Walking along the Diagon Alley, between the shops that sell all sorts of fascinating stuff, I feel as much in awe as Harry Potter was when he first stepped into this magical alley. I was transported into the wizarding world. It gave me the chills, and I’m not even a die-hard Harry Potter fan.
But if you are, then a visit the Warner Brothers Studios in Leavesden, Hertferdshire is a must when you visit London. There may be Harry Potter film location tours that bring you around the city, but nothing is as thrilling as being “on-set” at the Studio, which served as a production set for all of the Harry Potter movies.
Opened in 2012, the studio tour is immensely popular. Before going, it’s best that you book tickets online. You can book just the tickets at the official website and find your own way there, or book a tour, which consists of transport from London to the studio and back, plus entrance tickets. For a hassle-free experience, I suggest booking a tour.
I did some research and decided on Golden Tours, which offers a wide range of timings and convenient pick-up locations, at 50 pounds. I’ve read about the popularity of the studio tours, so I picked the earliest tour time slot of 9am. The bus journey takes an hour, so I had to be at my selected pick-up location at 7:15am. Golden Tours offers pick up at either Buckingham Palace Road or Dorset Square, near the Baker Street Underground Station. I picked the latter. The bus was a fashionably 10 minutes late, and you can’t miss it- it’s a Harry Potter themed bus.
By the time the bus reached the Leavesden studio, you’re left with 20 minutes before the tour starts. Snap a few pictures of the Studio lobby and get in the queue, which is still relatively short. The tour can take up to 3 hours (if you absolutely have to snap every single item on display). The bus will pick you up at around 1pm to head back to London. I remember when I finished the tour at noon-ish, it was a pretty long snaking queue to get in.
If you love movie-making and worship Harry Potter, here’s what the tour offers:
First up, here’s the transport that welcomed us at the pick-up location. It’s hard to miss.
The Studio is an actual working studio that saw the production of every one of the Harry Potter movies.
You gotta believe. You’re now one step closer to living and breathing the world of Harry Potter, for at least an hour, or more if you don’t want to miss anything.The sights starts at the queue line! Watch out for Harry’s room under the stairs while you queue to get into the tour.
Ahh… the anticipation. Behind these doors lie sets and props from the six Harry Potter films, and this fella is here to tell us there are guides planted at various points of the exhibits, ready to answer any question we might have. In fact, some of them had worked on the films and are major Harry Potter fans as well. But shuddup already and let us in!
Once past the giant doors, you come face to face with the Great Hall, where the young wizards and witches gather to find out their house from the sorting hat. It got my heart racing quite a bit. Take your time to explore here, there are costumes of both students and teachers here. To me, this is the very essence of the world of Harry Potter.You might get a bit overwhelmed when you enter the hall. Don’t hyperventilate. Have a plan. I recommend starting from one corner of the room and start walking down the isles in order to cover all the props and costumes on display. This way, you won’t miss out on anything.The Great Hall looked really huge in the movies, but is far smaller in front of your eyes.While the costumes of the students flanked the sides of the Great Hall, the professors’ are right at the front, their placement just like those in the movies.
After the Great Hall, you’ll enter a labyrinthine rooms of props, filming sets and costumes from the movies, starting with this Yule Ball setting.
If you bought bus tickets back to London, do keep a lookout for timing as you walked through the rooms. Don’t forget to leave enough time to go crazy at the souvenir shop at the end of the tour.
Any Harry Potter fan would know that these are the gates that lead to Hogwarts.
Here’s a familiar sight, the Griffyndor drawing room where the kids hang out.
And this is the boys’ sleeping quartersOne of the good things about going to the tour early is that you get mostly unblocked views of the props, making it easier to snap away
You also get to see Hagrid’s cottage on display.Pretend you are Hargrid and Harry and take pictures in Hagrid’s motorbike, at an extra cost, of course.
Pretend to ride on a broomstick! You get to dress up to be a witch or wizard for this.
Not sure if you can recognise this, but is the kitchen of the Weasley home. There’s like a complete breakfast spread on the table that looks extremely inviting.Professor Dumbledore greets you at his chambers. Don’t just snap away with your camera. Take your time to study his room, filled with plenty of details.
If you see this, you have reached the halfway mark of the tour.
This is also where you can buy butter beer. Do try it; although it’s not as tasty in comparison with the one in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Studios Orlando, it still tastes pretty good.
The Knight bus you see in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.You can actually peep inside the bus at its rear.Here’s a look inside the Knight Bus.
What a familiar sight! We’re at No. 4 Privet Drive, where it all began. You can’t enter the house, it’s really just the facade of the Dursley’s abode, but still, it’s all very exciting. This set is not cordoned off, so being there early has its benefits- there’s no need to jostle with folks to get a clean shot of the house.
Who can forget this iconic Hogwarts Bridge? You can actually step onto the bridge and take pictures from all angles.
Once again, taking the first tour of the day has its benefits. I get a clear view of the bridge!There are so many things to see here, it’s hard to focus. This Creature Shop shelf has many familiar faces you see in the movies. Each one of them has so much details they look like the real thing. In case you miss out, go down the shelf from the top, so that you get to see everything.
Just look at the details in his face. It’s usually hard to get teeth and lips natural looking, but the folks at the Creature Shop nailed it.
This Monster Book of Monsters actually open and close, and it even wriggles around a bit.
Robbie Coltrane, the actor playing Hagrid, is a big man, but not quite as massive as what Hagrid should be. So his face is being made into a mechanical structure and placed on his stunt double, Martin Bayfield, who stands at an enormous 6 foot 10 inches.
Once again, I can’t believe the amount of details they put into the creatures, just look at Dobby.
This is why I come onto this tour. My favorite part of the Harry Potter movies is the Diagon Alley. You can to walk the alley and look at all the quirky shops that lined both sides. The only downer is, these shops are just facades.
After admiring the sets and props, this last bit brings us back to the beginning, when the Harry Potter world existed on paper and miniature models.
This model of Hogwarts was actually used for exterior shots for the movie. The workmanship was so good it could pass off as the “real” thing.
With right lighting and angles, who can tell this is a miniature?The tour saves the best for last. After marvelling at the massive amount of effort spent on creating this incredible world that brought imagination to life, this stunning miniature of Hogwarts make a fitting end to the tour.But of course, before you leave this place, let’s go pick a wand, shall we?
Before you leave the Studio, squeeze some time in to grab some souvenirs, they really do have everything and anything Harry Potter related.
I spent slightly under 3 hours immersed in the Harry Potter world, and although some friends frowned upon the price, I think it was totally worth it. The tour brings us behind the magic of movie-making and at the same time, sprinkled some movie-magic stardust on us.
Have you been on the tour before?
If you are a Harry Potter fan, have you visited Lacock, one of the filming locations of the movie?
