Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 World Premiere

Ok this is the last post that I am copying from my other blog now, any post from here on out is completely new. This is the tale of my experience at the Deathly Hallows Part 2 World Premiere. I wasn’t one of those people that camped out for three or four days on Trafalgar Square waiting patiently, however I did camp out for one night, obviously the night before the premiere, and I can safely say that I don’t think I’ll be camping out for a premiere again. This premiere was the seventh that I had attended (and by attended I mean waiting outside of the cinema for hours upon end for the celebrities to arrive so I can catch a brief glimpse of them and if I’m real lucky, a moment’s meeting) and beforehand I only went out at early mornings to start waiting (the earliest being 3am for the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince premiere) but I guess there’s a first for everything and what better premiere to do it for than the final ever Harry Potter one. After being a fan since I first started reading the books at around age eight or nine, I proudly announce myself a manic fan; I would have probably graduated with a First if my degree was in Harry Potter. There is not a day that goes by in which I don’t reference HP somehow; because of this I figured that I had to camp out for at least on the premieres. However, everything didn’t go as swimmingly as I would have liked.

Disasters started happening a week before the event when Warner Brothers (who for some reason decided to organise the event themselves) announced that in order to wait in the pens, one must have a wristband which were to be given out by members of security on Wednesday 6th July at 10am. This had already screwed with my plans as I had booked train tickets weeks in advance & my train was not due to arrive in London until the afternoon. It was obvious to anyone that thousands of people would be attending this premiere, lots of which would be camping out. From chatting with people previously via different Facebook groups, I knew a lot of people were going up the day before, but after this last minute announcement, people were obviously going to panic and decide to head there earlier. To me it seemed pretty unfair as I was travelling up from South Wales (alright there were tons more people who had traveled a lot further, but still) and there was no way for me to travel up there earlier without wasting the money I had already spent on train tickets. I had planned to meet up with some online friends whilst there, all of whom had started worrying also as they were arriving in London in the afternoon of that day as well, but we were going to make the most of it and try our best to get a good spot.

After getting into London Paddington at around 3:10pm, I set off to Charing Cross to meet my friend Cheryl and a few of her friends and start our waiting on the Square. After scanning over the location, we decided to get in the queue for wristbands, which we got without any problems (and even managed to nab two extra bands for a couple of people who would head down later) and was let into the area.

My wristband, which I managed to keep on for a month until I cut it off just in case it broke on its own accord.

Without being told anything from security, we thought that there was nothing wrong with pitching our spots on one of the balconies as there seemed to be a load of space and there were barriers already up, indicating that the celebrities were bound to walk down the area. After checking the map via BlackBerry on the premiere website, we discovered that this was exactly right and the press were to be situated opposite. We thought we were in the with the best of luck and this would be the best spot to stand in; how wrong we were!

View the day before from the balcony; look at all the people!

After spending nearly an hour in this spot, we started to see people speaking to security then moving away from this area, so we started to wonder why the sudden movement. We thought our best bet would be to move to the opposite balcony just in case this was the better location to stand at, but things still didn’t seem to be right. Cheryl went wandering to see if she could find out any information at all and what she found out wasn’t all that much as the security seemed to be just as clueless as we were (you can tell that the organisation was very well prepared, not) but was enough to shatter whatever visions we did have when we first let into the balconies. Apparently two separate queues  had been forming to enter the balconies on the ground floor of the Square for a few hours but for some reason security  didn’t bother to tell everyone this as they were being let in and would in turn shout at people to get out when the time finally came for the queues to be moved up to the balconies. Thinking it was pointless to wait there any longer, we made our way down the steps and to join the back of the queue for the balcony that we had originally been standing on; seeing that the queue for it wasn’t that large at that point in time, we thought that maybe, just maybe our luck would change and we could possibly gain a good spot out of it. We were told that the we wouldn’t be moved to the balcony until 11am the following morning so we decided that it was now fine to settle down and start our waiting.

Everyone queuing to go up to the balcony the night before.

Even though there was at least another 24 hours to go until the premiere was well underway, this part of the waiting wasn’t too bad as it was the perfect time to chat with friends and meet new people. Most people all seemed friendly with one another because of having so much in common; considering the extent of the fandom, there was plenty to talk about. It was outstanding to see hundreds upon hundreds of Harry Potter fans gathered in one area, talking, laughing, singing and playing games and how we were all like one big, happy family. At around 7pm, Leigh and Leonie (the two girls I had got wristbands for and funnily enough didn’t really know; I had only started speaking to Leigh like two weeks before via Facebook and Leonie was her friend) and once we all got acquainted, they to sat down to join the long wait with us. Fortunately the reason why me and Leigh had started speaking was because of a reference I had made to A Very Potter Musical and so we spent a great deal of time talking StarkidPotter and eating Redvines, a good way to pass the time.

(Left to right) Leonie & Leigh munching.

As time was getting later, we thought it best to start getting cozy into our sleeping bags (and in mine, Cheryl & her friend Hayley’s case, bright orange survival bags as well) as we were obviously not going to be moved until the next morning, right? WRONG!

(Right to left) Janine, Lou, Hayley (the orange bundle) & Cheryl getting all snugly bugly.

At around 11pm, the security guards thought it was the right time to move us forward and get us into not only vertical lines, but horizontal lines as well so everyone was squashed together like sardines playing a game of Tetris when trying to sleep. One girl in front voiced our complaints to one of the guards, saying how absurd it was for us to try and sleep like this when we were comfortable in our previous positions and he practically bit her head off, saying it was all our own choices to camp out so we had to sort it out ourselves. I didn’t even see the point of us moving in the first place when it wasn’t to the balcony; they had no clue as to what they were doing so my opinion was that they wanted to look as if they were doing something useful. That didn’t work out so well and it wouldn’t have cost anything for them to have some manners either. So as you can tell, we were all in the best of moods after that little escapade and wasn’t going to have the best night’s sleep either. I think altogether I must have got about 10 minutes sleep, what with lying in an awkward position on the floor, sirens, traffic and complete drunkards who thought it was hilarious to poke fun at everyone and slag off Harry Potter; not the wisest move to make when you’re surrounded by hundreds of Harry Potter fans I’m reckoning. To pass the time, wanderings around London in pyjamas and midnight singalongs of Potter Puppet Pals’ The Mysterious Ticking Noise and Get Back to Hogwarts from A Very Potter Musical was in order.

Sardine camping.

By 4:30am it was getting lighter and we thought it pointless to try and get any sleep at this point and so decided to get up and ready for the day that lay ahead; I, like so many others, donned my costume (school uniform along with a Gryffindor robe and tie). However, the day did not start within my favour as by 5am the rain had started and was not going to get any better; what started as on and off showers turned into full blown torrential downpours by around 10am. Flashbacks of the Half Blood Prince premiere started to flood back, only at that premiere the torrential downpour started at 5pm, which unfortunately was right before the celebrities started to turn up. This premiere however was hours away from starting and I knew that if it carried on like this for the rest of the day, then I would end up a like a drowned rat suffering from pneumonia.

The flags are up & people’s macs are on!

As previously guessed we were not let up to the balcony at 11am, in fact it was more like an hour later, although this did not stop people from behind, and even from outside the queue starting to push in front, so those like myself who had been waiting longer than them were forced somewhat behind. The guards fortunately did their job to some of those who were not originally in the queue and forced them to get out, however not a lot could be done about those from behind. I was merged away from Cheryl and co but luckily still stuck to Leigh and Leonie and when we were finally let up to the balcony at long lost, we were still standing together, right in front of the press (more so for Daybreak, the HP DVD and fansites). Unfortunately for me, I started off in the third row and by the time the premiere got going was even further back again when people decided to force their way in front of me. I couldn’t believe how unlucky I was because I knew I wouldn’t be able to get further in front and me only being five foot put me at more of a disadvantage as I wouldn’t be able to see over people’s heads and would get monumentally squashed when even more people would start to fight their way in front of and over me with their arms, books, etc. Another downer on the day was that because of all the pushing and the torrential rain, Cheryl and co decided that enough was enough and home was the best way forward; they didn’t want their trip to be anymore disastrous than it already was and to be honest, I didn’t really blame them.

Press sections in front of the National Gallery.

Knowing I wouldn’t be able to get the best of views once things got started, I decided to try and keep my spirits high and look on the bright side. I started talking to a very nice girl called Carol who had traveled all the way from Brazil (along with some other girls) who had come over to London for a holiday and was very excited to be at the last ever Harry Potter premiere; we both decided to get hyper anyways, no matter that we were quite far back, and I told her to just lean over as far as she could when the cast started signing to try and get their autographs. And to make the day that bit brighter, it had finally stopped raining and the sun was beaming down on us.

(Left to right) Me & Carol at the end of the day.

We were told that by 4pm, the celebrities would start turning up and the action would really start. In preparation to working up to that time, the press started getting set up and interviewing and clips were being shown on the big screen (which thankfully I could see perfectly, so I knew if I wasn’t able to see the cast in front of me, I could still get a good view when they were being interviewed by Alex Zane and shown on the screen) to entertain everyone.

Look, it’s Stephen Mulhern interviewing; if you grew up on CITV, then you would understand why this excites me!

As you can guess though, 4pm arrived and no one had turned up yet; it wouldn’t be a proper premiere though if the stars turned up on time. The same clips and trailers were being played over and over and it was starting to get that bit annoying. Everyone was starting to get restless; we wanted celebrities and soon. By around 4:30pm our wish was granted.

Pictures on the screen to get the crowd screaming, yay Snape!

First to arrive was Rupert Grint and the fangirl inside me went into motion. I’ve been a fan of the character of Ron Weasley since I started reading the books all those years ago, he was always the funniest and the most down-to-earth-character; always my favourite. Then when turning the novels into films, I don’t think they could have picked anyone better for the role. Rupert Grint was perfect right from the beginning, not just because he was ginger but because even at an early age he had wit and talent, and it just grew throughout the whole 10 years it took to make all eight films. He was the one person I was most excited to see because even though I had caught a brief glance of him at the Half Blood Prince premiere, he was dragged away before he could reach my section so I was hoping for more of a close-up of him this time around.

My future husband…I mean, Rupert Grint on the big screen, being interviewed by Alex Zane; still can’t believe I was one of those thousands of people in the background!

After Mr Grint’s arrival, the starts just kept on turning up: Jason Isaacs (who when talking to Alex Zane, actually spoke like Lucius Malfoy, made my life), the Phelps twins, Matthew Lewis, Tom Felton, Evanna Lynch, Michael Gambon, Julie Walters and so on and so forth. The majority of the cast showed, the best of British actors and actresses all in one location, what more could one ask for in one day (well meeting them all would have been quite a treat but we can’t have everything I suppose).

Mr Jason Isaacs on the big screen.

Matthew Lewis (look at the transformation) on the big screen.

Tom Felton & girlfriend on the big screen.

Evanna Lynch on the big screen, signing.

The legend that is Julie Walters on the big screen.

A while went by before the actors were making their way to our section of the square but once they did, the exact bedlam occurred that I knew would happened; everyone was shrieking and shouting and there was no room to swing a cat the way everyone was pushing and shoving. I couldn’t move no matter how hard I tried and even standing on tip toes half the time I still couldn’t see. It does no good for your bones when you’re stuck in one position with your arms stuck out in mid-air because your trying to reach your way over tons of people to get a couple of autographs; sometimes I wish I was just that bit taller or owned a pair of stilts. Never mind, even though I was a bit gutted that I didn’t get to meet The Grint, Alan Rickman (who, may I add, was present when everyone decided to sing another round of The Mysterious Ticking Noise, how epic), Jessie Cave, Domnhall Gleeson, Jason Isaacs, Queen Rowling or the majority of the rest of the cast, I was still inches away from them and could just about see them, which especially in Grint’s and Rickman’s case was a bit better than the last effort.

Dom Gleeson in front of me.

The man with greatest voice in the universe, a.k.a Alan Rickman, across from me giving an interview.

Fortunately I didn’t leave the premiere empty handed; with the help of Leonie I got Oliver and James Phelps’ autographs (who was making a record for themselves by signing for practically everyone that they could reach, not many people would have that much patience and dedication) for the second time and by myself I got Helen McCroy’s, which was better than nothing at all.

Oliver or James Phelps signing my book…

…& James or Oliver Phelps in front of me (still can’t tell the difference between them).

Nearing the end of all the celebrities turning up, StarkidPotter’s own Darren Criss and Joe Walker finally turned up (OMG) and even though I didn’t get to meet either of them either, I was extremely happy that I got to at least see not one, but two members of the amazing theatre group; Darren Criss passed by, but not without waving to everyone, and Joe Walker took his time to sign for a few people in front of me, laughing and joking about how mad the whole event was, seemed ever so friendly.

It’s Joe Walker everyone…JOE FLAMING WALKER!

The one & only Darren Criss on the big screen.

To finish the big day off, a reel of wonderful speeches were given on the stage and shown on the big screen by some guy from Warner Bros, the three David’s, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and J.K. Rowling. The first four speeches were fine to get through and even listening to Dan Radcliffe’s was fine, but by the time it got to Emma’s and all the way through to J.K’s, I was in floods of tears; I don’t think there was a dry eye in the square. It was so emotional to hear all of them speak how it was the end of the entire series, it was and still is hard for it to sink in, and to see all of them crying was enough to set anyone off.

The Golden Trio during the speeches on the big screen.

David Heyman, J.K. Rowling, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson & Daniel Radcliffe on the big screen during the speeches.

After the emotional ride was over, I said my goodbyes to all the lovely people I met over the course of the 2 days and set off on my way back to London Paddington to get home in time for my graduation the following day.

Me & Leigh at the end of the day.

So even though the event didn’t go the way I planned and the organisation for the whole thing was completely shocking, I don’t regret going in the slightest because it was a memorable part of film/entertainment/Harry Potter history and I bore witness to it!

James Phelps’ autograph.

Oliver Phelps’ autograph.

 

Helen McCroy's autograph.

---