Day 9 – Harry Potter Studio
Today we woke up late…very late to watch a Harry Potter movie, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”. It was the first Harry Potter movie and the details were amazing. About halfway through the movie we had brunch, which was eggs, croissants, bacon, fish, and rice. After brunch we continued to watch the movie. At about 11:40 we got on the bus to Warner Brothers Studio. The trip was a very long hour through the beautiful British country side. We were given Harry Potter passports which had activities to do. When we finally arrived at the studio, we went straight to the line for the first attraction, which was a recap of all of the eight Harry Potter movies.
Once the short finished, the screen lifted up and revealed the Great Hall set which was used in the movies. In the centre of the room, the Goblet of Fire, which was a prop in fourth movie, started glowing bright red. We then entered into a much larger room, and it had original props and sets from the movies. For example, the room had clothing the actors wore in the movies. It even had the famous train and the 9 ¾ platform featured in most of the movies. The café served butter-beer, which is a beverage specific to the Harry Potter realm.
In the courtyard near the café, the Night Bus and the Hogwarts bridge stood for all bystanders to see. We then entered the second part of the main attraction. It was a collection of rooms showing special effects makeup and machinery used in the movies. It showed concept art and scale models of the CGI used. In a very large room there was the model of Hogwarts castle, which was used in the movies and added in using CGI. This room lead to a big gift shop. Items in this shop included souvenirs from all Harry Potter movies. After a long, fulfilling day, we headed back to Charterhouse to play a game of staff vs. student volleyball and football.
Vito (St. George Quilmes), Dillan (Austin Prep), Pilar (St. George Quilmes), Itzel (CPB), Pedro Augusto (OLM), Shelby (HRA), Sebastian (St. George Lima), Delfina (St. George Quilmes), Silvia (CPB), Alfredo (Davy), Isabella (Woodward), Kendall (Austin Prep).