Wizards and Muggles

You know how I've been going to Platform 9 3/4 to get my Harry Potter fix while I've been here? Well today I think I finally got my fix... I went to the Warner Brothers Studio Tour.

I met Sarah and Kara at Surbiton Station (also where part of a Harry Potter movie was filmed!). We then met Ellyn at Euston and took a train to the studios. We were going to meet Maddy, Kaley and Amanda there later.

The Great Hall

We saw EVERYTHING during the tour! The first part of a movie set we saw was Harry's cupboard under the stairs. We were then put into a room with a screen and you watched a little movie about the series. The ending scene was the doors to the Great Hall. Then the screen was pulled up and there were the actual doors to the Great Hall! This was the most surreal moment for all of us, I think. Just seeing it on screen and then the actual room was right in front of you.... I could not process that right away! The Great Hall was the only room that had a tour guide. She talked about the different costumes that were in the room. She started talking about the houses and said to cheer when she said our favorite. She asked first who was a Hufflepuff. I screamed so loud because I got so excited (and I have to represent my house with pride!). Everyone in the Great Hall just stared at me and the tour guide said "I guess that makes two of us." Sarah was cracking up at me. I might have gotten a little to excited but I didn't even care. Nothing could bring me down today... I was on the Harry Potter set!

Philosopher's Stone aka Sorcerer's Stone

The rest of the tour was self-guided. We got to see many costumes that were worn in the movies and even some wigs! We also saw some important rooms, such as the Gryffindor Common Room, the boys dormitory  Dumbledore's office and Hagrid's Hut. There were also important artifacts, such as the philosopher's stone (sorcerer's stone), the time turner and even some of the horcruxes!

There was an outdoor part of the tour, as well. There we saw the Knight Bus, the flying car, the Hogwarts Bridge, and Harry's house on Privet Drive. There was also Butterbeer for sale... it was delicious! It was chilly out today so after a while we decided to finish the tour inside.

The last few rooms were more based on the people. It had models of the main characters, and even had the not as big characters (such as a mandrake). We then walked into the next room and saw Diagon Alley. The weirdest thing for me will be watching the movies now and knowing I had walked on the floor of Diagon Alley.

We walked through a hallway next that had some paper models of the different buildings used in the films. Then we turned the corner and saw Hogwarts. The castle is not life-size, like it looks in the movies. It is big, but not as big as people would think. In the room with the castle they had the theme music playing so it made all of us a little emotional (I didn't cry, but was sad the tour was over). Before the tour was officially over we walked into a room full of wands.... it was wands used by every cast member. It was crazy to see how many wands there were!

Hogwarts

Even though it was a fun day I was ready to go home when we left. I had to get up a 5 am this morning so I could sign up for summer classes (the time change is really horrible when you have to do things like that). I did go back to sleep after I scheduled my classes, but it was not enough! Even though it is only a summer class, scheduling it reminded me that I won't be here forever. I'm still in the mindset of how I was when I first got here. I thought after a while I would get really homesick and want to go home. Don't get me wrong, I do miss my family and friends, but there is just something about London I can't seem to get out of my head.