Warner Bros. Studios-London

Posting as duchess. Warning: MEGA BLOG AHEAD

Directly following Switzerland, we went to London, and got to go to Warner Bros. studio! So, I'm just warning you, readers, if you are NOT a Harry Potter nerd then I recommend you stop reading immediately. And I can't promise there won't be spoilers. Queen's Park tube station was right round the bend from our friend's parsonage,where we were staying, and here we are waiting for the tube to collect us!

We took the tube to Watford Junction (so British), then this double-decker London bus to the actual studios:

 On the bus, the actor for Mr. Weasley welcomed us with a video. (of course we sat on the second deck on the bus)                                       al......most......there....

Who's excited?!

Caleb's beard is.

I was not expecting how big the building was. I guess I didn't calculate how much room they'd need for all the sets, costumes, and 70,000 props. It was about 50,000 m2 (538,196 sq ft)! They actually built these buildings just for Harry Potter. They have a whole other studio, where they film loads of other movie, like Edge of Tomorrow, just 200m down the road.

This is one of the very first sets we saw. Harry's room under the stairs. Those are Harry's actual glasses on the shelf.

Hermoine and Victor. Cedric and Cho.

And.....

Poor Ron.

Snake, I mean Snape's office: 'obviously.'

Nope, no parents. 

Dumbledore's office! You could walk in and see more, and revealed inside was...

The Gryffingor sword! Aaaaaaaah! (opera music) (not screaming)

Pensieve

That's a pretty intimidating phoenix, much less a bird.

I think this one trumps it, though. I wanna go give him a hug. 

All the original wands. I know you can't see them that well. Voldy Moldy at 9 o'clock. Harry at 3 o'clock. Dumbledore's at 12. I forgot who's on the bottom. 

Here's the trio:

Hogwarts express was awesome. They used the outside of this train, but the inside of another, that is now a train simulator.

This was so fun to see. They put so much detail into making the studios just right.

Just doing a little wand practice...they actually had a wand tutorial, but the amount of nerdiness, embarrassment, and enthusiasm overruled any urge.

Walking down Diagon Alley was definitely the most surreal moment for me. All the shops were there, you can see Fred and George's in the back, and,

Gringott's

They had all the lighting set especially for pictures and videos on all the decor, which was cool, because that's what they did for filming. Just in case you were wondering why all the blue light.

Caleb making sure he goes through that wall. With flight.

I was surprised they actually had the Knight Bus. Inside:

So it wasn't just an outside set of the bus only. A full blown 3 decker sleeping car. We should make RV's like that. We, as in, Americans, or people in general. I don't particularly have a strong urge to create that.

The next Harley.

This small bridge was actually flown to The Isle of Skye, and plopped in between 2 hills for filming! You know in the eighth movie when its Neville v. Voldemort's entire army, and Neville is running down this bridge? Well, since it's so short, they actually had him run back and forth till the right lenghth.

They had 16 of these cars. Each got smashed in turn. Poor Mr. Weasley.

Daniel has such a look of genuine terror on his face, doesn't he?

They enlarged Hogwarts main gate in the movie. The gates and snakes both move mechanically on their own, without the help of CGI.

ugh:

We three on the run.

You can tell who was excited for this picture, and who found a wall the Mall-Cop way.

ugh #2:

thestral

ugh#3

 The Goblet of Fire. I'm trying to get a paper out.

All of Harry's broomsticks, and uniform to the right. 

Butterbeer.

the candy car and cart

Harry's first home: 

destroyed by Voldemort

Second home:

plagued by the Dursleys

This is a set. Ring ring, Harry Potter, please.

Third home, the best of the lot:

The Burrow. Another one of Harry's homes, in a way.

 I hate to bust anybody's bubble, but there's not an actual castle they used to film Hogwarts. They did film bits and pieces here and there at castles and universities, such as Alnwick Castle we blogged on a while back. This is just a model. A big model, but only big enough for doll Hermoine and Ron's. All of the shots of just the castle in Wintertime or whatever are of this model, because its super realistic. There's one scene where Harry is walking up to the owl barn, in the winter, up a hill. Daniel Radcliffe was in a completely green room, walking on a green treadmill. They just shrunk him on the computer, and put him on the model. So it really is the Hogwarts castle we would picture in our minds, just not the same size as our imagination.

That's alot of wands

BED!