Back in February, Liam and I went to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour in Leavesden, outside of London. I'd been once before, and I couldn't wait to go again, and I couldn't wait to take Liam (even though I know that his enjoyment of it mainly consisted of seeing me as excited and happy as I was :)). I have so many issues with the Harry Potter stories - I wish they were more inclusive, and I wish J.K. Rowling didn't have the problematic opinions that she does ... but I can't help loving the magic of it (pun intended). There are so many wonderful and intricate and fun details in this world, and while I'm not a fan of the films generally (because they had to cut out to much of what I loved with the books) I love all the design work, the props and stages. So I was a bit giddy this day .. to say the least. :)
Turns out the place has changed A LOT since I was there in 2013! It's so much bigger now. This giant dragon hangs in the entrance hall.
Even the shops are beautiful!
The tour starts in the Great Hall, which is beautiful, of course.
Me + Liam <3
Details like these are what I'm talking about. It's all so intricate and colourful and interesting! And the stories - signs everywhere that tell you how things were made, how they made things work. It's fascinating.
Oh hi!
If I had to pick a favourite room, I think it'd be Dumledore's office. It's so beautiful and magestic and with tons of little knickknacks to look at.
Last time I went, you'd go outside after the Ministry of Magic, to look at the Knight bus and all that. But they had added plenty of things, like ...
... the Forbidden Forest!!!
Loved it so much. And got a good scare too. The member of staff in that room said my reaction whas the best one in weeks. :)
And then you came out at Platform 9 3/4!
Look how beautifully empty this place is! We got the last slot on a Monday - it was the only slot left for that day when we booked. And while I was a little bit sad that we'd have limited time (we got in at 16 and they close at 20 - 4 hours is NOT enough to look at everything), once we got there I didn't regret it. The place was virtually empty (which made it even easier to take photos), plenty of staff around to tell you interesting extra things, and there were NO queues for all the photo ops that were dotted around ...
... like this! :) I know I should have looked more focused here, you know, pretending to run through the wall at full speed and whatnot but I was just too delighted to keep a straight face.
Liam was more interested to look at the engine than anything else :)
But I still managed to get him to smile for the camera a bit. :)
That's it for now, but I have another part coming with the rest of the tour - and my absolute favourite bit - all the design props, boxes, books and ephemera! Drool!
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