'Harry Potter' at Mall of the Emirates: head to Hogwarts pop-up in Dubai this month

Try your hand at Quidditch, spells and potions at the smaller version of Hogwarts in the mall

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  'Harry Potter' Hogwarts experience ran at Mall of the Emirates in Dubai earlier this year. All photos: Antonie Robertson / The National

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  The experience is interactive with broomsticks to sit on and games of Quidditch to play.

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  Hagrid's hut is an illusion room, making visitors look much bigger or smaller than each other.

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  Hogwarts's moving staircases are represented.

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  Try your hand at a potions class, which activates the cauldron and generates a cloud of green smoke.

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  You can buy robes for your choice of Hogwarts house - Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff or Slytherin.

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  Try and learn spells with the interactive wand and tutorials.

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  Guests can try on Gryffindor robes in the house's cosy common room.

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  The smoking green cauldron in the potions room.

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  'Harry Potter' merchandise is on sale.

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  The Harry Potter: Celebrate Hogwarts experience was open during the Dubai Shopping Festival.

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  Get up-close to a model of Dobby the house elf at the Harry Potter: Celebrate Hogwarts experience at Mall of the Emirates in Dubai.

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  Catch the Hogwarts Express on Platform 9 3/4.

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  There are models of Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter.

For fans of Harry Potter, stepping into its enchanting sets has always involved a flight to either Florida or London to visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter or the Harry Potter Warner Bros Studio Tour. However, this month, a Harry Potter set pop-up has opened at Mall of the Emirates in Dubai.

The Harry Potter: Celebrate Hogwarts experience is open for the Dubai Shopping Festival, with smaller versions of the films' wizarding worlds set up with fun interactive games and activities. While you aren't going to set foot inside a full-sized Three Broomsticks or wander the passageways of Diagon Alley, it is a charming and fun 3D Hogwarts replica.

The in-mall experience has been created with Warner Bros. As you enter, you sit under a talking Sorting Hat, which assigns visitors to Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff or Slytherin.

There are interactive areas throughout, including a room of illusions for Hagrid's hut, an area where you can sit on a broom and try your hand at Quidditch, a spell masterclass and a potions room.

Hagrid's hut is an illusion room, making visitors look much bigger or smaller than each other. Antonie Robertson / The National

A highlight has to be the Gryffindor common room, which you can only enter with the correct password. You'll be dressed in the red and gold robes and are able to sit on a cosy sofa beside the fire.

The moving labyrinth of Hogwarts staircases are recreated with a hall of portraits you can wander through, plus there is a replica of King's Cross's Platform 9¾ with a half-immersed luggage trolley, so you can try and dash for the Hogwarts Express. Dumbledore's office is also replicated, where you can pose with Fawkes, the Hogwarts headmaster's pet phoenix.

Naturally, as it's located in Mall of the Emirates, there is the opportunity to shop. You can buy official Harry Potter merchandise online, but browse the prices in a shop set-up. There are wands, robes, posters, Hogwarts school trunks, broomsticks, Quidditch sets, games and Time-Turners available.

Entry to Harry Potter: Celebrate Hogwarts experience is free, but shoppers need to show receipts to prove they have spent more than Dh300 per adult in the mall. It is open 12pm until 10pm daily, until Thursday, February 10.