harrypottermania

A lot of you seem to be Harry Potter fans and have been asking about a post about the Making of Harry Potter Warner Brothers Studio Tour, so here it is :) Tom & I never planned to go on this tour but we had a free afternoon on the weekend and decided to take a joy trip out of London city to check it out. It looked quite far out on the map, however that's nothing when you take into account how fast the tube is and how flawless the oyster (London's Myki) card system is. The entire experience was like as if you had stepped into the Harry Potter world. It was so incredible to walk down Diagon Alley - Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, Ollivanders and Gringotts Wizarding bank dotted the street and it was as if you were actually a part of the wizardry world. You also get the chance to step into Dumbeldore's office, Professor Umbridges chillingly pink Ministry of Magic office, see the Potions room in action and so much more that you probably end up staying for a few hours like us! When you look at these sets, you can really see just how much time, effort and manpower went into translating a written description in a book into a real life art form covering every single detail from what colour the tiles are, how high the ceilings are, the little knicks and knacks on the shelves.. the set designers definitely had the most amazingly creative and imaginative brains. My favourite part of the self-guided walking tour was the last area where we saw the model of Hogwarts used in all the landscape panning shots. Everyone who walked into this room basically let out a huge gasp and then proceeded to stare at it for a good ten minutes. Whilst it was not exactly small model - it was much taller than you and I, it was so amazing to see such a large castle be scaled down to such a size with all the details so intricately etched into every surface of the model. When we stood there, it was as if we literally expected miniature owls to fly out from the top floors, someone to switch off a light or a dementor to suddenly fly across the skies. For those HP fans out there, the studio tour is definitely worth a visit :-)