Today I woke a bit early since I kept waking up throughout the night. It was raining all night. Most of England is under a flood warning this morning. I got ready and went to have breakfast. After breakfast, I booked a shuttle van that would take me to the Heathrow Airport tomorrow. It's the cheapest I can find (£15) without using the underground. I have lots of stuff with me and I don't want to take my bags underground. I don't even know how much the tube is to take to the airport zone. An fast way would be to go to Paddington station and take the express, but that would be over £20.
I left the hotel before 9:00 for the Harry Potter Studio tour. I bought a day pass for zones 1&2 because that's the majority of the city centre and where I'll be for £8.40. I took two trains to get to Euston station and then took the overground to Watford Junction (£9.50 return and is not in the London zone). At Watford Junction, there was a shuttle bus (£2 return) where it would take us to the studios. I arrived at the studios a little before 11:00. My booked time was 11:00. So I made it. I didn't realize it took so long. I did take the Overground that stopped at all the stops and not the express.
Once at the studio, I exchanged my email confirmation with a ticket and a souvenir guide book. I didn't know if we could take pictures or not when I booked it so better to have something to remember the tour by. Oh, by getting way, we can take pictures just not during the films.
Once inside, I collected my digital guide that came with the booked package and I was on my way. We had to wait a little bit in the queue. Once they let us in, we were in a room and the person made a little introduction about the place, and we watched a short film about how Harry Potter became such a phenomenon. Then we were ushered into a cinema room and got to sit down and watched a 5 minute film about the filming of the Harry Potter movies. After, the screen lifts to reveal the entrance to the Great Hall. One of the staff took us into the Great Hall and we look around a little bit before she talked about the hall. After that, we were ushered into the studio where we could tour at our own pace.
There were a lot to see. A lot of sets like the boys' dormitories, Prof. Dumbledore's office, Hagrid's hut, the potion classroom and much more. There were also a lot of costumes and props. There was an interactive room where you get to put on a Hogwart's uniform and fly on a broom in front of a green screen. Then they put a scene behind you and then you can purchase the CD. They was a line-up, and I didn't want to do it.
This was all in the first sound stage. Then we go out to the back lot where they have refreshments including butterbeer. I had a nice cup of butterbeer. I can't quite figure it out what's in it but it is fuzzy. In the back lot is where they kept the over-sized props. There was the knight bus, one of the Ford Anglia used in the movie, the Dursley's house, the chess pieces, and more.
The second sound stage housed more props and makeup section. After, it was Diagon Alley like in the movies with Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. The store fronts all look real and is just like being in the movie. Next, there were some drawings for the movie, bringing the concept and images to life. Then there were the small 3D paper models of Hogwarts, the Borrows, Hagrid's hut, etc. In the end, my favorite part, a big model of Hogwarts. It's the Hogwarts that you see in the movie. It has everything. They keep adding buildings when needed as each movie was being film. It was amazing staring at everything Hogwarts.
After the tour, I ended up in the gift shop. I didn't get a lot of stuff in the gift shop, only a pin and some souvenirs for people.
After, I went back on the shuttle for Watford Junction. Then, I took the express back to London. It was midday then and continuing my Harry Potter tour, I went to King's Cross/St. Pancreas station to take a picture of Platform 9 3/4. King's Cross was newly renovated and they did a great job mixing the old and new elements together. Then I went to have a quick lunch. I found a Japanese fast food place and had some pumpkin coquette with rice and edamame. This was when I figured it out that it cost more to eat in than take out. They charge a service fee.
Next, I went to Oxford Street to walk around and do a little shopping. There was a Disney store there that I want to go to see if they had a cute Minnie in a UK costume. They had some but there were not worth £20 ($32 cad). There were a lot of people on Oxford Street shopping and sight-seeing. I just walk around and found a Starbucks so I could use their wifi. It was sunny and hot by then, and I had a nice mango passion fruit frozen drink. After, to avoid the rush hour crowd, I headed back to the tube to catch the train back to the hotel. By the time I got back to the hotel is was already 17:00. I hung around a bit and then decided to walk around Queensway and around the mall up the street. There was a cinema on the top floor of the mall, but the movie tix were a bit expensive. I then walked around to find dinner. I went to another Chinese restaurant since the roasted ducks hanging in the windows at most of the Chinese restaurants were enticing. So, I found a place that had roasted duck with rice. After, I found another Starbucks and used the wifi there while having tea. They don't have white tea there. They call tea that has milk in it white tea.
Then I went back to the hotel to get ready for the flight home tomorrow. I didn't really go to bed since the people across the hall kept going in and out of their rooms talking loudly and slamming their doors. They did this until 1:00am. If they kept it up, I would probably have yelled at them.
Tomorrow's agenda: Going home
