Rebecca Takes Britain: Get Your Geek On: Harry Potter Studio Tour and Magical Mystery Tour

Anyone who knows me knows there are very few things I love in life more than The Beatles and Harry Potter. And being in England, obviously I had to make pilgrimages of sorts! And I'm sorry for all the photos in this post, I took like 400 at the Harry Potter Studio alone. And possible spoilers for Harry Potter stuff.

The outside of Leavesden Studios

The Harry Potter Studio Tour was AMAZING!!! Seriously, amazing. It's not in London proper, you have to take a train and then the Studio Tour has a special Harry Potter bus to take you out to the studios themselves. We were in one of the earliest tours of the day, so it wasn't SUPER full, but still quite busy. (Also, do note you need to book your visit online before you go!) They were handing out free badges for the one year anniversary, so that was pretty cool! We had an audio guide, which was an iphone (FANCY) with bonus videos and information (narrated by the lovely Tom Felton aka Draco Malfoy), so cool!

Harry Potter bus!

Cupboard under the stairs!

While you wait in the queue, the cupboard under the stairs is on display! And then you watch a little film in a waiting room, then enter a proper theatre where there's another film about the studios and the films and their impact and all that, and then the screen comes up, there doors to the Great Hall open and wahhh it was amazing! The Great Hall was sooo cool, might have been a bit emotional hahaha. There are all kinds of costumes and props throughout the room, and it's INSANE how much detail went into everything. Wow.

THE GREAT HALL AHHHHH

Just chilling with my homies

Gryffindor Common Room

After the Great Hall, you enter the main interior display, which has displays about the makeup and costuming, then the props, and then some of the smaller sets, like the Gryffindor Common Room, Dumbledore's Office, the Burrow, Hagrid's Hut, the potions classroom, etc. I was seriously geeking out so much, it was embarrassing. They also have portions about the special effects, shooting Quidditch scenes, learning to duel, etc. It was so cool to see all the little details they put into everything, and the design elements that went into the props. I could have spent a year in there and not noticed everything.

Mirror of Erised selfie

Invisibility Cloak!!!

Dumbledore's Office!

Class is in session with Snape

It's amazing how much detail went into the littlest things we didn't even see, like the books and newspapers, they had an entire display devoted to it.

Butterbeer!

Then you go to the outside lot, where they have Butterbeer (still as delicious as ever), the Knight Bus, the Ford Anglia, Privet Drive, the Potter's House, and the wonky bridge from Hogwarts. It was really cold and windy and gross out while we were there, so we didn't spend as much time out there as I would have liked, but it was still awesome!

Going to visit the Dursleys at No. 4 Privet Drive

I can't drive a stick, let alone a flying car!!

Diagon Alley!!!!

Next, there's a section about makeup and prosthetics, and some of the dummies and animals they used, it was pretty cool (and creepy, as many of the dummies were corpses from the films haha). And then DIAGON ALLEY!!!! Amazing! Finally, there were exhibits about planning, designing and constructing the sets with paper models, and at the end, you come out to the best surprise of all time, the complete model of Hogwarts and the grounds. Not gonna lie, I definitely cried a little bit haha. It was like a pilgrimage, I swear, it was so huge and seeing it all in one piece, just wow. I'm trying not to be too much of an emotional nerd, but it was pretty stellar.

Going to get my wand, nbd

Dream job is definitely designing card models of Harry Potter sets

The most spectacular thing I've ever seen

Seriously, it was a religious experience.

The gift shop was huge as well, but it was hard to justify buying much of anything since all the products have the same numerical price as the souvenirs in America at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, but with a pound sign in front, so it's nearly two times the cost. I ended up getting a ton of postcards, and a Ravenclaw quidditch badge. (And when we went to the Platform 9 3/4 store in King's Cross, I bought a train ticket from London to Hogwarts haha). So yeah, it was pretty freaking fantastic. And, as my friend pointed out, I went before the royals, most of whom haven't actually read Harry Potter?? WHAT A SHAME. And again, sorry for all the photos but considering I took 400 while I was there, I think I did pretty well cutting down haha. If you want to see more, there are a ton on my facebook!

Beatles time! I went to Liverpool for the day with my friend Chantal during the end of the holiday, and we spent part of the morning at the World Museum, which is super cool and free! It has mummies and dinosaurs and a planetarium, so it automatically is fun in my book.

Our bus, it was pretty colourful

But the main part of our trip was the Magical Mystery Tour, which was so kitschy and touristy it was painful, but totally worth it haha. If you're going to do a Beatles tour, make sure to book ahead of time online or by phone to avoid stress haha. We were on one of the obnoxious buses, it was insane. Pretty much, you're taken through Liverpool to see many of the important sites from Bealtes history, including the homes or birthplaces of each Beatle, their neighbourhoods and other important landmarks mentioned in their songs, Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, etc. There are pricier tours that actually take you inside the museums in some of the houses, but we're poor students haha. The tour ends near the Cavern Club, and then you can explore the Cavern Quarter. It was quite a fun trip, and super amazing for a Beatlemaniac like me!