If you have ever read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, or seen the movie, you should recognize that quote... and you should be able to tell what this post is going to be about. That's right. The Harry Potter Studio Tour at WB Studios in Watford, England, where I got to go 2 days after the Grand Opening. Yes. I was one of the first people to ever see the tour, and I was (and still am, let's be honest) super excited about it.
If you don't know what the HP Studio Tour is, basically it's a tour of the part of WB Studios where the HP movies were filmed (for the most part... some scenes were also filmed in Scotland, London, and Oxford), which included sets, soundstages, props, costumes, and behind the scenes stuff.
When you first walk into the building, the HP soundtrack is playing and you see several props (school trunks and the Weasley's Ford Anglia) and cast pictures (Harry, Ron, and Hermione have 1 per year). There's the gift shop, which is a wonder in itself, and the queuing area for the tour. In that area in the cupboard under the stairs, which is actually a lot smaller than the movie makes it seem.
The tour itself began in a cinema, where you watch a short film about the making of HP, and the tour. I won't tell you exactly what happens next, but from there you go see the Great Hall (also smaller than it looks), the prop house, the back lot, and the creature shop. They even have Diagon Alley and a scale model of Hogwarts! All of these are tremendously cool, and you have almost unlimited time to walk around and see them. I got pictures of everything, which sadly ended in my camera dying in the midst of the creature shop.
In the first big part, they have a bunch of sets- Hagrid's hut, Dumbledore's office, the Gryffindor Common Room and boys' dormitory, the Ministry of Magic Atrium, Umbridge's ministry office, and many more. There's also an abundance of costumes and props. They're amazing. You think that just because they were in the movie, you know what they look like, but they've got way more detail in real life. The Yule Ball table set ups, for example. Also, I will note that Emma Watson may be the tiniest (and by that I mean skinniest) human alive. Her Yule Ball dress is tiny.
Moving on. In the middle of the tour, in case all the excitement was just too much for you, there's a break in the 'back lot' with a cafe. I will admit that I did drink the butterbeer. It was really good, sort of like cream soda but richer and butterier, and the foam was the best part. While I sipped it, I got to see the actual Knight Bus (it seriously is three stories), Number 4 Privet Drive, and the Potter Cottage, complete with hole blasted in the roof. There was also the giant chess set from HPSS, which was awesome.
When you went back inside (to a different lot) you were in the creature shop, where I almost died of fright when I saw the enormous hairy Acromantula hanging directly above my head. Seriously, the thing was easily ten feet across. *shivers* I also got to see Dobby (post knife wound :[) and Bathilda Bagshot, who is ridiculous creepy even when she's enclosed in a glass case, inanimate, and you know it's not real. They also had the actual moving Buckbeak and (nonmoving) Basilisk's and dragon's heads.
The creature shop dumped out into Diagon Alley. I wanted to take a thousand pictures of it, but my camera only pulled itself together for 2 pictures. It was amazing. All the shops were perfect, and they had Ollivander's and even the Weasley's shop.
The final stop within the tour itself was the model of Hogwarts. When I walked in and realized what I was looking at (go ahead, laugh) my heart actually stopped. It was spectacular. It was a perfect model of the castle, and the one they actually used for all sweeping shots of Hogwarts. I can't even describe how cool it was.
Wait, just kidding. That wasn't the last thing. There was also the wand shop, with boxes of wands they used in filming (although some of the wands were on display in the props area), with the actors' names on them. I could have looked around for hours... there were easily thousands of wand boxes in just that one room.
When I finally made it out, feeling like I could pass out from excitement, I wandered through the gift shop, looking for things I might want. And when I say that, I mean looking for stuff that I can afford, since in reality I wanted everything. I saw one couple drop over 400 pounds on stuff for their kids. In the end, I bought myself Tales of Beedle the Bard, a Time Turner necklace, and a Gryffindor hat.
So basically, you should go see this. It's amazing and wonderful and shows you so much stuff about the entire movie series. I would highly recommend it, as long as you bring no more cash than you intend to spend in the gift shop. You might get carried away...
Yup. That pretty much sums it up.
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