Harry Potter Studio Tour: Part III

Here we finish our Studio Tour through Diagon Alley. This was pretty fun but a very short walk through. It was great looking through the windows & to see how much effort and detail they had put into these shops to make them look so real! 

After Diagon Alley we walked into this huge room that had a 'miniture' Hogwarts. It was actually huge but they used it to film scenes where they needed to pan around the whole building and catch the details to make it look so intense and giant! You were able to walk around the whole thing - it really was stunning. After a quick look into Ollivander's Wand shop we found ourselves exiting through the gift shop.

It was a great day out enjoyed by everyone. My littlest nephew was asking for an apple the whole entire day (you couldn't eat in there except for one section where you could have lunch but he didn't want it then!) so that last picture is him finally enjoying his apple. P.s. I adore holding little hands!

Harry Potter Studio Tour: Part II

Here we are for part two!

Once you get through the Great Hall you walk around to see a lot of the other sets, costumes, props & special effects. There is so much information to read about how things were done & a few interactive sections you could join in with. 

They had a green screen where you could appear to be in the flying car or on a broomstick playing Quidditch. We all got into the car but then just our nephews went on the broom sticks. At that point we felt like the only adults joining in! Hahh....

Our nephews got a wand lesson (they took it so seriously!) and then we went outside to enjoy a Butterbeer outside Privet Drive...

^^ Gringotts Bank Vault ^^

^^ Voldemort, Belatrix & Malfoy family costumes ^^

^^ Ministry of Magic Statue ^^

^^ wand lessons ^^

^^ Outside Privet Drive & Butterbeer (below) ^^

^^ Hogwart's bridge, the Knight Bus ^^

We'll continue on into Diagon Alley next time in part three...

Harry Potter Studio Tour: Part I

Heeey!

Warning! This is a 3-part post because I took so many photos!

So a few weeks ago my oldest nephew turned seven & his birthday treat was to go to the Harry Potter Studio's just outside of London. We managed to tag along with them because they had one free ticket; we booked an extra one so we could both go! Two for the price of one! Can't complain, plus I've been dying to go so this was a GREAT excuse to be a kid again!

We drove down together in our car getting questions from the back from a 7 & a 3yr old like "what kind of money do they use in London?" with replies like "We'll just have to ask the goblins at Gringotts bank!" Seriously, kids. I can't wait to tease my own one day. In fact, my favourite part of this whole day trip was seeing their reactions & the looks on their faces when they walked into all the different sections & saw the things they remembered on screen. It was so cute.

All that aside, we had confirmation that we had arrived when our nephew said "you have reached your destiny!" copying the satnav and swapping destination for destiny which we thought was rather appropriate for the HP Studio Tour. We started off in a room where we got told the rules (of course) then into a cinema screen we went. We watched a short clip of the actors telling us what we would see inside then the screen lifted to reveal the Great Hall doors. It was pretty special even if you don't care for Harry Potter you couldn't deny the impact that had. Anyone with a birthday was allowed to push the doors open so our nephew rushed forward and into the Great Hall we went...

^^ the cupboard under the stairs & the great hall set up for dinner ^^

^^ costumes: Prof McGonagall, Dumbledore, Snape & Hagrid ^^

^^ school uniforms ^^

^^ Hagrid, Filch & Yule Ball costumes ^^

^^ Hagrid's hut ^^

^^ The Dungeons ^^

^^ Griffindor's common room & dormitories ^^

^^ Dumbledore's office ^^

^^ The Burrow ^^

^^ Prof Umbridge's office ^^

Part two coming soon...