We are at the point of our family life when ALL three children love Harry Potter. Mark is the newest fan who loves HP movies (except the kids haven't seen then last two) and loves when we read HP books to him. He was anxiously waiting every night to listen to us read to him but we stopped in the middle of Book 5 now because he's been reading more and more books on his own and not wanting us to read to him...
Argh...I keep getting distracted. So during the half-term (British school break Oct. 24th-Nov 3), we booked tickets at the Harry Potter Studios in London (near London). We kept the trip an absolute secret from the kids until we were in the car and driving to it. I can't describe how excited they were! I packed Mark's new HP cape and tie just in case he wanted to wear it, and that turned out to be a great idea!
Our time was 17:30 but since the place doesn't close till 22:00, we had a lot of time to explore.
Little Mark near the under the stairs Harry Potter room.
Hogwarts dining hall.
This place actually doesn't have an actual roof since for the movie they had to keep changing it and modify decorations with the green screen and technology.
Death Eaters in every alley since it was Halloween time after all.
Welcome to Hogwarts!
This room was amazing! So much detail! This is the common room for Gryffindors.
Alex:)
Mark
No Katya. Potions!
Some pictures are just cool pictures of bits and pieces of the set, like this one with the Hogwarts clock.
Hey, they could be kind of like Ron, Harry and Hermione:)
Mark was too cute for the Death Eaters.
The newest addition to HP Studios attraction is this Hogwarts Express.
You can actually go inside and see where they filmed certain scenes in different films.
And here is even Ron's handprint on the window.
We couldn't miss the opportunity to take our trolley through the Platform 9 3/4 AGAIN.
A view from inside the Hogwarts Express. That's Katya in the blue coat, hoping to find some jelly beans she could buy.
This was a "green screen ride" where you sit in a train compartment watching the scenery go by as if it's real. It's pretty awesome:)
And finally we got to the part with the butter beer (glorified cream soda) and butter beer ice cream (delicious!).
Outside we found the famous Knight bus.
And Harry's house.
Squishing them all into Ron's car.
I think Mark would make a great motorcycle driver:)!
This crazy trio.
I know...I know...everyone had to have a turn.
This was quite awesome! Amazing how they built it very wobbly and uneven inside.
Looks familiar, right?
The exhibit of various technological things that they used on the set was quite amazing!
And Diagon Alley did not disappoint.
The final exhibit was this majestic detailed replica of the Hogwarts Castle. The light in the room dims so that you can see it as if it's lit up for the darkness as well. It's just incredible how much work and how many hours went into creating this thing.
Outside we found the chess pieces that were not so kind (do you remember the giant chess game?).
And finally--it's after 9 pm and we are done! What a fantastic night!
It was Katya's second time going here. The first time she went two and a half years ago with Robert. This time I was thinking of sending Robert and the boys alone since it is quite an expensive treat, but then we chose to do it as a family instead. Great fun and totally recommended if you are a Harry Potter fan.
Lyana.
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