Halloween fun at San Diego Model Railroad Museum!

The San Diego Model Railroad Museum in Balboa Park is going full throttle for Halloween!

Halloween displays can be found throughout the museum. Spooky scenes can spotted in certain model train layouts and particularly in the amazing Toy Train Gallery. Witches, ghosts, grinning pumpkins, tiny skeletons and even Dracula await!

Watch out for the creepy life-size animatronic engineer!

The San Diego Model Railroad Museum has always been a favorite destination for families and kids, but during Halloween it’s simply awesome!

Some photographs from my visit yesterday…

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An epic Harry Potter display in Balboa Park!

The magical world of Harry Potter has invaded San Diego’s Balboa Park! An incredible, epic display has materialized just in time for Halloween, courtesy of the House of England at the International Cottages!

Check out all these awesome Harry Potter props inside and outside the House of England cottage!

Is that Sirius Black in dog form?

A friendly witch welcomes everybody to the House of England cottage before Halloween.

The four houses of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry have banners hanging.

The Sorting Hat is ready to sort you!

Ready for class to begin?

Nagini is on the loose near the Monster Book of Monsters!

Watch out! Voldemort likes unicorn blood.

It’s a mandrake root! Are your earplugs in?

Thank goodness, this Cornish Pixie isn’t loose!

Get some dark magic artifacts at Borgin and Burkes.

Looks like the Goblet of Fire and tiny Patronuses.

Get your Essence of Bat Wings! Full Strength!

Hedwig has brought a letter.

Must be Snape’s class. Pick your poison!

We must be in the Owlery on the top of Hogwarts Castle’s West Tower.

Dark wizards are on the loose!

Ready for a game of Quidditch?

Perhaps you’d like to battle these chess pieces. They don’t seem terribly large.

Books can contain so much magic! (Uh, oh–tell Ron that Scabbers is loose.)

Fawkes, Dumbledore’s phoenix, is ready to help Harry.

Gigantic spiders! Are we in the Forbidden Forest? No, just outside, in the rear of the House of England cottage in Balboa Park.

Can you see this Thestral?

WATCH OUT! It’s a Death Eater!!!

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Harry Potter cosplay returns to Comic-Con!

Are you a fan of Harry Potter and the Wizarding World “Potterverse” characters, as they were portrayed in the popular movies? Enjoy these cool cosplay photos taken today in San Diego outside Comic-Con 2024.

Comic-Con’s fun Harry Potter cosplay group has returned!

I spotted the witches and wizards on MLK Promenade, not far from Children’s Park. They would afterward walk through the Comic-Con crowds, casting their magic wherever they turned.

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!

Witches and vampires arrive for Comic-Con!

Check out these eerie promotional wraps for Comic-Con 2024! They’re now being applied to the exterior of the Hilton San Diego Gaslamp Quarter!

The building wraps advertise two spooky shows on AMC: Mayfair Witches and Interview With the Vampire. The Hilton Gaslamp is usually a venue for AMC offsite activations during San Diego Comic-Con.

I’m sure more wraps will be appearing on the Fifth Avenue and K Street sides of the building–those typically advertise shows on Amazon Prime. We shall see!

I’ll share more photos of these AMC wraps as they get closer to completion. I’ll post those pics in an update below!

UPDATE!

Next day…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!

Balboa Park Carousel bewitched for Halloween!

Has someone cast a magic spell on the Balboa Park Carousel in time for Halloween?

Most of the carved wooden animals are suddenly wearing witch hats!

I’m wondering… Was this beautiful menagerie cursed by a jealous witch? Horse, ostrich, giraffe, chicken, cat and dog–they’ve turned into witches, too!

There seems to be no horrible after effect, however. Everyone riding the carousel was laughing, smiling and having a splendid time!

Perhaps that’s the magic of Balboa Park!

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Halloween fun from walks around San Diego!

Halloween is tomorrow!

In preparation, I’ve been taking Halloween-related photos in the past couple weeks during my walks around San Diego.

There are some really good displays out there!

Please enjoy the following spooky or perhaps not-so-spooky photographs…

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You can explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on this website’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There’s a lot of stuff to share and enjoy!

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Harry Potter witches and wizards invade Comic-Con!

Powerful witches and wizards have travelled from the world of Harry Potter to San Diego for Comic-Con 2022!

I saw the magical procession this morning and was astonished to discover so many J. K. Rowling characters present.

This awesome cosplay group has had their Comic-Con procession across from the San Diego Convention Center numerous times in the past. This year it appeared bigger and more amazing than ever!

How many characters do you recognize?

I see Snape and Dumbledore (two of them!) and McGonagall and Hagrid and Trelawney and Sprout and Tonks and Lupin and Fleur Delacour and Newt Scamander and Grindelwald and even a nascent Voldemort in the arms of that ratty Peter Pettigrew!

And Hermione! And Harry Potter himself!

And many others!

Enjoy some photos of this really great cosplay!

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Signs around San Diego of Halloween’s approach!

During various San Diego adventures the past couple weeks I’ve encountered these fun and spooky signs of Halloween’s approach!

Beware!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Creepy creatures appear downtown!

Securely shutter your windows and lock every door! Creepy creatures have materialized throughout downtown San Diego!

As I walked about this morning, I suddenly realized that I was hopelessly surrounded. Closing in around me were witches, spiders, ghosts and an army of skeletons! Not to mention a few terrifying clowns!

The dark forces of Halloween were unstoppable! They had even caused the mighty Zoltar to retreat!

There was no escape from the madness!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Wizard of Oz street art in Coronado!

The Good Witch of the North and The Wicked Witch of the West meet on the yellow brick road, as a balloon flies away in Oz.
The Good Witch of the North and The Wicked Witch of the West meet on the yellow brick road, as a balloon flies away in Oz.

One of the utility boxes painted a few years back for the Art Outside the Box project in Coronado depicts scenes and characters from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and other novels in the popular Oz series by L. Frank Baum.

The happy artwork, which greets those walking down the Orange Avenue sidewalk near the Coronado Library, was painted by local students Eva B., Audrey S., and Sienna F.

L. Frank Baum and Coronado are closely related. The author spent many winters in a house near the famous Hotel del Coronado, whose fantastic architecture is said to be the inspiration for his Emerald City.

You can learn more and see photos of his winter house by clicking here!

Walking past Wizard of Oz street art in Coronado. The title of this public art is Fairy Tale.
Walking past Wizard of Oz street art in Coronado. The title of this public art is Fairy Tale.

Another side of the utility box depicting L. Frank Baum's wonderful land of Oz. The popular author often spent his winters writing in a house in Coronado.
Another side of the utility box depicting L. Frank Baum’s wonderful land of Oz. The popular author often spent his winters writing in a rented house in Coronado.

One of the magical creatures in Oz.
One of the magical creatures in Oz.

Dorothy walks along the yellow brick road as Art Outside the Box.
Dorothy walks along the yellow brick road. A fun work of Art Outside the Box.

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

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