I read the Harry Potter series when my pregnancy restricted me to bedrest. There was’t much else to do except read and play World of Warcraft. And now my wee man has absolutely fallen in love with Harry. Where else were we going to take him than the Warner Bros. Harry Potter Studio Tour in London?

 

 

Getting Tickets – A Warning!

The tour shows you the real magic behind the movie series created by over 4000 people! If you’re interested in going, book MONTHS in advance. The WB Studio controls the flow of people within the studio so you may be out of luck if you just show upon the day. Plus, you have to have a valid ticket just to park at the studio. Check out more FAQs.

 

From War Machine to Magic Machine

We chose a morning tour of the Harry Potter Studios, given that we anticipated a slow crawl with road traffic to our evening destination. During WWII, the filming site was the Leavesden Aerodrome which produced fighter planes for the British Ministry of Defense. Leavesden became a production center for Rolls-Royce aircraft engines after the war, then closed in 1994.

The site was purchased for creating Harry Potter Studios and the two hangars were re-named, you guessed it, Stage J and Stage K after random letters of the alphabet. And if you don’t know that’s a joke, you don’t know who wrote Harry Potter. The airfield and landing strip became the backlot of the studio.

At the start of the tour we were greeted by hand-print molds of the young stars and Torran was given a “passport.” With it he had to find golden snitches and get embossed stamps throughout the tour.

There was so much to do in the 3.5 hours we were there, that we only managed three stamps. I don’t think we saw any of the hidden snitches!

The costumes for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them were also on display, but if you miss them, it’s just as easy to see them on the way out. There is a large corridor for travel in both directions that takes visitors to the start of the Harry Potter Studio Tour, a small cafe, coat room, auditory guide vendor, and the obligatory gift shop (which I didn’t spend any time in – twice!).

Plan on a Looooong Day

If you’re anything like me and you like to take in the sights, read the posted information, listen to the audio guide, and soak up the ambiance, you may as well write off your entire day. We were there for 3.5 hours even pushing through at a decent pace partly because it was a very stimulating environment for Torran (scads of people!) and partly to keep ahead of rush-hour(s) traffic.

I’d say about 2/3 of the tour comes before the only place within the Studio Tour where you can buy lunch. And it’s packed! There is a separate line for butter beer, which tastes much like cream soda and butterscotch, with a whip cream and butterscotch topping. The recipe is practically identical to the butterbeer at Universal Studios Resort’s World of Harry Potter.

The audio guide has little snippets of information that may make you a ringer for a winning trivia game or two. For example, in the first film, the directors had to constantly remind the kids to avoid looking into the camera, and to not giggle or talk during filming. Plus, it gives you a map of the Studios with all the sets you’ll see and the important info like the location of toilets and refreshments.

Sets, Props, Costumes, and Quidditch!

When we were there, the Warner Bros. Studios had a “Goblet of Fire” feature, including a giant tri-wizard cup lit up blue in the lobby. Sadly, we weren’t allowed to touch it to see if it would whisk us inside. There is a little magic at the start, which begins, appropriately, in a theater. But I’m not going to spoil it by sharing what it is. Go there on your birthday and tell them it’s your special day for an extra treat.

The Tour includes several of the actual sets used in filming, plus more film artefacts than you can poke a stick at! We checked the tournament cup in Hogwarts’ great hall (which was surrounded by an age line and all!!), took in the Griffendor common room, and ooh-ed over the potions class.

There’s one of two working sets of Hagrid’s hut on the tour which had been taken to Scotland by helicopter for landscape scenes. A flying hut would have been a sight to see! The one on display is the one with larger furniture used by the younger actors when they were talking to Hagrid. These scenes were repeated with smaller furniture built to suit Hagrid’s (Robbie Coltrane’s) size. When spliced together, the scenes give the impression that Hagrid is larger than life. Plus, the filmmakers used a working robotic model of full-sized Hagrid, shown on the tour. Robotic Hagrid. Scary.

One of the coolest parts, for an extra fee, is to have your family photographed or filmed using greenscreen technology. Did we cave to the tourist pressure? You bet we did! (video share pending)

Other stops on the tour include familiar faves from all the movies. Plus, if you’re afraid of spiders, there’s a shortcut through the Forbidden Forest that doesn’t expose visitors to Aragog. One of the more interesting pieces of information here was the use of an Irish setter wearing a vest of LED lights to give the right glow against the forest trees for Harry’s infamous patronus.

Plan Your Shopping in Advance

The tour happens in one direction only for the purposes of crowd control. I’d say that two-thirds of the Harry Potter Studio Tour happens before the interior cafe area, which may be important to know if you have to keep blood sugars balanced. There was one part of the layout that I particularly didn’t like: the “get it here only” gift shops.

There is a shop in the main lobby that you can peruse at any time. However, there are also area-themed shops within the tour that you can’t access at any other time. These are the “Forbbiden Forest” shop and the “Railway Shop.”

Sure, you can buy online later, but there will be shipping and/or duty charges. If you have limited funds, are indecisive, or have a 10 year old child who wants to buy EVERYTHING ON THE SHELF, this kind of prisoner-of-impulse-shopping feels pressured to me.

There are outdoor sets (the Knight Bus, No. 4 Privet Drive, the crooked Hogwarts Bridge, the Potter’s house) between J and K studios. K studio largely demonstrates the technical aspects of the film, including animatronics, planning shots with miniatures, and creature design and creation. Diagon Alley is here, too, exactly as you remember it from the film with far fewer magical folk.

The Tour culminates with a giant model of Hogwarts Castle used in filming. It was moved to the Harry Potter Studio Tour and lovingly rebuilt. I’d love to see it up close because the attention to detail is in.cred.ib.le!!!

Can’t Make A Potterhead’s Pilgrimmage? Enter My Giveaway!

Needless to say, if you are a devout fan of the books and the movies, this is a must-see place for you. Given the amount of building happening on the Studio Lot, I think they may be doing something similar for other installments of the Harry Potter and Potterworld franchises. I plan on going back to take the information I missed. The level of attention the filmmakers gave the films is remarkable, like the magical symbols on Cedric Diggory’s watch that you’d never see when watching the movie itself.

I enjoyed myself so much that I bought an extra guidebook to give away in a draw. Check out my giveaway page or head to http://bit.ly/HarryPotterWBTour to put your name in the draw goblet.

GOOD LUCK!