If you’re a Harry Potter fan visiting England, chances are you’ll have a few Harry Potter destinations on your itinerary. No visit to England would be complete for a Potterhead without a trip on the Harry Potter Studio Tour. It’s truly magical. We’ll provide you with everything you need to know to make the most of your trip with this guide to the Harry Potter studio tour in London.
Why Visit the Harry Potter Studio Tour?
You may think you’re too old for something like this or it will be too commercialized – like I did. I didn’t want to visit and made no plans to visit this when we planned our trip to London. It wasn’t until we were talking to a expat living in London who said it was amazing (and he wasn’t even a Potter fan) that we decided to take a spontaneous day trip. And let me tell you, it was amazing.
A Personal History of Magic
I’ve been reading Harry Potter ever since I was in the fourth grade and my mom expressly forbade me from reading Harry Potter – because then I’d start worshiping the devil. Banned books are a real thing and as with any book banning, it only makes people want to read them more. So after devouring the first book, telling my mom I broke the rules and it was so worth it, my mom reading the book and realizing no devil worshipping was happening, and me and the rest of my family started standing in line for every new audiobook as it was released so we could listen to it as a family, I have developed a strong love for the Potterverse.
As a hard core fan, I have no shame in admitting this place is so amazing that I left it in tears – probably because I never got my Hogwarts owl and now I’m too old to ever get it.
So why did the floodgates open at a commercialized tourist attraction centered around a fantasy world? Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter, which we’re going to call Harry Potter Studio Tour for short, is a magical land set to impress Potterheads and muggles alike. The tour takes you through the filming site for all 8 movies. It shows you the sets and the props that make up the magical wizarding world. It allows you to try the food and drink from the magical world. Then it snags you at the end with the devastating truth that you’ll never get to attend Hogwarts or learn from Dumbledore and you cry like a toddler when you have to leave – no shame.
So now that I’ve told you how amazing this place is and you hopefully still want to go – despite my tears – continue reading for all the tips and tricks for getting the most out of your visit in our Harry Potter Studio tour.
When to Visit
The Harry Potter Studio tour is available year round and since most of this attraction is indoors, it is great to visit any time of year.
However, we recommend that you purchase your tickets in advance. Tickets are not for sale on site and are only available online here. If you can’t get tickets through the studio, there are also Harry Potter tours from third party vendors that include tickets as well.
The sets do get decorated for the seasons and the holidays so if you’d like an extra special tour, try to visit around Halloween or Christmas. You can check the website out in advance for special events like dinners and demonstrations. Be aware that these special events sell out quickly.
How Much Time to Allot
While the studio lets you stay as long as you want, they do require an appointment time for entrance. This helps them stagger the number of people throughout the tour. While rumor has it that these entrance times are a bit flexible, the studio recommends that you arrive 20 minutes ahead of your scheduled entrance. We got there about 50 minutes early and they let us in early which was nice.
The estimated time to go through the studio is 3 hours according to the studio. However, for us Potterheads, we spent about 4.5 hours going through it. You really can move at your own pace. However, be certain that you see everything in the section you’re in before moving on to the next section as going backwards is generally frowned upon and even impossible in some sections.
Getting There and Around
London is a wonderful city for public transport. You can get to all the good places without need of a car. And the Harry Potter Studios is no exception. We recommend taking public transport as it is easy and inexpensive.
Check out some of our favorite day trips from London that use public transport here!
To take public transport, you can take the train to Watford Junction. You can use your Oyster card or buy single tickets to Watford Junction. Once there you will need to take the shuttle bus from the Watford Junction Station to the studio.
The shuttle bus will take you from the station to the studio. You’ll have to pay in cash (£3) on the bus so make sure you have some with you. To board the shuttle bus you’ll have to show proof of your ticket so make sure that you’ve bought that ahead of time. You can show your ticket on your phone or a printed confirmation to the driver. The shuttle will then take you right to the front door of the studio.
You can also take a car of your own to the studios or pick up a shuttle from London that will take you there directly.
You can use the Warner Bros. travel planning site to plan your trip.
Another option is to take a Harry Potter studio tour. There are several tour operators out of London. Some tours will just take you to the studio. Other tours will include the studio along with some other London area Harry Potter attractions. If you choose one of these tours the cost of admission and transportation is included but you may also have your time at the studios limited due to the tour schedule.
What to Budget
The price of admission into the Harry Potter Studio Tour is £53/person. There are other higher cost admission prices that include more detailed tours or extra options but general admission was great.
You’ll also have to budget for the transportation there and back. We took public transport to get there and it cost us about £15 roundtrip.
One other thing to budget will be for food and souvenirs.
Food is not allowed in the studios but there is a picnic area that you can bring food into. They also sell Harry Potter themed food and drink at the studio so be prepared to pay for this if you get hungry – or just want to try some famous Butterbeer.
You’ll also want to set aside money for souvenirs if you’re interested. The gift shop is amazing and huge and you’ll want to give yourself a budget before going so you don’t go buck-wild in Honeydukes or Zonkos. This is especially true if you’re visiting with children.
Itinerary
Before you enter, make sure to get your physical ticket and a Harry Potter passport. These make for great souvenirs and the passport book will keep you on track throughout the tour.
We’ll describe the different sections of the Harry Potter Studio Tour below. WARNING: It contains spoilers. We knew nothing about this tour before we went to it. It was amazing and I think part of how amazed we were is how surprisingly impressive things were. So if you want to be impressed like we were, stop reading. The only advice you need is take your time and don’t feel rushed. If you want to keep reading, go ahead but we’re going to spoil the finale.
Your tour will begin with a short description from an employee that will amp up the experience for you. Next, the doors to the Great Hall will be flung wide and your self-guided tour will begin. Our tour guide asked if anyone was there for a special reason. If they ask, it’s your birthday, anniversary, or anything else because the person who is celebrating something special on our tour got to be the one to open the doors to the Great Hall, which we were severely jealous of.
You’ll be able to explore the Great Hall before heading in to sets from within the Hogwarts castle like Dumbledore’s office and the potions classroom. Then you’ll head into the Forbidden Forest and you can take a try at flying on a broom. For an extra fee you can take home photos and video from your broom ride. They do not allow photos in the broom area so if you do want a souvenir photo you’ll have to buy it there.
The next section is platform 9 3/4. There is a full train with compartments to ride in and trams to push through the platform.
The next section is outdoors and contains some of the non-Hogwarts sets. You’ll find the Knight Bus, Privet Drive and the Hogwarts bridge. You’ll also find the Weasley’s flying car and Hagrid’s flying motorbike. This is also where they allow food and even sell Butterbeer.
To try Butterbeer or not? Well obviously you have to try it once. I thought it was gross, Scott liked it. I personally recommend the pumpkin juice.
Next, you’ll enter Diagon Alley. Here you’ll find many of the shops in the film. You can’t enter the shops but window shopping is encouraged. They also set up a few demonstration stations on the street explaining ways they create some of the props on set.
Lastly, you’ll see the CGI design area. You’ll see some of the drawings and models they used to make the film before entering the finale. The awe-inspiring scale model of Hogwarts castle is the highlight of the trip. You can wander around the castle to catch the 360 views of it. This is the model that they used to make the big sweeping shots of the castle. The attention to detail is amazing. They also play some very inspiring Harry Potter music and this is where the waterworks will begin.
I don’t know why this is so amazing but the experience of standing outside of Hogwarts is one of the top experiences of my life. It is incredible to get to see all of the things that made up this magical world that was such a big part of my childhood and to get to be part of this world, if only for a day.
Then, as always, you’ll exit through the gift shop. Even if you don’t want to buy anything, take some time to wader through the shop and check out the goods as they are impressive in themselves.
We hope that this has helped you plan your trip to Harry Potter Studios London. This is an amazing experience and we hope that you enjoy it. Some parting words of wisdom we’ll leave you with are make sure you give yourself plenty of time, don’t rush yourself, and participate in everything that you can. For most people this is a once in a lifetime experience and we hope you enjoy it. Get planning and hopefully you’ll be able to apparate to London soon!
Have a question about your visit? Leave it in the comments below and we’ll be happy to help.
