Harry Potter Studio Tour

18 May 2013


For Christmas Lucy was given a pair of tickets for a visit to The Making of Harry Potter studio tour. Today we got up early and headed down to Hertfordshire for our 0930 slot, arriving at nine o'clock in time for a second breakfast in the café before it was time to join the queue.


In the entrance hall large posters of many of the major characters look down on us - here Draco Malfoy peers past a Ford Anglia


Once past the queue and the brief intro in the holding room and then another intro in the cinema, we move into the Great Hall. Here Lucy poses by the door of the Great Hall


The staff table


Counting the house points


A look at part of the Great Hall with two of the tables. The set doesn't have a roof - that's added later in production


Refreshments at the ball


Some enticing chocolate desserts


Some of the many Educational Decrees


Educations Decree No. 98


Stephen by the gates of Hogwarts


The scale model roof of the Great Hall, with some of the candles that move up and down


The leaky cauldron


One of the boys' dormitories in Gryffindor House - note trunk with the initials HP


A forced perspective set, which is much shorter than it looks


Gryffindor common room


The stairs up to the dormitories


The entrance to Dumbledore's office


Dumbledore in his office - with the sorting hat by the ladder


Some of the former headmasters snoozing in their portraits


The pensieve


The Tri-Wizard Cup


Some of the smaller props.


The potions classroom


Looking in through the window of Hagrid's Hut


A closer look in the hut


Inside the Burrow


Door of vault 713 at Gringotts


A door from Hogwarts, with a marble staircase behind


Mad-Eye Moody's trunks


Flying messages from the Ministry among other documents


Galleons, sickles and knuts


Transport fireplaces at the Ministry


Offices in the atrium at the Ministry


Part of the Magic is Might statue, created after the Death Eaters took over the Ministry of Magic, located in the atrium, with many muggles pressed together to support the thrones of the witch and wizard above


Dolores Umbridge's office at the Ministry


Lucy drinking butterbeer by the Knight Bus


Stephen outside number 4, Privet Drive


The Potters' house at Godric's Hollow, with a young witch walking past


Part of the bridge at Hogwarts


All destinations (nothing underwater)


Some of the electronics that make The Monster Book of Monsters, and the Mandrake move


An acromantula


The head of a basilisk


The set of Diagon Alley is quite special - though it's a shame that the lighting is constantly changing, which makes photography more difficult and lack of patience for more natural light to return leads to some of those following being oddly coloured


Weasley's Wizard Wheezes


One of the two apothecaries in Diagon Alley


Olivander's, makers of find wands since 382 BC. Note the piles of wand boxes in the upper windows.


Florian Fortescue's ice cream parlour


Eeylops Owl Emporium sells owls and various other things needed for the care of owls


A rotating golden snitch sits above the entrance to Quality Quidditch Supplies


Some of the quidditch supplies


Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions shop


Flourish and Blotts, a bookshop where most Hogwarts students purchase their schoolbooks, today rather dominated by books by Gilderoy Lockhart


Moving away from Diagon Alley, we pass lots of impressive card models


As the sign says, the Whomping Willow


But those models are as nothing compared to this - look at the people either side to get an impression of how large it is. It is gloriously detailed.


Some of the greenhouses in the foreground, with the owlery in the background


The bridge is delightful


Having completed a circuit of the model, gradually descending, a look up gives a different perspective.


The tour is almost over - we pass through a room full of wand boxes, each labelled with the name of one of the people who contributed to making the eight Harry Potter films.

A really enjoyable tour, both immersing oneself in the Harry Potter world and learning a little of how the films were made - highly recommended.
 

 

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Unless otherwise stated, all images copyright (c) Stephen and Lucy Dawson