Harry Potter Part I

Finally, at last, I was able to fulfill my dream, and enter Warner Bros studios, and more importantly, Harry Potter world. Picked up from London in a Harry Potter bus, we were trundled off to the studios early in the morning. As I got off the bus, this sight greeted my eyes.

Waiting in line for my ticket, I passed Harry's cupboard under the stairs. We were then ushered into a large room, where we watched a short movie about Harry Potter introducing us to the studio - It was an exciting start! Things only got better from there, as we were told we had no timelimit, could wander as long as we wanted, and as it wasn't guided, we could go where-ever and however we pleased; just how I like it! Then without further ado, the Great Doors swung open and suddenly we found ourselves in the Great Hall at Hogwarts.

Arranged as if in the midst of a feast, with each table sporting Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin or Gryffindor colors, fake (but very realistic looking) food filled the tables, and mannequins dressed in the original costumes used in the films, stood as Dumbledore, Snape and Professor Mcgonagall giving a speech at the head of the hall.

As i came at Christmas time, it was all decorated as if it really were the Christmas day feast at Hogwarts. 

Once out of the Great Hall, I entered a huge room (more like a giant warehouse) full of the props used and collected over the years of the Harry Potter movies. One of my favorites was this table of food, although some of it is of course fake, items like the Phoenix cake are in fact edible, and incredibly lasted for over seven years in storage! Don't think I'd like to eat it now though.

The original wigs of all the actors, plus all their costumes could be seen all over the place, from Hermione's Yule Ball dress, to Harry's clothes over all of the movies, to Snape's wig. It was all there.

Many of the characters had their own area, with sketches, wigs, design art and personal effects. It was awesome to see the development of characters in this way. 

Then it was on to the actual movie props used in the movie. One of my favourite things was the magic fire they had on display. I'm not entirely sure how they did it as it moved and was tangibly there like real fire, but was more see-through, and completely silent. The right-hand photograph shows the Ministry Decrees put up by Umbridge from fifth movie. The amount of detail on each decree was awesome. 

One of my favourite movie sets was the Gryffindor common room, each bed was personalized, Dean's bed with football posters, Ron's with pictures of the Chudley Cannons and so on. 

My favourite part was the beds which were made in the first movie and never changed. Although they had fit the actors when they were eleven, by the later movies their legs would hang off the ends when they were lying down - all of which had to be concealed from the camera!