Went out to have a wee walk around the neighbourhood, waiting for the cafe to open to get a toastie. I do love a city at that time of the morning! Then it's off to the underground to get a train three stops to Euston and then the train to Watford Junction. Love the underground and its never ending elevators...
I also love the ever-so-polite British commuter. And the polite request signs that you stay on the right and mind the gap. They also have signs asking you to be considerate with your mobile phones and electronic equipment. It would be very hard to get on the wrong train or get off at the wrong stop in London - there are endless signs, maps and announcements, which is great!
The red square signs are stop buttons for the escalators. I don't recall them being there all those years ago but I do recall one time heading down one - a very steep one - and someone fell over at the bottom. They had suitcases with them and people just started falling over them - it was a massive pileup! People further up were backing up as much as they could to avoid ending up on the pile. Now they have stop buttons so I guess it happened a lot and they needed them!
When planning this trip I realised it was a bit of a bucket list trip and today was the first of them. At Watford Junction, I boarded the shuttle to...
And it's a 10-minute drive to...
Queue up for the tickets, then another queue for the audio tour, then another queue to actually get in the door. Once the doors are open, they let us into a large room where they play a clip on the phenomenon that is Harry Potter and then let us through to the cinema where they play a video with Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint welcoming us and telling us a bit about their lives here filming. Great film that almost brings tears to the eyes - not sadness, but joy and excitement to be here! (That actually sounds a bit sad!) The film ends on the doors to the Great Hall and then the curtain lifts, exposing the actual doors to the Great Hall and it's pretty spectacular!
Then the doors open and in we go...!
It's pretty amazing to walk in this hall. Of course the ceiling and candles are not there - they are put in later. They used real stone paving on the floor rather than manufactured sets as it would be more hard wearing for the hundreds of feet that would be walking over it.
Then it's through to the next section and the audio tour begins. It's an excellent exhibit and tour - there are descriptions on each area with lots of displays. There are also extra bits and pieces on each department on the audio tour - these came into great use later...
The first area was the creative heads. Then costumes and hair and makeup.
Snape - one of my favs.
The gates of Hogwarts. And there were a few Death Eaters wandering around.
Next is the Gryffindor dormitory and the beds that were built for 11-year-old boys were the same ones used when those boys became 6' teenagers. They had to scrunch up!
There was a display of everyone's wands (they are all different and have a range of design from elaborate to quite simple) and a selection of the magnitude of props.
The Gryffindor common room was great - deliberately made to look old and worn, reds and golds, old tapestries, portraits of old masters - they based a lot of the portraits on staff). There is a notice board - you can't see it but it's there and full of bulletins, announcements and timetables - to help keep mood of the place. There is also the invisibility cloak.
Dumbledore's office is next - a magnificent set, full of fascinating props. And the Sorting Hat. It's a shame you can't be sorted by the hat but that would be a mammoth task. And imagine if it told one little girl she was in Hufflepuff when she had her heart set on Ravenclaw - tears before bedtime!
A lovely section on the animals used - cats, dogs, rats, owls, ravens and so on. A lot of them were rescue animals. The information on one of the cats was that he much preferred to not do a lot and just sit. Ravens could learn in a couple of hours what it took owls two months to learn.
The dogs who played Fang - massive hounds - caused problems because they drool extensively and apparently when they came on for their scenes, they knew there was chicken waiting if they did a good job and that made them drool straight away - like Pavlov's dog! And by drool, they meant drool!
Probably because it was Snape's domain, I loved the Potion room.
There were displays of the Dark Arts meeting room, sculpting, the Weasley home, broomsticks and so on and so on. It was fantastic.
In the midst of all this was the green screen area where you could be filmed in the Weasley flying car, then on a broomstick. You could then purchase the video. I didn't want the video but I did want a photo - cos you have to do that if you're here! So I got in line. This was where all the extras on the audio tour came in handy - I went through all of them while in the queue. They give you a choice of four backgrounds and I went with this one (photo of a photo - and I don't take a good photo!)
The next section was Hogwart's Express - great. There was a wall with a trolley of suitcases half through so you could pose as if you were running to platform 9 3/4. I didn't do this...but I did do this...
Then it was through to the Backlot cafe, which was packed! And this is the quiet morning session. I settled for a butterbeer ice cream. Outside there is the Knight Bus and Privet Drive and the chess pieces from...can't remember which one...
Back inside to the special effects area, animatronics and models. Including masks and fake bodies of a lot of the cast and Fawkes, the Phoenix.
And almost at the end - Diagon Alley - love this place! I had got one of the staff to take a photo of me there but in my haste to delete photos, I deleted it! It was a bit out of focus and gone before I stopped to think!
On the way out they have a model of Hogwarts which is amazing.
Of course you exit through the gift shop where they sell absolutely everything - wands, chocolate frogs, clothes, books, stuffed owls, everything.
Well done to J.K. Rowling for her amazing imagination and bringing us Harry Potter. And we'll done to Warner Bros for reaping every pound possible out of it!
Then it was back in the shuttle bus and to the station, where they told me the railcard I got at Euston station wasn't the right one and I had to pay another £4.50. To which I replied that I had no money and would not pay more. After a bit of to and froing, they let me on and told me to sort it at Euston. When I got to Euston, I swiped the card, it let me through and I walked off.
Back 'home' to rest and have a snooze before heading out for the evening's entertainment. This started with a veggie hotdog with fried onions and salsa - delicious! Then a walk down to my all-time favourite theatre - Theatre Royal, Drury Lane to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Collected my ticket and wandered around the foyer before heading in.
Fantastic show - one that just keeps a smile on your face the whole time. Young Charlie Bucket was great - very real and talented. The staging was great - the grandparents in the big bed, the four other ticket holders appearing in the massive TV, Willy Wonka, all great. Excellent choreography, costumes and music. The Oompa Loompas were great and well done.
The music and songs were good enough to get over any regret that they weren't using the songs from the movie. And so when Willy and Charlie got in the glass elevator and he sang Pure Imagination (from the movie - beautiful song) as the elevator soared out over the audience - it was a spine tingling moment!
Great birthday thanks to Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling and Charlie Bucket and Roald Dahl.
No comments:
Post a Comment