BigWeather's Blog

We awoke a little later than normal, but not too late as we were downstairs for breakfast around 8a.  Glorious, glorious English breakfast as opposed to the dreadful affair at the adjacent Lidos Hotel.  A fried egg, two pieces of English bacon (pretty much country ham, a bit on the salty side), and baked beans.  Add on to that two pieces of white toast, butter, and strawberry jam and some breakfast tea and it was a damn fine start to the day!

On returning to our room we watched a bit of “Lovejoy”, a 1980s British mystery show starring Ian McShane, a favorite actor of ours.  We then departed and  walked through the quiet Saturday morning streets to Pimlico station and took the Victoria line all the way to Euston.  We got a train to Watford Junction shortly after 10a, a trip that lasted only about fifteen minutes or so and had no stops.  Once in Watford we waited a few minutes for the shuttle bus to the WB Studios in Leavesden where the Making of Harry Potter exhibition took place.  We arrived there a bit past 11a and stood in line to pick up our tickets.  They had three giant chess pieces from the first movie out front.  Once inside we saw a few costumes from Fantastic Beasts as well as a trailer for the upcoming movie before walking down a long series of corridors decorated with footprints a la the mischief managed map as well as quotes from the move such as a personal favorite of ours: “We could all have been killed — or worse, EXPELLED.”

The corridors ended in a lobby area with the entrance to the tour, a massive shop, and a cafe.  As we’d not eaten lunch yet we decided to go for some food.  Michelle had a jacket (baked) potato with cheese, I had a steak and cheese panini with boiled potatoes.  For dessert Michelle had a chocolate milkshake that wasn’t that great and I had a lemon drizzle cake that was quite great.  We also bought a couple of bottled waters as our prior ones were empty.

We briefly looked through the shop, bag checked our backpack, and got in line for our 1p tour at about 12:50p.  While we were in line we passed the under-the-stairs set of Harry’s bedroom at the Dursleys; there were even small toy soldiers that I never noticed before.  Once through the line we were led into a room surrounded with TVs high up on the walls that were showing posters from all eight movies from all around the world.  A short time later a video played covering the rise in popularity of the books, how the film got green lit, then the crazy success and premieres.  Once that was over they opened a door on the far side of the room to reveal Hogwarts’ great hall.

The great hall was impressive.  It was decorated for Halloween with pumpkins, cakes, and candies.  Around the room were many costumes including Harry, Ron, and Hermione as well as the main teachers of Hogwarts like Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall and other characters like Hagrid.  There was no ceiling to the set, however, and we’d later learn that they used CGI to provide that (as well as the effects like clouds or floating candles — which were first implemented as physical but the wax dripped on the actors!).

As another group was about to enter we were escorted to the “big room” where the majority of the sets, costumes, props, etc. were.  We were free to re-enter the great hall if we wished, but after that group had moved out.  First we saw costumes and the place setting from both the Yule Ball as well as the great chocolate feast.  There was also a scale model of the great hall’s ceiling to be used in conjunction with CGI to produce effects.  A display of wigs (including Luna’s) and other practical effects was neat too.

Next up was the Marble Staircase that would change position at whim.  This was pulled off by having the wheeled supports painted in key green so that it appeared to float in the air when moving.  Some of the frames had key green as well so CGI could be used to make the picture appear to be dynamic.  The Gryffindor Dormitory was surprising in its size — so small and, by the latter movies, with beds far too small for the growing actors.  The next set was a multi-purpose one — having served as several classrooms including potions and defense from the dark arts.  They had another of Alan Rickman’s Snape costumes there.  Real shame that we lost him so early.

Hagrid’s hut was neat and crammed with items.  There were a pair of interesting doors — a vault door from Gringotts Wizarding Bank (the locking mechanism was actually practical, not CGI!) and the Chamber of Secrets’ door with its awesome snake motif.  We saw the nested chests that held the real Mad-Eye Moody as well as his coat.  The Weasley family kitchen was predictably chaotic and featured many of the costumes of the family.  Around the bend was the set for Malfoy Manor, with the great table surrounded by many costumes.

It was at this point (and time, 2:15p) that we grouped up with a few others for our “Behind the Seams” tour.  Just above this meeting spot hung the tapestry depicting the Black family tree, complete with the burned-out Sirius’ portrait.  Sadly a good portion of the tapestry was lost after filming as it was placed outside to make room for other stuff and got exposed to the elements.  Two guides met us and led us through the courtyard (which I’ll describe later) and to a pretty nondescript room.  Inside, however, were some neat things — two racks of costumes worn in the films as well as some other shelves of hats, gloves, concept art, and the like.

After the gentleman and his assistant donned gloves they proceeded to discuss the process from initial concept to drawings to implementation and even alterations “in the field”.  They showed us several costumes like Voldemort’s robes which were made of very light silk.  Due to the clingy nature of the material Ralph Fiennes wore nylon stockings under them.  We also saw one of many coats worn by Mad-eye Moody (having seen one previously), all subjected to identical weathering process of burning with a propane torch and such.

We were told that a famous Parisian hat-maker had made the hats worn by the Beauxbatons.  The Botany instructor’s robe had tiny snails clinging to it but we’d learn that the back of the costume was light-weight breathable material as otherwise it was too hot for the actress and the back was never shown on camera.  We finished our visit by being able to try on actual house robes worn in the films.  Michelle chose Gryffindor and, while I’d normally be a Ravenclaw, chose Slytherin as that is Genetta’s.

After returning to the “big room” we continued our self-guided tour.  The Ministry of Magic’s floo network was really impressive, as were the offices.  One office in particular, Dolores Umbride’s, had me involuntarily shiver — I hated her in the movies so much.  They had a few of her outfits, the plates with cat pictures on them, etc. and all in pink.  Her quill was there too.  The “Magic is Might” monument prop was pretty impressive as well.  There was a display of some of the vehicles — Hagrid’s motorcycle, the Gringotts roller coaster car thing, and the Weasleys’ car.  That was neat as it was on an armature with a small piece of the Whomping Willow and another armature held another large branch trunk of the tree.  The armatures moved both back and forth and CGI was used to add all of the smaller whipping branches.

Next were a batch of artifacts from the film — the Tri-Wizard trophy, the egg that opens up with the mermaid clue, all of the Horcruxes, etc.  Really neat to see the real props.  A wall was covered with Quidditch banners as well.  The next major set was the Gryffindore Common Room.  A neat thing about all of these sets was the exterior — pipes, rebar, plaster, symbols.  Almost like a geode, a very ehhhh exterior and inside the amazing sets used in the film.  There were yet more costumes worn by the main actors of the series to be found within, as well as the famous “Lady and the Unicorn” tapestry (remember this…).  The Invisibility Cloak was there too, one side of a fancy material and the other done entirely in key green to have Harry effectively disappear on camera.

After seeing the Griffin Stairwell (which in the movie twisted around to reveal a spiral staircase) we came upon Dumbledore’s Office.  It was really impressive, more than one story, with plenty of books and of course the Pensive.  Also on display were costumes worn by both of the actors to have played the role in the original movies.  Perhaps neatest of all was the Sorting Hat sitting on the shelf.

With Dumbledore’s Office visited we were done with the “big room” finally, and on to the Forbidden Forest.  This was enhanced a bit for Halloween with flashing “lightning” and spider props.  I was a little disappointed to learn it wasn’t the original set (which was long gone) but rather reconstructed by the same craftsmen using the same techniques as the original.  One cool thing we learned was that the Patronus was a vest of high intensity lights strapped around a dog (with CGI being used to make it look like a deer).

Stepping out of the forest we emerged at the train platform (9 and three-quarters) with the locomotive and cars used in the movies.  We walked through the cars and peered into the passenger compartments, each made up to look like it did for one of the movies (including costumes, props like the chocolate frogs, etc.).  A newspaper from the movie with the headlines “Terror at the Quidditch World Cup” was there, complete with a key green circle upon which the CGI to have one of the animated pictures would be placed.  A display case contained maps and books including, if I’m not mistaken, the awesome map used in the movies.  Mischief managed!

Leaving the platform we bought a magnet at a small stand then emerged into the “back lot” where the tall skinny purple Knight Bus sat in addition to the Dursleys’ house and the rickety bridge at Hogwarts (which did not appear in the books).  The Dursleys’ first floor was as appears in the movies but the stairs ended in scaffolding and such at the second floor.  On the wall in the hall hung a “Headteacher’s Award” presented to Dudley Dursley for “always eating his lunch”, haha.  While I was taking pictures of Michelle on the bridge some “Death eaters” came out and dueled visitors in a wand battle.  We skipped eating at the eatery there which included drinks such as Butterbeer.  Puke!

Stepping back inside we entered a couple of rooms stuffed with special effects props — heads, puppets, models, etc.  Particularly neat were multiple Dobby puppets, a Hagrid head that an actor would wear on top of his own shoulders to make Hagrid appear the proper height, the mermaids and Krumm-as-shark as well as the dragons from the fourth movie.  Speaking of Dobby, there was a neat exhibit where we could wave, move around, etc. and it rendered it as if Dobby was doing it in real time on a nearby monitor.  The book with that was alive with teeth and everything was there as well.  The second room had a wall covered in various hats used in the films.

Just beyond those rooms was a huge treat — the Diagon Alley exterior set.  We walked down the cobblestone street and admired the shops all around including Ollivanders Wands, the apothecary, and Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, complete with the statue of the man tipping his hat.  It was extraordinary to see the care that went into making the storefronts as “lived in” as possible.  The light in the set varied from blue to orange to white, each change radically altering the mood of the set.

Next up was a room dedicated to the concept art and scale paper models used to help visualize the movies.  The work space of one of the artists was presented as well, complete with easel and the like.  I was struck by the beauty of several of the pieces of concept art.

Finally we came upon the last room of the tour, a large room that contained a massive 1:24 scale model of Hogwarts that was used for all of the exterior shots throughout the series.  The detail was amazing and, like with Diagon Alley, the light varied to show the model in various times (morning, evening, midday, etc.).  It took dozens of craftsmen forty days to construct the model.  We started roughly at turret level then walked down a ramp and around the model before emerging at the bottom.

Our tour over we were deposited in the gift shop (of course, that is the way with all museums and attractions!).  As we had to haul anything we bought back on the plane it’d have to have been something extraordinary to make it worth the effort.  Sadly, most of the stuff for sale wasn’t anything that extraordinary so we bought a magnet and a guide book and headed back to the cafe where we had lunch.  Michelle had a chocolate muffin and I had a Starbucks “frappe” — wasn’t quite like the ones back home.  Still it hit the spot.

We stepped into the chilly evening air a bit past 6p and caught the bus back to Watford Junction, this time riding on the upper deck.  We managed to quickly catch a train back to Euston around 6:50p or so and, once there, took the Northern line south (I know!) to Waterloo, arriving at 7:30p or so.  Wow, Waterloo Underground station was sprawling compared to the others we had seen.  We had intended to go to the London Eye after the Harry Potter tour but it being so late (it closed at 8:30p), it being a fair walk (and our feet were tired from standing / walking all day), and dark made us scrap that plan and just go for dinner.

Michelle hadn’t had fish and chips yet and that was a must-do for a trip to England.  So, we went to a small fish and chips place called Fishcotheque.  Cash-only, but we had just enough.  Michelle had the cod fish and chips while I had a very excellent beef and onion pie with French fries.  Quite excellent.  After leaving and heading back to Waterloo we passed the Wellington, a pub / hotel that we almost stayed at that was located right on the tracks.  Dodged that bullet!

London fairly hopped that Saturday night, tons of people dressed to the nines and going to clubs and pubs.  We dodged them all and took the Bakerloo to Oxford Circus then Victoria down to Pimlico (as we didn’t want to deal with the busy restaurant area between Victoria and our hotel) and enjoyed the short walk back to the hotel.  Once there, we watched Medium and enjoyed a bit of tea, offloaded some pics, and went to bed.