On Sunday I travelled up the M25 for a long awaited trip to the Warner Brothers studios for the Harry Potter tour. Jenny very kindly organised the trip (thanks J!), and a big thanks to the people at Warner Brothers for their generosity with tickets and awesome, unexpected goody bags!
When I got to the studios I met up with some of my blogging faves Bess (Thoroughly English), Alice (The cup and saucer), and Jenny (Sunny sweet pea), and met some other lovely bloggers and tweeters, Charlotte (The tea drinking English rose), Sara (of sounds), Sarah (@sarangacomics), Sophie (Sophie in the sticks), Hazel (Hazel’s world of joy), and Beth (@missbw1505). Once we’d queued up for our tickets were were taken into a holding room, which left a few of us feeling like cattle!, and then into a cinema to watch an introduction to the tour. When the tour finished, the screen went up, and you were taken into the great hall – great touch Warner Brothers!
There were a couple of things that struck me as I made my way round the tour. Firstly I was surprised by the size of it, I imagined the great hall to be vast, but in reality it wasn’t too much longer than my school hall, and the size of Dumbledore and Umbridge’s offices were smaller than I expected too. I’m surprised they could fit so many people, and equipment into some of the spaces and make it look spacious.
I was also struck by how much detail went into every part of the film sets, with oil paintings being done by hand, frescos in the great hall that have now faded and couldn’t be seen in the films, emblems in fireplaces unseen in films, thousands of wand boxes done by hand, the matching of characters costumes and their props, and so much more. I guess I completely underestimated just how much goes into making eight huge films, and getting continuity between all of them.
We visited on an #animalactors day which meant that some of the animals from the films were there. It was fun to see Crookshanks, Hedwig, Fang, and Scabbers. I was a bit too scared to see the spiders and snake, they give me the heebiejeebies.
Every which way you looked there was something to see, and then when I looked up above eye level there was even more to see! When you combine that with nine other blogging Harry Potter fans chatting away it didn’t feel like long before we were half way round, and queuing up for some Butterbeer. Bess and I both decided that we had to try some Butterbeer, because it has to be done, right? I was really looking forward to it, and I have to say, I didn’t enjoy it! Despite having probably one of the sweetest tooth out there, it was just too sweet and sickly for me, and I couldn’t get over it when combined with being cold and a bit fizzy. A few of us agreed it would probably have tasted a whole lot nicer if it had been warmed up.
Outside we got to see some more of the sets, including the Knight bus, Privet Drive, and meet Hedwig! Very cool.
Inside the second hanger we got to see some more of the behind the scenes things, like the masks, and some of the most incredible sketch drawings. I could not get over the level of detail that went into designing and thinking about every part of the films, it was insane!
My favourite part was walking through Diagon Alley, it was narrower than I imagined, but it was full of so many things to see, I wish it was a real street!
By the end my head was swarming with more Harry Potter bits than I thought possible, so I thought it was lovely to reflect overlooking a model of Hogwarts, which changed in the lighting. The model reminded me a lot of an exhibition I saw whilst I was in Berlin a couple of years ago, of an ancient city and you walked round in a spiral, watching it change time of day. Very cool.
Then, it was time for the shop! We’d already been generously treated to some goodies by the kind folks at Warner Brothers, but I couldn’t resist without leaving with a couple of extra bits. I treated myself to two mugs, because they look like my coffee could go on forever in them, and a little ornament for my Mum’s Christmas tree.
Overall it was a pretty perfect Sunday. A huge thanks to Jenny for organising for everyone, and a massive thanks to Warner Brothers for their generosity, it was a fantastic experience and I’d definitely recommend to anyone who’s in the South East for a day out, or who’s a massive Harry Potter fan!
Stripes and Snapshots 