Thursday 25 April 2013

The Making of Harry Potter...

Hey people!

Well, this week has been a bit eventful, and it's only Thursday! Firstly, one of my favourite boybands of all time announced they were splitting up - JLS. I know a lot of people think JLS's fans are all 12 year old 'screamies', but I have been a fan since the start so you can imagine what I was like when I heard the news. I admit, I did shed a tear or two. I also had a sociology mock today, which went terribly. However, I thought the timings to answer were going to be so hard to get right but I managed to finish the paper with 5 minutes to check back which I'm quite pleased about!

Anyways, enough of my problems, I thought today's post could be about something really cool that I did a while back - Harry Potter Studios! I went there on a media trip, so we got all the perks like not having to queue to go in, and having a little talk before hand about what we were going to see. Before this trip, I wasn't a massive Harry Potter fan. I was so oblivious to the world of Harry Potter that I had only seen 3 of the films which is how it still stands. HOWEVER, I am reading the books before I watch the rest of the films, don't worry guys I'm on it! But what I can say is that the Harry Potter Studio Tour was possibly one of the best experiences of my life. 

Firstly, you go into the lobby area and there are massive canvases of the characters around the edge of the room, as well as the car Ron and Harry fly. It's amazing! Then once you go through, there's a little presentation about the background behind Harry Potter - it wasn't very interesting to watch. Then you go through some doors into the cinema part, and that's where you watch Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson talk about the film and their experiences. THEN IT'S LITERALLY THE BEST PART OF THE WHOLE THING. The cinema screen shoots up and behind it is the doors to the great hall. I'll only show you a few photos, I don't want to ruin it for you guys if you're planning on going any time soon!


just inside the great hall. You can see that there's some costumes behind the tables. 

There were costumes scattered all over the place with little plaques on who wore what and in what movie.

There were three sections of the whole tour. The first part included the great hall which is the only part where you have a tour guide. You then walk round on your own and take your time looking at everything. In this part is loads of the sets, such as the Gryffindor Common Room, Dumbledore's office and Hagrid's hut. There's also the green screen area where you have a cheeky picture on a broom in one of the robes. I was so amazed at everything at this point, and the fact that they were the actual sets and not replicas makes it even better. 

After this was the second section of the tour - the outside sets. This included things like number 4 Privet Drive, the Hogwart's bridge, the Knight Bus and the massive chess pieces. This is also where you can buy butterbeer, mixed reviews on that one. Here's just a few photos. 

Hogwart's bridge - I think the snow made it look about 100 times better!

Me on the Knight Bus!

Privet Drive... there wasn't anyone in *sad face*

The next bit was the props section (I think that's what it was called). This was one of the most interesting part of the whole thing. There was a whole wall of shelves full of masks worn by the people who played the goblins at Gringott's bank. There were so many cool things to look at, such as a mechanical Buckbeak, and the Aragog they used in the Chamber of Secrets. It was honestly so amazing. 


I don't want to talk about the rest of it, simply because it was the most spectacular thing I have ever seen in my life and I don't want to ruin it for anyone who's reading and thinking of going. All I can say is that there's three more bits to see after the props section of the tour, and 2/3 of three of them are the best things I've ever seen in 16 years of my life. Hands down. I'll include a few selfies to give you all a hint! 




I also came out of the gift shop one wand heavier than I was before. I was pretty chuffed with my purchase, and the wand sits proudly on my top shelf. I obviously got Bellatrix's wand - simply because Helena Bonham-Carter is one of my favourite people in the whole world.

Now, on this media trip, it wasn't just the Harry Potter Studios we went to. We also went to the Hard Rock Cafe and on the London Eye. I HAVE NEVER BEEN ON A MORE EXCITING SCHOOL TRIP IN MY LIFE. I have missed so much stuff out simply because 1) I would bore you all with my poor explanations, and 2) I really don't want to ruin it for anyone. I'll leave you with a few more photos from my time in London, I hope you enjoyed reading this post, and I hope I haven't ruined it for anyone who's planning on going. Let me know what you guys think! (By the way, I highly recommend going to the Harry Potter Studios, whether you're a huge fan or not. Trust me, you will be inspired.)













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