...said no Hogwarts professor, ever.
Today's the day! As I write this we are on the train to Watford Junction. We're finally going to the Harry Potter Studio Tour! I wouldn't say I came to England just because of Harry Potter, but... All joking aside, I've been looking forward to this for a while (conceptually since I heard about it last year, and realistically since we booked our tickets a few weeks ago). As you can probably tell, I am a massive Harry Potter fan. Although Harry Potter was transcended its English background, it is still cool to be in the UK where it all began.
The Harry Potter Studio reaffirmed something that I already knew: Harry Potter is magical. Simple as that.
And it was awesome to be in a place where geeking out of Harry Potter is socially acceptable. Everyone there desperately wished they could purchase a house scarf and thought it was awesome that you can buy Chocolate Frogs or Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. And everyone was there for one purpose: to spend the day exploring the magic of Harry Potter. I was with my kind of people.
But it actually also gave me some mind-blowing insight into all of the time and energy that went into every single Harry Potter film: set design, costume design, creature design, prop gathering... The number of details considered for every single scene is incredible. In order to give you an idea of the gazillions of things we saw on the Harry Potter tour, I have created a Harry Potter Studio Tour A to Z. And let me tell you, for a number of these I had two or three options; there were just so many amazing things about this tour.
A Albus Dumbledore's Office
B Butterbeer (Yum!)
C Cupboard Under the Stairs
D Diagon Alley
E Erised, Mirror of
F Flying on a Broomstick (with a Green Screen)
G Gryffindor Common Room & Boy's Dormitory
H Hogwarts Entrance Hall
I Invisibility Cloak
J J & K Sound Stages (Named After JK Rowling)
K Knight Bus
L Levitating Candles in the Great Hall
M Magic is Might Statue at the Ministry of Magic
N Neville's Badass Cardigan
O Ollivanders Wand Shop (and Lots of Wands)
P Privet Drive
Q Quidditch Equipment
R Robes of Every House
S Sirius's Motorbike
T "The stories we love best do live in us forever, so
whether you come back by page or by the big
screen, Hogwarts will always welcome you home."
U Umbridge's Office
V Voldemort's Grave
W Weasley's Wizard Wheezes
X Xenophilias Lovegood's Quibbler Printing Press
Y Yule Ball
Z Zonko's Joke Shop (and Other Wizard Stores)
As you can tell, I saw a lot of things. Every time we stepped into another section of the soundstage, my expectations were exceeded. I was literally blown away by all the sets and props I got to see.
Let me back up.
Leading up to the tour I kept referring to it as "the best day of my life." Everyone thought I was joking. I wasn't.
After watching the welcome video an employee said "who is unhealthily excited for this?" Everyone laughed good-naturedly. I seriously was.
Harry Potter was such an important part of my childhood. I've read the books more times than a normal person probably should have and I have seen the movies more times than I can count. So knowing that I was at the location that JK Rowling's magic was brought to life? A little overwhelming. (And by a little, I mean a lot).
As we queued, a woman was handing out free Harry Potter "Passports" (made for children, but a lot of teenagers/adults had them too) that you can get stamped at different stations of the tour--I have a stamp from the Boy's Dormitory, from the Ministry of Magic and a bunch of other places. This was a really awesome (and free) souvenir to take away from the tour.
We watched a video before entering the tour (I think designed as a way of controlling how many people enter at any given time and when). The last scene of the video showed Rupert Grint, Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe said goodbye and walked in the Hogwarts doors. Then, the screen rose, revealing the Hogwarts front doors behind. I'm pretty sure my heart sped up with excitement at this point. I was so excited.
As we walked from set to set I couldn't believe my eyes. Look one way and you can see the boy's dormitory where Matt Lewis, Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliff filmed scenes for 10 years. Look another direction and there's the Christmas sweaters Mrs. Weasley made for Harry and Ron. Walk a few steps and you are in Dumbledore's Office, and a few more you're in line to fly a boomstick (totally awesome by the way). We could try Butterbeer as if we were wizards and take pictures outside a giant model of the castle and pretend we were Hogwarts students.
Today's the day! As I write this we are on the train to Watford Junction. We're finally going to the Harry Potter Studio Tour! I wouldn't say I came to England just because of Harry Potter, but... All joking aside, I've been looking forward to this for a while (conceptually since I heard about it last year, and realistically since we booked our tickets a few weeks ago). As you can probably tell, I am a massive Harry Potter fan. Although Harry Potter was transcended its English background, it is still cool to be in the UK where it all began.
The Harry Potter Studio reaffirmed something that I already knew: Harry Potter is magical. Simple as that.
And it was awesome to be in a place where geeking out of Harry Potter is socially acceptable. Everyone there desperately wished they could purchase a house scarf and thought it was awesome that you can buy Chocolate Frogs or Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. And everyone was there for one purpose: to spend the day exploring the magic of Harry Potter. I was with my kind of people.
But it actually also gave me some mind-blowing insight into all of the time and energy that went into every single Harry Potter film: set design, costume design, creature design, prop gathering... The number of details considered for every single scene is incredible. In order to give you an idea of the gazillions of things we saw on the Harry Potter tour, I have created a Harry Potter Studio Tour A to Z. And let me tell you, for a number of these I had two or three options; there were just so many amazing things about this tour.
A Albus Dumbledore's OfficeB Butterbeer (Yum!)
C Cupboard Under the Stairs
D Diagon Alley
E Erised, Mirror of
F Flying on a Broomstick (with a Green Screen)G Gryffindor Common Room & Boy's Dormitory
H Hogwarts Entrance Hall
I Invisibility Cloak
J J & K Sound Stages (Named After JK Rowling)
K Knight BusL Levitating Candles in the Great Hall
M Magic is Might Statue at the Ministry of Magic
N Neville's Badass Cardigan
O Ollivanders Wand Shop (and Lots of Wands)
P Privet DriveQ Quidditch Equipment
R Robes of Every House
S Sirius's Motorbike
T "The stories we love best do live in us forever, so
whether you come back by page or by the big
screen, Hogwarts will always welcome you home."
U Umbridge's OfficeV Voldemort's Grave
W Weasley's Wizard Wheezes
X Xenophilias Lovegood's Quibbler Printing Press
Y Yule Ball
Z Zonko's Joke Shop (and Other Wizard Stores)
As you can tell, I saw a lot of things. Every time we stepped into another section of the soundstage, my expectations were exceeded. I was literally blown away by all the sets and props I got to see.
Let me back up.
Leading up to the tour I kept referring to it as "the best day of my life." Everyone thought I was joking. I wasn't.
After watching the welcome video an employee said "who is unhealthily excited for this?" Everyone laughed good-naturedly. I seriously was.
Harry Potter was such an important part of my childhood. I've read the books more times than a normal person probably should have and I have seen the movies more times than I can count. So knowing that I was at the location that JK Rowling's magic was brought to life? A little overwhelming. (And by a little, I mean a lot).
As we queued, a woman was handing out free Harry Potter "Passports" (made for children, but a lot of teenagers/adults had them too) that you can get stamped at different stations of the tour--I have a stamp from the Boy's Dormitory, from the Ministry of Magic and a bunch of other places. This was a really awesome (and free) souvenir to take away from the tour.
We watched a video before entering the tour (I think designed as a way of controlling how many people enter at any given time and when). The last scene of the video showed Rupert Grint, Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe said goodbye and walked in the Hogwarts doors. Then, the screen rose, revealing the Hogwarts front doors behind. I'm pretty sure my heart sped up with excitement at this point. I was so excited.
As we walked from set to set I couldn't believe my eyes. Look one way and you can see the boy's dormitory where Matt Lewis, Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliff filmed scenes for 10 years. Look another direction and there's the Christmas sweaters Mrs. Weasley made for Harry and Ron. Walk a few steps and you are in Dumbledore's Office, and a few more you're in line to fly a boomstick (totally awesome by the way). We could try Butterbeer as if we were wizards and take pictures outside a giant model of the castle and pretend we were Hogwarts students.
So yeah, I'd say it was a good day.
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