Okay so this was probably the best day of the trip. After class we ate lunch and then got on a train out to Leavesden for the Harry Potter Studio tour. So exciting! We got on a special bus with Harry Potter business covering all of it. And got to the studio. So first you go through a line and get to see the actual cupboard under the stairs! Then into a large theatre where you watch a short movie with some behind the scenes footage and the three kids. Then the screen lifts up and you see the double doors leading to the Great Hall and the music from the Sorcerers Stone plays and you feel like little Harry on his first day and may or may not scream like a little kid.
*Warning* The magic that follows may be too nerdy or awesome for some viewers.
Me in the Great Hall
The podium!
Harry's first set of robes
So was it just me or was this always mentioned in the books and never shown in the movies?
All their costumes from the Goblet of Fire!
They are even more beautiful in person
Apparently what I desire is a trip to London with these guys.
The common room!
Gary Oldman's costume from Prisoner of Azkaban which was my favorite!
Neato!
The staircase for Dubledore's office was apparently one of the most complicated contraptions ever built for movies and it does actually move.
The memory cabinet!
Among other things the deilluminator, the crystal cup from number 6, the rememberall, Skeeter's quick-quotes quill, and yeah the SORCERERS STONE!
Cool :)
The pots really do stir themselves
Door to the Chamber of Secrets, also complicated, not CG
Hagrid's Hut
The contraption used to make the brooms fly.
Mrs. Weasley's Kitchen, knife and iron move on their own.
Me looking evil in front of Bellatrix's costume.
The Marauders Map
Hold on!
Number 4 Privet Drive
Me drinking my Butterbeer in front of the Hogwarts Bridge.
"As for me. I'll be a knight."
The basilisk from the Chamber of Secrets
Me in Diagon Alley
Where would a nerd be but in front of Flourish and Blotts?
The grand finale! A 1:32 model of Hogwarts castle. It is unbelievably detailed.
My girls! I would so be in Slitherin with them!
So what can I say about Harry Potter? I mean it was a huge part of my childhood. I remember getting the first three for Christmas and going to every midnight party following for the next installment and rereading them with my dad. I went to most of the midnight premieres of the movies with my friends and family as I grew up and I have read the books an uncountable number of times. I had poster books, Potter glasses, HP diary (I was in fifth grade), bookends (now passed on to my niece Sadie), and unauthorized guides aplenty. What else can I really say? Harry Potter was a cultural phenomenon that swept us all away and gave us a place to dream of. I hope kids never miss out on getting to appreciate them but it won't quite ever be the same as having the date of the next book or movie six months away fixed in your mind. I am so glad that I got to be a part of that and relive it :)
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