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Wizard for a week

Denver-based Exclusive Resorts brings Potter story to life

Joanne Kelley, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 17, 2007 at midnight

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An exclusive group of Harry Potter fans got the five-star treatment as Denver-based Exclusive Resorts capitalized on the latest hoopla over the young wizard.

The luxury vacation club lured several dozen of its members to a castle in England for a five-day Hogwarts-style vacation this month, the latest in the plethora of theme trips based on the all-important main character of the blockbuster book and film series.

"Anyone could go take a random Harry Potter experience, but not with this amount of detail and effect," said Andy Irvine, who heads special events for Exclusive Resorts.

The club's members already pay $225,000 to $425,000 to join, with annual dues ranging from $12,900 to $29,000 for 15 to 45 days of travel a year.

For the Hogwarts experience, members paid extra: $3,500 per child and $2,500 per adult. There were 80 in attendance on the trip - 40 adults and 40 kids.

Exclusive Resorts typically holds such special events for adults, although it does have an event titled "Kids Take Manhattan." Among its popular offerings for adults is a tequila-tasting trip to Mexico. On next year's itinerary, white-truffle hunting in Tuscany, Italy.

In this case, kids pretended they were at Hogwarts, the book's fictional School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, when they arrived at Bovey Castle in Devon, England, one of the far-flung luxury locations Exclusive Resorts owns for members.

But first, there was the train ride from Paddington Station in the very carriages used in the Harry Potter movies. Once ensconced at Bovey Castle, kids were "sorted" into different houses and took classes in potion-making, falconry and all things Harry Potter.

The group behind the exclusive outing was Beyond Boundaries, the Colorado Springs- based travel firm that has carved out a niche in recent years offering Harry Potter-theme vacations at U.K. venues.

"It was a very exclusive type of event," said Beyond Boundaries owner Jeannie Barresi, speaking by cell phone from Edinburgh, Scotland. "We had some pretty special things we had added in for them. It was an ultra-platinum, super-duper trip."

Barresi said the private, customized trip included expensive extras such as the use of virtual reality technology. Barresi spoke from her hotel during a brief respite from hosting Harry Potter trips this summer.

But come this weekend, she'll be back at it.

Those signed up for the Book Tour that starts Wednesday will attend parties and events celebrating the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final book in the series.

"It's been a big summer for us," she said.

Barresi most exclusive event for her own clients? A book party for longtime clients in the five-star Edinburgh hotel suite where Potter author J.K. Rowling finished her book.

The uber Harry Potter experience

Denver-based Exclusive Resorts offered its members a five-star Harry Potter experience amid the frenzy over the release of the final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and a film about an earlier installment, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Members of the luxury vacation residence club already pay big fees to join and steep annual dues that allow them to stay at their choice of posh digs for 15 to 45 days a year. But the cost of delighting their children with a five-day Hogwarts experience came extra.

• Price tag:

$3,500 per child and $2,500 per adult to cover train rides, actors, meals, wizardry games and special effects.

or 303-954-5068