Potter Mania – Warner Bros. Studio Tour, London

Would you like to climb aboard the Hogwarts Express? Walk through the Diagon Alley, maybe stop at Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes? Visit Godric’s Hollow? Try a Butterbeer maybe? You can go crazy doing all these and more at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour – The Making of Harry Potter, in London.

A Little History

Harry Potter is a phenomenon that has left few people untouched. The story of an orphaned boy who discovered he was wizard – a very famous one – took the literary world by storm in 1997. Soon, it pulled millions of readers – be it children or adult – under its spell. The book series – seven in number – were made into a movie franchise – consisting of 8 movies – which became equally big (if not bigger) than the books.

The films were almost exclusively shot in the Leavesden Aerodrome (converted into studios) on the outskirts of London. Warner Brothers opened up the studios for public view to showcase the enormous talent and hard work that went into the making of one of the biggest film series in history.

Every Potterhead has, at some point or another, wished that they were a witch or wizard. They kept hoping an owl would one day bring them a letter informing them that they could attend Hogwarts from September 1. They dearly wanted to try leaning against the ticket barrier between platforms 9 and 10 (at whatever train station) and see if anything happened – maybe they’d fall through and come face to face with the Hogwarts express? Each one of you have tried, haven’t you?

The “Making of Harry Potter” Studio Tour will give you a chance to do all of the above and more, much much more. So dive into the Pottermania along with me as I take my blog to the next level with Blogchatter‘s My Friend Alexa.

Making my way to Leavesden

How I got there

The closest station to the Studio Tour is Watford Junction. I took the train from London Euston which is a 20 minute journey. At the Watford station there are shuttle buses available leaving for the Studios, which depart every 30 minutes. This leg of the trip took 15 minutes. The last return bus is when the Tour closes at 10PM.

Tip: The bus ticket costs £3 but a Tour entry ticket/booking confirmation is needed to avail this service. Entry tickets cost me £41 each; current price is £47 + £9 for a digital guide and paperback souvenir.

Book entry tickets on their website (here) and convert to actual tickets at the Studios. Train tickets can be booked via trainline.

Tip: There are other indirect trains to Watford as well but they will take longer.You can also drive – directions are provided on their website. Bus Transfers are also available from Central London (prominent stations) in partnership with Golden Tours. Learn more here.

Magical Beginnings

The Great Hall

With nerves pinging with excitement, I entered the premises and was shepherded towards the start point of the tour. Rows of chairs sat facing a wall in front of which stood our guide. She explained something about the history of the studios which had been the home of these actors for more than a decade. As she finished her welcome, the wall behind her magically faded away to reveal the unmistakable doors to the Great Hall of Hogwarts! We all gasped. It was a wonderful beginning to what already promised to be a blast. Alohomora!

The Great Hall was occupied with the four house tables all laid out with cutlery (no, unfortunately they did not magically fill with food). Behind each table stood a shield to denote the house it belonged to. At the end of the huge room stood the top table with the teachers standing in front (life-sized mannequins) with Dumbledore leading with his speech. The walls were adorned with the Hogwarts crest while from the ceiling hung Hagrid’s carved pumpkins. The sheer amazing-ness of the Great Hall set the tone for the rest of the tour.

Tip: It is not a guided tour, you are allowed to roam around freely as you wish. You can however, book an audio guide as I mentioned above.

Rooms

Dormitory, Classes, Burrow

From the Great Hall, I moved into the next part of the tour which was basically the whole of Hogwarts. The starting aisle displays pictures and quotes from the movies, some videos of the actors’ experiences etc. which opens up to this huge room broken into sections / parts. This is where I wished I had a thousand eyes to look in every direction possible at everything at once. Wherever I looked, there was something unmissable.

There was the Announcements wall with framed notices beside which was the moving staircase. Then I looked up at the huge Hogwarts Clock beside which stood the stone griffin which guards Dumbledore’s office. One can also see the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets with the snake puzzle thingy. Press a button and the snake slides to open/close the door! There was also the Mirror of Erised. What do you think you’ll see in it? I’m keeping mine a secret.

Further ahead was the Gryffindors’ dormitory with 5 beds made up. It was fun identifying which was whose. Then there was the Gryffindor common room. Next came the classes – especially the Potions Class with self-stirring cauldrons. I then darted to the next room – Dumbledore’s office which stood complete with the books, portraits, the memory cabinets and the Pensieve. There was also Hagrid’s hut with pots and kettles hanging from the ceiling.

I also found a scene from the Burrow living room. To magically make things happen like they do at The Burrow, I press a button and the iron automatically presses clothes and the knife chops the carrots automatically! Heee!! Then there was the Ministry of Magic (with green fireplaces) and Umbridge’s room (with pink belongings).

Before leaving this room, I took wand classes from an actual human teacher – swish and flick etc. movements and words! It was a fun 10 minutes.

Props

Costumes and Equipment

Scattered throughout this huge room were glass cases and shelves of props – the Time Turner, the Remembrall, the Golden egg from the 2^nd task of Triwizard Tournament and what have you! Looking at these brought to mind the stories attached to them. On the side stood the box of Quidditch balls – there was Harry’s favorite the winged snitch! There were handwritten letters, the Marauder’s Map, school books, Daily Prophet papers and innumerable other small and big things. The sheer scale of work involved can be understood when you look at these props which were used to make the books come to life on the silver screen.

Assisting the props were the brilliant costumes. The room was interspersed with mannequins wearing Harry, Ron and Hermione’s costumes – be it their school robes, their Yule Ball fancy clothes or their Gryffindor colours.

Lastly, you can also view the Knight Bus, sit atop Hagrid’s bike or inside the flying Ford Anglia.

Animals and Creatures

Goblins, Dobby, Fawkes

The magical world includes a number of creatures and animals which were an indispensable part of the stories. Amazing special effects, prosthetics, make up and sheer talent that went into creating the incredible movies. From Dobby to Goblins to Lord Voldemort, all prosthetics, model animals were preserved for visual treat of viewers.

Places

Godric’s Hollow, Diagon Alley, Enchanted Forest

Enchanted Forest came at the very end of the huge room. The setup is so real and life like that I literally felt scared to enter and when Aragog descended from the ceiling suddenly I actually shrieked and ran. Anyway, I moved on eventually to bow before Buckbeak who bowed back at me!!

The penultimate part of the Studio Tour included famous places of the Harry Potter saga. You can pay tribute to Lily and James at the Potters’ residence in Godric’s Hollow or jump and catch letters at No. 4 Privet Drive.

But my favorite place was Diagon Alley. The narrow crooked road with all kinds of magical shops on both sides was breathtaking. It was as if it had come alive directly from the pages of the book. Gringotts, Ollivanders, and Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes! I went mad with excitement and joy, it was so brilliant.

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Hogwarts Express

9 ¾ and Hogwarts Express

The absolute showstopper of this Studio Tour is Platform 9 ¾ and the Hogwarts Express. The shining scarlet train was brilliant to look at. I clicked what seemed like a thousand photos and posed with it as well. You can climb aboard it and walk down the passage to peer into the compartments, which has some props set up to awaken your imagination. At the very end is the food trolley filled with the students’ favorite sweets.

The Castle

Model, drawings

The last part of the Studio Tour is Hogwarts itself. These set of rooms are dedicated to the castle because an unimaginable amount of work went into making the castle what it was. Drawings, manuscripts with calculations, small scale model parts and a HUGE scale model of the castle and its grounds. This part of the tour will blow your mind away. You have to see it to believe it!

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Shops

Wands, clothes, Butterbeer

Before you leave, don’t forget to do some shopping for mementoes and take-aways. There are 3 shops in the tour. Enchanted Forest shop has forest themed souvenirs; Studio Shop has wands, confectionary, clothes etc.; Railway Shop has train related gifts and clothes, sweets, house themed souvenirs. I bought a Hogwarts scarf, a Gryffindor notebook and a Slytherin ball-pen. I was so pleased with my loot. You can also check out their online shop.

Tip: Do try the Butterbeer, its supposed to be yummy; I unfortunately ran out of time to do that. It’s my one small regret.

Felix Felicis

The tour ends at the life-size model of the castle but what you saw will stay with you forever, it will keep you dreaming and star struck for ages to come. What I have mentioned here is only a part of what there actually is to see and imbibe in the tour. The 4 hours spent there seemed to fly by like that. It was like a little dose of Felix which kept me happy for a long time after I left the tour with a smile on my face.

Tip: I would suggest you consider to be there for at least 6 hours so you enjoy each and every tiny detail there is.