Harry Potter Studio Tour

Where to even start with the Harry Potter Studio Tour? I guess where it all began: on Privet Drive

The Warner Bros studio where they shot much of the Harry Potter film franchise has become a theme park of sorts for the hardcore potterhead

It features sets like the Potter's Cottage in Godric's Hollow and the Dursley's home on Privet Drive (above)

The Potions Classroom and Professor Snape's costume

Cool set pieces like the Griffin door (badum tss) to Dumbledore's office 

And Dumbledore's office itself, along with the headmaster's costume

Hogwarts Bridge

Where we snapped some selfies

And the giant chess pieces from the Sorcerer's Stone

Sara befriended a Thestral

And we fended off Dragons and Arachnids of immense size

We entered the Chamber of Secrets

And checked ourselves out in the Mirror of Erised

Got some Butterbeer

And took a trip down Diagon Alley

The Sale of Unicorn Blood is Forbidden

DO NOT ASK

Sara really wants one of these pygmy puffs because let's face it, they're just neon pink tribbles

And paid a visit to Olivanders

Saw the case where they kept Moody for an entire school year

And the Vanishing Cabinet

Said hi to Buckbeak and Phawkes

And called the Knight Bus for a ride

The props and costumes and monsters on exhibit were AMAZING

Including some of the darker themes from the later movies

It was like reliving my childhood, and the best was yet to come. 

The final room in the tour contains a scale model of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Walking into that last room and seeing it was a seriously emotional experience

So much of my childhood and teendom was spent reading the books, watching the movies, and otherwise immersed in Harry's world that I always felt like Hogwarts was my school too.

To see it, so big (it takes up an entire movie-theater sized room) and so real was a dream come true

I'm not ashamed to admit I was moved to tears

Every detail was painstakingly hand-made, from six layers of paint to make the individual bricks unique to the love and care put into the scale model of Hogwarts Bridge

Its size and complexity was mind boggling

The windows of the Great Hall light up with tiny LED candles inside

True fans are able to locate The Clock Tower, Dumbledore's office, and the Divination Tower without a map

It was perfect from every angle. The wide road at the front bottom is where the upperclassmen are brought to the Castle by Thestral carriage. Talk about attention to detail!

The lights would cycle through daylight to an intense blue night time lighting

The soundtrack played in the background as awed and reverent fans milled about, whispering to one another in wonder

It was perfect from every angle, truly amazing experience.