This Friday I went to the Harry Potter Studio Tour at Leavesden Studios with an NYU London programming event, and I have to say it was like I stepped into a dream come true. We had a chance to stand on actual sets constructed for the movies, look at thousands of carefully constructed props and costumes, get a behind the scenes look at the making of the movie, and even taste butterbeer!
Although I had been in the dining hall that inspired the Great Hall at Oxford before, now I got chance to walk through the actual set and see how the inspiration was brought to life. Now if you know me, you’ll know I got a little too excited about checking in to each section of the studio on Foursquare. For example, when I checked in to “Dumbledore’s Office” it was even marked as a college administrative building! It made the experience feel more real, as if everyone who visited decided to suspend all disbelief when they entered and treat everything as if it were the real thing. After seeing some more sets with all the props placed perfectly within such as Snape’s potions class, the Chamber of Secrets door, Gryffindor’s common room, and the Burrow, we took a break to get some butterbeer and take pictures with some huge props like the Knight Bus (which had a bus stop that looked like a real London bus stop–something I could appreciate now), the Ford Anglia, and Hagrid’s motorcycle. I have to say that butterbeer is absolutely AMAZING. Though the studio and Harry Potter world at Universal Studios only serve a cold butterbeer, a warm one a la the books’ many scenes in Hogsmeade in winter would have been perfect on this cold day. If I can try to describe it, it mostly tastes like cream soda with a butterscotch flavored cream at the top, and it’s that cream that you never want to stop eating.
My friend and I in the flying Ford Anglia!
When I walked into the room with the model of Hogwarts Castle, I was breathtaken. The model is actually pretty big, filling an entire room, though of course the fraction of the size of what a real castle should be. It was gorgeous though and we had done it–we had reached the real Hogwarts. This is the model they actually use to film exterior scenes, and it was just as grand as I expected. I honestly felt the magic in the room.
Then, we were able to walk along Diagon Alley and see the shops, and finally ended up inside the interior set of Ollivanders Wand Shop. Did you know that there is a wand box inscribed with the name of every person who was on the cast and crew of the Harry Potter movies? It was a great way to end the experience looking for some big names like J.K. Rowling and Emma Watson and appreciating all their work to make this wonderful world we all fell in love with.
Tales from Study Abroad 