Obrien World Tour

Harry Potter Warner Bros Tour

EnglandAmy ObrienComment

Today is finally the day! We are going to the Harry Potter Warner Bros tour. Ella woke up early, excited to get to the tour. She has been waiting months to go. It's too bad our tour doesn't start till 1 which is an eternity to a 10 year old. Luckily our hotel was situated on a canal. Sean took the kids for a great walk. After their walk, we knew we needed to rent a houseboat in France.

Hemel Hampstead was just a 10 minute drive to the Studios. I was surprised at how quiet it was when we arrived. Most theme parks in the US are chaos from the minute you hit the parking lot. They did a great job setting up time slots and only allowing around 100 people in every half hour. (the jump shot is for you Bean)

As you wait in the queue you can check out the cupboard under the stairs where Harry slept. The cool part about the tour is that these are all the actual props, objects, sets, clothing, animatronics used in the movie. After some brief instructions and a movie about the studio you enter into the great hall. Wow! you are blown away from the get go. You feel like you just stepped into Hogwarts. Ella’s eyes were so wide with amazement. She wanted to take in every second.
Once again they give you a few brief remarks about things in the room . Then they send you off to explore at your own pace. The  longest running time was 13 hours!  After being here I can understand why. As you walk along you realize the shear amount of man power, creativity, and talent that went into building every little thing. Everything from the movies was handmade the paintings, the furniture, the clothing, the dragons, the potions. I was in awe! and they don’t just do all that for Harry Potter, Every movie made out there has a group of people making all this stuff. It is mind boggling!

After wandering around what felt like minutes(actually 3 hours), we were off to the Sorley’s for a home cooked meal and friends. The perfect way to end any day.