My daughter is over from Australia at the moment and it has been a mad whirl of activity. One of the things that was on the itinerary was a visit to Warner Brothers Harry Potter World which Kathryn and I had decided to take Florence to see. She is an avid HP fan and her knowledge seems to be encyclopeadic. She was so looking forward to this outing and I just hoped it would be as good as we hoped.
Well it was a perfect day. When we got to Kew station to get the overground to Willsden where we would change trains, the two guards on duty spotted Florence was in her Hermione outfit and were chatting about Harry Potter and laughing and joking with her. We had to wait fifteen minutes for the train and when it arrive there was an announcement "the train at platform 3 is the train for Willsden and Hogwarts!" Everyone burst out laughing and clapping and Florence's face was a picture of joy. I thought it was a lovely touch.
There is staggered entry which worked very well so that no matter how many people were there it was never too crowded and there was plenty of space and time to look at everything. After an intro we were ushered into a small cinema where the three stars of the films who played Harry, Hermione and Ron gave a short introduction. The final line was from Daniel Radcliffe who said 'prepared to enter the magical world of Harry Potter' up went the screen and there were two golden doors waiting to be opened. When we were asked for any birthday children there Florence went forward, I was honest and explained it was her birthday treat though a bit late, and she and two other children then pushed open the doors into the Hall at Hogwarts. I have a video of her face and the smile said it all. Everyone, and I mean everyone, be they young or old, let out a WOW as we walked in. It was all so familiar and just as it was in the films.
You will have to forgive the rather awful picture, I was so excited my hand wobbled.
The Great Hall
Diagon Alley with all the shops, the wandmakers etc. Enchanting
The Hogwarts Express. Stunning. You really felt you were on a railway platform
A model of Hogwarts. This was the night time moment with the lights twinkling. Quite lovely
There are plenty of films on You Tube all about the Harry Potter experience which are worth checking out as I simply cannot mention every single thing but for me the highlights were the Hogwarts Hall, the Hogwarts Express which was in a huge lot and you felt you were really in a railway station, Diagon Alley, the walk in the Forest where I nearly had heart failure when a huge spider dropped from the ceiling, and at the end an entrancing model of Hogwarts itself.
I am inserting a link here to a video - I hope it works. Interesting little chat about how they did the backgrounds and at the end a Grandma on a Broomstick...
https://www.facebook.com/elaine.simpsonlong/videos/10213250611912554/
It was a long hot day and my knee and back were paining me by the end of it all but it was worth it when Florence turned to me and said 'Grandma this has been the best day of my life' which reduced me to tears as you can imagine. The whole experience was truly magical.
