The magic of Harry Potter captivates the first visitors

Night has barely fallen but already many apprentice sorcerers equipped with capes, pointed hats and wands are crowding the entrance to the Jardin des Plantes. This is of course where the Harry Potter: The Forbidden Forest Experience event takes place.

Roxane, 38, and her son Alexandre, 11, came from Libourne in Gironde especially for this. “I’m a big fan,” admits the mother, who naturally passed on her passion to her son. “I discovered Harry Potter at 13 and I grew up with him. The visit is great, I feel like a child again,” she jokes. “I’ve seen all the films and I’m reading the books,” says Alexandre proudly. “It’s great, I loved Aragog, but it’s true that it’s a little scary,” he admits.

For arachnophobes, the experience can definitely be a little frightening…! Like Angélique, 32 years old: “I didn’t like the passages with the spiders,” she says. A vision quickly forgotten by the magic of the different paintings that followed one another. “The universe, the atmosphere is great. The sound, the voices of the characters that we hear, it’s incredible,” she adds! For her younger sister, the visit lived up to her expectations. “We are fans because we discovered the saga when we were very little, it accompanied us throughout our adolescence, and it’s great to be able to relive it,” she summarizes. He really enjoyed rediscovering the world of his childhood. A feeling shared by his sister’s husband, Benjamin, who admits: “These are the only books I have read!”. The three Lot-et-Garonne residents are also unanimous: being able to cast the patronus spell was truly the highlight of the show!

Yann and Nadège, two brothers and sisters aged 27 and 32, have roughly the same experience and also admit to having had chills during the patronus! For the little Toulouse family of Stéphanie and Marc, if the couple’s 3 children enjoyed the show, it was especially mom and dad who wanted to visit!

Also encountered in the aisles of the site, Mélissa, a young 18-year-old from Bordeaux, also loved discovering the Plant Garden bathed in light. “It’s incredible, we find things from each of the books.” “The staging is superb,” adds his mother Marie. “It really immerses us in the magic of Harry Potter.”