Day 4 - Harry Potter Studios Deluxe Tour
- Kara Monroe
- Apr 9
- 11 min read
Hi all. Kara starting off today. Today actually started way back in 2017. Gayle brought a group of students on study abroad to London. The Harry Potter Studio Tour had opened outside of London and she and some of her students went. To say I was a little jealous was an understatement. I listen to the Harry Potter books (narrated by the incredible Jim Dale) all the time. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban got me through my doctorate. I even went to a couple of midnight book pickups and movie showings with nieces and nephews. I’m not a huge super fan, but I’m definitely a fan. So, ever since Gayle had such an amazing time back in 2017, I’ve suggested we just “add London” to every trip we’ve taken to Europe. And this time, it actually worked!!!
Gayle: For me, I went to plenty of midnight book pick-ups once I joined the fandom, maybe after Book 2 was released? (I’m sad for kids now who likely just click “download”.) Also the Sorcerer’s Stone helped me through my dissertation, knowing by the end I had put in two solid hours of writing. It was on repeat so much that it’s my go-to on a plane when trying to get to sleep.
After having my 2017 experience, I knew I had to get Kara here for the experience that I knew she’d love.
Kara: For the next step, you can fast forward to April of 2024. I had just wrapped up chemo treatment. I decided if we were going to do the Harry Potter Studio Tour, we were going to go “deluxe”. I stalked the tickets for the Deluxe tours (maximum of 6 people on a tour and very few tours sold per day) and got them the day they became available!
Getting to the Harry Potter Studios
And, that brings us to present day. We got up at 7am to get ready and meet our car. (We each slept fitfully, which is not how we wanted to launch this most important day!)
We used Blacklane again to get us to the studios. We could have easily used public transportation and then taken the shuttle bus that runs from the nearest train station to the tours. However, as I said, we were doing today DELUXE, so it was another Blacklane car - our last planned use of that service on the trip.
Gayle will probably tell you all about the car. It was a BMW and very comfortable. (Gayle: It was a black BMW 7 series, most likely electric, as it was silent. We opted for this over public transit, as we were leaving NOTHING to chance!) The drive took about an hour through mostly city streets with just a little bit of highway at the very end. We arrived at the studios at about 9:15am with an admit time for our included breakfast of 9:30am.
The Not So Great Start To The Tour
If there was one bad part of today, this was it. I had a minor freak out yesterday when the standard emails we’d been getting to hype up the visit said we needed to have tickets printed. I mentioned yesterday we have an 82 page guide book that I made for the trip. That guide has every ticket, map, and detail in it that we received. There were NO tickets for Harry Potter. We had a booking number and I’d even called once and added on audio guides to it, so I knew the booking number was good. I called yesterday and they said we didn't need tickets and those emails were just standard for all guests.
So, we arrived today thinking we just needed to wait in line. We waited in the queue to get in (instead of choosing the Ticket Pick up window). When we got to the front of the line, we were sent back to the ticket pick up window to wait in another line. All of this was made worse by the fact it was quite chilly this morning. I follow Gretchen Rubin’s “treat yourself like a toddler rule“ to not let yourself (or Gayle) get too tired, cold, hot, or hungry. This was definitely a too cold moment. We waited in a very slow moving ticket pick up line with only one service window open. When we were almost next up, two guides came out a side door and asked if anyone had Deluxe tickets. We went over to them and had to wait a few more minutes until one of the guides came back out with lanyards for two women who were there extra early. We finally got our lanyards and headed inside.
And it’s all better now
We were taken to a private, velvet-roped dining area in the back of the Food Hall. From a formal, printed menu, wait staff served us beverages, fruit, pastries and then took our orders. I got the breakfast sandwich and Gayle got the pancakes. (Gayle: Note this was a stack of 3 pancakes with blueberries, strawberries, & whipped cream equal to the height of the pancakes. This is what Kara means by “all better now”!)
Once everyone finished breakfast, it was time to head into our tour with our guide Gigi. Gigi has worked at Warner Brothers for about 2 years. She is INCREDIBLE. She went through all that our Deluxe Tour included and then we got to go into the tour through a secret “employee only” door to skip all the lines. Four younger American women were part of our tour.
We proceeded in to watch the intro film in an ante room and then another film of about 5 minutes in a theatre, where we had reserved front row seats. Then we went through the doors of the great hall into the iconic Great Hall set. It was enormous. We were treated to the first of many Magical Mischief moments - which is a feature right now. They did a special effects sequence with fireworks to give a small taste of what was experienced when Fred and George set off fireworks during the OWL exams in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
On The Set
From there, Gigi shepherded our group through our tour. There was a feature on the directors, producers, and screen writers followed by a whole section on costuming, set design, hair, and makeup. Daniel Radcliffe’s scar was actually 2900+ prosthetic silicone scars. He had so many because there were a lot of filming days AND the glue itched and so he would pick them off and have to have them reapplied after his daily education breaks.
In the Yule Ball section we heard how much Emma Watson respected her gown, but after having fallen down the steps on the first take, settled into one of the many “back-ups”. Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood) also used some of her own clothes, as well as helped craft some of her costumes. For some costumes, especially those used in battles, upwards of 30-40 copies were made, each a bit more ravaged than the last. We also learned how Snape’s hair wasn’t entirely black and how J.K. convinced Alan Richman to accept the role, as he was the only person she wanted.
Next we headed to some iconic sets including the boy’s dormitory, the Gryffindor Common room, the Slytherin Common Room and Dumbledore’s office. Dumbledore’s office was one of my favorite sets of the day. The level of detail that the various departments go to is so well demonstrated in this space. It was gorgeous! Plus, there were iconic props like the Sorting Hat, the sword of Gryffindor, the Pensive, and more.
We then headed through the Forbidden Forest. If the Great Hall set was enormous, the Forbidden Forest set was much smaller than I thought it would be. I don’t say that to diminish it - just to marvel at how much was accomplished in really small spaces when they had to use that space to control the environment. They had a standing version of Buckbeak the Hyppogrif (one of my favorite characters) in the entry to the Forbidden forest. Several in our group (including Gayle) chose not to watch as Aragog and his children came out of the trees.
From the Forbidden Forest we made our way to the Ministry of Magic and the Potions classroom, which was another one of my favorites of the tour. The set had more than 1000 “jars of potions” and we got to hear how some were conceived, like fur from what looked like the top of a troll doll with a plastic octopus!
Next, it was onto Platform 9 ¾. The iconic red locomotive is on display here - and you can even walk through it (which I’ll discuss later). There is a short film showing how the locomotive was brought to the studios (via flatbed, covered with a tarp, during the darkness of night), since a real rail line doesn’t exist at Leavesden. It was only after the train was in place were they able to build the Platform around it. (Gayle: Since my last visit, they added a small shop here and an interactive where we learned to fold our own Howler. The shop had House Journals that you could have personalized via embossment. However, they were shockingly out of Ravenclaw, the house of both of us. I say shockingly, as they readily had the same journals in the main gift shop….)
The Backlot
Now at the halfway point, we headed onto the backlot where we got to see the Knight Bus, the scale model of the Burrough, the Hogwarts Bridge, No 4 Privet Drive, and one of the Greenhouses from the castle. We were able to go into Privet Drive and take photos from the iconic letter scene from Harry Potter and the Philosophers/Sorcerers Stone as well as Harry exploding Aunt Marge in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The way they shot that was incredible! The actress had to be placed in slightly larger body suits that were then filled up with air - to make her just a little larger than the previous shot. They did this over and over for several days until they could cut all the shots together and get the final product. Amazing!
We also got to pull baby mandrakes out of the dirt in Herbology class. Luckily no one died.
You could also get photos in a replica of the flying car and the flying motorbike. We didn’t partake in either of those.
Sound Stage 2
Next, it was back onto the tour. You enter into the next sound stage in the Creature Shop where we got to see how they made skin, hair, feathers, and loads of silicone molds of heads, faces, and hands for all the different creatures. There were even feet worn by Luna Lovegood when shooting in the Forbidden Forest. This allowed her to “go barefoot” while keeping her actual feet safe.
Then it was on to another of the biggest sets of the film - Gringotts Bank. The first film was shot in Australia House (Australian “embassy” in the UK). However, for subsequent films, they built a replica on the sound stage. We even got a coin minted for the films and were allowed behind the velvet ropes to work at real desks used by Gringotts Goblins in the film!
There was a second Gringotts set which had been destroyed where we got another fun visual and special effects experience.
Diagon Alley was also a fun set to walk through. It was fun to see all the detail for all the different stores up close. I can see how they melded that together with some exterior London shots to create the effect of Diagon Alley.
We then walked through the art department which included a beautiful recreation of the Art Director’s office as well as several of the concept art pieces featured in the films. Some of them used a little movie magic of their own to transform from the still image the artist created into how they were used in the film. There was also a room full of the white paper models of larger sets.
This brought you to the giant scale model of Hogwarts. There are actually two scale models in the room - the one is the smaller white board version we’d seen through several of the earlier rooms. The main display though is a giant scale model of the castle which changed as the castle was changed throughout the films. Models of many of the rooms do exist inside it and “lipstick cameras” were used to film inside and then used with green screen efforts. Overall, it’s massive and incredible. Here again, we were treated to a “fireworks” display to simulate Fred and George’s triumphant exit out of Hogwarts.
Let the Experiences Begin
At this point, 3.5hrs later!, it was time for Gigi to bid us adieu. We took a quick restroom break and finally checked our coats. She took us back around to the same super sneaky employee entrance and let us back in - getting to skip all the lines as well as skip watching the two entry films again. She also took our picture in front of the doors to the Great Hall! (This was another experience only available with the Deluxe Tour.)
On this trip through, we did all the same stops, but got to meander as long as we wanted and spend more time with things that interested us. Because we had the Deluxe Tour we also got to skip ALL THE LINES!!! So, we got to go to any uniformed team member (they’re called “interactors”) and be whisked straight into each of the various attractions.
We got to fly on brooms.
We were photographed for our wanted posters!
We got to ride on the Hogwarts Express.
We got complimentary Butterbeers along with all of our videos and the posters.
And we got to have our Ministry of Magic ID cards made.
We also sat down and took part in the bonus “Howler” making class that was being offered to everyone on the tour.
We browsed our way through the shops and then headed out to meet our bus at 4:30pm.
A Little Wrap Up
Before I detail the ride home, I’ll provide a little wrap up. We placed a lot of expectations on today - and it DELIVERED!!!! I cannot express how overwhelmed I am to have gotten to have this experience. A year ago, I had just wrapped up chemo and was getting ready to start radiation treatment. Today, I was standing in the middle of sets of one of the most iconic film series of my generation. We had an incredible experience and I’m so unbelievably grateful for every day I get on this earth - and especially for days where memories like this get made.
Gayle: I’m choked up reading the above. My heart is warm and happy hearing how much this meant to Kara. Her review of it is on point. Other than the start, this is right up there with various VIP and Special Tours we’ve had through Disney - so you know those are big words from me!
Back to our Hotel
Kara: As I mentioned at the open, there is a good route of public transport we could take so we hopped on a shuttle headed for Watford Junction train station. This is a National Rail Service line (I think - it might just be London Over Ground). We took that to Watford Station where we caught the Tube to Euston which was a very short bus ride (or walk - but we opted for the bus ride) to our hotel. On the train ride we met two American gentleman here for the wedding of one of their daughters. We lamented stock market losses and more about being American right now.
We headed into the Chambers Club to top off our water and grab a snack before heading up to the room where I sit typing this right now.
If you hung in for all of this - thanks! It was an incredible day and I couldn’t have loved it more.
Kara's Video Summary of the Day
Each day during this trip, Kara made a quick video to recap the day. We're adding each one to the end of the daily posts.
Next up: The Theatre!
On that note… Disclaimer: I (Gayle) am a travel agent with Authorized Disney Travel Planner agency - Off to Neverland Travel. Contact me today for a no-obligation quote!
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