THE MAKING OF HARRY POTTER!!!!

Sunday April 15th was one of the coolest days of my life! I got to go see the sets and the costumes of the Harry Potter movies.  It was awesome.  Allison, Brandy, and I are all huge Harry Potter fans so to be able to see this was such a wonderful experience. 

We were worried that we might not make it in time for Brandy’s ticket, because for some reason she booked a ticket at 1:30 when Allison and I had tickets for 3:30.  We had to hustle to get to Watford Junction to take a bus that left every half hour and took fifteen minutes.  We arrived a bit late but that was okay because some how we got it sorted that the three of us could go in together.  We had lunch at the café while we eagerly waited for 2:00.  Finally, it was our turn.  We got in line and got to see our first piece of set! Harry’s room underneath the stairs in 4 Privet Drive.

Now that I’ve told you multiple times how great it was, lets get on to see some pictures! 

 

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randy and Allison showing their excitement for Harry Potter!!!!

The entrance to the studio tour was cool because they had all of these pictures of the cast up around along with some props from the movie.

Very blurry shot of the gift shop that we ended up spending hours in.

We’ve got our audio guides and are ready to start!

 

Now, the beginning of the tour consists of you standing in a room hearing about how Harry Potter became a movie.  Then you move into a theater.  This was probably the BEST PART!  You watch Rupert, Daniel, and Emma talk about how this place was their home away from home for so long and then they turn to walk into the doors on the screen and welcome you to Hogwarts.  Then, the screen lifts and you see this!!!!! The doors to Hogwarts! So amazing.

I finally got my acceptance letter to Hogwarts and I’m going in.

Our first stop was the Great Hall.  The detail put in was amazing.  You can see paintings on the wall, you can see the costumes students wore, in the fireplace you can see the Hogwarts crest. 

At the front of the Great Hall was the teacher’s table where all the teachers’ costumes were put on display.

Brandy, Allison and me in front of the Great Hall.

Set from the ball in Year 4.

Boys’ bedroom.  The audio guide said the beds were built for 11 year olds so in the beginning, the beds were quite comfortable but as the filming went on, they had to scrunch up to fit!

Me in the boys’ bedroom.

A copy of all the wands used in the film!!!!!

This is the Gryffindor common room.  The woman in the portrait in the left hand corner is McGonagall as a young woman.

Some nice man helped me take a picture so I could forever remember being in the common room.

The next stop was to go to Dumbledore’s office.  Best time I’ve ever spent in a Headteacher’s office!

The SORTING HAT!

The sword of Gryffindor which was bought and then had the handle remade into niftiness for the film.

Potions classroom with Snape’s costume.

Me in the potions classroom with the arm of Slughorn’s costume.

This is the back view of Dumbledore’s office.

The Weasley’s house!

Of course, me in the Weasley’s house.

This is Umbridge’s office in the Ministry of Magic.  To film her kitten plate scene, they brought in 40 kittens for a week or two and filmed them doing ridiculous things.  The kittens were then adopted out to local families.  There are celebrities living out there and their families don’t even know it!

This was a model of a broom.

This is how they made  brooms fly for Quidditch.

The old Ministry of Magic statue.

We got legit Butterbeer.

It tasted like Vanilla Cream Soda!   Which means we were right all those years ago when we had our relay for life Harry Potter style team.

Tom Riddle Sr’s grave.

The Knight Bus!

Me on the Knight Bus! Sadly, it didn’t take me anywhere.

 

Brandy and I on Hagrid/Sirius Black’s motorbike.

Number 4 Privet Drive!

The house where Harry’s parents died. 

Wax figure of Dumbledore.  :/

Dobby :/

Me in Diagon Alley!!!!!  It was super neat there but unfortunately, they left the blue lights on the whole time. 

 

As I was leaving Diagon Alley, the audio guide said they had one last surprise to show us.  I turned the corner and….BAM! HOGWARTS!!!

It exists!!!!!

Whenever they showed a shot outside the castle, this is what they used.  It was startling.  The amount of detail put into this castle was beyond belief.

Our second to last stop was Olivander’s wand shop where every box had the name of someone who worked on the film.  It was insane how many boxes there were.

Great words to leave the tour on.