Magical Harry Potter

This weekend, I finally went to the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studios, a place I have literally been dying to see for months and months. We planned the excursion a couple months ago with Fulbrighters Christy and Rebecca, plus two of Rebecca's work friends and one of my fabulous work friends, Anna. Unfortunately, the snow that hit this weekend made it too difficult for Rebecca and her friends to get out of Woburn Sands, so they weren't able to join us after all. They were able to reschedule their three tickets for later in the year, but we sure missed them Saturday. 

To get to the studio tour, you have to take a train out of London Euston station, then catch a little studio bus to the actual facilities. By the time we met Anna at the train station in London, we were all three so excited to get there (and a bit nervous about possible delays with the weather), so we hopped on the train early and made our way to Harry. I think the weather caused other people to cancel their trips, because we ended up being allowed to start our tour early. At the start of the tour, you get to watch a couple short videos that teach you a little about the studio and get you even more excited for the tour. Then, a screen is pulled back and you get to step into the amazing world of Harry Potter. Over the course of ten years from 2000 to 2010, this is where all eight Harry Potter films were shot unless the scene was on location (parts of the films were shot across London, England and parts of Scotland), and they've set up a tour where you can walk through and see what all the actual sets look like. The sets include costumes the cast wore and thousands of handmade props with such intricate attention to detail. It's absolutely breathtaking for any Harry Potter fan. I was majorly geeking out. 

I think the best way to share this experience with you is through photos. So here's a sample of some of my favorite things from the studios. I took a ton of photos because, well, that's what I always do. But also, the sets are what they call "hot sets," which means the lighting is all set up to take beautiful film, so photos come out really nice without even trying. I just couldn't stop myself from taking pictures of just about everything! 

At the Watford Junction train station, about to board the bus to the studio!

We're finally here!

Anna, Christy and I with our nifty audio guides.

Harry's room under the stairs

About to enter the Great Hall

The Great Hall

The Great Hall, ready for a feast!

During the first part of the tour, a guide tells you some neat information about the studio
and the Great Hall in particular. 

So happy to be at Hogwarts

One of my favorite parts were all the costumes the actors wore. Here's some Slytherin uniforms.

The best house at Hogwarts!

Professor Dumbledore

Yule Ball set. Doesn't the punch look divine?

Makeup and hair table

Gryffindoor boys dormitory

Harry's bed!

Dumbledore's office

Dumbledore's pensieve

All the portraits in the film are real oil paintings!!! So much artistry! 

Potions classroom

Snape in the potions classroom

Hagrid's hut. Extra large furniture helped make the kids seem small and Hagrid seem big

Having a Dolores Umbridge moment in my pink-on-pink outfit

Dolores Umbridge's office

I loved this display of real graphics projects created for the films.
Newspapers, tickets, invitations, packaging. They made it all.

Inside the props locker

The Knight Bus!

Anna knocks at No. 4 Privet Drive to see who's home

They didn't answer the door when I knocked, either...

Butterbeer! It tastes like cream soda with a butterscotch-marshmallow topping

We also got to see a lot of the "creatures" from the films. Here's some of Gringott's goblins 

Fawkes the Phoenix

Dobby--love!

Yuck!

Buckbeak! This one was animatronic and so he moved around and looked at you. 

Real stone path through Diagon Alley

Diagon Alley was one of my favorite parts. I wanted to go into the shops and buy things!
Too bad they're just sets...

Toward the end of the tour, you get to go see some of the original sketches and plans.
They look like architectural plans for a real city, not a film.

Some amazing painting line the walls

This is the incredible model of Hogwarts that they used to film all the exterior shots. You can't really
tell here, but it's massive and so amazing to walk around and check out.

None of us were happy when the tour ended, especially not Anna. 

On the way out, they have a tribute room where each person involved in the production got a
wand box with their name on it. 

It's funny, but we were all feeling a little sad at the end of the tour. There were so many beautiful things to see and treasures to take in, so many secretes revealed. Seeing the studios was certainly exciting and well worth the trip, but it did take away a tiny bit of the magic for me. I really do wish that Hogwarts was a real place and that we could actually go visit Harry, Ron, Hermione and the rest of them. Seeing it all deconstructed in the studio sure does bring you back out of your fantasies. :) And even though we were all a little worn out from the tour, it was kind of hard to say goodbye to Harry's world. That's probably why it didn't take long for us to get our cameras out on the bus and start flipping through our photos, eager to relive the magic of Harry Potter.