Day 19 VCUK-27 June 2019

Today I got up early and got ready and had breakfast and then went to St Pancras to ask about getting tickets for tomorrow. He got me a round trip ticket and explained that I need to go to Liverpool station to catch the train and it'll take me straight to the airport tomorrow. However the train I want to take tomorrow is too early for the tube so he said I had to walk or uber. So I went to the other info desk and they helped me figure out that there was a bus I could take that leaves from Russel Square. Mom doesn't want me walking to the bus and taking a bus at 3am though so Dad said he'd pay for me to take an Uber so I hired an Addison Lee taxi (which is a cheaper but good taxi service). The other problem is that when I return on Sunday there is apparently no trains at all? I saw this online when I looked it up but I thought it couldn't be right. He said they do maintenance on Sundays so I'll have to take a bus to this other station and then take the train back to liverpool station and it'll probably take about 2 hours which is ridiculous. However my ticket covers that whole trip so at least thats settled. i wanted to do some London tourist stuff on Sunday but I guess I'll just be traveling all day.

Then I went and met everyone at the flat.

Today we go to the Harry Potter Warner Brother's Studio tour! I was so hypeeee. I wore my gryffindor sweater and shorts cause it was nice out today but still windy. We took a short bus that fit us all exactly to the place. It was an hours drive and our bus kept stalling which was concerning. The driver had a thick british accent and I think he told us a story about how he used to drive the bus for the actors from the studio to london and then he drove the actual tour bus to the studio but now he's with this company. He said he drove daniel radcliffe and everyone.

We got there and go the tickets and I was sooo hypeeee! There were wixard chess pieces outside and in the main hall was a giant dragon from Gringots and also the costumes from Fantastic Beasts. We were early so a bunch of people grabbed lunch. I ate lunch at home so I was ready to go. The one lunch area food stand looked like a giant chocolate frog box which was cool and there were mirrors that looked like chocolate frog cards.

Apparently half of us went in early and were just let in but I didn't realize so I waited with the other half. We finally went in at our time and it was cool. The first room was a queue that goes past a little privet drive sign and harry's closet under the stairs. Then there was a holding room with all the different movie posters from the different movies and countries. Then it went into pre-theatre room with a weird little 180 video of people welcoming us and telling us how cool it was with the Weasley twin actors. Then we were loaded into a theatre and they spieled and then there was a short film of Daniel, Rupert, and Emma welcoming us and explaining how they filmed here and all the stuff here was used in the movies. The spiel was funny cause she was like welcome please sit back and enjoy all 8 HP movies back to back see you in 5 days.

Then the screen rises and the doors to the great hall are there and we all get out of the seats and go up to it and then we say alohomora and the doors open and you're in the great hall. I cried.

The great hall had tables on the edges and then had mannequins of different outfits sectioned by house. Then at the head was Dumbledore of course and the other professors.

Then it goes into this big room that just has lots of different things in groups. There was Madame Maxine and the yule ball dresses and dress robes and some fancy table settings from it. Then there was a wall of portraits and a wall of decrees from Umbridge as headmaster. There was a the drink colorful fountain. Then there was harry's gryffindor bedroom. There was this cool little shrieking shack hallway that is a small scale that they made just for a hallway shot. There was bogart Snape, defense against the dark arts props, all the wands, the fat lady, the mirror of erised, the big clock pendulum, the griffin door/stairs to Dumbledore's office. The gryffindor common room with more harry, hermione, ron outfits and the cloak of invisibility, the triwizard cup, the golden egg from the first triwizard task, a case with cool stuff like the dilluminator a snitch the crystal cup that dumbledore drinks from during that one horcrux scene the rememberall and the time turner. There was also the goblet of fire, snape's potions room which was cool cause some of the cauldrons were stirring themselves. There was the headmaster's office which was gorgeous and also had the cabinet with all the memories which was cool. There was another wall of portraits but some of them were green screens. There was the burrow kitchen which also had moving things and hagrid's hut.

Then there was the quidditch area! There was a thing where you could stand and say Up and then the broom would come into your hands and I did it and it was sooo cool even though it was obviously rising from a slot in the wall. I thought it was the coolest. Then I waited online and took a picture on a broom! You could also take a picture in a wanted sign but I thought that was dumb. On the broom you can do a video that looks like your flying through all different harry potter scenes. I just did a photo. It was cute. There were two camera angles. I'm a bit bummed cause it went really fast and I didn't like the face I was making in the one angle so I had to buy the other angle. Which is fine cause it still looks cool. It was super expensive they're really getting away with murder.

By this point I had lost the entire group cause they all sped through the whole thing and kept going. I wanted to be with people so they could take pictures of me and I could be excited with them but I also wanted to spend time in it. Sasha was still in my area so we walked around a bit. There was the gringots mine car, the ford anglia, hagrid's motorcycle, the snake door from chamber of secrets, the box mad eye was kept in. Then there was the grave from goblet of fire (it would've been cool if you could pose in it), there was umbridge's office, the ministry of magic fire places, the ministry of magic bumpout window area, the big long table with the professor suspended above it a nagini ready to pounce (that was pretty cool), and the sirius family tree (which was super high up and I was bummed cause I wish we could see it closer). That's one of my favorite pieces from Harry Potter.

Then it was the forbidden forest which had animatronic creatures! There was a centaur and a hippogryff and spiders that came out of the sky and also Aragog. The funniest and dumbest part from the entire exhibit was the "patronus" which was a weird dog they had covered with really cheap LED lights and then you could click a button and it would light up and it was maybe the dumbest thing I've ever seen. Then there was a gift shop.

Then it was King's Cross which had spots to take photos going into the wall and also the train would steam and then you could walk through the train and every compartment was decorated as a different year. There was an R+L in a heart which was funny and the dementor cabin was all frozen which was cool. Then there was another gift shop and a cut open compartment that was completely dressed like the first train ride from sorcerers stone. Then there was a cabinet with a bunch of different paper items from the movies like packaging and what not and this what I think is really cool of Harry Potter. I always want to do a design like this for harry potter for fun but I feel like I can't cause they're designs are already so perfect and I can't imagine it any other way.

Then there was the butterbeer cafe. I didn't get any cause I'm not a huge fan and they didn't have the frozen one. Also I was looking for everyone else cause I was alone by now and I couldn't find anyone. This is where I'm sorta annoyed with myself because from here on I'm about half way through but I sped through a bit cause I was trying to catch up with them so I could take photos and enjoy it with people but also I didn't want to hold everyone up from leaving. I wish I just wandered through and took it all in.

The next space was outside and it had the night bus which you could stand on and look in which was cool. Then there was Privet Drive and you could walk through part of the first floor of Harry's house and look in the living room full of letters. That was pretty neat. It looked far too small though and is definitely not what they filmed in or how big it actually is. I'm pretty positive they filmed their house scenes in an actual house so. Then there was the godrics hallow house which was wild and cool. Then there was the wooden bridge from Hogwarts that you could walk through. I wish I took more photos in that. Honestly I wish I was there with Meg or someone who appreciates Harry Potter as much as I do. Then there was the ford anglia you could take photos in! And Hagrid's motorbike. Then there were more chess pieces.

Then the next half was more behind the scenes stuff. So the first couple rooms were about makeup and all the prosthetics so there were all different goblin heads and there was a full body Hermione from goblet of fire. Then there was this interesting Hagrid thing that apparently they used to make him larger that was a whole fake head. then there was dobby and kreacher and a mandrake and a moving hedwig. there was also fawkes and then the monster book and the fat suit balloon of harry's aunt. Then there was a tiny dementor and a full sized warewolf and the creepy lady from deathly hallows thats' actually nagini. I wish there was a full size dementor or moving one that'd be spooky. Then there was a really cool animatronic buckbeak who bows when you bow and there was a video telling about how some asian diplomats came one time and they just kept bowing back and forth to buckbeak and buckbeak had to be turned off so they could move on. Then there was this really cool thing of all of Warwick Davis's characters as prostethics and costumes all together. he was a goblin, two professor flitwick costumes and griphook.

Then there was the new area added that is gringotts which was just like Universal Studios where you could walk down the center and theres different animatronic goblins on either side. Then there was a really cool room where it looks like gringotts but all falling apart and everything shakes and shudders and then the big dragon comes and blows fire at you and theres smoke everywhere. It was neat.

Then there was a room with the gringotts vault with all the gold items in it which was cool and there was the gringotts door which had locks that moved which was super cool.

Then it was diagon alley which was very underwhelming after being at universal. That was my biggest problem I think. Universal was amazing because it's movie identical but also you can touch everything and go everywhere and be in it but this is just everything without ceilings and you can't touch anything but it definitely has more props and such. Diagon alley was whatever and then the next room was a bunch of tiny little paper dioramas which was neat. They were soo soo small but so detailed and it's really cool to see how those visions were physically made into rooms in movies.

Then the next room had some more stuff about finding locations and stuff and had pictures of the oxford courtyard we went to which was cool. Then there was some concept design illustration and stuff too.

Then it was the scale model of Hogwarts. It was gorgeous. I spent awhile there. the lighting in the room would change too so as your there it goes from night to day and back. It was really really cool. I never realized theres a few groups of standing stones on the campus as well. It really gives you a better sense of where everything is actually in the harry potter world. i didn't realize how far away the owlry was or where the boat house is in relation to the castle or how many greenhouses they had. It was neat though cause I could pick out certain spots and what scenes happened there. It was just so detailed and gorgeous I wish I could've stayed there forever.

Then It was an ollivanders wand room and then the gift shop which was also decorated and sorta neat. It had the candy shop area and a dark arts area and an animal area. There wasn't anything cool to buy though. I sorta wanna get the notebook that looks like the advanced potions book but they didn't have which is probably better.

Then I went out and waited with everyone. Sasha was missing and apparently she was still way behind me. She eventually came out in about 20 minutes and then we left. We all went through in only 2 hours really. Then we took the bus back. Everyone wasn't really impressed and they all thought it was going to be the theme park which I had explained earlier it wasn't.

When we got back I had dinner and facetimed mom and planned Dublin and then watched some bits of different Harry Potter movies and then watched Finding Neverland which has Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet in it and is about the story behind writing Peter Pan. It was good and sad and I had a good cry. Then I went to bed. Tomorrow I go to DUBLINNNNNNNN!