One of the reasons we didn’t have much extra time to explore London was because we planned on taking a day trip outside the heart of the city.
When I was planning our time in the UK, various people told me that if we were going to be in London, we needed to make sure to head out to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour in Leavesden. It’s a bit of a trek, so I purposefully scheduled tickets for 11 am to provide some buffer to our morning.
We hadn’t told the kids where we were going (not sure if that was the best call or not, as they were a bit crusty about the train ride out), but they figured out the secret when we got off the train at Watford Junction and spotted a purple double-decker bus.
Getting to Watford Junction is the visitor’s problem, but there’s a free shuttle (obviously, you’ve spent big money for entry tickets, so “free” is a bit of an illusion) that runs regularly between the station and the studio. The shuttle takes about 15 minutes.
I grew up reading Harry Potter books, and they have been equally cherished by my kids, especially Belle. I also love behind-the-scenes anything. Admittedly, I’m not the biggest fan of the Harry Potter movies and would gladly go through life never watching any of them again. In my opinion, the books are so. much. better. BUT this felt like an iconic place to visit, and we have an above-average affinity for the characters and story. (It’s important to point out there are no amusement park rides of any sort; you’re touring sets from the movies, and there are no thrill ride/adrenaline junkie opportunities.)
Once you get off the shuttle, you go along a walkway flanked by giant wands. There were so many people; this is clearly a very popular tourist destination. And a lot of the visitors were decked out in robes and other wizarding attire which was very fun.
The main feature in the studio lobby is this enormous dragon created for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It’s suspended overhead and is definitely dramatic!
Everywhere you turn, there are costumes and props from the movies, which were all shot at these studios.
Thankfully (for me), there were lots of signs providing behind-the-scenes details about how various things worked. Like the Sorting Hat!
We got to walk by the actual “cupboard beneath the stairs” set piece!
The main part of the tour starts with everyone standing outside the Great Hall doors. The tour guide asked if it was anyone’s birthday. Two people stepped forward, and they got to open the doors.
This was a beautiful space.
They have all sorts of mannequins set up at the tables with costumes and fake food. Apparently, for the first few movies, they always prepared real food, but it went moldy so quickly that they eventually settled for authentic-looking replicas.
We got to see the elaborate ice sculpture from the Yule Ball (also in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire). It was actually built from resin, since real ice would have melted very quickly under studio lighting!
The number of costumes needed for a movie series of this size was truly insane. There were school uniforms, Quidditch robes, dress robes, professor costumes, Death Eater costumes, Ministry of Magic attire… and on and on.
There was lots of information about how they created the moving staircases. I thought all the details about the live portraits were fascinating, too.
Here’s the Gryffindor dormitory. They didn’t change the size of the beds but the actors kept getting taller and taller with each successive movie. So they had to shoot them from different angles and with their legs bent to accommodate the fact that they were too long for their beds.
The books freeze the characters at a certain age in my mind, but real actors inconveniently keep growing!! Movie-making comes with a lot of complicated logistics.
There were displays going through the techniques used to “age” costumes. This is the coat Daniel Radcliffe wore for the final film. It had to be distressed and burned, so they showed the different things used to accomplish that aesthetic.
This was the set where Harry was trying to corral the Monster Book of Monsters (they had a motorized book roaming around the set, and it reminded me of our beloved Eufy).
Here’s the Mirror of Erised, which supposedly shows your deepest desire. (Erised spelled backward = desire.) I didn’t see anything but my own reflection.
The frame reads: “Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi,” which translates to: “I show not your face but your heart’s desire.” Well… I saw my face.
There were special displays about Quidditch, of course.
The potions set was incredible. There were self-stirring cauldrons, and all sorts of test tubes and bubbling things. A worker took the time to show us how all the textbooks used on set had hand-drawn illustrations and potion recipes.
Snape’s costume is actually a very specific shade of dark navy blue, not black. I can’t remember why exactly, but it had something to do with filming requirements.
Dumbledore’s office was also very cool!
Indy was especially fond of the Pensieve.
We didn’t quite do this right: it was a photo op about forced perspective, but we got our cups mixed up and the chairs were in the wrong place.
Here’s the interior set for the Weasleys’ home. You could push a button and make the knitting needles start to magically move in the air!
I loved this because The Burrow feels chaotic and cozy in the books, and the set captured that vibe perfectly. Everything looks slightly overstuffed and patched together, but in a comforting, homey way.
So many of the set pieces moved or did some cool thing. We got to see the door to the Chamber of Secrets moving.
Of course, we had to try to push our way through at Platform 9 3/4!
None of us made it to the other side…
You can walk through the train set used for the interior shots of the Hogwarts Express.
This little section almost made me tear up. It had the final costumes the actors wore after a decade of playing their characters. I’m not even a big fan of the movies, but there was something so… final… about seeing the clothes from those last scenes all together. (I do cry at this point in the final movie.)
One of my favourite spots of the day was the Forbidden Forest. None of our pictures do it justice. It was so cool! There was simulated thunder and lightning and animatronic giant spiders. It must have been so fun to film scenes on this set.
At this point in the tour we were ready for a break. They assume this is going to happen and that’s where they position the food stops.
This is one time where we just gave in and paid exorbitant amounts of money for food. Thankfully, while it was pricey, it was surprisingly good.
John and I split something and I ordered myself a Butterbeer ice cream.
I don’t think either kid loved their drinkable Butterbeer, but it’s one of those things you kind of have to try once, right?
Plus, you get to keep the cups. And lots of people leave the cups behind, so we washed out a few extras to bring home as souvenirs.
When we had arrived at the start of the day, we were debating whether to keep our jackets with us or not. When we talked to the man at the coat check, he said the weather forecast was calling for heavy thunderstorms. I hummed and hawed and kept my coat, but was kicking myself because it was full sunshine and GORGEOUS.
At this point, instead of touring the outside sets, we headed into a 20-minute demonstration about sound editing. This was SO cool. They walked through a section of the first movie—Norbert!—and showed us the behind-the-scenes process of creating sound effects. This was probably my favourite thing we got to experience the whole day.
When we walked back outside, it was pouring. There was even lightning.
And everyone without coats was running inside the outdoor sets. So, unfortunately, I didn’t actually go inside the set of Privet Drive or the Greenhouse. They were packed with people waiting out the rain and I had no idea how long it was going to last.
That was disappointing and I never did make it back to check it out. Boo.
Belle braved the downpour long enough to get a picture with the Knight Bus.
The iconic covered bridge doesn’t actually show up in the books, but it’s a beloved set piece from the movies and you get to walk through it on the tour! (Even though it was invented for the movies, but at this point it feels like official Harry Potter canon.)
The kids got to pose in the famous blue car; there was no Whomping Willow in sight, thankfully.
Back inside, we got to see all sorts of set models.
Here’s Gringotts.
The interior sets were incredible. It was fairly crowded when we were visiting, so we didn’t get a chance to just stand in place and take it all in. Even still, this was my favourite set in the whole studio tour.
Begging for a handout.
The hair, makeup, and prosthetics section was also fascinating. The amount of work that goes into this sort of thing is staggering. Some of the characters would spend like 5+ hours every single day getting their prosthetics applied.
We got to watch the iconic giant chess pieces move! (Which were loosely based on the Lewis Chessmen Indy and I got to see at the Museum of Scotland.)
Earlier in the tour, you can do some photo ops and pay for the results. They are NOT cheap.
We declined and then happily discovered much later in the tour—right beside the chess pieces—that you can get a free (watermarked) photo taken!
Indy had already moved on when I discovered it was free and didn’t want to go back, but Belle was keen!
There’s a whole section about how they filmed the destruction of Gringotts. It was dramatic and very impressive.
Diagon Alley was such a cool spot. It was also CROWDED. This was one of the places where I really wished the crowds would magically vanish. Every shopfront was so detailed, and I wanted to take time to appreciate all the little details.
There were SO many little details to see and I only got to see a fraction of them.
I loved all the different miniatures and replicas. The different sets at different scales were used for different shots. So cool! Also, a bit mind-blowing to think of how much time all of that would take, not to mention the expertise of the artists who create this sort of thing.
It also makes it a bit more obvious why big-budget movies need such a big budget.
The last big thing to see on the tour is a GIANT replica of Hogwarts.
This was a great way to end the tour. The model is enormous and beautifully lit, and I can see why they save it for the end.
Here’s the Philosopher’s Stone prop (they give you the details on how they made it shimmer and look like it was on fire).
There’s a wand room filled with boxes with the names of all the actors and people involved in the films.
The kids loved finding some main actors/actresses’ names hidden in the stacks of wands.
To round out the afternoon, we spent some time—and a not-insignificant amount of money—in the gift shop. We don’t normally buy things at gift shops, but Indy had his heart set on getting a wand, and Belle wanted to get some Harry Potter-themed candy (Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans, Butterbeer chocolate bar, Chocolate Frogs), so we plunked down our credit card and ponied up.
Now, in terms of our experience, I would say it was good, but not great. I went into it not really knowing what to expect.
- It’s a lot like IKEA. You start at one end, and you make your way through to the end. I actually really liked the layout. There was something nice about not having to make many decisions. You just follow the path and let the experience unfold.
- I’d heard mixed reviews about the audio guide. One was included with our tickets, but I didn’t end up using it much and found it a bit clunky. I would not recommend paying for extra guides, but I’m sure mileage varies depending on the person.
- The biggest thing I would do differently is go later in the day. Our tickets were for 11 am, which sounded ideal, but by early afternoon it felt like the bulk of the day’s visitors were all inside the tour at once. Once you start, you can stay until closing (10 pm), and I think a later entry would have let us move at a more leisurely pace with fewer crowds.
- I wanted more time to linger over the tiny details, and instead I sometimes felt like we were being swept along by the crowd. Also, because of the timing of the rain, we didn’t get a chance to go through the exterior sets (Privet Drive and the Greenhouse, which I really wanted to see; in retrospect, I should have circled back and gone to see them, but because it’s a one-directional tour, that’s a bit complicated).
Overall, I’m glad we went. It was detailed, immersive, nostalgic, and full of the kind of behind-the-scenes information I love. For Harry Potter fans (and especially fans who enjoy props, costumes, sets, and movie-making details) it’s a great place to spend a day. But beware of the fact it can (and likely will be crowded) and plan accordingly!
Your turn.
- If you happen to be going to Warner Bros. Studio Tour London and have questions, let me know. I’m happy to try to answer them.
- Have you ever visited a movie studio?
- Do you zoom through gift shops, or do you usually buy something?
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