"Merlin's beard! Harry? Harry Potter?"
There is one thing our family never tire of...... Harry Potter. Both myself and my husband became engrossed in the books, excitedly waiting for the next instalments, I remember being pregnant with my second daughter in 2007 and being totally devouring The Deathly Hallows - I literally couldn't put it down. We watched every film at the cinema and with ourselves being such big fans the kids have been brought up to be huge Potter fans too.
We first visited the Warner Brothers Studio Tour back in 2014 as a joint birthday present - we loved it so much that we went again in 2017 for our daughter's birthday. So, the excitement of being invited to a special Family Bloggers Event on Friday evening was pretty off the scale.
We headed off to discover some behind-the-scenes secrets of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, an exhibition which runs through until September 23, 2018.
I never like to spoil the excitement for others who might be planning a trip - so I won't go into too much detail but all I can say is from the moment you arrive you will be spellbound.
Passports in hand we were ready to enter.
The thrill of walking into The Great Hall is just as breathtaking as ever, this time The Goblet of Fire is back in the hall for the first time since 2010. We got a live demonstration showing how the Triwizard Champions’ parchments were spat from the Goblet, you even get to keep a piece of parchment as a memento.
Once you are out of the Great Hall you are free to roam as you please. there’s so much to see including sets like the Gryffindor common room, the potions room and Dumbledore's office - to amazing props and costumes. As part of the Goblet of Fire theme the amazing taps from the Prefect's Bathroom, where Harry went to mull over how to open the golden egg, are on show for the first time complete with multi-coloured running water.
If you fancy flying on a broomstick you can have a go in the green screen area and buy a photograph afterwards.
Another new feature here is Tom Riddle's grave.
Heading through the gates of the Forbidden Forest for the first time was pretty cool - huge trees, fungi, oh - and of course an animatronic Buckbeak. You can control some special effects in here like lightning and you'll also see Aragog the spider.
Platform 9¾ is another absolute treat - you can step aboard the Hogwarts Express and have a look inside the carriages, push a trolley through the wall and also have a turn on the greenscreen again this time in a carriage!
From here we took a break at the Backlot Cafe, here you can pick up hot food such as burgers, hot dogs and pasta, drinks and of course Butterbeer and Butterbeer ice cream. Yes, it tastes good - a cream soda/butterscoth hybrid with a frothy top.
Outdoors you will see the Knight Bus, Privet Drive, Godrics Hollow, The Hogwarts Bridge, The Ford Anglia and Hagrid's motorcycle and side car.
The next stop is the props department, there are mandrakes, giant's heads, the Monster Book of Monsters, thestrals and you can even make Dobby move.
Diagon Alley is still one of my favourite areas - I love all the details of the shop fronts.
This will lead you to the art department where you'll see amazing technical drawings, paintings and scale models before reach the pièce de résistance - a full model of Hogwarts - wowzers!
Remember kids (and adults) stamp your passport on the way around.
The last room is the wand room - walls and walls of wands in boxes - floor to ceiling.
You'll end the tour in the huge gift shop - a place of dreams for Potterheads. You can pick up anything from broomsticks, plush owls, wands and clothing to Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Botts Beans and even this awesome talking shrunken head.... well it had to be done.
We left on a high - it was an absolute pleasure to visit the Goblet of Fire exhibition we have souvenirs and wonderful memories. Thank you J.K. Rowling for creating this magical world and to Warner Brothers for giving us the opportunity to visit.
A big thank you to my brother who came with us - he took the majority of these photographs (Anarchy Photography).
Mischief Managed.
*We were invited along to a special family bloggers event, we are genuine fans and all opinions are entirely our own*