‘Harry Potter: The Exhibition’ coming to downtown Atlanta

ATLANTA – Harry Potter, one of the most prominent book and film franchises of the past two decades, will be celebrated in downtown Atlanta starting next month with a new immersive experience.

Created by Atlanta-based Imagine Exhibitions, “Harry Potter: The Exhibition” will take place at 200 Peachtree St. where Macy’s used to be located. Advance tickets go on sale Sept. 28 and the exhibit will open Oct. 21.

An end date has not been announced and ticket prices will be released soon. Tickets will go on sale Sept. 28, but fans who belong to the Harry Potter Fan Club will receive exclusive access to presale tickets Sept. 25.

This will be the exhibition’s second location after Philadelphia, where the show opened in February and will close Sept. 18. There, the exhibition was held at the Franklin Institute and was priced starting at $30 as a separate evening event and $43 as a combo museum/exhibition price for adults during the day. The Franklin Institute, a science and natural history museum, said it was one of the best performing special exhibits in the museum’s history.

In Atlanta, “Harry Potter: The Exhibition” will be a standalone experience.

“We are trying to offer a wide variety of experiences with real props and costumes, personalization and big media moments,” said Tom Zaller, president of Imagine Exhibitions, who has also created the current Dino Safari at North Point Mall in Alpharetta and last year’s “Downton Abbey” experience in Atlanta. He is an “experience” veteran of 20-plus years and his company has created more than 40 different experiences ranging thematically from the Angry Birds video game to artist Leonardo da Vinci.

Attendees can pick a Hogwarts house at the start using a special bracelet and the experience will be geared to, say, a Gryffindor or Hufflepuff.

“There’ll be a potions classroom, the Great Hall, a divinations classroom and a wand classroom,” Zaller said. “You’ll see a dragon under the stairs.”

Like many of these experiences, this one should take most people one to two hours to traverse. Parking will be available in a connected garage for a discounted rate.

Zaller chose downtown because it is a tourist magnet with the Georgia Aquarium, the World of Coca-Cola Museum and the College Football Hall of Fame Museum so close by. Plus, it’s right off I-85/I-75.

And while the Potter exhibit in Philadelphia attracted a broad demographic, he sees the core audience to be millennials with young families.

Versions of this exhibit will tour globally, extending into cities in Latin America, Asia and Europe, including a recently announced stop in Vienna, Austria starting this December.