The Fletchers Misadventures and the Triwizard Torment. Euro Road Trip Day 5: Warner Bros Studio Tour

Alohomora eyes…let’s get up and ready for a magical day…it’s time for the Warner Bros Studios Tour: The Making of Harry Potter.

BTW…if you’re too muggle to understand the opening sentence; today is not the day for you.

“AVADA KEDAVARA!!!”…crikey Alaska…chill, you’ve only just woken up; let’s save the curses for ‘He Who Shall Not Be Named’. Oh, you’re on his side? Umm…OK, just try not to curse us before the tour please babes…

Right then…we have a 9am tour to get to, and you know I need my magical wake up potion (coffee…it’s coffee), before we start…Gray, go grab the Ford Anglia that’s parked in the tree outside (you must get that reference right?), and meet us at the window.

Keen to hide her Slytherin roots to gain entry to Hogwarts before inciting violence in the name of the Dark Lord, Alaska chucks on a cute little number akin to an early 2000’s Vicky Pollard before we arrive shocking early to start our tour. Still waiting for my official Hogwarts acceptance letter (fuming…), so have to settle for a day pass into the Wizarding World. Honestly as the years roll by I’m starting to think I may be a doomed to a muggle lifestyle forever…37 years and counting; no magical powers, no snake chats, no flying cars, no vault full of gold…nothing. Bloody JK setting completely unreal expectations.

Enough rambling Dean?…right so where was I? Ah yes…WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!

Wander down Wand Alley, take some pics with the Chess Pieces and make our way to the tour. Holy hell this place has changed since we last came…it feels a lot grander, but…the HUGE dragon is still the centrepiece and looking insane. How they managed to find a dragon this size to taxidermy is beyond me…I hear it’s one of three in existence; the other two are hanging from the mansions of billionaires, telling stories of how they hunted the Dragon over a course of weeks before finally capturing it. People with money ey? Always want to hunt the next exotic creature…

Note: that may be a complete lie; or not…who knows how the other half live?

Back to reality…The Harry Potter Studio tour currently has a celebration based around the Triwizard Tournament; you know…the tournament that Harry “falsely” entered that just so conveniently led to the death of a love rival; poor old Cederic Digs?. Some celebrate Harry as a hero, but we only know the story from his POV; who’s to say he didn’t off Cedders and revive Voldy himself as an elaborate ruse to reach hero status? False Idol if you ask me…

Anyways…yes, there is a big celebration of everything Goblet of Fire, with some demonstrations and special sets around the tour. To be fair, it’s one of my fave Potter flicks, so we timed this just right.

Pre tour Starbucks and a quick Butterbeer Latte to start the day…you know what they say; “When in Hogwarts…do as the Hogwartians do”. The Butterbeer craze is getting a bit mad lately…back in my day it was bog standard Butterbeer or nothing; now…Frozen, Hot, Ice Cream, Doughnuts, Cookies…you name it; it’s Butterbeered. To be fair though, I’m all for it…the latte was bloody delicious. Quick pic and it’s tour time…

Jordan swiftly suffers from 3rd degree burns to her throat as she chucks back her Mocha; note: no food or drinks inside the tour…well the start at least.

Led through the Triwazard Diggery Death maze and into the cinema rooms where the tour starts. Some short films on how Pottermania began and a quick chat with the original rapscallious trio themselves before the real magic begins…

The veil drops and uncovers the doors to the Great Hall. Ho-Lee Hell; no matter how many times you see it…the sheer scale and immersion of this hall is phenomenal. Magic straight from the off, and even if you hate Potter; this WILL blow your mind. Floating candles, character costumes, the great feast…and a brief show especially for the current celebration. Thunder strikes and Mad Eye Moody appears as the doors to the rest of the tour sling open and we are invited to get out of the hall. Take your pictures quick…the next tour is coming.

Now…what I really like about this tour (well aside from everything), is that they really do give an appreciation to everyone involved in the films, and give you real a behind the scenes look at all the props, special effects, etc that went into convincing children all around the world that come age 11, if you were special, then you’d get accepted to practice magic. I mean, conversely, it also gave false hope to millions, but let’s not focus on the negatives.

Some incredible props set up from the Yule ball, marble staircase, Dumbledores office, the common rooms, and so many others…insane.

Just as we leave the potions class, we stumble upon a Triwazard show, where the Ladies of Beauxbaton and Lads, Lads, Lads (that’s just what I imagine they shout constantly) of Durmstrang kick off a show of dancing and fire…ooooo. Great little show to be fair…kids, take a quick pic with the loser schools…”HOGWARTS RULES!!!”; chill out Jordan.

Next up on the tour…’Harry Potter and the Greenscreen Heist’. Yep…not content with taking all your money to purchase a tour ticket; the wizards of Hogwarts have a trick up their sleeve…Greenscreen photos. The kids take some pictures on a broom (of course we had to get them), Jordan convinces me to join her in a pic (sadly not on a broom), and the outcome…I am £30 poorer. Not too bad I guess, but the packages are extortionate…be warned; the people who run this place should be in Azkaban for crimes against muggles.

Greenscreen trauma behind me…we move around to a few really cool sets and photo ops before entering the Forbidden Forrest. With Hagrid taking Harry and Ron off to detention, he’s left the Forrest free to be roamed by us foolish Muggles…great idea Hagrid. This is a really cool place mind, towering trees, thunder, lightening and GIANT Spiders…and a light up dog?? Yeah, to be fair; great little fact…the Patronus in the films are just Deerhounds with LED jackets; the more you know.

Ooo, a gift shop…here to take more muggle money to add to the vaults of Gringotts; a HP discount store appears as if by magic. Magical Wizarding discounts here mind; we may or may not have spent a lot of money here…and had to really stop ourselves from spending more. Evanesco money (google it). The kids did get some pretty cool headbands mind…Alaska is now wearing Fawkes, and Grayson has a Mandrake hat; very jealous…

Step on to Platform 9 3/4 next to run point blank into a solid brick wall (damn…that hurt; definitely not a Wizard) and board the Hogwarts Express. Another phenomenal set, and great photo op too. We partake in a Dragon making Triwazard activity; this was fun…we all made a paper Dragon (more rubbish…I mean souvenirs for my collection), before avoiding the Railway Station gift shop and head to the Butterbeer Bar at the Backlot Cafe.

Butterbeer flight please barkeep! Butterbeer, Butterbeer Ice Cream and a Butterbeer Cupcake…all for the bargain price of £19.95. This better be delicious!! It was OK. Soft serve was great, Butterbeer was…well, Butterbeer, and the Cupcake was basically a £6 caramel cupcake. The fights commence as Grayson and Alaska dive in to the soft serve, leaving the dregs for me and Jo…we give the cupcake a good go, and I begrudgingly am left to finish the drink; Let’s be honest though…I only had them for the souvenir cups and dishes; honestly…they must see idiots like me coming a mile off.

Quick tour of the backlot…wavy bridge, night bus, Privet Drive and the a ‘pick your own Mandrake’ in the conservatory. Great addition to the tour and a lot of fun…even if the screams almost killed me; one moment I was picking a Mandrake, the next I’m waking up in the middle of the courtyard with Gilderoy Lockhart trying to heal me. Bugger this!!  I’m up, I’m up…

Head to the special Triwazard effects tour to learn a bit about the underwater scenes and watch a Fire breathing Dragon almost BBQ us the death, before heading into the creature effects studio.

Fantastic props, masks, concept art and figures of all the beasts and magical creatures used in the films. Basilisks, Trolls, Warewolves…and Hagrid?? Did you know most of the Hagrid Scenes were an animatronic instead of Robbie Coltrane? Me neither…I genuinely assumed that he was a Half Giant; i’m becoming so disillusioned with this tour…

Still in awe (mainly at the many faces of Warwick Davies segment) we head to Gringotts: the safest place in the world…well it was until Harry, his mates and a Dragon decided to test the theory.

Oh, so this is where all my money has gone? “Dad, we’ve been on this ride…” no sorry Gray, no ride here…this isn’t Florida. To be fair; I reckon they are missing a trick with this…a few rides and this place would be even better.

A few great vault scenes and photo ops, and a bit of a cool show as we are treated to the moment that a Dragon tears through the bank and almost kills us all in a hail of fire. Quick kids…run; leave mammy behind!!!

Tour the concept art corridor before heading to the crown jewel of the tour…the Hogwarts Model. WOW!!! Just WOW!!!

This model takes up a whole room and is huge and so detailed to show every inch of Hogwarts. Aww inspiring to say the least…must be seen. Oh, and guess what? There was a Triwizard overlay and show across the castle. Not quite a Disney castle show, but it did have some cool projection mapping and was nice little touch to wrap up the tour. Well not quite…we did chuck our names in the Goblet of Fire; thankfully Dumbledore wasn’t around to give us a bollocking though…

Exit through the gift shop…the absolutely massive gift shop. Right…where is all that money I left in Gringotts? Grayson, Alaska…go grab me a few quid; I’m gonna need to recoup the losses I’m about to make. So much merch and all bloody brilliant (cheers Ron)…I guess I should be responsible though. Just a souvenir guide book and magnet for me please; back to the UK where my money actually comes from my account and not my ‘vacation funds’. Bad times.

Had a great day…well apart from the hellish tantrum Alaska was about to unleash on us; honestly, people started filming the Dragon thinking a show was about to start. Sorry guys, it’s just Alaska; stand down. To be fair, she had just learned that she wouldn’t be joining Slytherin for 25/26 season and was absolutely devastated.

Crisis averted, we headed back to the van…a little poorer, a little sadder that our muggle status was confirmed, but having had a magical day. Such an awesome place; no wonder it’s booked up months in advance.

Having worked up an appetite escaping Dragons, and ransacking Gringotts we headed for a quick bite in Tim Hortons for the kids to undertake the Tim Horton

spice challenge before heading home. Oh…yeah there is no challenge; the kids just found the chickens tenders a little spicy and may have been a little overdramatic; think every Man vs Food spice challenge you may have seen…then multiply it by 10. Someone get them a pint of milk…

And that was the end to a fantastic few days away. Been to some amazing places, seen a fab show on the West End, and generally had a pretty brilliant time.

Pretty disappointed this trip is over…but never fear…Florida in a month :)