Allison's Wonderland

You know those moments in life where you become so excited you feel like an 8 year old child all over again?  This was one of those moments for me.  The moment consisted of visiting the Harry Potter Studios in Watford, England.   Now I know for some there are mixed feelings about all things Harry Potter, but after reading the books I fell in love.  I use to be an anti-Harry Potter enthusiasts who had nothing to do with the books and nothing to do with the movies.  Not due to the fact that there was witchcraft and wiazardry involved, it was due to the fact that everyone was hyped up about it and I don't like to go with the crowd.  It
wasn't until my friend Josh DeVries had started making wands for all of my friends that I wanted to see what all the Harry Potter hype was about.  Now I know this sounds absolutely stupid, but these wands were

The Wands: Mine is the Bolt at the top

seriously legit and I wanted one. So Josh said the only way I could get a wand was if I read all 7 books.  Not just one, but all 7.  So I buckled down, swallowed my pride and read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  After that I was hooked.  Wand or no wand, I could not get enough of the books.  After I read each individual book I would watch the corresponding movie.  When I heard that they were opening up the new WB Harry Potter Studios in London in the spring of 2012 I knew that if I was in London for the summer, it would be on my list of places to see.

My friend Tayla and I shared the same birthday which was August 5th.  She was turning 20 and I was turning 25 so we decided to give ourselves the birthday gift of the Harry Potter Studio Tour.  She was just as into it as I was.  It cost us about 45 pounds a piece which was more than half of my wages for a week's work, but it was sooo worth it. Tayla and I called up Taxi Tom, who is a taxi driver, but not really.  He drive's his own car around and isn't actually licensed.  We've decided that he does it just because he's lonely and wants someone to talk to, because he will  talk your ear off.  He is a very interesting character and I wish I had a picture to show you but I don't.  Oh well.  He only charged us 26 pounds for the round trip which was a price we would have never gotten from a regular taxi driver.

So excited!!!

We pulled into the parking lot of the studios and were already blown away.  Our tickets were for 6:30 and we arrived around 5:45 just to be on the safe side. Had our Starbucks coffee beforehand, checked

Harry's Room under the stairs

out the gift shop, then stepped in line to have our Harry Potter experience.The anticipation wasseriously killer.  While in line we were able to view Harry's little bedroom under the stairs.  I'm not exactly sure how they filmed in there as it was such a tiny space, but I guess they did.  Upon
entering the huge double doors we were taken into a theater.  Tayla

Jumping for Joy!

and I were squealing with delight and we made some lady and her three kids smile.  She said she wanted to walk around the studios with us if that's how excited we were going to be about simply

The Great Hall

sitting in a theater.  My favorite part of the whole tour was after the film ended.  A lady walked out in front of the screen and said, "Welcome to Hogwart's".  The screen lifted and we were left standing in front of the doors to Hogwart's.  It was so very cool.  We were practically jumping up and down for joy.  Once the doors opened we were in the Great Hall of Hogwart's where the children ate their dinner, the sorting hat ceremony was preformed and lots of other epic scenes from the movies were filmed.

"Welcome to Hogwart's"

Gryffindor Common Room

As we walked around we saw the Gryffindor Common Room, the potions classroom, Dumbledore's Office (which was one of my favorites), all of the Horcruxes, Hagrid's Hut, The Ministry of Magic, Voldemort's Costumes, and much much more.  I was in Harry Potter heaven.  Like for real.  We learned so much about movie making and what the actors had to go through.  I loved it.  We then walked out to the back lot where we saw #4 Privet Drive (the residence of Harry Potter) the Knight Bus, and the little car that they drove in the second film.  After sitting down and relaxing a bit, (as walking in the footsteps of Daniel Radcliffe can be exhausting) we went to the makeup section.  This was pretty cool as well.  They had several different wax figures of Dobby and other character's throughout the movie.  We were able to walk

Hagrid's Hut

right through Diagon Alley which was "set ready" as they said.  Meaning they were able to just pick up and film right then and there.  So cool.  The last little surprise was a complete huge replica of Hogwart's.  It was a model, but it was what the film makers used while filming Harry Potter.  They would film the characters on green screens and then miniaturize them and put them wherever they needed on this huge model.  It was, for a lack of better words, impressive.  We had to of course get our pictures in front of the huge structure.  Upon leaving the Studio tour there were wand boxes of every single person who was involved in the film making.  I had to find my favorite actor's which were Snape (Alan Rickman) and Emma Watson (Hermione).

Snape's Wand

We had such a great time looking at all the Harry Potter stuff.  I did feel like such a nerd, but whatever.  YOLO.  :)  We met up with Taxi Tom at around 9:30 and that's when he started saying some really weird stuff.  Oh Tom.  What a nut.   I'd tell you, but it'd be too long to write and this post is already long enough....:)

The Ministry of Magic

Driving on the Back Lot

The Knight Bus

#4 Privet Drive

Dobby!

Diagon Alley

Hogwart's HUUGGEE Model

Shows ya Just How Huge

Waiting for our Taxi

Dumbledore's Office

The Horcruxes

Potions Classroom