Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - mini-trippie - #keepthesecrets

[Beth_Disney]

Me and my DH have just returned from 3 days in London where the highlight was seeing part 1 and part 2 of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. This is my first attempt at a trip report so please be kind!

There will not be ANY spoilers for the play included; I'll just say that after waiting 10 months between buying the tickets and seeing the play I was not disappointed. It was fantastic and it's even got its own hashtag for social media #keepthesecrets. I'll respect the wishes of the genius that is JK Rowling!

Day 1

We got the train from Birmingham to London Euston at 11am and it was one of the most annoying train journeys I've ever been on! :angry: It was a London Midlands service and took 2.5hrs to get to London. I normally travel on Virgin trains to London and this train was poor by comparison. Very much 1st world problems but there was no shop, no reserved seating, no trolley, no wifi, no charging points.

When we arrived at Euston it was warm and sunny so we had a walk to our hotel rather than getting the tube. Our chosen hotel was the St Giles which is a large hotel close to Tottenham Court Road tube station. I've stayed here more times than I can remember as it's a hotel the company I used to work for got a good rate on and I've stayed there a few times when paying myself (like this trip). For the price I think it's excellent value - we paid £204 for 2 nights. They've renovated the reception since the last time I stayed there and added wifi but the rooms are still the same. I don't think it would be for everyone as the normal guest rooms are no frills but it's clean, the beds are comfy and the location is excellent.

We spent the rest of the day walking around some tourist sights. We had afternoon tea, a pint by the river, saw St Paul's Cathedral and walked back along the South Bank.

We finished the day with a lovely meal, cough cough, no we didn't! We had planned to go to Shake Shack in Leicester Square but we were both still full from the afternoon tea so ended up in McDonald's... hangs head in shame! We did a lot of walking today and the total step count was just over 26,000! I was wearing Sketchers Go Walks so I was fine!

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[Beth_Disney]

Continued from previous post

Day 2

Today was the day... Harry Potter part 1 was due to start at 2pm and part 2 at 7.30pm. I had a broken nights sleep but I put that down to excitement, it was just like that pre-holiday feeling. I got up at 9am and showered and did my hair/make up for the day and DH got up a bit later. We went to Garfunkles (standard) for breakfast; food was good but service wasn't great considering it was empty in there.

We went back to the hotel to get changed into out theatre clothes and headed out at about midday. We were meeting friends at the theatre and they had the tickets so we went into Wetherspoons just up from the theatre and waited for them to arrive.

At about 1.15pm we all walked towards The Palace theatre and joined the bag check queue. Bag check circled the entire theatre and it took about 20 minutes to get round so I would recommend getting there early; especially if you want to check out the little shop! Our bags were thoroughly searched and everyone was wanded. I had a bottle of water in my bag which was ignored but any other food and drink was being confiscated and thrown into big bins.

In the foyer there was a little gift shop selling programmes and souvenirs so I had to buy a few things - canvas tote bag, programme, pen, pencil, magnet. They hadn't got everything they had online but there was quite a big range.

Fast forward 2 hrs 40 minutes and part 1 finished. Full of excitement for part 2 we headed off to The Big Easy in Covent Garden for our 5.30pm reservation. We arrived at 5.10pm and there was a table ready and we were told the table was ours for 2 hours - I think they do this as they have 'all you can eat' deals and they must need put a time limit on it. We ate from the £10 express lunch menu and the food was lovely. Thank you Dibb for the recommendation! I had macaroni cheese, DH had pulled pork burger and the others had beef brisket, pulled chicken and the cheese burger. Everyone enjoyed their meals and were surprised at how good it was for the price. When we were walking back through the restaurant I noticed how full it was in there so I was pleased I booked a table in advance. Sorry, I forgot to take a food picture! rookie mistake!

We arrived back at the theatre at 6.45pm, back through bag check and my DH pointed out that there was a different programme available. It was a picture book in a different style tote bag so I brought that too - I don't think they want to spoil anything by selling the picture book before part 1.

The 2nd part finished at 10.05pm and we made our way back to the hotel. It had felt like a long day so we had an early night. Now we're mid-30's we're not party animals anymore!

Day 3

After the excitement of yesterday we both had a good nights sleep and woke up when the alarm went off at 9am. We got dressed and packed up ready for check out at 11am. We were out of the room at 10.30am and our Virgin train was at 4pm from Euston.

We spent the day shopping and walked in a big loop down Tottenham Court Road, Oxford Street, Regent Street, up to Fortnum and Mason, Leicester Square and then back to the hotel to collect the bags. I brought a few things and the Disney Store on Regent Street had a big London Mickey and Minnie section. I brought a Beefeater Mickey to match my showgirl Minnie from Vegas and tram driver Mickey from San Francisco.

I brought a London Starbucks mug to add to my new collection.

The train home was much quicker and more comfortable than the one going and it was a bargain as it only cost £4 each during a Virgin promotion. Our Tilting Ale on the train cost the same as the tickets!

If you've made it this far then thank you for reading! And remember... #keepthesecrets

[Leia77]

Sounds like a lovely few days! We're off to see it in October and can't wait! I'll definitely check out the restaurant you mentioned, I always feel spoiled for choice and never choose wisely! Thanks for sharing this

Love your photo #keepthesecrets

[Beth_Disney]

Originally Posted by Leia77

Sounds like a lovely few days! We're off to see it in October and can't wait! I'll definitely check out the restaurant you mentioned, I always feel spoiled for choice and never choose wisely! Thanks for sharing this

Love your photo #keepthesecrets

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It was a lovely few days, thanks for commenting.

I started a thread about restaurant suggestions -
https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho... php?t=1020573 and was given loads of suggestions.

It took about 10 minutes to walk to The Big Easy and we weren't disappointed!

Hope you enjoy the play as much as we did

ETA - those badges were handed out by the ushers next to the exits at the end of play 1. They're a nice little (free) souvenir.

[Mortimer Mouse]

We're going next year, so was great to read your report.
Where were your seats in the theatre?
We seeing the show over 2 days as I don't think I could manage 2 shows in one day. There's never enough leg room for me.

[Beth_Disney]

Originally Posted by Mortimer Mouse

We're going next year, so was great to read your report.
Where were your seats in the theatre?
We seeing the show over 2 days as I don't think I could manage 2 shows in one day. There's never enough leg room for me.

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We were back row of the grand circle. The view was fine, I'm pretty sure we could see everything - being on the back row meant we could lean forward without blocking anyone else's view.

I know what you mean about the leg room, the seats had thick padding so we didn't suffer with numb bum but there wasn't much room to stretch your legs. There was a cloak room which would be helpful in the winter.

Enjoy the show

[Mortimer Mouse]

Originally Posted by Beth_Disney

We were back row of the grand circle. The view was fine, I'm pretty sure we could see everything - being on the back row meant we could lean forward without blocking anyone else's view.

I know what you mean about the leg room, the seats had thick padding so we didn't suffer with numb bum but there wasn't much room to stretch your legs. There was a cloak room which would be helpful in the winter.

Enjoy the show

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Thanks. Our seats are in the grand circle too - row H, I think, so that sounds good.

[HEMANCLOFTY]

What a fab mini trippie 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

I'm not a huge London fan but would love to see The Cursed Child, I thought the book was great. Unfortunately I don't think DH would like it, especially with it being a 2-parter 😪

i love your Beefeater Mickey 😀

[Beth_Disney]

Originally Posted by Mortimer Mouse

Thanks. Our seats are in the grand circle too - row H, I think, so that sounds good.

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We were row H too! Close to the bar for half time drinks

[Beth_Disney]

Originally Posted by HEMANCLOFTY

What a fab mini trippie 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

I'm not a huge London fan but would love to see The Cursed Child, I thought the book was great. Unfortunately I don't think DH would like it, especially with it being a 2-parter 😪

i love your Beefeater Mickey 😀

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Thank you. I haven't written one before but there seemed to be lots of dibbers going so I hope one or two find this useful.

The lady next to me was there on her own as she was in London on business; she only brought the tickets a month ago so there must be singles available occasionally. Is there something else your DH would like to do in London whilst you saw the play?

My DH isn't a massive fan but he enjoyed it as it's a good story. He didn't notice some of the references or connections to previous HP books as he's only seen the films once but it didn't make much difference to him understanding the play.