Castles, Cake, and Open Road

If you can't tell from these blog posts, you could legit spend five hours in the studio. Gringotts was grand and beautiful, complete with goblin bankers overseeing the visitors (we won't talk about how problematic it is that JK Rowling made the bankers hook-nosed goblins).           I could hardly pick Elowen up for the photo below, but as you can see from our expressions, we were both pleased.         And this part below was AMAZING--I wish I could post videos so you could see. Basically, it's a video screen behind the smoking rubble of Gringotts, and a dragon flies in and breathes fire. But it looks SO real. In fact, it looked so real that Elowen panicked and ran away (which was hilarious).   From Gringotts, you head to Diagon Alley! Again, very like the one in Universal Studios (which makes total sense, just noting it).  And finally, the ...

Finally the gates opened, and our group entered the Forbidden Forest! It was small but spooky, with fog rolling across the path and eerie sounds. Since it was dark, I didn't get many great pics--but Buckbeak and Voldemort's robes were a highlight.           At the back of the forest were Aragog and some of his children--he occasionally pops up out of his web. Also, lots of people who were recording got a guest appearance from Elowen yelling "SPIDER! SPIDER!" in excitement.     From the Forbidden Forest you walk through King's Cross and can explore the Hogwart's Express. At this point, Elowen was hungry and letting us know she was NOT happy...so there aren't many pictures other than the fun photo ops from the train. Despite her hanger, Elowen proved herself a natural actress pretending to be afraid of the Dementor.   After King's Cross and before you finish the tour, Warner ...