Harry Potter Studio Tour

Thursday was the day I was looking forward to most.  We went to the Harry Potter Studio!  Our tickets were for 4:30 and we didn’t want to miss this.  I had planned everything out. We had to take a train to Watford Junction than a bus from there to the studio.  The latest bus we could take was at 3:50 so we had to get on a train by 3:30.  In the morning I was even more anxious so I made us leave 30 minutes earlier than planned.  I thought better to be really early than late.  We were able to get on a 3:00 train so I expected to get the bus stop around 3:20 and be early.  But of course something has to go wrong!  Immediately after getting on the train I had a feeling something was not right.  There were 18 stops until Watford Junction and I knew that would take longer than 20 minutes.  We didn’t get on a direct train.  This train took 40 minutes.  My heart raced the entire train ride but we still made it to the bus on time.  I’m glad we left very early.

The tour started with an introductory video by Harry, Ron, and Hermoine.  The video ended with them walking into Hogwarts and as I expected the video screen lifted, a curtain opened, and now we were walking through the doors to Hogwarts.  At the studio you could see everything involved in the filming of the movies.  From the set, to the make-up, the wigs, the costumes, the horcruxes, the staircases, the pictures, and so much more.  The first stage consisted of all the sets.  My favorites were the boys’ dormitory, Hagrid’s hut, and the Burrow.

{Professor's table in the Great Hall}

{Gryffindor Commons and the gang's costumes from HP3}

{The gang's costumes from HP7 and the invisibility cloak}

{Professor Dumbledore's office and costume.  In the background is the first Dumbledore's costume from HP1 and 2}

{Hagrid's Hut}

{Portraits on the wall that were of the crew}

{Eric and I in front of the Secrets door from HP2}

Then there was an outside section where we enjoyed some butterbeer.  It was cream soda with a butterscotch foam on top.  It was very good but gave me the worst after taste that I could not get rid of the rest of the night.  Also outside was 4 Pivet Drive (Harry Potter’s Home) and the Hogwarts Bridge.

{Drinking Butterbeer}

The second sound stage had a lot of the behind the scenes work.  At first you walk through Diagon Alley, which has changed throughout the movies.  This was one of my favorite things to see because there are so many little shops with so much detail that probably goes unnoticed in the movies.  Then you walk through the special effects room.  You see Dobby, Aragog, Buckbeak, Basilisk, and many other characters that were created by special effects. 

{Diagon Alley}

The last room is the sketching area.  Every set had to be sketched out then built as a model to figure out where the camera would shoot and what angle.  I saw a model of the staircases, the burrow, Hogwarts, and the Lovegood house.  Then to end the tour you walked around a mini version of the outside of Hogwarts.  This was used when they needed an outside shot of the school.  It was placed in a dark room with blue lights and was the prettiest castle I have seen in all of Europe!  As we left the tour we walked by all of Ollivander’s wands.  Each box had a written label, which shows all the details that went into making the movies. 

{Individually labeled wands for Ollivander's Wand shop}

The tour was very interesting because it focused on making the movies not just showing you the sets.  At each room you could see hidden secrets that are overseen when watching the movie.  For instance, some of the portraits on the walls were paintings of the crew.  And the beds in the boys’ dormitory never changed so when they grew up their feet would hang off the edge but that was never shown on film.  I can’t wait to watch all 8 movies again and know where everything was filmed!

The weather report says for more rain but cross your fingers for me that it will stop so we can bike through Hyde Park and go to the zoo!