Earlier this week I paid a visit to the Harry Potter studio tour just outside London with my friend Marcella .
As both of us are quite big Harry Potter fans, we'd been looking forward to this trip for quite some time and we like kids at Christmas on the train ride to Watford.
There are no 'rides', instead the studio tour features huge amounts of props, sets, costumes and special effects from all of the 8 Harry Potter films.
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| The potions classroom with one of Alan Rickman's costumes. |
You get to see sets such as the potions classroom, the Great Hall (including the real stone floor that they used), Diagon Alley, Hagrid's Hut, and many more.
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| The Great Hall |
There's also an outside area which features the Knight Bus and a little hut where you can buy your very own Butterbeer! (It tastes extremely sweet!)
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| Butterbeer |
I really enjoyed the costume and makeup section that they had. Apparently a lot of the wigs were all handmade, with each hair threaded in by hand. Can you imagine how long that must have taken?! There was also a makeup artist's station mocked up showing some of the products they had used on set - hello MAC, Laura Mercier, Dermalogica and even Simple!
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| The makeup station |
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| Harry, Ron and Hermione's wigs |
I think this trip is a must for any Harry Potter fan. I'm so pleased that I went and it was really interesting to find out how they made certain aspects of the films. It might ruin some of the magic if you have kids though, so beware!
The gift shop (as with all these sorts of places) is expensive. I bought a chocolate frog and a keyring and it came to just over *cough* £15 *cough*. Still, I won't be going again in a hurry, so thought I'd better make the most of it!
And now, a few more pictures for anyone still reading...
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| All aboard the Knight Bus! |
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| In front of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes in Diagon Alley |
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| Some of the amazing anamatronics/creature parts they developed. |
Diagon Alley.
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| Some of the many wands... |
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| The most amazing model of Hogwarts. |
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| The Quidditch robes |
Ahh it's so amazing! I loved it when I went! Xx
ReplyDeleteI bet - it was so good :)
Deletei loved it when i went! when we pulled into the carpark i literally nearly cried! ahah. :) X X X
ReplyDeleteha ha - i don't blame you ;)
DeleteI couldn't sit still on the train to this place. And I actually gasped when we rounded the corner & saw the giant Hogwarts model! I'm a stupidly huge Harry Potter fan, so this was like my Mecca! I just need to go to Orlando now...
ReplyDeletethat model was amazing! I think I used the word 'amazing' about 59 times...
DeleteOh wow it looks like you had an amazing time! <3 Soooo jealous! xx
ReplyDeleteIt was fab!!!
DeleteI am so jealous. Dying to go here. Hopefully soon. How much was the Butter Beer?
ReplyDeleteYou should definitely go :) The Butterbeer was £3 for a glass - one is more than enough!
DeleteYay - good to relive it all over again - was a great day! Where next?? x
ReplyDeleteThe Florida one, he he x
DeleteI love going to this, I really would to go again. I hated the butterbeer, it was far too sweet, also I swear its meant to be warm if I remember from the books. (yes I am a Harry Potter geek) The model of hogwarts was amazing. x
ReplyDeleteI agree - we were saying how it was meant to be warm! I liked it, but warm would have been even better :)
DeleteReally want to take a stroll up Diagon Alley now! x
ReplyDeleteIt was so cool! :)
DeleteI went there a couple of months ago and loved it :) Really just felt like a big kid :p But the butter beer stall wasn't open which kinda sucked x
ReplyDeleteOh no! you'll have to back and get one ;)
DeleteI. Must. Go. I love Harry Potter, I pre-ordered the books and finished them on the same day, I literally would not put them down. This looks like so much fun!
ReplyDeleteIt is AMAZING! You definitely need to go. I already want to go back! x
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