Bonjour,
My apologies for not posting this sooner, I was busy and I didn't want to write a half-hearted post after promising something good. I don't make promises I can't keep. I recommend you grab a drink, because this is going to be a long post.
First of all, before I tell you about my experience may I say that I have been to the Warner Bros. Studios before. This was my second time going. I did find however that I had missed a lot of details and it was so much fun to go with my best friend Maud, it was a very different experience.
Staring off, we were both very excited! We decided to dress up in house colours, my house being Ravenclaw and Maud's being Hufflepuff. We wore house colours and decorated our faces with house-themed makeup. That bit in itself hugely pumped us up for the experience. I had silver and blue painted nails as well as silver eyeshadow. I was wearing grey leggings with a cobalt blue top and a blue and silver necklace. Maud wore black bottoms with a mustard yellow tank top. She had the word "Hufflepuff" written across her nails in alternating black and yellow (which, by the way, I did for her). On her eyes she had golden eyeshadow.
As far as the displays I don't want to reveal too much unless you also want to go on this trip and see the studio tour. All I am going to say is that there were costumes, props, animatronics, special effects, sets and much more. It is incredible. Fangirl heaven. Seeing everything as it was used by the actors in bringing this famous story world to life was a dream come true. At the bottom of this post I will add a section that contains spoilers about the tour, so open at your own risk.
Another thing you can do there is try butter beer in the cafe! Maud and I both liked it, however, when we went there they were serving butter beer ice cream which I preferred. I wish you could buy butter beer ice cream at the supermarket. Don't we all.
In Olivander's shop at the end of the tour look out for the wands of some of the actors, we found a few!
The gift shop at the end was pricey, but it was a special experience so I did buy a chocolate frog. I was gifted a Ravenclaw scarf and a wand to go with that. I chose Ginny Weasley's wand because it was one of my favourites and feels comfortable to hold, if that makes sense? It felt nice and balanced. Maud bought Sirius Black's wand which was also one of my favourites.
Here are some pictures from the tour:
I rate it 5/5 for bookish experience and awesomeness!
Au revoir,
Emile x
And now the spoiler section. Open this at your own risk. I hold none of the blame.
I loved seeing the actor's costumes, especially Ron's dress robes from the Yule Ball and Hermione's gorgeous dress. Another part I really enjoyed was walking down Diagon Alley. Seeing Olivanders and Quality Quidditch Supplies made the world feel so real. Looking at all the sketches and models of sets emphasised how much work was put into these movies that you don't see on the screen. I realised just how many people were needed to put these movies together. Among the crew were some amazing artist's whose work is displayed as part of the tour. Looking at the work was inspirational to me as I really enjoy looking at and drawing art and architectural drawings. The talent was incredible.
I could talk about this for ages, but for now I had better go.
Au revoir,
Emile x
