On
Christmas Morning I awoke to find a ticket to the Warner Brothers Harry
Potter Studio Tour, courtesy of my amazing boyfriend (who is very
thoughtful, and I am very lucky, but I won't bore you with that now).
So ticket in hand, last
Saturday I arrived at Leavesden at my allocated time slot, wanting to
dance with excitement but maintaining a cool exterior as I queued to
enter.
As a dire fan of the
series, I was eagerly anticipating the tour, yet was slightly apprehensive
at the same time. My worry that it would be a disappointment (like so
many of the movies) was thankfully however,
unfounded.
From the moment you
step foot into the studio, it truly is magical. To see things so
familiar to us after 8 films, in real life was quite amazing, and unlike
the Harry Potter Walking Tour of London (Which, is
a gigantic waste of money), I felt like I was experiencing a part of the
series first hand.
From Neville's infamous
cardigan, the revolving staircase of Dumbledore's office, the destroyed
Horcruxes, the flying Ford Anglia.. It was all there in front of me,
just how I imagined it.
The sets, while
surprisingly small, were decorated with such attention to detail that I
got a new-found appreciation of the films. Every portrait featured in
Hogwarts was painted especially for the films, including
a portrait of a young Professor McGonagall (and her animagus) for the
Gryffindor Common Room.
The final part of the
tour brings you through Diagon Alley (OH if only you could go in the
shops!) and through to the spectacular model of Hogwarts that was used
during filming. It genuinely took my breath away.
The only negative thing
I have to say about the tour was the abundance of children, many of
whom were not even born when I fell in love with the series, pushing to
the front to see things leaving me peering
at the back. It also annoyed me that the children all get special
Hogwarts Passports where you can go and collect golden snitches
throughout the tour (sometimes being an adult stinks).
And so, my magical day
came to and end, inevitably via an expansive gift shop full of
merchandise - from Extendable Ears, to Bertie Botts Every Flavoured
Beans, yours to take home for £14.95 and £8.95 (respectively).
I did treat myself to a Chocolate Frog (I got Dumbledore) and a
Gryffindor Coffee Thermos - but couldn't help but marvel at Warner's
marketing machine. Not a child was leaving without a bag filled of
wands, robes and Pygmy Puffs. The tour will undoubtedly make
the company millions.
Putting my cynical self aside, I would thoroughly recommend the tour to both fans of the series, and Muggles alike.
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