thats awesome! i 've never heard of this place and i live very close by so this is surprising.

NICE! First?

yay 1st. comment!!!

that's awesome...but it's so far away :( ....

NO STOP IT WITH THE 'FIRST'. And second, I wish we had one of these here in FL.

I second randomchat in that request. And I wish we had one of these here in this continent.

Whimsic Alley has absolutely awful customer service. I ordered some things from them last summer but they were backordered. They still charged me and never bothered to let me know they weren't able to fill my order at that time. I e-mailed multiple addresses they supplied and tried calling many, many times over the course of several MONTHS. Finally, ages later, I got ahold of them and received a refund.

thats sooo cool! Lucky people!

dude, well i would definitely love to do that except i kinda live in the middle of the us! and i dont think my mom would want to take me all the way out to cali. oh well, good luck to everyone else

thats sooo cool! i wish i could go!.....2 bad i live across the country... :(

That's awesome. I'd love to do it but I'm too old and I live on the East Coast. But good luck to everyone who goes, and I hope we'll all get to see the final project, whatever it is.

Many reports of on-line ordering, charges to credit/debit card and then no merchandise. I tried to order on line and never received any response to inquiries regarding my order either by phone or email. Be very careful.

Too bad I live in MA, sounds cool though!

that's pretty cool. too bad I'm too old for it, lol.

Great, we love special projects! Whatever it is, it involves Jo and that proves that this is going to be cool. Have fun all of you who goes there!

Why is it always about the kids?! What about us 16 and over fans who are the real, hardcore, "can't eat, can't sleep, reach for the stars over the fence, world series" kinda fans?!

cool i wnna go

That's cool...to bad i live far away from Santa Monica...still in Cali though, ah, oh well, good luck people! Have fun! =]

shoot, i'm almost 16. gahhrgg

what???? why does it have to be for little kids, it should also be for adults, or they should do a day for teens and adults...that be tight...

Wow I went there in the summer when I over in the states. I'd love to go back but it's a tad far to get there.. Bit annoying that its still for little kids aswell but it's awesome for them :D

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW, NO FARE!!! Don't people relize that most of the hp fans now, who were hp fans at age 7,8 or 9 years old, are now in highschool or even in collage!!! THAT IS NOT RIGHT!!!

Woohoo! Love Whimsic Alley. Go there all the time. Sucks that it's only kids :(

Honestly I have to agree with some of the people commenting above me. I don't think it is fair that this contest is only open to 8-14 year olds. The 8 year olds weren't even born when the series first started coming out and the 14 year olds weren't even old enough to read. It should be open to the fans that have been reading the series since it first started coming out. Just because the series is technically a childrens series, doesn't mean that it should only involve children. Ugh, ah well, I sure as heck hope the kids appreciate whatever they win.

hey! im 14 and we were old enough 2 read!...but i understand y u might be mad

@phantomfluteplayer-I understand why you are mad(I'm 18 for the record) but that's not those kids fault that they weren't born yet. Don't aim it at them

Why is it always for the much younger fans? I'm 19 and it's my generation the one that grew up with these books, that went through 10 years of Potter and can remember every single one of those years. I'm not saying that the younger fans don't deserve merit or that they are lesser fans or that it's their fault, but it's just seems a bit unfair to me to those of us who can say "I spent my childhood reading these books" and therefore have maybe something insightful to say as to our love for HP and the significance it has had in our lives.

thats cool why is every thing aimed towards the younger fans... what ever any ways... i have been there right after dh came out with some friends the place is awsome, i have heared the have bad customer service online but in the store it is real cool avery one there try to be in character every one is called either a with or wizard and all the emploeyes are house elves it is kinda funny there.. but the whole set up is awsome it makes you feel like a little kid

Hey, have fun all ye who get interviewed. You'll remember this for the rest of your lives. i'd be there if i lived in CA. Good luck!

I am not mad at the kids, honest. I just envy their opportunity. I just feel that this should be offered to everyone. I am not saying that the kids shouldn't have the opportunity, I just think that anyone should enter or do what amazon did and have two classifications. If I sounded hurtful towards the younger kids, I am sorry.

Seriously, age limits blow horses for quarters. I'm almost 18, but that doesn't make me any less of a Potterfreak-_- Either wayy, I cannot deny I'm excited to see where this is going.

Sounds like a cool place...It'd be fun to visit...

it's ALWAYS for the younger part of fandom ... i agree with phantomfluteplayer. Opportunities like these should be open to everyone.

Oh, phooey, not only am I nowhere near their store (NM never does HP-related stuff!)... I'm too old (19... *sigh*). I agree with the majority of previous posters here; quite a shame they don't open these kinds of things up to our age group, given that we were the ones that grew up with Harry. I hope those kids who get to do this have a lot of fun though! On a whole other note entirely, I actually have a Gryffindor scarf from Whimsic Alley that my grandma bought me. I wear it every winter. : D

You know, its not really our fault if we weren't born yet. (blame the parents). As for the "the REAL fans are the OLDER ones..." (snort!) Such lies! If you can perform occlumency then i'll give you the benefit of the doubt as to wether or not the older fans are more hardcore fans. Young ppl aren't all meaningless-freaks u know. We like HP as much as any of you older ones. Yeah right, you say? Prove me wrong. *end tirade* =)

ok, nobody is better than anybody in terms of age. I am 21, I would like to voice my love of the books (since I live pretty close) but I know that they aren't going to change the age range for a couple of whining fans. This is just the way the advertising world works. If you advertise to everyone then obviously there will be a line across the street with parents and their cute little children. Then commingled in the line are older people. When the news cameras cover the event (and you know that they will) they won't want to see a bunch of 20 somethings dressed in full wizard robes brandishing wands and having duels. They want to see little cute kids say why they love Harry Potter so much because at an age of 8-14 your imagination gives very good interviews. This is the reason why Kids Say the Darnedest Things was kind of funny. I emphasize "kind of."

I should clarify that I, personally, hold no grudge against the younger HP fans; I think that's great that they're helping this fandom to continue growing instead of going on to other franchises that were after their time. But what I think is special about some of the older group is that they had the opportunity to literally grow up with Harry Potter at the same rate. I actually started reading the books at age 10 ("Prisoner" had just come out then) and by the time the series was over, I was 18! Now that all the books are out, I doubt some of the younger generation will read one book per year to share in that experience. So I think that's all some of the comments here are trying to express; that was certainly the intention of my previous comment.

The merchandice is really nice, but the store is way too far from where I live. It's probably possible to order the stuff over the internet.

cheesecakians?

Please be cautious when ordering from Whimsic Alley. I ordered wands as gifts for my friends for the OOTP premiere last year. When they arrived, one of my wand boxes was empty. I immediately called and emailed the management about the missing wand. I got no return calls or emails. I tried to contact them repeatedly for four months and as of this date, still have not heard from anyone, nor did I get my money back for the missing wand.

: )

Bummer. This is on my birthday but i will be turning 16. I wonder what they are doing though.

oh darn... i live so far away i cannot go to that AWESOME place!

Let us all agree to disagree on the conclustion of older fans read the hp series, to help raise the fam of the books and help j.k. rowling get where she is now, but the yonger fans(age 8-14) get all of the credit, because of how cute they are!!!

I just remembered that just last night, I had a dream of how the hp fans can settle this agreement and that would include some kind of triwizard tournament, with three stages of the big game and at the end we would finally see which age group knows more hp facts, than the others. Age groups would include 37-30 years old. 29-22 Years old. 21-14 years old and finally13-6 years old, but not younger or older age groups. Also the reason why I picked the cut off at age 37, is because of a second magically number(13,7 and 37). For me atleast. The three steps of the game wouldn't be dangerous, just quizzes of hp and races as well. Tho the fans under the age of 18, would have to bring along a parent over the age of 21, not to help them win the contest, but because of age saftey. Sounds like a plan hp fans and www. Mugglenet. com?

Yeah, and after that, we can all lob pickles at the winner's head!!! w00t! I'll be there! lol... GO PICKLES!!!

WHY???

Because i have no life and pickles are cheap. :) No, seriously, i was just kidding. A muggle Tri-Wizard Tournament would be pretty cool- IF IT WAS HELD IN THE UNITED STATES!!!!!

I'm 14, too! So don't say I didn't grow up with Potter, 'cause I did! Too bad I live in Bama, else I'd come to this.

Of course the tri-wizard tournament, would be held in the united states and I am not saying that you don't grow up with hp, because I am sure you did grow up with hp, but I am just saying that why should (yes the series is centered around kids) kids younger as young as 14 get to recieve credit for loving and getting into the hp series. O, I forgot, kids do the cuteist things and teens/adults don't. Well don't forget you help support the fame of the series. That would be the older fans and that is why I am giving out the idea of a battle of the ages of the hp fan, to know once and for all, who is the true fan!!!