I woke up at 7 to catch the train to get to the studios. There was a small delay that made us miss our first bus. I was panicking, but because I saw other HP fans on the train, I knew that another bus would come for us. We arrived at the station and waited for 15 minutes. The bus pulled up and we all piled in. I sat on the top level at the very front. I wanted to be the first person to see the Studio. The bus was full and we rode 15 minutes to the studio. A grin spread across my face when we pulled up. I was finally here.
When you walk in, there’s a dragon hanging from the ceiling, the one from HP 7 pt2. There were costumes from the Fantastic Beasts series and you could go to the food hall or gift shop first. I grabbed a passport and headed toward the tour. I’ll try not to be detailed about everything I saw, but I was and am so excited.
We first saw Privet Drive, where it all began. We saw the sign and, of course, the cupboard under the stairs. I took a picture with my “home.” We next walked in a room with all the iterations of posters for all the movies and the timeline of filming and premieres. It was 10 years of Magic and it touched millions of people. We watched a video about what to expect during the tour with the cast giving tips. Then as every Hogwarts student first sees, we walked through the door of the Great Hall. It was fantastic and tall. There wasn’t a ceiling because of the magic candles and ceiling. It surprisingly was smaller than the movie made it seem, but it had the long tables (two removed so we could walk down the middle) and costumes representing all the houses. Theses were ACTUAL costumes from the film! Daniel Radcliffe really wore that outfit. Tom Felton really was in those robes. I did have a question for the guide because I noticed the Ravenclaw robes had ravens on it and not eagles. It specifically says in the books that Ravenclaw’s mascot is an eagle. Two guides didn’t have an answer; they had never noticed. Their best explanation was someone made a mistake at the beginning and had to continue for the rest of the films. That explains why all the merchandise always has ravens on it. The front of the Hall had professors’ costumes: Dumbledore, Hagrid, McGonagall, and more. Then the tour really started.
The passport from earlier helped guide through the sections. You could search for snitches among the sets and stamp at stations spread out among the tour. They revealed secrets, like how they made people fly on broomsticks or ride the Hogwarts Express. There were makeup stations, costumes among sets, and commemorations to the people behind the movies. In Dumbledore’s office, they had costumes from both iterations of Dumbledore: Michael Gambon and Richard Harris. There was a display of all the wands from all major characters. There was a board talking about all the animal actors on set and how they trained them. Lupin’s trunk actually packed itself; it wasn’t CGI. The Weasley’s house had a knife cutting carrots, dishing being washed, and a scarf being knitted. They had the animatronics in the Forbidden Forest and showed how they got a Patronus to be filmed. The final part of the first half of the tour was Platform 9 3/4. I got a picture of me running through platforms 9 and 10. I got to go through the Hogwarts Express and they had different compartments for each movie. At the end they had the very first compartment (with Harry and Ron from HP 1) across from the final costumes and scene from when the characters are all grown up (HP 7).
There was a back lot with a cafe for people to get a meal/snacks before they continued on. I of course bought butterbeer and enjoyed it with my packed lunch. It was nice to take a break off my feet. There was an outdoor lot with the Knight Bus, Privet Drive from the outside, the bridge, and the motorcycle with the sidecar. I checked them all out before heading to the second part of the tour.
This part had the models, prosthetics, and Gringotts. They first showed Warwick Davis and going through the process of becoming a goblin. They showed Hagrid’s animatronic head, which was added to Robbie Coltrane’s stunt double to make him taller. They showed how Lupin transformed into a werewolf. The models were cool and showed the process of how they made the sets. The Gringotts section reminded me of the ride in Universal; I was expecting to go on it when I passed through the doors. Did you know the marble in the bank was actually paper? So cool! The door from HP 1 (vault 394) was actually working, again no CGI! We got to see the Lestrange vault and how they made the multiplying props. They showed how they made both put together Gringotts and destroyed Gringotts. The most amazing part was the 1:24 model of Hogwarts. It took 8 weeks to build and they used it to film the closeup shots of the towers and buildings. I was awestruck. They had videos showing different scenes and the building of the set. Finally, you walk through a room with wand boxes that has all the names of people who worked on the films.
I took 4 hours there and it was worth it. I checked out the entirety of the gift shop, but only left with some Fantastic Beasts memorabilia. I can’t wait to return with family and friends (and this time find all the golden snitches)!
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