Harry Potter Warner Bros Tour London

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 for months to go. It's too bad our tour doesn't start until 1, an eternity for 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 after seeing all the boats.

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 allowed around 100 people in every half hour. (the jump shot is for you, Bean)

While waiting 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, and animatronics used in the movie. You enter the great hall after some brief instructions and a film about the studio. Wow! You are blown away from the get-go. You feel like you just stepped into Hogwarts. Ella’s eyes were so wide and amazed. She wanted to take in every second.

Once again, they will give you a brief description of 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 sheer amount of manpower, 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 for what felt like minutes (actually three hours), we were off to the Sorley’s for a home-cooked meal and friends—the perfect way to end any day.