Only one word can describe today... Magical.

This March, Warner Brothers opened its Leavesden Studios to public tours. Located close to London, this is the giant studio where the 8 Harry Potter films were made. My friends and I booked our tickets 6 months ago, and I have been so excited to see the actual sets. As late teens and 20 year olds, my friends and I grew up with the Harry Potter movies and books, and this experience was even better than I had imagined!

This doesn't look like Hogwarts!

I saw Harry's cupboard under the stairs.

In the great hall, no big deal! It's got everything except the enchanted ceiling.

Ever wonder how they filmed the quiddich scenes?

Hagrid's Hut

The Weasley Burrow

The door of the Chamber of Secrets.  It's not computerized! It actually works!

The massive statue from the Ministry of Magic.

Inside the ministry

Umbridge's INCREDIBLY pink office

Taking a ride in the flying car.

This whole experience felt very surreal. One of the coolest things was seeing the actual costumes that the actors wore. These are the costumes from the Yule Ball in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Hopping on the Knight Bus

The Gryffindor Boy's Dormitory 

Harry's invisibility cloak. It's green inside so that the visual effects department can make it look invisible. I had never noticed all of the designs on the outside! 

Me and the staircase to Dumbledore's office

Props from the Triwizard Tournament 

Philosopher's stone from the first movie!

Dumbledore's office. The detail on these sets was insane! Every single of the books in this office is covered in leather and has a hand written label. 

Tom Riddles diary and the Basilisk tooth

Number 4 Privet Drive!

The Hogwarts Bridge

In the creature shop we got to see everything. Goblin faces, mandrakes,  Dobby, Buckbeak, werewolves, mermaids, and dementors. Some of these were incredibly lifelike models that they filmed and then computerized later.   

Diagon Alley was one of the most incredible places. The entire street was so detailed! It really felt like I was in the movie!

I almost got teary-eyed when I saw the scale model of Hogwarts. Since we'd seen it in so many pieces, it was incredible to see the whole thing. They used this model to do exterior shots or make computerized versions of Hogwarts. 

As you can see, the model was HUGE!

The last room of the tour contained a wand box for every single cast and crew member that worked on any of the 8 films. There were thousands of them and they were all mixed together to show how everyone was equally important in making these incredible movies.