone who came along to ANY of our Back to Hogwarts celebrations all over the world (you may even still be at one as we speak!) and keep visiting us here at WizardingWorld.com for more start-of-term festivities.
Be sure to check out all of our special Back to Hogwarts announcements with our annual showcase.
Try our our commemorative Snapchat filters
Or browse all of our Back to Hogwarts activities on our official page.
