A review and tips for visiting The Warner Bros. Studio Tour - The Making of Harry Potter, by the biggest Harry Potter fan in our family - our eldest teenager.
I’m a big Harry Potter fan, so for my birthday I asked for tickets to The Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour. We first visited over 3 years ago but since then they’ve added The Forbidden Forest and the Hogwarts Express, so I was keen to go again. Mum booked tickets for January 2018 and it just so happened that because it was near Christmas, the Hogwarts in the Snow exhibits were showing.
Because we are a 3 hour drive away, we had to stay overnight in a hotel and visit at a weekend or during the school holidays. Mum booked the tickets in October but the first available date for us was in January. So you might need to book your tickets well in advance if you want to visit on a specific date.
We had evening tickets booked so the lines weren’t as long as the last time we visited, which was during the day. We arrived 30 minutes early, got through bag check and made our way in to the lobby, where we admired the huge Christmas tree and browsed in the shop.
Tip: You can also pick up a passport to stamp at various places throughout the tour. This is ideal for young children as it’s good entertainment and helps stop them getting too bored.
When it was time to line up, we joined the queue which takes you past Harry’s first bedroom - the cupboard under the stairs.
It takes quite a long time to get to the first area of the tour, which is The Great Hall, because you go through 2 pre-shows, the first one being about the backstory of the franchise, the second one you sit in a cinema style room as you’re told about the tour itself.
Tip: If you want to be one of the first people in to The Great Hall, sit at the front of the cinema room. However, if you want a picture opportunity in front of the doors when you’re in The Great Hall sit towards the back so it’s less crowded.
The Great Hall looks amazing, especially at Christmas time when it’s decorated with Christmas ornaments, Christmas trees, an ice sculpture and the long tables are set for a Christmas feast. There’s also a fun special effect:
Tip: You have a time limit in The Great Hall because it has to be empty for the next group of Harry Potter fans, so you are ushered out. You can come back once the doors open again.
The next area is a massive room full of:
Costumes - including the Yule Ball Costumes and Mrs Weasley's knitted jumpers for Harry and Ron (because it was Christmas), Quidditch kits, Harry's Invisibility Cloak and many Professor’s outfits.
Sets - such as the Gryffindor dorm and the boy’s bedroom (both decorated for Christmas), Dumbeldore’s office, The Burrow kitchen, Snape’s potions classroom and Hagrids Hut.
Props - wands, broomsticks, the horcruxes, Hagrids bike, furniture and books.
Special effects - moving objects in the burrow kitchen, the whomping willow hitting the Weasley's car, plus some of the props set against a green screen so you can see how it all works.
There’s so much to see, the list goes on and on, so plan to spend quite a long time in this area.
You can even have your picture taken on a broomstick against a green screen or have a short video taken of you riding one.
The Forbidden Forest is an exciting new touch. The fog, Buckbeak and the spider special effects are all really well done.
Tip: If you’re afraid of spiders or have young children, there’s a path which cuts off the spider special effects area.
You then proceed to the breathtaking replica of Platform 9 ¾ where the Hogwarts Express is.
You can queue up to board the train. As you walk through the train, the compartments are set up to replicate a scene from each of the films.
Opposite the train, there’s a shop and a great photo opportunity where you can pretend to be pushing a trolley and trunk through the wall onto the platform.
Tip: Make sure you don’t miss the room at the end of the platform where the costumes from the final scene of The Deathly Hallows Part 2 are displayed.
After Platform 9 ¾ you come out into a canteen where you can buy Butterbeer. You can pay extra for a souvenir tankard and there are taps where you can wash it out when you’ve finished your drink. You can also purchase Butterbeer ice-cream.
We tried both and I preferred the Butterbeer drink, but it's not as good as the frozen Butterbeer you get from Universal Studios in Florida.
There is then an outdoor area where you can walk across a section of the Hogwarts bridge, take a look inside The Night Bus and walk through the downstairs of Number 4 Privet Drive. Hagrid’s motorbike side-car and some of the wizard chess pieces from The Philosopher’s Stone are also here.
Privet Drive is one of my favourite exhibits. It's now even better because you can go inside and see the falling letters in the living room.
You can also see inside the Night Bus now, which I don't remember you being able to do before.
You then proceed back inside where there are displays of models, masks and sketches. Here you can find Dobby, Hagrid’s giant head and various other electronic displays.
This then leads to Diagon Alley which has various shops including Weasley’s Wizard Wheezers and Ollivanders. Diagon Alley is smaller than I expected, it looks much bigger in the films but is fun to walk down.
Check out the costume and scale models in the next area as you walk up the slope towards the stunning miniature Hogwarts structure and grounds. Here you can watch how the model was used to create various scenes of the films.
The last room is full of wand boxes. Each box has the name of a person involved in the films.
Tip: if you’re trying to find a certain person, ask the member of staff who is in the room and they will point it out to you.
You then come out in the back of the souvenir shop, where you can buy a variety of merchandise including, wands, t-shirts, books, sweets, mugs and jewellery.
If you want to buy something, make sure you bring plenty of spending money as a lot of the souvenirs are quite pricey.
I had a fantastic time visiting the Warner Bros. Studios tour. It was great seeing all the new areas, as well as revisiting the ones that were there last time we went. Visiting during the Hogwarts In The Snow event made it even more special and I highly recommend anyone who is a Harry Potter fan to visit.
Such a great post!!!! This has been on my list since Wills and Kate visited, but we still haven’t made it out there – we are definitely going on our next trip!! xx
Thank you. It’s a fabulous place to visit. I hope you get to go soon. x
We’re going in February and this blog gave us so many great tips
thank you so much
Glad it helped. We hope you have a fabulous time and can’t wait to watch your Vlog about the experience.