I was only a casual fan of the Harry Potter movies but my friend I traveled to London with this past summer is a huge fan of the series.  After visiting The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando last year, I was so impressed and wanted to visit Warner Bros. Studio Tour London: The Making of Harry Potter.  

Warner Bros. Studio Tour London: The Making of Harry Potter

Warner Bros. Studio Tour London: The Making of Harry Potter opened to the public in March 2012 and is a walkthrough exhibition and studio tour.  There is a capacity of 6000 visitors per day so reservations must be booked online in advance.  I only started looking at booking a reservation about 6 weeks before our trip and time slots were already full, but luckily I kept checking online and found a spot open on the Thursday for 1 PM.

I saw on their website that wheelchair guests do get a FREE caregiver admission ticket with proper documentation or proof of disability.  This ticket can only be picked up at the ticket window upon entry on the day of studio tour.  My adult ticket cost £49.95 while child (ages 5 to 15) tickets are £39.95.  There are also group rates and family tickets too.

Getting There

We stayed at Premier Inn London Southwark Station Hotel which is about an hour drive to the Harry Potter Studio Tour in the Leavesden area.  Each admission ticket does include a free shuttle bus from Watford Junction Station to the Studio Tour so we took the train from Southwark Station that is right beside our hotel.  At one point, there was no elevator in the subway, so my friend had to hold my manual wheelchair to go up an escalator.  It was a bit scary but we made it to Euston station to transfer trains before making it to Watford Junction station.

It was cool watching the double decker all decorated with Harry Potter images which made me even more excited for the tour.  There is a ramp for the bus but my friend did not need it to help me on the bus.  There is a spot for the wheelchair right near the front of the bus.   There are only stairs to get to the upper level of the bus, which my friend did take a picture of.

Once we arrived, we had to show the lady at the ticket my blue wheelchair parking placard with proper identification as it was one of the documents used to prove my disability to get the free carer ticket for my friend.  Here is what we did for the more than 4 hours that we were there.

Lobby & Entrance

Once we got inside, we were given a Harry Potter passport book where we can collect stamps from around the whole studio tour.  There is a giant menacing Gringotts dragon right in the middle hanging from the ceiling next to the restaurant and shop.

We then enter and we see all movie posters and some promo for the films.  Next is The Cupboard Under the Stairs set which is the smallest set from the movies.  After that, we got to watch a Harry Potter preview video before entering the studio tour.

The Great Hall

As soon as the giant doors to The Great Hall opened, we were in shock how it looked exactly like the movie.  The only thing missing was the Enchanted Ceiling but it did not take away how spectacular this room really was.  The table setting and all the costume pieces were really amazing and we could not get enough of this room and wanted t explore more.

Interior Sets

The next exhibit was the Interior Sets, where we learn behind the scenes about the people that worked on the sets over the years.  There was just so much to see in this huge area as it is the biggest and has all the costumes and design sets from the beginning.  Professor Dumbledor’s office and The Gryffindor dormitory and common room looked like the real thing.

There are also photo ops in front of a green screen of the flying broomstick and other scenes from the movies.  Expect high prices for the photos and long lines.  We did not bother with this and continued on with the tour.  The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was really cool as we get to see the snakes move and slither around on the door.

Forbidden Forest

The next area we visited was the Forbidden Forest.  It may be off limits to Hogwarts students, but we get to go inside this foggy and dark forest full of scary creatures.  There is even a full size Buckbeak that was crafted with feathers to make it look real.  We also see animatronic giant spiders crawling around scaring the guests.  This area was definitely really cool and fun and was only added in March 2017.

Platform 9 3/4

Platform 9 3/4 was another expansion and opened up in March 2015.  This set area looked exactly like it did in the movies.  This was Harry Potter’s entry to Hogwarts and the wizarding world and meeting the Weasley family.  The Hogwarts Express train was unfortunately not wheelchair accessible as there were stairs to get inside and it was very tight inside.  My friend did get to visit inside to take pics for me.  All of the paper props used in the movies were hand written.

Backlot Cafe & The Backlot

The next area in our self guided tour was the Backlot Cafe which leads outside to the Backlot.  There are 2 separate lines with 1 for food and drinks and the other one where you can only order the famous butterbeer.  The lines for both places were super long, but we wanted only the butterbeer so my friend waited in that line while I waited at a table.  It costs £3.95 in a throwaway cup or £6.95 in a collectible cup.  It was quite tasty and tasted like cream soda with butterscotch flavored whipped cream.

The connected Backlot outside is where we see the Weasley’s house, the Dursely’s house, the Knight Bus, Hogwarts covered bridge, Sirius Black’s motorbike with sidecar and Weasley’s flying car.  I could not get inside Dursely’s house, the Knight bus or the bridge but my friend did take some photos inside for me so I could experience it that way.

Creature Effects

The Creature Effects exhibit was probably my least favorite exhibit so we went through it a bit faster than the other exhibits.  This is where we see many of the Goblin prosthetic heads and other life size figures and creatures.  There is also a lot of information on how make up and special effects were used to create the goblin creature heads and how multiples of each goblin had to be made everyday since they can not be reused.

Gringotts Wizarding Bank

Gringotts Wizarding Bank is the newest and biggest expansion that opened in April 2019.  This area is lined with giant marble pillars, three sparkling crystal chandeliers, and has a set of bank tellers with realistically movie looking goblins.  The attention to detail is spot on.  The Lestrange vault could also be found here loaded with coins, the sword of Gryffindor , Hufflepuff’s cups and many more treasures.

Diagon Alley

I really enjoyed Diagon Alley back at Universal Studios and this version here was a lot smaller.  It was cool to stroll down the wizarding shopping street looking at all the movie props in the store windows.  It would have been better if we could go inside some of the shops like at Universal but this Diagon Alley is still worth visiting.

Art Department

The Art Department exhibit was next and it was another small one.  This is where we see sketches and drawings used to create the thousands of props that helped to bring the visual world of Harry Potter to life on screen.  We even got to see a replica of production designer Stuart Craig’s desk with his sketches and paper models which was quite interesting.

Model Room

After the paintings and scale models, we finally enter Hogwarts Model Room.  This exhibit room was quite magical with the dark mood lighting and the iconic Harry Potter soundtrack playing in the background.  We get to see a 360 degree of Hogwarts Castle scale model which was actually used to shoot exterior scenes of the castle during the movies.  We also saw the mini fireworks show on the castle model that occurred every half hour.

The Studio Shop

We are now led into the Studio Shop where we can buy any Harry Potter themed souvenirs we want.  There are collectibles, replica wands, confectionary, apparel, butterbeer in bottles and lots more.  Prices for everything was quite expensive but it was to be expected.  There were definitely some cool things at the store but I didn’t really need anything that badly.

Final Thoughts

My friend and I had a great time visiting the Harry Potter studio tour for over 4 hours.  Even though it was not a theme park with rides, we thought it was worth visiting as we got to learn so much about the making of the movies and the behind the scenes look.  The tour was really wheelchair accessible and I did not have any problems getting around at all.  The location of the studio is a bit far from downtown London but it was still easy to get to.  I would definitely visit this place again.