Harry Potter Studio Tour

During our last weekend in London, our friends Sarah and Jackie came from the U.S. to visit! They both wanted to go see the Harry Potter Studios while they were in England, and being Harry Potter fans ourselves we decided to go too! Although the tickets were a little pricey, it was definitely worth it!  Before we headed to the studios though, we stopped at Kings Cross Station to take pictures at Platform 9 3/4. In the movies, Harry and his friends have to run through this wall to get onto the platform to catch their train to Hogwarts. Going here first made it feel like we were going to Hogwarts too!

The Warner Brothers Studios, where a lot of the movie scenes were filmed, is located about 40 minutes north of London, and after the pretty short train and bus ride, we were there! 

We started the tour with a guide that talked a little bit about what we were going to see, but after we went into the Hogwarts Dining Hall, we were left to explore the rest of the studios on our own.

Our first stop, the dining hall, had different character's costumes around the perimeter. It was really cool to see them because I recognized most of the outfits! The next section we went into had more costumes but had props and full sets as well.

We saw Harry Potter's dorm room, Dumbledore's office, and even Hagrid's hut! They also displayed many well-known props such as the philosopher's stone, the golden snitch, and many character's wands! There were props from every single one of the Harry Potter movies. 

My favorite part about the Harry Potter studios was the interactive sections. In one area, you could ride a broom and while you were riding, you could see yourself flying over different areas on a screen! Of course it was done digitally through a green screen but it was really cool to see yourself "flying" on a broom over mountains, oceans, and buildings. There was also a section where one of the studio workers taught different wand techniques. My friends and I all got to choose which character's wand we wanted to use and then learned about four different ways to use the wand. After getting a picture of us in an awesome wand pose, we moved on to the outdoor section of the tour.

Since it was bitterly cold that day we were a little weary about the outdoor section, but it had all of the props and sets that were too big to fit inside the building so it was a must-see! Also outside was where you had to go to purchase butterbeer!!! We all got a glass of cold butterbeer. It tastes kind of like cream soda except it has a really distinct butterscotch taste and a layer of creamy butterscotch foam on the top. It was so delicious. 

As we were drinking our butterbeers we stopped by Harry's childhood home on Privet Drive, saw the tombstone of "the one who shall not be named", the purple bus, a few of the bridges displayed throughout the movies, and the Weasley's flying car. The extremely icy temperatures combined with holding a cold butterbeer made my hands completely numb until they hurt. So we quickly took a million photos and went inside to continue looking through the rest of the studio.

The next section held a lot of the characters that were produced such as Dobby, Hagrid's head and body, the Phoenix, and the Monster Book of Monsters. Some of the creatures were interactive and you could make them move. The mechanics of the creatures were impressive and they really came to life in their movements.

We then went on Diagon Alley where we saw all of the shops Harry and Hagrid went to when they were buying school supplies for Harry's first year at Hogwarts. We saw Olivander's Wand Shop, Gringotts Bank, and a ton of other stores. 

Following that was a large room with a replica model of all of Hogwarts. It must have taken years to construct it and the details were impeccable. Next, was a room filled with sketches and paintings of different characters, scenes from the movies, and even some ideas for characters and scenes that didn't make their way into the movies. 

The tour ended in a room filled with wand boxes that had every single actor, producer, director, you name it, who worked on any of the Harry Potter Films. It was fun to try to find the most familiar names such as Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson. 

Our final stop was of course the gift shop! We got a few postcards and played with a lot of the toy props. They let you take as much time as you want going through the studio and that day we happened to be the last ones to finish. While we were checking out though, the cashier said that the record for the longest time stayed was 8 hours! We thought we took a long time being there 3 hours! We have nothing on that person. We all had a really great time at the studios and if you're in London and a Harry Potter fan it's a definite must-see!