When myself and my family were invited along to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour of the making of Harry Potter, there were a couple of very excited children in the Poppins home that begged me to say yes. Although we have yet to watch all of the movies, and the last ones possibly being a little too dark for my five year old to watch Miss. Poppins especially was very keen to see the sets where much of the action took place. Having a theatrical background myself, any opportunity to visit film sets I like to take and so we all looked forward to going. We got a little excited when we were greeted by this....
And this as we made our way through the entrance....
We couldn't help but see if our hands were bigger or smaller than Daniel's...
I really have only captured a very small glimpse of what is on offer in my photographs as there is so much more to see, but I couldn't help but give an idea of what is seen at the tour. After a superb trailer in the cinema, we were led into the great hall....
It really did feel very magical being on the Harry Potter set and couldn't resist a little photograph being taken of moi in front of the owl podium used by Professor Dumbledore. Then it was onto seeing more of the fabulous sets. The boys dormitory....
One of my favourite's, Umbridge's ministry of magic office....
Dumbledore's office....
I enjoyed reading about the animals involved in Harry Potter....
The Griffin stairwell....
The pendulum from The Prisoner of Azkaban....
Chamber of secret's door....
We wandered on, every little detail has been accounted for and I guess big fans of all the Harry Potter movies would be astounded at the attention to detail, it really is just amazing....
Then outside you get to see number 4 Privot Drive, ( made out of polystyrene, shhh don't tell )....
And was amazing to see the Potter house that Voldermort destroyed at Godric's hollow, I had a lovely chat with the workmen who were popping the finishing touches to the paving for the grand opening of the Studio Tour on the 31st March....
The bridge to Hogwarts was tres amazing....
Diagon Alley was very impressive....
Here's Master Poppins having his own little wander....
For me the grand finale is on nearing the end of the tour, where you are greeted with a breathtakingly scale model of Hogwart's castle, which was used in the films and you can get to walk around it, seeing every little detail. With a moving musical background, and excellent lighting effects I almost wanted to stay in this chamber for ever....
Pretty much everyone that was entering this room, and including us all said "WOW". A thoroughly enjoyable day out, and all in all the tour took us around 3 hours. I believe on this preview tour throughout the day there were around 1800 visitors, and on a normal day would be around 5000, so was nice and roomy, you could get up really close to all the lovely things on offer. My only negative really, is the somewhat slightly over priced retail souvenir shop that greets you at the end of your tour. Master Poppins really wanted a little wand, and anyone who has a five year old boy would know that it would have to be somewhat child friendly, even light up, maybe make a little sound. The only wands on offer, looked like collectors items and at £25 a pop, sadly he came away without one. For me, the shop being the last room to visit at the end of the tour as you are led into it, could cause issues with some children who want things, as they often do.
As for me, I cant justify spending £25 on a wand for a 5 year old that looks like a collectors edition and we did have somewhat of an unhappy child as we were leaving. I would definitely suggest there being more appropriate child friendly, less expensive wands on offer, as well as the ones we saw as we would certainly have bought one. What we did buy however were a couple of chocolate wands and at £3.95 each would be a lovely little souvenir of the day, however am not sure how long they would last ;) The wand issue was soon forgotten, and we got back to chit chattering in the car journey home of what a lovely time we had had....
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Disclosure: We gained complimentary entry for a family of four to the Warner Bros Studio Tour- The Making Of Harry Potter for the purposes of this blog post.
OMG beyond jealous how FAB (shame about the wand ) but WOW!!!
ReplyDeleteIt really was wow!! Infact we all want to go back again :) Really enjoyable day out!
DeleteI am not too into Harry Potter but I liked the films and thought they were well made. I once stumbled upon Hagrids house near Glencoe in Scotland - they were filming the second movie and I took a few photos. A fired of mine was doing catering and we got onto the set - and had a peek behind the scenes. After a few looks into Marquees full of props and a few looks from Security we passed Hagrid himself (well, his rugby player double) and made a swift exit - eaten by mosquitos. I share your excitement!
ReplyDeleteAlan that sounds like a fun old time I have to say! Apart from maybe all the mozy bites. It's really interesting isn't it. One thing I also learnt is the little secrets behind the scenes , like in the Potter house there are tanks with tonnes of water inside so it doesn't blow away in the wind as is made of toughened polystyrene. I love hearing about all the behind the scenes stuff.
DeleteWow! I am totally jealous! I love Harry Potter's films.
ReplyDeletexx
We are even talking about going back soon, was really enjoyable, even with the wand issue ;) x
DeleteWow - lucky you!! I will be showing my 14 year old son this post tonite - as we have booked up, as part of his birthday pressie, to go in June and he just cannot wait! He is a huge Potter fan! Shame about the pricey shop at the end - although he has been saving up pocket money to spend in there, so hopefully should be able to get something!
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Oh he shall love it! What a lovely Birthday treat :) The shop itself was fantastic and you could easily spend much time and saved up pocket money in there as so many lovely things to look at and even with all the wand wanting from my son he did seem kind of happy with his chocolate one ;) I think your 14 yr old may not have the same tantrum ability as my five yr old ;)) Have fun, would love to know what you think. x
DeleteWhat a brilliant day, how exciting! What a shame about the shop at the end, I totally agree with you there, they should definitely have pocket money priced wands, £25 is ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteSally x
Thanks Sally and yes I just couldn't justify £25 on a simple wooden and very posh looking wand. I have heard they may be bring in more kid friendly ones at a lower price at some point perhaps and I think for the very young ones these types would be perfect! Maybe I am just a stingy old thing ;)) x
DeleteOh I must must go to this!!
ReplyDeleteVictoria xx
You must, is fabulouso!! One for the diary for sure :) x
DeleteThis looks amazing!! Really lovely day out, but like you say, those wand prices do seem rather ludicrous! It's so nice to have a lovely souvenir of a day like that! I really want to go to this now!!! x
ReplyDeleteYes, a really enjoyable day out. We were pretty much grinning from ear to ear all the way round the tour, was just literally amazing, so to have the wand issue as we were leaving just spoilt my happiness a little, I cannot lie I was tempted to nip back and get one but thought better of it as he really likes toys that *do* things or are noisy ;) Was a super day all in all though x
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PS: Love Harry Potter, best movie of all the time.
I would love to go for a visit. Of course the 21 and 19 year olds would die if I wanted them to go, from reading them the books in the early days to going to the movies on my own, because they thought it was now so childish, I have been the one to remain true to Harry.It looks wonderful, but that wand would need to do real magic for that price.
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