Wizards, Wands and Wind!

Let's go to Harry Potter World!!! Sequoia, Becky, Abbi and I had tickets for a 1200 entry and couldn't wait. The girls had been there before but that was a few years ago so we were all excited to see what they have there now.

Loved that the girls had this opportunity to have some fun together:

           (Abbi, Becky and Sequoia)

We were up fairly early but realised that we didn't have to leave until a bit later in order to be there in time, so that gave me a much-needed opportunity to catch up on my blog.

The drive over was pretty uneventful. I was becoming quite adept at navigating English roads by this time!

And we were here!!!!

There was a bit of lining up before we could go in, but some yummy coffees relieved the boredom and distracted us from the huge group of excited school children in the line before us.

The entry hall:

Becky comparing room sizes:

After a little show about how this studio lot is where they actually made the films and how it was like a big family on set, we found ourselves awaiting entry into the Great Hall:

It was quite magical walking in for the first time...quite how I imagine young Harry Potter would have felt on his very first day at Hogwarts:

There were lots of people in front of us, so we seemed to failed in getting a picture of the length of the hall. There were lots of interesting bits to explore however, even if the headless/faceless costume dummies were more than a little creepy.

Exam time!

Me at one of the tables in the great hall:

Then we were able to wander through all things HP:

 

Harry's space in the Gryffindor dorm room:

What was the password again?

Gryffindor Common Room:

Different wands:

Straight to the Headmaster's Office for you! ...

Potions, anyone?

Weasley's kitchen:

Next stop, Diagon Alley:

Truly foul:

All aboard!:

Time for a quick refreshment stop. I must say Butterbeer is absolutely delicious! The butterscotch cream is scrumptious!

Anyone for the knight bus????

Yep, these aren't creepy:

Huge model of Hogwarts:

Wands, wands and more wands:

Of course, there were lots more exhibits and areas where they broke down all stages and design and production. But I don't want to ruin in all for you...

After all our fun, we stopped for a delicious traditional English roast lunch at Toby Carvery:

Our journey back to Peterborough was just as thrilling as anything HP could have thrown at us...

It started raining, quite significantly, and although the KA had only just had the required annual roadworthy inspection, the windscreen wiper must have picked up some crazy magic in the Harry Potter car park. It developed a complete mind of its own and as well as not doing its one job (to wipe the water falling on the driver's side windshield), it at regular intervals lost all conceivable hope and would fling itself off the side of the windshield altogether. It was rather hilarious, but made the journey back ever so long and tedious. We pulled over at times when it was getting too dangerous to travel in the rain, but otherwise we limped back along back roads, nanna-driving at its best!

When we did get home, I took a quick wander across the road to see Lois. Even though it isn't Christmas, it was definitely cold and wet enough to share a yummy bottle of warmed mulled spiced wine and share some great conversation. A lovely catch up.