Hey guys!!

Omg!! What an amazing experience! We went to Harry Potter Warner Bro's Studio in Watford for one of my friend's birthday and I literally felt I was a child again. As we went on Tuesday 2nd November it was still Halloween themed with the Death Eaters and pumpkins hanging from the main hall. I honestly don't even think this post will do it justice. When Harry Potter came out I went with my Uncle to the cinema to see each one and I would be hyped for weeks spoiling the film for everyone.

We booked our tickets for 3:30pm so we set off from Liverpool to Crewe at 10am and then one of our friend's picked us up from Crewe and drove. She even made us all little goody bag with all treats ready for the car. Bless her.  One of my other friend's made cupcakes with different icing inside so whatever cake we got determined what house we was in. I was Gryfinndor. Then another one of my friend's bought Harry Potter cookie cutters but used them for our sandwiches. We got there for half 2 so we had our food and then headed on over took some pictures outside and then the fun began. I do recommend going for an earlier time slot as the place shuts at 8pm and we were literally finishing up at the same time (luckily).

First stage of the Tour includes:

• The Great Hall
• The Yule Ball - Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire
• Gryffindor Dorm & Common Room
• Wands
• Slytherin Common Room
• The Mirror of Erised - Harry Potter & the Philospher's Stone
• Dumbledore's Office
• Snape's Potions Classroom
• Hagrid's Hut
• Green Screen - Flying a broom whilst playing Quidditch 
• Weasley's Kitchen
• Voldemort's Table - Death Eaters would gather to plan their evil crimes
• The Ministry of Magic
• Umbridge's Office - So pink & pretty - and her locket...
• The Dark Forest
• Platform 9 3/4 with Hogwarts Express featuring another Green screen (of riding on the train)

Second stage of the Tour includes: (Also some of it is outdoors) 

The outside Section:

• 4 Privet Drive
• Knight Bus - Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Hogwarts Bridge - Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban
• The flying car 

The indoors Section:

• Gringotts bank 
• Bellatrix Lestrange's vault - Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows (Part 2)
  
• Gringotts being destroyed by the dragon - Omg this was insane watching the dragon in 4D destroy the bank with special effects fire and smoke

Special Effects:

• This section includes masks, makeup effects, wigs and dummies they used during filming to bring it to life. There was the werewolves, Voldemort, Dobby, Hedwig, goblins, the spiders, the trolls etc. 
• A sewing machine with a fashion board with the goblin outfits
• Makeup with the makeup tables
• There was also an office with a desk with drawn out models of sets, endless books for the inspiration

• Diagon Alley - Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, the broomsticks shop, the shops to buy the owls etc
• And finally (but not lastly) Hogwarts model 

Verdict:

I absolutely LOVED it. I wouldn't class myself as a Harry Potter nerd - more Star Wars and Avengers haha but what an experience. From the clothes, to the sets, to the props - the details were insane. They even has a section whey showed you the makeup effects, the wigs, the sewing machine (with a fashion board) and an office with desks and a chair with models of the sets drawn out, endless books and screens. Every room I would go into topped the previous room. In the first film, do you remember when the letters to Harry comes flying in? They hung them up on the thinnest string and honestly... From the Great Hall to the Knight Bus, to Privet Drive to The Bank with the amazing chandeliers and then to Hogwarts Castle. To be honest, I did think Hogwarts Castle was gonna be its own castle...like Wales haha. But one of the girls in work had been before and warned me it's not actually a castle so I wasn't expecting anything major. But omg it was still huge. It was amazing to see how they had done a little model and then into the huge model which was used in films. You can actually go to 'Hogwarts' Castle' in Northumberland, which is where Harry Potter learnt to play quidditch and you can have a go at Broomstick training. Definitely on my list next...

Tips:

• Try the Butterbeer - It's not the best drink but you can't go to Harry Potter and not try it 
• Try the Butterbeer Ice Cream - I didn't unfortunately and I do regret it as so many people said it's unreal, the sweetness and the amount of ice cream you get is worth it
• Bring snacks
• Take as many photos as you can - Definitely when you get to Platform 9 3/4 - There are 2 (I think) green screens where you can't take photos but the rest you can
• Enjoy the experience!!

Hey guys,

Happy Halloween! (Well for last week ahaha) Hope you's all had fun trick or treating or your night out or whatever plans you had. How did yous spend Halloween? I spent it with my Niece and Nephew having a Harry Potter Marathon keeping warm with lots of cuppas, hot water bottle and lots of chocolate. When it came to actually going outside to trick or treat I let my sister take her children whilst I answered the door to treaters. I ran out of sweets after an hour so yes I turned the lights off and had a nice hot bath with a cuppa, face mask and candles lit. All in silence haha.  

So at the beginning of October I wrote a Bucket List of what I wanted to complete this Fall. This included:

• Blackpool Illuminations     - tick
• Try Pumpkin Spiced Latte     - tick
• Pumpkin picking     - half tick as we decided to buy pumpkins & bury in the garden
• Decorate for fall     - tick
• Burn fall candles     - tick
• Apple bobbing 
• Make smores     - tick
• Collect pinecones
• Carve pumpkins     - tick
• Jump in a pile of leaves     - tick
• Have a campfire     - tick
• Go bowling     - tick
• Make Halloween treats
• Harry Potter Marathon - ready for...     - tick
• Go Harry Potter World     - tick  (click here to here about my Harry Potter Experience) 
• Make my own chocolate/toffee apples
• River of Light in Liverpool     - tick
• Go to a Funfair    - tick
• Go to watch a Firework Display     - tick
• Go for a walk when it's sunrise & sunset     - tick 

I have actually been quite productive this Autumn. If I am completely honest, I haven't had the best mindset since the beginning of September in which I came off Social Media for a while. But that actually made worse because on Instagram I follow more Positivity, Anti-anxiety pages; therefore I secluded myself too much. Snapchat I only speak to a handful. And Facebook I hardly use. I did take myself off Whatsapp as I have many different groups and it was making me overwhelmed with the notifications from them all when I was trying to focus on myself. Even though it has helped it has also made me feel guilty because I don't know what's going on in my friends' lives, missed out on some of the times they have met up and I feel that they might think I'm being rude or silly for doing it. I haven't got it back yet as it is giving me major anxiety of the amount of unread messages I probably have. But I am going to bite the bullet...soon.