Harry Potter Studio Tour

As some of you may know, I am a BIG fan of all things Harry Potter, I think I may have read each book at least 5 times.  Safe to say I was very excited to find out there was somewhere I could go for full on Potter geek-fest when we came back to England.

It’s taken nearly 18 months but I finally made it to the Harry Potter Studio Tour last weekend. Not only that but my best friend works there so I got the inside scoop and had a personal tour guide for the whole tour (usually about £80)! After arriving it was immediately obvious just how the big the place was, this would keep me entertained for hours!

I wasn’t disappointed; there are so many intricate details across the whole set you just don’t see in the films. For example, there are about 200 jars in Snape’s classroom and each one has a unique hand written label on it. 

Poi has warned me not to go into too much detail in this post, I could go on for hours once I start talking about Harry Potter so I have just chosen a few of my highlights from the tour:

Great hall

If I had to pick something from the whole tour – this would be my favourite place. It is just as you imagine it and full of props including Harry’s tiny outfit from the first film. To make it extra festive they have eight Christmas trees lining the hall in December – I just missed out on this!

The best thing about the great hall for me was getting to open the doors, just like the actors did, for everyone on the tour (thanks to my friend).

Common room

I think if Hogwarts were real this would be my hang out, there are loads of old mismatched chairs and a huge fire. You can see the spiral staircase that leads to both dormitories and the boys one even connects if needed! Also on display here are some costumes that Harry, Ron and Hermione wore along with the most famous cloak of all time.

I never noticed this before but Harry, Ron and Hermione are always dressed in the same coloured clothes. Harry is always dressed in blue, Ron in earth colours (orange and green) and Hermione in pink or purple. I was told this was done to help fans subconsciously recognise them on screen at all times.

Dumbledore’s office

I think this could be one of the biggest sets, it’s on three levels all of which are structurally sound, unfortunately guests aren’t allowed to walk on any of the levels to test this out though.  There is a secret little back office that was built for the films but never used, however it’s possible to go round the back of the set and have a little peak into his secret den.

Different members of the crew sat for the portraits that line the walls in his office. I have been told they are all sleeping because if they were awake they would have to be moving and therefore be just a green screen.

Privet drive / Diagon Alley

There are so many memorable sets from the film but I just had to have my picture taken outside 4 privet drive! In the first film they shot these scenes on location but got complaints about the amount of owls. So as you might expect with budget not really being an issue they built their own for the other films.

Diagon Alley changed in every film slightly – the one you walk down on the tour is from the half-blood prince. I really like the Weasley’s shop which apparently took over 60 hours to create – it has loads of props inside too! It was pretty cool walking down the alley and if you stay there long enough if goes from day to night time.

Animatronics

In this section you can learn how they made all the magical creatures come to life. Do you know how they made Hagrid so tall? Here they let you into the secret! They also show you how they created the dragons and of course Buck Beak. There is so many cool things to spot in this section – make sure you find Luna’s Gryffindor lion hat and the little book of monsters!

There are rumours that platform 9 and 3/4 might be arriving in 2014 – I think I will definitely be going back if that is the case!

Details:

Price for an adult ticket is: £29 and pre-booking on their website is essential.

To get there from central London you can travel to Watford Junction and then catch a bus (£2 return). There is also a large car park for those driving.

The average tour takes around 3 hours but if you’re as obsessed with all thing Harry Potter as me then give yourself a little extra time.

Are you a Harry Potter fan and would like to go on the tour or like Poi does it look like the worse way to spend a day possible?