The Warner Bros Studio Tour, Leavesden, Hertfordshire (not London!) UK - 16 February 2013
We (assistant Di and ancient assistant Noreen) met our bus company at Group Travel Headquarters in Amblecote, Stourbridge. We were heading down to Hertfordshire to see The Making of Harry Potter - Warner Bros. Studio Tour London - Mick was driving. I knew Harry Potter fans that had been said it was great, but although I've read all the books and seen all the films, I wasn't sure I'd fully appreciate it as I don't know it inside-out. That said, I love movies and movie-tours, so hopefully it won't be disappointing.
That said, I have been to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal's Islands of Adventures park in Orlando, Florida, which is very good, but a little small. Has some great roller coasters though. I will be interested to compare the two. First, we have to get there - we have to make a couple of pick ups on the way before we hit the motorway. Unfortunately, the sun that was up when I got out of bed has been replaced by grey skies and fog, but by the time got to Group Travel HQ that had cleared. It's not even raining or snowing - which is a BIG change this year!
We had a thirty-minute stop at the Services. Just enough time for a Cadbury's Caramel McFlurry from McDonalds. There was a sign by my window when the coach parked so yes, the not-so-subtle advertising worked! I am that much of a pushover, but it was a McFlurry - with Cadbury's chocolate. A bit of a no-brainer. Soon we were back on our way.
As the road signs appeared we knew we were getting closer. Then I spotted a couple of yellow hangars behind a fence, with some familiar looking photos on the side. I tried to grab a photo of the studio sign as we entered but I didn't spot the brown sign when I took the photo! Not helpful. Anyway, I was able to get one on the way out later that evening so I've included it below right, so you can see it when I did!
As the bus parked up, I spotted a familiar face in the car park. Another Group Travel coach driver - Anne - was waiting by her coach (we were the second coach of the day!) I've been on other tours with Anne (and Mick for that matter) so it was fun to see her again. She'd picked up our tickets so they were handed out and off we went. As we crossed the car park to the entrance, I spotted this fantastic double-decker bus, which is the transportation if you book a bus and entrance ticket to travel in from London. Worth doing if you get to ride on such a cool bus! I just got to take a photo. It's probably dull inside anyway - and almost certainly doesn't fly.
We arrived at about 1.30pm, and our tour was due to start between 3pm and 3.30pm, which gave us plenty of time to check out the extensive gift shop. There's also a cafe and Starbucks coffee shop. There was a sign on the wall that said they had free Wi-Fi, but while it would let me connect, I couldn't get it to do anything else! I soon turned it back off again. It was interfering with my tweeting! You can pick up a passport when you enter or pick up your tickets - they generally give these to children, but if you ask they'll give them to bears or even adults too!
All eight of the Harry Potter films were made at the Leavesden Studios here in Hertfordshire (which is NOT in London, I might've mentioned, though it's not far away). Having completed production, they had a LOT of stuff left over so, considering the popularity of the Harry Potter franchise (books, movies and anything else) someone obviously spotted an opportunity to make a bit more money out of the movie artifacts. That's led to the creation of the Harry Potter Studio Tour and it turned out to be a great idea!
There is a large entrance hall. From here you can access the actual stage tour, the Starbucks coffee shop and larger cafe, obtain an audio tour and enter the gift shop. Oh yeah, and the toilets are here too, but I don't care about them!! As you look above your head you are surrounded by a variety of familiar faces - Harry, Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, the Weasleys, the Hogwarts professors, goodies and baddies. There's also a Ford Anglia! It's a flying car, so you'd expect it overhead, wouldn't you? According to a sign here they used 17.5 Ford Anglias in the making of the movie series - that is a LOT of Anglias.
We had a little over an hour to kill until our tour, so it was time to hit the gift shop! As you enter, there is a large section of 'proper' artifacts. I asked the assistant to buy me this model of the Hogwarts Express, but I don't appear to own one! They have an array of china (Potter-y?), jewellery, small decorative models representative of all kinds of Harry Potter, all sorts of stuff. Yes, some of it was pretty expensive, even hideously so, but some of it was also fairly reasonable. I'm not enough of a fan for it to appeal to me, particularly, but they had stuff for less than twenty pounds up to the hundreds. Genuinely something for every fan's pocket.
The box below centre contains a collection of the most important Harry Potter wands in a display case. This was one of the more expensive items, but it looked great! As did the little models of broomsticks - they looked about my size!
I then moved into the more 'standard' gift shop - the kinds of things you normally get in an attraction gift shop, with the t-shirts, hats, scarves and toys. This is where I was a little more disappointed. I can't say it was the lack of range of items as they had tons of stuff. Seriously. While Gryffindor is no doubt the most popular Hogwarts house, they have gear that also represents Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin too. It's an equal opportunities gift shop!
As I was wandering around, I stopped to have a chat with this guy. I liked his t-shirt, but they missed a trick when they make you buy a bear WITH the t-shirt. Nothing wrong with the bear, he was quite well-informed actually, but my assistants say I already have enough friends. I did ask him if he'd let me have his t-shirt but he said it was more than his job was worth and that he'd have to iron his hands if he did! I know I'm not the only stuffie that buys souvenirs, and I love souvenir t-shirts. There were none to be had in this store.
As well as the Hogwarts-Harry Potter branded items, they also have Harry Potter Studio Tour items so that you can get something less generic and more specific to this particular attraction, which is good.
They do have a great Honeydukes sweet shop section. Here you can get real Chocolate Frogs (for £8.95!), Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, as well as jars of sweets and chocolates. It is a nice selection, same as you can get in Honeydukes over in Orlando. It's all a little pricey. They did have some milk and white chocolate wands for just £3.95 (which in itself is about £1 an ounce!) which does at least look cute and Harry Potter-y, which is great.
I wanted to get something for me from the shop, but while they had hats, gloves and scarves, sweaters, as well as the cloaks, they didn't have anything small enough for me. I tried a Gryffindor hat that really didn't do me any favours at all - except for maybe hiding my face! I did have fun in the stuffie-section. They had dragons, dragon eggs, owls, rats, cats, all kind of furry guys, but I got to hang out with a couple of Hedwigs - scarily they were bigger than me!
While ambling around the store, they announced that they were taking any timed tours, so we didn't have to wait another half hour for our slot. We finished our shopping, which wasn't much and went to go pick up an audio tour. For £5, you get a headset and handheld gizmo which has Draco Malfoy (well, the actor that played him) talking you through the exhibits. There's a bunch of 'extras' on there also. I wasn't sure if we needed it, but we got one anyway - all the better to tell you about!
There's a bit of a windy line to start with as they back the group up, taking you past photographs of the Dursley family, before you get a chance to peer into the cupboard under the stairs. Then they take you into a small room with a short film introducing you to the studio tour. The cupboard doesn't seem that bad to me - just my size!
You then pass through some large wooden doors to enter into the Great Hall at Hogwarts, which is awesome!
Seriously, this really is a great hall. It's a very large room, with a genuine flagstone floor, a large fireplace, ornate decorations and long tables with benches very familiar from the movies. It kind of gives the game away that this is a movie set if you look up, mind you. After all, there is no ceiling!
Considering it's a set, I was surprise how big it was. They have costumes from each of the four houses on display along the walls. This is the only part of the tour where you get a guide telling you all about it. I wasn't really paying that much attention as I was whizzing about taking photos.
At the teachers' table end of the Great Hall, which is slightly raised, there are several more costumes. You can't miss Hagrid and Snape, but also Professor McGonagall and Mad-Eye Moody.
As we left the Great Hall, I picked up a Passport. I didn't get one of these earlier so if you didn't get one, ask for one - they don't mind. You can collect stamps as you go around the exhibition. Overhead they demonstrate how the floating candles were filmed - candle shaped tubes full of oil with a wick which was suspended on motorised tungsten wire. Worked okay until some candles burned through the wire and fell to the table below - after that they switched to digital effects!
They had costumes and props from the Yule Ball. The table centrepiece behind me was fashioned on the Brighton Pavilion, lit from below to make it look icy.
Okay so I might've got a little overenthusiastic at The Great Chocolate Feast. This array of desserts were made out of painted resin for the welcoming banquet in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Next we headed for Hair and Makeup. Below left is Robbie Coltrane's Hagrid wig. It was pretty impressive but couldn't superimpose myself onto it because of my ears! I had more luck with Ron Weasley's hairpiece - what do you think? Not sure I have the right complexion for ginger hair!
They had a make-up table with mirror set up so I had to take a look at myself, right? Dunno who the girls were. They had hanging rails with some of the costumes from the movies too.
Bottom left are the gates to Hogwarts School constructed at Leavesden for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Impressive aren't they? While I was poking about, I bumped into this chap. He's a Death-Eater!! Yikes. Was funny later when a couple of times Assistant Di turned around and he (or one of his Death-Eating chums) was right behind her...she was starting to get paranoid.
They have oodles of props, which isn't surprising with eight movies in the can, but the dinosaur bones were pretty impressive. Below centre is a display of wands, while below right, you can see some of the craftspeople actually making stuff.
Then we found the Mirror of Erised which, according to Professor Dumbledore, "It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts." I, wanted to see the most attractive chap in town (which would, of course, be me) and there I was. I also wanted to pose cos this is a pretty iconic prop from the movies! The painting is of the Fat Lady and appeared in the first film, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, but the character would later morph into Dawn French.
It was great to hang out in the Gryffindor Common Room. Bottom left are both Harry and Ron's beds from the boy's dormitory. Tidy eh? You might just make out "R.W." on the box under Ron's bed. Below right is downstairs in the Common Room, with comfy sofas, some costumes and the stairway up to the dormitory.
The fireplace in the Common Room is huge. They even have Harry and Ron's Christmas jumpers, made by Mrs Weasley. Bottom right is the Cloak of Invisibility. This was made by costumers at Leavesden. Several versions were made, including one with a green fabric lining which enabled the Visual Effects Department to make Harry and friends invisible on screen, using green-screen technology.
There's a huge pendulum swinging back and forth - it's bigger than it looks, cos I'm a lot closer than it is! Bottom right are some costumes from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - specifically clothes worn by Sirius Black, Tonks and Remus Lupin (from left to right).
Now this is pretty awesome - they have a working Marauder's Map, well, kind of. I had to wait a bit as some pesky kids were in the way (what do they think, that Harry Potter is for children? Sigh!) but once they'd gone I had my turn. It's touch sensitive, though, and that's not great for paws, so I had to rely on the human assistant to touch the screen. As long as you furry readers have a human in tow, you should be fine. You can open or close the map, but also touch it to find your way around, just like the real thing!
It's just a short film, as apparently the assistant can't manipulate a camera, Marauder's Map and bear for a longer period of time without a lot of stuff falling on the floor! Her fault!
We passed by the Griffin Stairwell and entered Dumbledore's Office. They have Dumbledore's Office in Orlando, in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter so I knew what to expect and this has much better detail (it would need to for the movie - you pretty much whizz by it in Florida). There are display cases with movie artifacts. I even spotted The Sorting Hat on a shelf in the office.
There is a collection of Horcruxes in a display case - these contain fragments of Voldermort's soul, but you know that, right? They also had Tom Riddle's Diary in there, with the tooth of the Basilisk that was used to destroy it. There were nearly 350 enchanted portraits hanging in Hogwarts castle. Many of the film crew were immortalised in the hand-painted portraits.
They have a special effects section, which again uses greenscreen technology to give the illusion of a moving vehicle, such as the Gringott's Vault cart and Hagrid's motorcycle and sidecar. Bottom right is a motion rig which enabled flying on broomsticks, riding dragons and the like.
There's a cool section here where you can actually ride a broomstick! Well, okay, remember that greenscreen I was telling you about? They put you and a broomstick in front of a green screen, afterwards they add pictures to the green screen so YOU are riding a broomstick in a Quidditch match or over Hogwarts (I guess). You can then buy the photos. There was a long line and my assistants don't like to be photographed so we skipped this, but it's an option for you. The photos aren't cheap, but if you're a Harry Potter fan, I'll bet they're cool!
They have a small Quidditch display, with broomsticks and costumes. Across the way they have one of the Hogwarts staircases used by Special Effects (again with greenscreen) to be the various staircases throughout the school. They have miniature staircases with miniature portraits that they used too. Bottom right is the Chamber of Secrets door. Unlike many of the other computer-generated effects, this one is purely mechanical, operated by an electric motor to move the snakes along slotted tracks.
Next it was time to join Professor Snape for a Potions class. Several of the pots were lit, with spoons stirring all on their own. The classroom was shot on location for the first movie, but after than they made this set at Leavesden.
It is possible to get a look into Hagrid's Hut. Hagrid is Keeper of the Grounds at Hogwarts. They made two sets of different scales. The larger scale set here was used to film regular-sized characters but a smaller-scale set was used to make Hagrid actor, Robbie Coltrane, look larger. Below right is part of the set for The Burrow, home of the Weasleys. Supposedly built by Mr Weasley, most surfaces have a slope and there are no right angles.
As it was Wand Week there was a small section where there were mirrors set up and some folks were practising their spelling skills. A guy on a video was showing them technique. Was kinda funny to watch, but again, a really cool thing to do for big fans. "Expelliarmus!" (I'm still working on my Patronus...)
Below centre is the Ministry of Magic Office of Dolores Umbridge, from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1. There's a cute story about the kittens brought in for filming, but I'll leave that for the folks who take the tour. There does seem to be an excess of pink in Ms Umbridge's wardrobe.
The Ministry of Magic was huge, in movie terms so the production guys had to get creative, using technicians on set to fulfil the roles of wizards and other Ministry workers.
The Ministry of Magic Atrium is pretty tall for a movie set. It was all done to give scale and grandeur. The green tiles are on the fireplaces where wizards would arrive and depart the Ministry through the Floo Network. These are thirty feet tall and there were seventeen of them on the set (there are just two here). I see that Death-Eating guy had turned up again. I think he's following us!
There are some Death-Eater costumes here too. I forget who wore most of them, but I do remember the second right costume is for Bellatrix LeStrange, played by Helena Bonham-Carter.
We'd come to the end of the first "half" of the tour, although, it turns out it was really the first two-thirds (wish we'd known that at the time, as we'd have taken a little longer there). Outside are some of the larger props and set-pieces. There's also a small kiosk where you can buy food and drink but even on this quiet day the line was long, so we didn't bother. Come on, Studios, you can do better!
Check out this Ford Anglia! It's the flying car that Mr Weasley converted to fly, be invisibile and adapted it so that it did not need petrol. The car was used in the second film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I had to wait a little but eventually it was my turn to drive!
Even cooler - they have Hagrid's motorbike and sidecar. It's an Enfield. They are a bit disorganised so you kind of have to wait your turn to get to sit on either the bike, or the sidecar (or both!) but eventually it was my turn. I think I make a pretty good Hagrid, though I could be a little small...
Tom Riddle's Gravestone was a bit creepy, with it's Angel of Death statue.
Meeting the triple-decker Knight Bus was pretty awesome. It is 22-feet tall and was built from three London double-decker buses. There were two versions - a motorised one that could be driven and a second one that could spin on a turntable. It is possible to stand on the back deck (you can't go upstairs) and you can see the beds inside, although, for the movies the interior was built on a separate set.
There are a couple of houses in this exterior area - the black and white building is The Potter's Cottage where Harry's parents were murdered by Lord Voldemort and Harry aquired his lightning scar. The more familiar, newer houses represent Privet Drive, where the Dursley's lived and Harry spent his early years, in the Cupboard Under the Stairs. I got the chance to sit on the doorstep of Number 4.
In the centre of the courtyard area is a covered bridge-walkway. The bridge was never mentioned in the novels, but became an iconic visual in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. They only ever built this bit, as the rest of it was created by computers.
We entered the second building of the tour and found ourselves in The Creature Shop. They have creatures hanging from the ceiling and on shelves. Below left is a Grindylow - I'd like to look clever and pretend I knew that, but I had to ask and it was my twitter buddies @Mooseherd (a herd of moose) who were able to identify it from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. They are a very clever bunch of moose.
There are a lot of elves up on the shelves - does that make it an Elf Shelf? Is that Kreacher I spy?
They had models of Dumbledore's phoenix Fawkes and a blown up (and headless) Marjorie Dursley. There was a moving Hedwig owl, a model of Dobby the House Elf and even a Dementor.
They have a copy of the Monster Book of Monsters and it moves! They have one of these in Ollivanders in Orlando - not sure it should be left out on desk though, it could do someone a nasty injury. These thestrals aren't the most cute of creatures, but then only visible to those who have seen death at least once, so how do I know that? Hmm? Or you, for that matter... Methinks it might be a model!
For some reason the assistant got a bit nervous taking this shot! It's just a little biddy spider, after all. I didn't realise I had my paw in a Basilisk's mouth at the time, though. Oops!
Animatronic Buckbeak was kinda cute, moved a bit too. Not so keen on the dragon-guy though - look at the wingspan on that thing!
Our next stop was a walk through Diagon Alley. They have a model of Gringotts bank as well as a full-size version in the full-size street. I got this shot of me outside of Ollivander's Wand Shop which is pretty cool (although I've been inside the one in Florida!) As it was Wand Week they had Mr Ollivander's costume on display in the shop doorway.
Here's a lovely image outside Weasleys' Wizard Whezes with an advertisement for Weasleys' Puking Pastilles - lovely! There are, unsurprisingly, I suppose, owls hanging outside of Eeylops Owl Emporium and this is the Uniform shop.
We left Diagon Alley and entered a room full of White Card Models. These were models built by the Art Department to give them an idea of scale and camera angles. Using tiny lipstick cameras they were able to get a feel for the buildings and streets and it brought the Harry Potter world to life before they built the 'real' sets. Below left you can see the card model of the bridge I was standing on earlier - neat isn't it? The model of the Whomping Willow is pretty impressive, don't you think?
They even have a tiny Dumbledore's Office which looks like where I was standing earlier - they didn't get these models at Airfix! Diagon Alley too. Not white card, this time, but they do have a model of the Durmstrang Ship from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Then we entered the room containing the piece de resistance of The Hogwarts Model. Isn't it stunning? It's made in 1:24 scale and was built for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone where they wanted close-up shots of the castle as well as sweeping shots through the castle grounds, around the turrets and towers. Combined with yet more greenscreen, it was possible to create a very real-looking Hogwarts School. Come on, you've seen at least one of the movies, haven't you? Didn't you think it was real?
It is a totally stunning model and would look even better in my attic with a train running through it. Maybe. It cycles through from day to night every four minutes or so, so stick around for the full effect of the lighting. It's amazing.
Throughout the tour, I was able to stamp my passport - with different embossed pictures of various landmarks of the Harry Potter world, including Hogwarts, Gringotts and more. It was a bit hard work as you put your passport in then put all your weight on the handle to emboss the image, which isn't easy when you're a bear. I had to get the assistant to help me.
As we completed the tour, we entered a room filled with wand boxes. Apparently each one bore the name of the four-thousand people involved in bringing Harry Potter to the screen.
As we had time on our paws, we took a look around the Studio Cafe.
Who-ee, now that's not a cheap cafe. They have a Starbucks coffee outlet, which charges about the usual rate for coffee (expensive, but good) but while the cafe does soup, snacks, salads, cakes and drinks they come with a hefty price tag. One of those mini-third bottles of red wine were £4.00! I mean come on - you can get 2 for £3 in the supermarket. I know there's a mark-up on stuff, but 300%. Yikes. It's not like you can go anywhere else - we are in the middle of nowhere, so that's just profiteering if you ask me. I would/should drop them a Ted for that, but the rest of the tour is so amazing, I let it go. That and because I brought my own sandwiches on the bus! Be warned - you need your own snacks. We did buy a latte each, but that was it. No £4 cake or wine for this bear! According to their website, they do have a picnic area adjacent to the car park, but I didn't notice it.
Losing interest in the rip-off cafe, I popped outside to take a photo with one of the giant Wizard chess pieces that were outside the front entrance. They have more in the courtyard with the Knight Bus and stuff too. Big isn't it?
And finally, just inside the entrance are some handprints of Harry, Hermione and Ron - or technically, the actors who played them - Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint.
Well, all of the tour is awesome. Really, it is, but they should tell you the second half does not take as long as the first (hence, it's not actually a half, but let's not get mathematical). So, had we known that, we wouldn't have allocated half our time to the second half and we wouldn't have been done nearly an hour before we were due to meet the coach. We could have taken longer to read more of the earlier exhibits - and there really is a lot to read, or watch on interactive TV screens. We might even have waited for the broom-riding photo as we would have had time to wait, but that's hindsight for you. To be fair, it was fairly quiet when we were there, so I can imagine when it's really busy it's bedlam - you'd never get on Hagrid's motorbike or the Knight Bus if there were long queues, or it could stop you seeing some of it.
I don't actually think the audio tour is necessary, at least not for the not-quite-diehard fan. There are loads of signs and interactive TV screens that tell you about the making of stuff and the production. I would only recommend the audio tour if you really want that much more. I only listened to the basic guide points - there are loads of them - and yet they had additional pictures, photographs, interviews and all kinds of stuff. In hindsight we could have taken more time over it so I could have heard more, but to be honest I'm not sure I wanted to hear anymore. That said, I'm a Harry Potter novice.
Tour done, it was time to meet our Group Travel bus which was waiting just outside the front entrance. It was there about 45 minutes before our departure time, so we boarded and ate the food we'd brought with us. Good thing too. The journey home was uneventful - didn't need a stop on the return journey and just a couple of drop-offs before we were back at the Stourbridge HQ. What a great day, and going by coach took all the effort out of it!
The Tour is fabulous. All Harry Potter fans should go see it, but maybe don't buy food, drinks or expensive merchandise! Or buy it, but don't say TourGuideTed didn't warn you!
