IU student’s video of his Harry Potter studio tour in London is pure magic
Like you wouldn’t cry if you got to stand in the Great Hall
IU junior Adam Kiefer is abroad studying photojournalism in Berlin this semester through the Council on International Educational Exchange. For Adam, being in Europe also meant making his die-hard Harry Potter fanboy dreams come true with a visit to London to experience the splendor of the Warner Brothers Studios Harry Potter tour.
He filmed the experience, complete with his uninhibited reactions of joyful squeals and tears.
As the generation that grew up on J. K. Rowling, I think many of us can vicariously feel the magic Adam documented on his tour. But don’t get me wrong, he is positively one of the biggest fans out there.
Emotionally and physically exhausted from the events of his visit, Adam shared a little more his time in London and the Harry Potter studio exhibit.
Why was WB Studios a touring destination for your trip to the UK?
Harry Potter has always been a huge part of my life. Ever since I was about five years old, my dad started reading the Harry Potter books to my brother and me. He used to be an actor, so he would give each character a special voice while reading, and we loved listening to every word. I grew up experiencing the magical story with my family, which is what made it so special for me.
My love for Harry Potter also grew into a love for England, and thus sparked my desire to one day go to London. This past weekend, when I finally went to London, I knew that going to the Warner Brother’s “The Making of Harry Potter” studio tour had to be one of the things I did while I was in the city I had dreamed so long about. Being the huge fan that I am, how I could I not visit the place where the magical story was brought to the big screen?
Having seen all the Harry Potter wonderfulness at WB Studios, how are you feeling?
I am overwhelmingly grateful to have had the opportunity to go on the WB Studios tour. It was more magical than I could have even imagined. When I first started to take a video in the Great Hall — one of the first stops on the tour — and I looked down and saw myself on the screen of my phone with the set of Harry Potter surrounding me I was so moved by the fact that I was there and that one of my so tenderly held dreams had finally come true that I just stared to cry right then and there.
It was such a truly wonderful and gratifying experience. Not to mention the fact that the tour is mind-boggling amazing and overwhelmingly comprehensive! There wasn’t a thing I felt they should have changed or that was lacking in the tour after walking through it gasping with wide eyes for three hours. It really was just simply phenomenal.