Today, we (Year 6) spent the entire day at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London: The Making of Harry Potter. There was so much to see and do and so much visual stimuli.
The studio tour started in a room with movie theatre style seats where we sat and watched a short film in which the actors who played the 3 main characters (Harry, Ron and Hermione) welcomed us to the experience. Finally the screen raised to reveal doors, which we were then allowed to proceed through, into the set of the Great Hall – a wonderous sight!
The next room we stepped into was a giant warehouse space where several interior sets, props, and costumes have been stored and displayed. In this room, we were even able to fly our own brooms and saw how the thousands of Hogwarts’ acceptance letters came flying through the door; some of us received our own letters! We explored the Gryffindor common room, the potions classroom with self-stirring cauldrons and Dumbledore’s office. We even got to take part in a defence against the dark arts wand workshop.
After this, we carefully wandered through the dark forest being careful not to disturb the giant spiders that surrounded us or get struck by lightning.Ā From there, we entered Platform 9 Ā¾ and were in awe of the impressive Hogwarts Express.
By the time we were finished with the second room it was lunchtime and we happily entered a cafĆ© that had been thoughtfully placed in the middle of the experience. After Butterbeer, some sustenance and resting of feet, we headed out onto the Backlot: a small yard where we found the Night Bus, #4 Privet Drive, the Hogwarts bridge as well as Hagridās motor bike and the flying car that we could get in to to take photos.
Back inside, we entered the making of the films area. We walked by hair, makeup, costumes, animatronics, set models, art, blueprints and finally Hogwarts Castle which had special mischief and magic special effects.
Finally, we entered into the shop and explored the many different things it had to offer. Our favourite things to buy were: every-flavoured beans, butterbeer, chocolate frogs and stationery. What a lot of fun had by all; a truly magical experience!
A huge thank you to the volunteers that accompanied us so that we could have this brilliant experience.
