Going to the Warner Studio tour was my compromise with Adam. He got to go to Greenwich, I got to go to the Harry Potter tour. Fair deal, no? He was not at all thrilled at the thought of spending half a day looking at Harry Potter stuff. But he's a good husband and he agreed to go.
We took the train from Euston Station to Watford Junction way up in northern London. Since the train stopped a lot, it took 40 minutes! From there, we took the 10 minute Harry Potter bus to the actual studios for The Warner Brothers Studio Tour - The Making of Harry Potter.
All of the Harry Potter films were filmed at this studio in Leavesden. This year, they opened it up to the public for tours. As a big Harry Potter fan, I thought it was fabulous. Adam said it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. But he was quick to find a bench to sit on and wait for me whenever he could.
While waiting to go in, Harry's "room" with the Dursley's is right there.
The first part of the tour was all the sets. It began with a short intro film. At it's conclusion, the screen went up and revealed a set of doors. Behind these doors was Hogwarts Great Hall. We were allowed to walk around in the Great Hall for about ten minutes before we had to move on to make room for the next group.
The rest of the tour was self-guided. It was a large area full of different sets and props.
There was the ice sculpture from the Yule Ball,
different wigs from the cast,
Harry's shared room at Hogwarts in the Gryffindor boy's tower,
a wheel of wands,
Dumbledore's Office,
with the sleeping portraits,
the kitchen at The Burrow,
the Black Family tapestry (way cool!),
and a whole area on the Ministry of Magic including Umbridge's Office.
In the middle was an outdoor area with some more sets and a vendor. There we purchased Butterbeer! It was just like the kind at Universal, but in smaller glasses. Even Adam had one! Here we are in front of the Riddle grave.
Also located outside was the exterior of the house on Privet Drive,
the Knight Bus,
and the walkway bridge at Hogwarts.
The last part of the tour was special effects. Here they had some of the magical creatures from the movies like the masks for the Gringott's elves.
My favorite part of the whole studio tour was strolling down Diagon Alley and looking into the different shop windows.
The last thing to see before the gift shop was the giant model of Hogwarts that they used for filming. I was amazed at how detailed it was.
We started our tour of the studios around 10:15 and were there until about 1. Then we took the shuttle and then train back to London.
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| This photo about sums up how Adam felt about the Studio Tour! |
This time the train only took 20 minutes because it was non-stop. So the return trip was much quick. We took the 12:25 shuttle bus to the rail station and were back to our hotel via tube by 1:15! I was glad we went right when it opened at 10, because it wasn't too crazy busy yet. They have time entry, but the crowds still can be huge.
I thought it was well worth the visit and definitely a good idea for any Harry Potter fan! Adam was a good sport and only complained that it was "such a dorkfest" a few times.
It's a bit of a journey from London, but by going right away in the morning we didn't chew up our entire day and still had time for some afternoon and evening activities (which will be blogged about next time).
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