Harry Potter Studio Tour
18 May 2013
For Christmas Lucy was given a pair of tickets for a visit to The Making of
Harry Potter studio tour. Today we got up early and headed down to Hertfordshire
for our 0930 slot, arriving at nine o'clock in time for a second breakfast in
the café before it was time to join the queue.
In the entrance hall large posters of many of the major characters look down on
us - here Draco Malfoy peers past a Ford Anglia
Once past the queue and the brief intro in the holding room and then another
intro in the cinema, we move into the Great Hall. Here Lucy poses by the door of
the Great Hall
The staff table
Counting the house points
A look at part of the Great Hall with two of the tables. The set doesn't have a
roof - that's added later in production
Refreshments at the ball
Some enticing chocolate desserts
Some of the many Educational Decrees
Educations Decree No. 98
Stephen by the gates of Hogwarts
The scale model roof of the Great Hall, with some of the candles that move up
and down
The leaky cauldron
One of the boys' dormitories in Gryffindor House - note trunk with the initials
HP
A forced perspective set, which is much shorter than it looks
Gryffindor common room
The stairs up to the dormitories
The entrance to Dumbledore's office
Dumbledore in his office - with the sorting hat by the ladder
Some of the former headmasters snoozing in their portraits
The pensieve
The Tri-Wizard Cup
Some of the smaller props.
The potions classroom
Looking in through the window of Hagrid's Hut
A closer look in the hut
Inside the Burrow
Door of vault 713 at Gringotts
A door from Hogwarts, with a marble staircase behind
Mad-Eye Moody's trunks
Flying messages from the Ministry among other documents
Galleons, sickles and knuts
Transport fireplaces at the Ministry
Offices in the atrium at the Ministry
Part of the Magic is Might statue, created after the Death Eaters took over the
Ministry of Magic, located in the atrium, with many muggles pressed together to
support the thrones of the witch and wizard above
Dolores Umbridge's office at the Ministry
Lucy drinking butterbeer by the Knight Bus
Stephen outside number 4, Privet Drive
The Potters' house at Godric's Hollow, with a young witch walking past
Part of the bridge at Hogwarts
All destinations (nothing underwater)
Some of the electronics that make The Monster Book of Monsters, and the Mandrake
move
An acromantula
The head of a basilisk
The set of Diagon Alley is quite special - though it's a shame that the lighting
is constantly changing, which makes photography more difficult and lack of
patience for more natural light to return leads to some of those following being
oddly coloured
Weasley's Wizard Wheezes
One of the two apothecaries in Diagon Alley
Olivander's, makers of find wands since 382 BC. Note the piles of wand boxes in
the upper windows.
Florian Fortescue's ice cream parlour
Eeylops Owl Emporium sells owls and various other things needed for the care of
owls
A rotating golden snitch sits above the entrance to Quality Quidditch Supplies
Some of the quidditch supplies
Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions shop
Flourish and Blotts, a bookshop where most Hogwarts students purchase their
schoolbooks, today rather dominated by books by Gilderoy Lockhart
Moving away from Diagon Alley, we pass lots of impressive card models
As the sign says, the Whomping Willow
But those models are as nothing compared to this - look at the people either
side to get an impression of how large it is. It is gloriously detailed.
Some of the greenhouses in the foreground, with the owlery in the background
The bridge is delightful
Having completed a circuit of the model, gradually descending, a look up gives a
different perspective.
The tour is almost over - we pass through a room full of wand boxes, each
labelled with the name of one of the people who contributed to making the eight
Harry Potter films.
A really enjoyable tour, both immersing oneself in the Harry Potter world and
learning a little of how the films were made - highly recommended.
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