Platform 9 3/4

Double the fun on this year's HP Fan Trip

  August 18, 2005 at 4:09 PM ET
  Cheeser     HPANA (via Globe and Mail)
  harry potter tour, harry potter fans, hp fan trips, alnwick castle, tour alnwick castle

Last year, more than 120 people took a chance on the premiere HP Fan Trip to England and were enchanted by the sites and sounds of Harry Potter's homeland.

Now take that number and double it to get an idea of the fans who just returned this year: around 230. Riding on the famed Olton Hall #5972 steam engine to "Pottering" about the United Kingdom in London, Oxford and Scotland, HP Fan Trips has become one of the most unique "group tour" experiences in the world.

'Scotland Gold' 2005 group photo in front of Alnwick Castle by Jill Patterson

"The fan tours, which are organized by Colorado-based Beyond Boundaries Travel, go a bit deeper and a bit farther to give the books' devotees a sense of English history and mythical lore," reports The Globe and Mail.

(The article includes a picture of people trying to get through Platform 9^3/4 at King's Cross, a feat many of us attempted in 2004.)

More pictures and reports of the 2005 tours are coming soon. HP Fan Trips is already at work on 2006 and some "extra" surprise trips.