Alohomora

When I was accepted as one of the visiting professors in the Study in England Programme, I knew I wanted to go to the Harry Potter studios, I just didn't know when I would be able to do it.  Then Kathryn told me that she had booked tickets for her family to go during Reading Week.  My original idea for Reading Week had been to spend the entire week in France, but that wasn't going to work.  It didn't take long to figure out how to tag along with them, and before we knew it I had booked my ticket.

One of the biggest surprises about living here has been the need to book in advance for just about everything--Harry Potter Studio tickets, movie tickets, restaurants, concerts, plays, etc.  I do understand.  Restaurants in particular aren't keen to open and pay staff if no one's going to come in for dinner.  At any rate, it is mandatory to book tickets for the HP Studio in advance.  It is simply not possible to just show up and expect to get in to the studio.  In fact, once we were on site we had to go to independent ticket machines to collect our actual tickets.  There are also windows featuring actual people.  Unfortunately, the machines can't handle "double-barreled" names, so after spending about ten minutes on line, I ended up going to the windows.  Additionally, one must show government issued IDs before being issued tickets.. 

We were booked for the early afternoon tour.  We left our respective B&Bs in Hammersmith by 9:30.  We were a bit confused by which trains to take, and then there was the issue with our "Oyster" cards.  According to the website, "Oyster is a plastic smartcard you can use instead of paper tickets. You can put Travelcards, Bus & Tram season tickets and pay as you go credit on it."  We all had our Oyster cards and thought we'd be able to travel with ease to Watford.  It turns out that it wasn't quite so easy.  After a few mistakes (such as going to Paddington Station),

we made our way to Euston Station where we took the direct train to Watford Junction (and NOT Watford).  We ended up depleting the Oyster and having to add quite a bit of money to it.  Once we got to the Watford Junction station we took the "Night Bus" to Leavesden, where the studio is located.

The ticket for the studio tour cost 28 pounds.  By the time we paid our train fares, I think we'd spent about 16 pounds.  The "Night Bus" cost another two pounds.  It wasn't a cheap day, but it was oh so worth it.

  The lobby was loaded with images of the performers.

We lined up and our first image was of the first scene from the first book.

The cupboard under the stairs.

We moved into an anteroom and saw the international promotional programs, and then headed into a theater where we saw an introduction to the tour.  From the theater we moved in to the set of the Great Hall.

The studio website says these sets were where the actual where the film was shot.

The Great Hall led to a huge soundstage with numerous sets, costumes and props.

Fans will recognize the Yule Ball costumes from the Goblet of Fire.

This was a small selection of wigs and facial hair worn by the performers.

There were so many things to take in, it's hard to know what to include. 

This is Ron Weasley's bed, complete with "homemade" afghan.

Here are a few of my favorites:

I loved the Weasley Burrow.

Delores Umbridge's office was really interesting.  I particularly like the "kitten" plates.

All of the kittens were adopted out after their photo shoot featuring the kittens driving cars, playing with balls and wearing tiaras.

The description of Umbridge's costumes said that they became increasingly more pink as she became more evil.

The Magic is Might structure was quite impressive, but apparently, it was made of very light materials. 

The next part of the tour was outdoors.

The "Night Bus"

The Weasleys' flying car

Tom Riddle's Grave

The Dursleys' home at #4 Privet Drive

Hogwarts' bridge

Potters' Cottage in Godric's Hollow

Chess pieces from the first book and film.

The next part of the tour included creature construction,

and Diagon Alley.

Unfortunately, I ran out of battery, so I was unable to take any more photos.  The rest of the exhibit included structural models, including a massive model of Hogwarts.  It was extraordinary to see how it all came together.

Kathryn and I decided to take a night tour of London while Helen and Kaitlin went back to the B&B to work on a project Kaitlin needed to finish.

Kathryn, Helen and Kaitlin had purchased 48 hour tickets for the On/off bus, but we worried they had expired by the time we boarded the bus.  Fortunately for us, the bus driver honored the tickets.  He said his last tour run was just about halfway completed, so it wouldn't be that much.  We had about an hour's worth of a tour, so we were quite satisfied.  Once the tour finished, we decided to look for a place to eat.  We found a great Italian place called the Aurora Cafe.   It was extremely reasonable and we both enjoyed our meals.

We headed back to Hammersmith and arrived back at our B&Bs.  I took the coldest shower of my life and then settled down to watch some crime TV and record my thoughts from the day.

Did I mention it was election night?  During the day we chose not to check in with the news since there would be no meaningful poll information.  Personally, I wanted to wait until the next day...so that's what I did.