Harry Potter Studio Tour

In 2016, for our anniversary, my Daughters announced that they were taking the Wife and myself to the Harry Potter studio Tour and now, 2 years later, we have finally been.

I am a great fan of the books and films, the Wife less so, and we were looking forward to the visit with little knowledge of what to expect.

When you enter the studios you walk along a long, winding corridor decorated in the style of the Marauders Map which Harry used to get around Hogwarts without being caught.

The first area is a large canteen and shop which is useful as you have a strict entry time on your tickets. This is to prevent overcrowding and it works very well.

Harrys bedroom under the stairs

To keep you amused as you queue to enter the introduction areas there is the set used when filming Harry in his bedroom under the stairs.

The queue moves fairly quickly and you move into the first of two presentation areas where you are given instructions to not touch anything or to go beyond the barriers. You also get some background to the films and what the tour is all about.

The Grand Hall with Dumbledore giving a speach

These areas act as further buffers to avoid overcrowding later in the tour. Although it was busy when we went it was never crowded so this idea does work, mind you we didnt visit during the summer peak.

One of the costumes on display

After the presentation it is on into the Great Hall which is the actual set used in the film which was dismantled and transported to its current location for the tour.

It is an impressive place and it is hard to believe that it is not a real stone building but some of the magic is explained as you move outside the hall to see the scafolding holding it all up.

Once in  the tour proper you see many various sets, props, costumes and much of the techniques used to create them.

The entrance to Dumbledores office

Much of the sets are standalone even though they were supposed to be part of a huge building.

The props were made not only to appear in the film but also to give the cast something to imagine as they were acting. Dobby for instance was simply a green ball on a green stick that the actors used as a reference for where his head was, the character being added as CGI later in the film process.

The Triwizard Cup and Harry's egg

However at his death scene the filmakers found that the cast had a hard time being emotional about a green ball on a stick and so they created a life size Dobby for Harry to hold which made it much easier for them to understand.

A Thestral model for the animators

Several other creatures were made, such as the dementors, to give the cast an idea of what they were acting alongside.

Creatures, props and locations were meticulously designed, first by draughtsmen in the case of the sets and props or digital artists for the creatures. These were then made into 3d models, some full size and some, in the case of buildings and sets,in white card in a small scale. These models could be used to work out movement, camera angles and tracking shots.

Hogwarts Express pulled by Hogwarts Castle

Many shots used real life locations such as Hogwarts station which was filmed at Goathland on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway and at the St Pancras station which was used instead of Kings Cross as at the time Kings Cross was undergoing refurbishment.

The night bus

Several vehicles were created for the film including several Ford Anglias and the famous triple decker Knight Bus created from 2 London buses.

Weasleys Wizard Wheezes on Diagonally

The houses on Privet Drive were real, a modern housing estate stood in for the location although interior shots were done on sound stages.

When you get to the Hogwarts Express you are half way through the tour and just after that area there is a restaurant and rest area which we took advantage of. Here they sell butterbeer in custom tankards if you want one.

white card reference model of The Burrow

Just outside the restaurant, and visible through the windows, is the only outside area in the tour which contains the Knight Bus, the house on Privet Drive, the Potter house from Godricks Hollow, the Ford Anglia and Hagrids combination motorbike. Central to all this is a section of the Hogwarts Bridge and this is a prime sight for pictures, as the header picture to this article shows.

The rest of the tour consists of a lot of the model making and special effects secrets plus a real highlight of the tour, the chance to walk down Diagonally. All the shops are there with Olivanders and Wizard Wheezes certainly being the fan favorites.

But right at the end there is one of the most breathtaking things I have seen in a long time. Seeing at Hogwarts itself is featured many times, especially in the many flying sequences of the Quiddich games and in the fight with the dragon, the outside of the school had to be built somehow to make these sequences possible plus, of course, copious amounts of CGI.

To this end a large scale model of the school was built with exquisite detail and this now resides in its own room and is a trully wonderful thing to behold and a real testament to the model makers art.

A large scale model of Hogwarts

 And so the tour comes to an end but not before one more jaw dropping display. At first you think it is just a nice way to end the tour going out through a wand shop with its walls lined with wand boves until you realise that every box has a name on it and that these people were all involved in the films in some way or another and there are hundreds of boxes including one for a certain J.K.Rowling.

Is the tour worth going to? If you are even a passing fan of the Potter books then I would say yes, even if your not but have an interest in film making then I would say yes although a view of at least the first film would be useful in this case.

I am certainly going back again, probably over the festive season.