Harry Potter in London: The Cursed Child

We went and spent the day watching Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.  Kevin and I heard that it was an amazing show and totally worth every penny, so we secured tickets and seats for the entire family for part 1 and part 2 back to back.  We were a little early, and had to walk through China Town to get to the theatre and we were so excited to see a restaurant that had the custard filled breaded fish that we super loved from Korea.  We went ahead and got a few things for lunch from the restaurant, and walked and ate on the way to pick up our tickets.  Other then knowing that the show is in two parts and being told it is not to miss, I actually didn't know anything else about the show.  I didn't know how long it was or the time the second show started, all I knew was when we needed to be there to pick up our tickets, which was at 12:15.  We got to the theatre and all our spirits were high and extremely excited.

We went through security, got our programs and found our seats.  We had some pretty great seats, they were about half way up the ground floor.  For the most part, all the kids could see the stage.  The theatre provided these cool child boosters for Little A and Monster, so they were excited to be just as tall as everyone else in the family.  After looking at the program, we realized that Part 1 was three hours with a small intermission in the middle.  We dug a little deeper and found out there is a two hour break from 4:00-6:00, then Part 2 starts at 6:00 and ends at 9:00.  Kevin and I looked at each other with our mouths open and had the exact same though, "How on earth are we going to keep Monster quiet and seated for 6 hours?!?"  We did bring some snack food for him, candies, and suckers to bribe him with silence, but we doubted it would last 6 hours.  With a silent plea to the heavens and promises to Monster of endless candy and toys if he was good, the lights flickered and everyone took their seats. 

For the first hour and half,  Monster was very interested in the show and sat in his seat and watched the show.  It was phenomenal.  I'm not going to go into details because I don't want any spoilers, but I will say the special effects were pretty spectacular.  They were spectacular enough to keep the attention of my wild little 3 year old.  There was about a 20 minute intermission, so we took the kids to the bathroom and opened up the snacks we brought in our backpack.  After the lights flickered and the show started again, we were able to keep Monster in his seat and quiet by giving him suckers.  He was beginning to loose interest in the show as a whole.  Every once in a while he would regain interest in the show because how amazing it was.  There was a scary part with some amazing dementors, so he just covered his eyes and I held him during that part.  I was so impressed, because just like that Part 1 was over and Monster had made it through 3 hours and everyone was able to enjoy Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Part 1.

We had two hours to kill before Part 2 started, so we decided to search for dinner.  We didn't know what restaurants were around the area, so we decided to try to find China Town again and just go back to the restaurant we had lunch at.  As we were walking around, we turned a corner and walked right up to the store, House of MinaLima.  When we went to Warner Bros Studio: The Making of Harry Potter, one of the workers in the blue shirts told us that if we can make it to the House of MinaLima, that we definitely needed to make a stop.  MinaLima are the two people who designed pretty much everything paper related for the Harry Potter Movies.  They designed all the papers product designs, such as the Dailey Prophets, Marauders Map, all containers and boxes in the joke shop, all the wrappers for the candies, you name it.  

The store was more like a museum then it was a shop.  There were four stories to the shop and each had something amazing.  The bottom floor had replicas for sale.  There were daily prophets, Azkaban wanted posters, maps, and educational decrees for sale.  The next three levels had a few things for sale, but for the most part it was glass cases with original products that they designed for the movie.  The entire stairway was plastered with Daily Prophet newsprints and wanted posters.  We really loved seeing the original Marauders Map in the shop in one of the glass cases.  The shop even had a fireplace with letters all spilling out on the floor.  It was such a cute and fun store to walk through. 

We left the House of MinaLima and found The Shake Shack and decided to make this our dinner stop.  We haven't ever eaten here before, but our friend, Holly Rust loves Shake Shack and has mentioned how amazing it is multiple times.  We were lucky to find a seat where we could all fit.  We ordered food, and sat down and enjoyed some super amazing hamburgers and milkshakes.  We brought a few games, and had a fun time playing game and talking about how incredible the first part of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was.

After filling up our tummies with super yummy food, and playing some games, it was time to return to the theatre for Part 2. It was 6:00, which is 7:00 our time.  Monster usually goes to sleep about 7:00, so I was super nervous about how he would act, since we knew he was tired.  We sat down and just hoped for the best and waited for the curtain to rise.

For the first 15 minutes or so, Monster moved from his seat to my lap and back to his seat again.  He was getting antsy because he was so tired.  He kept sitting down and standing up then climbing all over me.  Luckily, he wasn't being loud, just restless.  He finally sat on my lap and in a matter of minutes, he was twitching and fast asleep.  I couldn't believe our luck.  All the kids passed their coats to Kevin, and he took everyone's coat and made a big pile on the floor under Monster's seat and between me and him.  I laid Monster down on the coats, and he didn't move, he just slept on.  Kevin and I looked at each other in total disbelief and relief.  Monster ended up sleeping through the next 2 and a half hours of the show.  Even when they turned the lights on for intermission, even when the sound effects were super loud, even when the chair in front of him hit his face when the lady stood up during intermission,  and even when the people around us were talking, Monster slept on.  It was a small smile from heaven, and Kevin and I were both able to enjoy the entire performance.  Everyone was right, it was phenomenal and worth every single penny.  The kids talked about it the entire ride home. The performance was funny, witty, had amazing effects, great acting, and great costumes.  I'm so glad we got to take all the kids to see it and they thanked us so many times and I'm very positive they will talk about the show for hours and days and months to come.