Located in Leavesden, South Eastern England, the Warner Bros. Making Of Harry Potter Studio Tour is a must-visit opportunity for all Harry Potter fans. 

As the name suggests, this is a unique walking tour that literally takes you behind the scenes of what is considered to be the most successful movie franchise of all time, showcasing the sets, costumes and props that had been used in the actual movies. 

I had been in London on a flying visit recently. And since I grew up with the Harry Potter franchise, going on this tour during my time in the city, was therefore a must-do for me.

Booking my Studio Tour

While it is possible to make your own way to Leavesden for the tour, I checked out Google Maps prior to my visit and I had found that it was quite tricky and confusing to go there myself, especially for someone like me who is not familiar with London. 

So I had decided to book a tour, which would provide me with transport to and from Central London. I felt that at least this would make things a lot easier for me as I would not have to think about finding my own way around.

I had first checked out the official Warner Bros. Studio Tour website, but the tours for the day that I had wanted were already fully booked out. 

I admit that I had initially not realised how popular this would be. Apparently there are a ton of Harry Potter fans around.

But not to be deterred, I decided to do a bit of Googling and found that there were still slots that were available on a tour offered on TripAdvisor.

Priced at £77.00 per person, this tour provided Harry Potter fans with four hours to tour the studio on our own, as well as a bus to and from Victoria Station in Central London.

The price of the ticket was also covered in the tour so this meant that I did not need to purchase my ticket separately, thus saving on some queuing time.

The main difference between the official Warner Bros. Tour and the TripAdvisor version was that the Warner Bros. tour takes fans on a specially designed Harry Potter bus. 

 But that aside, they are pretty similar, offering customers several time slots throughout the day, in order to cater to different people’s schedules.

Picked the 10.15am bus

I was fortunate enough to have found a tour bus despite making my booking rather late, so I must say that if you are keen to go on this tour, do make sure that you reserve early.

I had picked the 10.15am time slot, because this one had fit in the most, with my tight schedule.

Some confusion at the beginning 

When I had first reached the Victoria Coach Station though, I felt a bit confused because nobody was there, and there was no signage pointing to the meeting point for the Harry Potter Tour. For a moment, I had felt lost, and wondered whether the tour could have been a scam.

But fortunately, an elderly couple spotted me looking rather confused and so they approached me, saying that there was a bunch of others who was also on the Harry Potter tour, and that the tour organiser would usually just run into the coach station yelling for the Harry Potter people to gather together to go off.

Though I had felt that this had been pretty disorganised on the part of the organisers, it was really nice of the couple to reassure me in this manner. 

They also told me that they knew this because they had been on the tour before, and that the first time round, they were just as lost and confused as I had appeared to be.

We Are Off

And then sure enough, at about 10.25am, the organiser came rushing in, and a few short minutes later – after gathering round and ticking off our attendance, we were off.

The bus ride was about one hour long and throughout the journey, the tour guide gave us a running commentary of the London sights that we were passing on the way to the studio, as well as what we could expect when we got there too.

Reaching the Warner Bros. Studio

Our bus got to the studio at about 11.30am in the morning, and before letting us off the bus, the tour guide told us to be back before 4pm, which would leave us plenty of time to walk through the studio.

As soon as you enter the studio, do note that there will be a mandatory baggage check, but this was quite fast and surprisingly did not have too much of a queue when I was there. But perhaps it may be different during the weekends and the British school holidays.

Upon clearing the baggage, we walked through a long passageway where the trailer for the upcoming movie, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, had been playing, together with a mini display of the costumes that had been used in the movie.

Then shortly after that, we entered the lobby area, where I could spot the Goblet of Fire on display. 

There was also a cafe for those who had wanted to grab a bite before heading inside the compound. Guests were allowed to buy food and bring inside, but I had heard that there was ButterBeer inside the studio, so I had wanted to save my stomach for that instead.

Beginning My Tour

So I joined the long queue to go into the studio. In the queue, I caught a glimpse of the Cupboard Under the Stairs set – this was Harry Potter’s tiny room at the Dursley residence in Privet Drive. And I have to say that it looked quite tiny indeed.

At around noon, the large doors had opened to let us into the holding room, which had consisted of moving images of the Harry Potter movie posters in every language possible adorning the walls. I thought that this looked quite amazing. 

Here, a staff member also gave us a short de-brief on the rules and regulations once we entered the Great Hall beyond the doors, as well as what we could expect in the Studio.

The Great Hall

Then we were finally let into the Great Hall.

This was the actual set of the Great Hall that was used in the movies, complete with the four House tables too. And the actual Goblet of Fire was also displayed at the front as well during my visit too.

I had been completely blown away by the Great Hall and I simply could not stop taking photos. 

We were also treated to a small display of magic, when the Goblet of Fire was activated during my time in the Great Hall and a piece of parchment emerged from it. This one bore Beauxbatons student Fleur Delacour’s name – she was one of the contestants in the Triwizard Tournament in the fourth book.

And to think that this had been only the beginning…

Walking Through the Studio

Beyond the Great Hall, I also got the rare chance to see many of the other actual movie sets, which had included Hagrid’s hut, the Gryffindor common room, the Knight Bus, Privet Drive and Diagon Alley, just to name a few of them.

It had been particularly amazing to be able to follow Harry, Ron and Hermione’s footsteps into the Forbidden Forest too, and have the chance to meet BuckBeak the Hippogriff as well as Aragog the monster spider. 

However I must admit that even though the Forest may have seemed quite eerie when I had watched the movies, walking onto the set did not feel the same at all, possibly because of the large crowds who had been checking it out at the same time as me.

Platform 9 3/4 and the Hogwarts Express

The actual Platform 9 3/4 and the Hogwarts Express train that was used in the movies were also a part of the tour, and we were even allowed to pose with mock-ups of the Hogwarts school trolleys – making it as though we were really running through the station wall.

And there was also an interactive Hogwarts Express photo opportunity, where we could sit in the train and pretend that it was moving. 

During this segment, we also had a short tutorial about how the Harry Potter cast had to act out their feelings and emotions on the Hogwarts Express while looking at nothing more than a green screen, and we had to attempt to do the same.

I must admit that it had been much harder than I had expected to try and portray the emotions that I was supposed to be conveying! But I suppose that I did a pretty good job, with the limited acting experience that I have. 

Nevertheless, I had thought that the level of detail that had been put in the sets during the Studio Tour were truly amazing and astounding and to a small extent, the Studio Tour had also brought back some memories of my film-making lessons during my tertiary education days.

Animatronics and prosthetics

And at the same time too, we also got to see the concept artwork, as well as the animatronics and prosthetics behind the series, finding out more about how the creatures in the Harry Potter saga were constructed by the talented film makers – such as Dobby, Fawkes and BuckBeak, just to name a few.

It was quite cool to find out more about the sheer hard work that went into these creatures to make them so real and life-like. It really made me realise how much sweat, blood and tears went into the movies, the results of which I am sure that many fans like myself took for granted when we had caught them in the cinemas.

Riding a Broomstick

And I also got the chance to fulfil my childhood dream of riding a broomstick too, thanks to the special interactive green screen experience during the Studio Tour. 

Though there had been quite a fair bit of a queue for this exhibit, I think that the wait was definitely worth it – it certainly felt pretty amazing to be flying round both London and the Hogwarts school grounds, in my Hogwarts robes.

Butterbeer!

The part of the tour that I was looking the most forward to, though, was the chance to try some ButterBeer for myself. This had been on sale at the cafe about midway through the tour.

I was feeling quite hungry by this point, so I bought myself a ButterBeer, as well as a ButterBeer flavoured ice cream and a hot dog for my lunch.

The ButterBeer definitely lived up to my expectations as described in the books. A non-alcoholic carbonated beverage, this had a strong butterscotch flavour together with a slight taste of beer, and it was quite delicious in my opinion. This is something that I would definitely drink again – if the chance arises. 

As for the ButterBeer ice cream though, I was a little disappointed by it. While the butterscotch flavour had been quite strong, this somehow did not seem to have the ‘oomph’ factor that the ButterBeer beverage had for me. But perhaps it could be because butterscotch ice cream is fairly common at most of the scoop shops that I frequent.

The Hogwarts Castle and Ollivander’s

Our studio tour ended with a colossal and amazing display of the Hogwarts Castle followed by a visit to Ollivander’s wand shop, where I had the chance to test out a magic wand for myself.

Extensive Gift Shop

Then after that, we were ushered into the gift shop where we could pick up souvenirs to bring home. There were plenty of things available and these ranged from tee shirts, jackets and other clothing in the four house colours, to adorable stuffed toys of creatures such as owls, Pygmy Puffs, Crookshanks the cat, and Dobby the house elf. 

I particularly loved the pink Pygmy Puff slippers as these were so fluffy and cute looking.

And as well, food such as chocolate frogs and Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, amongst others, were on sale too, for Muggles who may want to try some of the snacks from the Wizarding world.

I must warn you that it will take time to walk through this gift shop and decide what you souvenirs want to buy as it is quite big and extensive, so make sure that you prepare approximately half an hour to do this.

For me, I picked up a souvenir programme and a chocolate frog so that I could remember my visit to the studio.

It had been close to 4pm when I boarded the bus back to Central London. I had taken about four hours to walk around and see everything; for most people, the recommended length of time that you should allow is about three to four hours but if you walk quickly and don’t have the habit of stopping to take a lot of pictures, it is possible to walk through the whole tour in two hours.

Worth checking out for Harry Potter fans

Overall I must say that the Harry Potter tour is not cheap, but if you are a fan of the franchise like myself, then it is definitely worth checking out.

But if you are embarking on this tour during your stay in London, I have to stress that you need to wear comfortable walking clothes and shoes, because there are not very many places to sit down, once you are inside.