Challenge 3: Go on lots of day/weekend/many day trips
A friend once asked me if it was weird that when she thought of Harry Potter she thought of me. I knew she meant because the release of the movies always coincided with my birthday in the school holidays, but I was secretly flattered. See I'm a self-proclaimed HP nerd. Some of my fondest memories growing up involve going on road trips with my best friend and not saying a word to each other because we were so engrossed in the novels. At one point I became so obsessed I would take my book into the bathroom with me, prop it against the shower glass and keep one hand dry so I could turn the pages. I was absolutely convinced that I would bump into the casting director one day and he'd tell me Emma Watson had to go because I was his dream Hermoine, and it's no secret that here in London I don't like sitting on the top level of the double decker buses...I've just failed to tell people it's because I'm traumatised by the way the Knight Bus was driven.
Last weekend my childhood dreams came true; I went to visit the Harry Potter Studio Tour to experience how the films were made. It only took a short train ride from Euston and a Harry Potter bus to get us to the attraction where we spent a blissful few hours exploring the world of Hogwarts. Whatsmore, we were told that Chris Hemsworth was on the next backlot shooting a new film while Henry Cavil was filming on the other side (sandwiched between Hemsworth and Cavil...suddenly my adult dreams had come true too!).
The tour began with a short film that outlined how long it took to make the movies and how many people were involved. To my amazement, after the film the cinema screen lifted up to reveal the door to The Great Hall, where we were invited to step inside and explore the set just as it was during filming and view a range of the costumes. From here, the tour was self guided and we were free to go and marvel at sets of places like Dumbledoor's office, the potions classroom and Diagon Alley. A smile was permanently stamped on my face each time I discovered something new and amazing.
What struck me most was the level of detail that went into the preparation of the sets, props and costumes. Every oil painting was hand painted, every tapestry specially made and every single one of the thousands of wand boxes in Olivanders was labelled by hand just to make it all seem more real. What also amazed me was how they created Hagrid; when filming shots where Hagrid was standing with smaller actors and needed to appear huge, a 6"10 former rugby player would stand in with a mask of Robbie Coltrane that was voice activated, and would move as the double spoke the lines, all to avoid using digital animation. But perhaps the most dumbfounding thing I learnt was how short Daniel Radcliffe is! His costumes revealed a lot about his tiny stature (which Google later confirmed).
Amongst the sets you could learn to use a wand, practice flying on a broomstick and my favourite part, try butterbeer. The delicious concoction was served on a backlot where you could also jump on the Knightbus, get in the Weasley's blue car and visit the Dursley's front door.
Upon walking past the to-scale model of Hogwarts at the end of the tour, I felt like I'd found somewhere that I was understood and in no way judged for my nerdy tendencies. While most teenagers were probably caught hiding porn from their parents, my mum used to tell me off when she busted me reading the Deathly Hallows when I should have been studying for my Year 12 exams. But here's the thing, at the HP studio tour that's not only ok, it doesn't even put me in the same quidditch park (see what I did there?) as some of the other Potterheads! I don't own a wand, or a Griffandor scarf or even a Hogwarts notebook...but I did notice they were all available in the gift shop if anyone needs ideas for Christmas presents...
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