The Warner Bros. Studio Tour!

What I failed to tell you last week was that myself and my family would be away for the weekend to travel down to Watford for the Warner Bros. Studio tour (hence my mini absence from the blogosphere). Today I thought I'd let you in on what I did over the few days I was away and, of course, recap my HP studio tour experience!

DAY ONE

So we set off on the seven hour journey on the Saturday morning. My mum, dad, little brother and myself all squished into the car and off we went. I spent most of the time listening to There's a Place for Us and Ever Ever After by Carrie Underwood on repeat on my phone and, when that died, the Fearless and Speak Now albums by Taylor Swift on my dad's iPad. Specifically, the songs below. Over and over and over again and again and again. Yes, I'm that person who replays a song until they're sick of it. I'm also that person who likes cheesy songs. #immaproudcheeseball


Go ahead and press play. You can listen while you read on. ;P

Apart from the fact I wanted to wring my brother's neck the whole journey, I didn't mind it. I quite enjoy being in the car for long periods of time. I did take a few books with me - Wuthering Heights, The Hobbit and Teardrop - but decided against reading them in the car. I feel really sick if I look down and read in moving vehicles. *sad face*

Anyway, we then got to the hotel. It wasn't a big, busy hotel so I was quite content. It had a lounge area where we ordered our dinner - it had that comfy cosy feel which was nice. We pretty much just went back to the room straight after dinner as we were all pretty exhausted from sitting doing nothing for seven hours. Funny how tired you get when you're sitting listening to music and admiring all the pretty views (which, I discovered, are the prettiest at the border of Scotland and England). Seriously, the hills are gorgeous!

DAY TWO

The day of the Harry Potter Studio tour! So, keeping it short, we got up, had breakfast, met up with my uncle, auntie and cousins who live in England and sped off to experience the HP movie magic! I'm more going to document my day through photos for this as, if I were to describe everything, it would take FOREVER. I will apologise for the quality of the photos though. I forgot my camera so all the photos taken in the tour were by my phone. :3

While we were queueing, we got to see the famous cupboard under the stairs. Had a fangirling moment right here because, as we should all know, I AM THE BIGGEST HARRY POTTER NUT THERE IS!

Then when we got through, this happened:

I GOT TO SEE MY FAVE ANIMAL OF THE HP SERIES, BUCKBEAK! He was so realistic it was scary! :O

My favourites were definitely Diagon Alley and the mini Hogwarts model. You could so easily imagine being a real witch or wizard walking down that alley. The Weasley twins' shop was so cool in person too! I also can't believe how amazing the artists/construction workers were who worked on the movie! They put in so much hard work and certainly didn't get enough credit! The Hogwarts model was breath-taking! Even my dad, who has neither read the books or watched the movies, stood looking at it transfixed.

I also tried the Butterbeer. It really does have the strangest taste but I actually kind-of liked it! I really can't find the words to describe it. Sweet, maybe? That's as far as I can go. Here's my wee cousin sporting the Butterbeer moustache:

And my other little cousin and I on the bridge:

I'm pulling the weirdest face in this but... it's the only half decent one I actually got! :3

Then came the end of the tour. And the gift shop. Uhmm, I may have went a little crazy. Like, completely bonkers. I pretty much spent all the money I own on HP merch. And do you know what? I don't even regret it! [The following photos are slightly better quality because they were taken today with my actual camera, haha]

 

So it finally happened. I fell in love. With my Ravenclaw jumper that is. I was stuck between this jumper or the one Ron's mum knitted for him (with the big 'R' on it - as in, R for Rachel ;P) but I seriously think I made the right choice, I love it so much. I've also never been in love with a mug as much as I am this one. It's gorgeous. *stares at it for hours* And, of course, I just had to pick up a special, wizarding sweet treat. I decided on Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans over a chocolate frog. I now know what the rotten egg, pepper and vomit flavour taste like now - and I didn't try them intentionally, you seriously don't know what flavour you're going to get! Those three flavours were absolutely disgusting! Especially vomit, I felt like I was going to throw up the entire day after I'd tasted it!

I also got a few other bits and bobs. A wand-pen, two bookmarks, a Hogwarts crest poster and the official Making of Harry Potter guide. My wee brother got one of the wands - Snape's specifically - as well as other bits and pieces as well. Here we are looking all happy - and slightly creepy - after we got out of the shop:

Flattering angles and lighting, right? ;)

After the tour, all of us then went to a really busy park and then out for dinner to a Mexican restaurant. 'Twas fun.

Day Three

Breakfast at the hotel and the seven hour journey back home. Again listening to the same songs on repeat.

There we have it! Wow, this is a really long post, isn't it? Sorry!

Happy Reading,
Rachel xoxo