I got to enter the world of Harry Potter.
Okay, so I ended up paying ₤29 to view sets and props from the movies in the studio tour, but despite the price, it was really freaking cool. At this point I already feel a little like I'm living at Hogwarts, what with the students in my program being sorted into four houses and living in an English manor, but the Warner Bros. studio tour just cemented this feeling.
Some of it was pretty straightforward: I saw the interior of the Burrow, props like broomsticks, and Hermione's Yule Ball dress. Other parts of it were unexpected: I saw six identical costumes in various states of destruction all worn by Daniel Radcliffe in the Deathly Hallows. I learned the gruesome secret about Hagrid's robot head. And most of all I got to stand on the ACTUAL tiles of the ACTUAL floor of the ACTUAL Great Hall. (And I teared up a little when I did.)
Yeah, the tour was pretty fantastic. But no matter how excellent and in-depth tours like this are, or perhaps because of it, they always turn out to feel, at least in my experience, a little bittersweet and sacrilegious. Learning the true magic of the film industry is kind of soul-crushing because what was once miraculous and mysterious to behold is rendered explainable. It makes you realize that, truly, there is no such thing as magic.
But there are, however, incredibly talented and innovative people who believe in the power of ideas and the emotive force of a story. And to me, their dedication, their passion for the same world that I'm passionate about is the most magical thing about Harry Potter.
Well that, and the fact that I SAW REAL-LIFE HOGWARTS.
(Okay, this wasn't about me traveling. Just fangirling. Oh well. Enjoy these excellent selfies taken on the tour.)
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