My last day in London, I traveled an hour outside the city to tour Warner Brothers Studios, the Making of Harry Potter! This is something I was very excited to do and wanted to make a sure priority during my visit. I have heard so many good things about the tour; I had to go while I was there. The tour begins with a shuttle bus which transports you from Waxford Junction train station on a bus specifically made for the studio tour. On the bus, they get you in the mood by providing a Harry Potter video and the music. I was very excited as we approached the studio. Our tour begins by standing in line near Harry’s ‘cupboard under the stairs’ in a waiting room that shows videos of the making of the movie. Once you go into the first room, they seat you in theater type seating and you yet again watch a movie about the actors, and filming. After the movie ends, the screen lifts up, and you are IN THE GREAT HALL!!! It was awesome!!!

The Great Hall is honestly smaller than I would have thought; it is amazing how they make everything look so large on camera!! But the sets were identical and I was trying to imagine all the hundreds of people in the room at one time for the filming. At the end of the hall, they have a set up of where Dumbledoor and the professors would have been and their original costumes. In one of the movies, the actors said that they were impressed with the studio tour and how identical Warner Brothers kept all the sets for the tourists. Unlike London, I could now take as many pictures as I liked!

After the great hall, you enter a huge studio room that compiles all of the major sets into one room. Here, you see sets such as the “Yule Ball”, Griffindor Common Room, Hagrid’s Hut, The Mirror of Errised, The Making of Quidditch, the brooms, Voldemort and his death eaters, practically everything!!!!! It is again amazing how they have not only built all these sets from scratch, but animated them in the movie.

Here are some pictures!

After inside the huge studio room, you go outside where you see Privet Drive, the Knight Bus, Hogwart’s Bridge, and the large chess pieces from the first movie, this time they aren’t moving!

 

The next room takes you into ‘Creatures’ and you see all the thousands of masks and dummies that were built for the movie. In cages, they have life size figures of each actor. Did you know that Hagrid was a real person that was 6’10 but actually had to still be stunted on huge stilts? In addition, they show you the animals, such as Hedwig’s moving figure, the Phoenix, and Dobby, who deserves a moment of silence! In addition, you see the Basilick, giant spider that haunted Ron, and Buckbeak who is beautiful and moves! I felt like I was in a haunted house.

Next, you are taken into rooms which show you the sketches and thousands of drawings from the making of the film. In addition, there is a wall of thousands of paintings you see throughout the movie and the movie staircases. Did you know that every single painting used in Hogwarts was hand painted for the movie?? That’s amazing!

Finally, you enter the room with the amazing and spectator set of Hogwarts itself- my favorite part of the trip. I would estimate the 3-D campus to be about 20 ft high. It’s again amazing how they are able to film a figure like that and make it look real.

Lastly, a fun detail I learned was that besides the making all the of the paintings specifically for the movie, the artists hand crafted and painted thousands of wands and their boxes. I cannot imagine the work that must have gone into making all those wands, I want one! You can see the intimate details in the close up picture.

I almost forgot to mention my trip down Diagon Alley!!! This was extremely realistic and the lighting of the studio made it even more perfect. The pictures speak for themselves!!!!

After my magical morning at Harry Potter, I traveled back to London for some shopping before my flight. I enjoyed spending the day in Harrods- I guess you would call this the Bloomingdales of London? What a fabulous store. I have never in my life seen a food display that puts Wegmans to shame, and I mean it!!I I enjoyed a nice cinnamon bun, chocolate chip cookies, and fresh chocolates for lunch. My Yiayia would have gone CRAZY, I can see her now.

It was a sad journey back to Ireland after a fabulous time in Germany, London, and Hogwarts. I arrived late in Galway on Wednesday night, 3am, and slept in the next day. The past 2 days I have been ripping apart my room and organizing the send some things home. 18 days left in Ireland, and 12 until the boys come for the golf trip! I am excited to hit some golf balls and get my game in shape. Today is a day that many of my best friends are leaving so I am going to make an effort to say goodbye to them. The weather is decent- I am hoping it is the best for when my family comes. My next blog will talk about what we are going to be doing on our golf trip! Until then- Cheers!

 

Location: Hogwarts