I'm absolutely terrible at keeping surprises to myself, so it was everything I could do to not blurt out where we were going on Tuesday to J. He's a major Harry Potter fan, and I secretly booked us tickets on the Warner Bros tour of the Harry Potter studio and backlot.
J gamely followed me on to the train without any clue of where we were going, but he finally figured it out when he spotted the shuttle bus waiting outside of the train station with the Harry Potter logo emblazoned all over it. Needless to say, he was pretty stoked. I was busy noticing that we were one of the very few people there without any kids. Oops.
The ticket warns you to come at least half an hour early, and we were there with ample time to kill so we grabbed some coffee and wandered around the gift shop, which had pretty much everything from the movie for sale. For reals, I saw small children running around with full-on broomsticks in their little paws. And I wonder if Voldemort knew that you can get the Sorcerer's Stone for the low, low price of 79.95.
Rather than broomsticks or stones, I was much more interested in the candy...
Too bad for me, I didn't get a chance to buy a chocolate frog before it was time for us to queue to enter the studio. The tour started out with a short film, and then the screen rose up to reveal the entrance to the Great Hall. J was nearly squealing with excitement at this point.
After the Great Hall, we wandered around with our audio guides in tow. Some familiar sets were on display...
Dumbledore's study...
Harry and Ron's dorm room...
Potions classroom...
Umbridge's office...
And they had lots of costumes and props on display as well.
The clock from the Weasley's house...
The door leading to the basilisk...
After oohing and aahing over everything, we wandered around the outdoors bit with a butterbeer (which turned out to be cream soda with whipped cream on top) in hand and got to see the house on Privet Drive before the cold, wet weather drove us back inside.
Once inside, we did a quick tour of the Creatures room and then wandered down Diagon Alley. We saw all the familiar shops such as Ollivander's and Fortescue's and Weasley's Wheezes. I wouldn't have minded doing some shopping in these stores, but sadly, they were cordoned off.
J was quite taken by the model of Hogwarts that closes the tour. I think he was a bit dismayed when I shut down his suggestion that we move to a flat where we could have an empty room to build our own Hogwarts model. Um, yeah, not going to happen.
I think that was the best two hours J had spent in quite some time, and I was pretty pleased with myself for having thought of it. I hope he remembers this when my birthday rolls around...
J gamely followed me on to the train without any clue of where we were going, but he finally figured it out when he spotted the shuttle bus waiting outside of the train station with the Harry Potter logo emblazoned all over it. Needless to say, he was pretty stoked. I was busy noticing that we were one of the very few people there without any kids. Oops.
The ticket warns you to come at least half an hour early, and we were there with ample time to kill so we grabbed some coffee and wandered around the gift shop, which had pretty much everything from the movie for sale. For reals, I saw small children running around with full-on broomsticks in their little paws. And I wonder if Voldemort knew that you can get the Sorcerer's Stone for the low, low price of 79.95.
Rather than broomsticks or stones, I was much more interested in the candy...
Too bad for me, I didn't get a chance to buy a chocolate frog before it was time for us to queue to enter the studio. The tour started out with a short film, and then the screen rose up to reveal the entrance to the Great Hall. J was nearly squealing with excitement at this point.
After the Great Hall, we wandered around with our audio guides in tow. Some familiar sets were on display...
Dumbledore's study...
Harry and Ron's dorm room...
Potions classroom...
Umbridge's office...
And they had lots of costumes and props on display as well.
The clock from the Weasley's house...
The door leading to the basilisk...
After oohing and aahing over everything, we wandered around the outdoors bit with a butterbeer (which turned out to be cream soda with whipped cream on top) in hand and got to see the house on Privet Drive before the cold, wet weather drove us back inside.
Once inside, we did a quick tour of the Creatures room and then wandered down Diagon Alley. We saw all the familiar shops such as Ollivander's and Fortescue's and Weasley's Wheezes. I wouldn't have minded doing some shopping in these stores, but sadly, they were cordoned off.
J was quite taken by the model of Hogwarts that closes the tour. I think he was a bit dismayed when I shut down his suggestion that we move to a flat where we could have an empty room to build our own Hogwarts model. Um, yeah, not going to happen.
I think that was the best two hours J had spent in quite some time, and I was pretty pleased with myself for having thought of it. I hope he remembers this when my birthday rolls around...
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