The Big Picture Window: London: Butterbeer, Bludgers, and Brits! (Part 1)

June 11, 2013:

We left Oxford early, and after quite a bit of trauma, Merinda, Joseph, and I got to Leavesden, where the studios for the Harry Potter movies are. What a fun day! We knew we would spend a few hours here, but had no idea that we would spend over 4! This is a hard post, because there are SO many pictures I could put up! I tried to post a smattering of what we saw, but there is so much more. Digital photography is such a blessing, because you can see what you have right away, but it is also a curse, because it is so easy to take a million pictures! Hope this is fun for you to look through. :-)


Some little school girls (on a field trip) playing with the automatic door. I kept hearing the music from "Matilda" in my head while I watched them. :-)

In case you have never seen or heard any of the music from "Matilda", you might want to watch this, just for fun (click on the link, Mom): "When I Grow Up" from "Matilda"

A bunch of school boys on a field trip. They looked like a Quidditch team waiting around for a match!

So Leavesden has left many of the sets and props from the Harry Potter movies in tact. There are no rides or anything here, just walking through all the cool stuff. But for some reason, it is still super captivating and surprising, enough! The thing that is cool, is that they aren't replicas, it is all the real thing!


The boy under the stairs???


Yes. Yes that IS Joseph and me standing in the REAL Great Hall!

They have quite a dramatic entrance into the Great Hall, and it is pretty spectacular. I think most of this post will be just pictures, since they will pretty much speak for themselves. :-)


Dinner anyone?


Guardians of the Hall.


The model ceiling used...so big!

Read some of Umbridge's proclamations, they crack me up! Especially the teacher one!

Joseph at Hogwarts Gate

Boy's Dormitory: Harry and Ron's beds

Interesting fact: In the boy's dormitory the beds are super small, in fact this whole space is surprisingly very small. But as the boys grew, they didn't make the beds bigger, so the boys actually grew out of their beds! Once they were grown, they had to curl up, or just sit on the beds when they did scenes here because the beds were so small! :-)

The Gryffindor Common Room.

Cozy reading spot.

The details everywhere are amazing!

Invisibility Cloak! (Green screen lining...clever)


Portrait of a young Professor Mcgonagall (ie: Maggie Smith) in the Common Room	.

I just love all the little details everywhere. It is remarkable. I got a special kick out of the portrait. Sweet respect to Maggie Smith.


Dumbledore's office! (and one of his costumes)

Dumbledore's treasure cabinet. Loved this.


More office...

...and another corner

Some little treasures...

I wanted to buy one of these in the souvenir shop so badly. Don't know why, they were just so cool.

Love the book bag on the back...like a bike! ;-)


Close up of the Minestry of Magic obelisk

Apparently, there was a ton of effort put into the details of everything, including the paperwork. Nothing was just blank or jibberish. The design/art departments made everything real, including invitations to the Yule Ball for the Tri-Wizard Tournament. These are just some of the examples I thought were interesting or cool.


After all the gawking, we needed refreshment!

Yep!

The second part was out on the lot:

So many cool things out here!

Interesting fact: The plaque says: "Though it was never in the original novel or script, director Alfonso Cuaron invented the new iconic Hogwarts Bridge for "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," to make Harry's and Hermione's journey with the Time-Turner more physical and exciting. This is the only section of the bridge ever built: the Visual Effects team created the remaining sections using computer generated effects.