Harry Potter Studio Tour

 We loved reading Harry Potter to our kids when they were growing up - waiting for each book to come out and then reading it to them, or as they got older waiting for them to read it themselves so that we could read the books ourselves. We’ve enjoyed the movies as well, so visiting the Harry Potter Studio tour was high on our list of things to do in London. We had a great time, although it was a very long day and we were all exhausted by the end of it.

The Gringotts Dragon greets you as you enter the waiting hall for the tour

The door to enter the great hall of Hogwarts and the beginning of the tour (we were a bit excited)

The Gryffindor side of the Great Hall

The entrance to Dumbledore’s office

Dumbledore’s Office

A staircase set

The Hogwarts Express

Ron and Harry on the Hogwarts Express

The Night Bus

Diagon Alley

Eeylop’s Owl Emporium

The outside of Gringotts bank (bigature)

Inside Gringotts (it was VERY impressive)

The special effects in the destroyed section of Gringotts was impressive

All the animals used in the making of the films

Buckbeak in the Forbidden Forrest was animatronic & moved and made sounds (Skye wasn’t impressed)

Harry’s Letter from Hogwarts 

Part way through the tour we stopped for a Butter Beer (it tasted like melted ice cream). We were allowed to take the cup home.

The Hogwarts Bridge

This is a small part of the model of the exterior of Hogwarts Castle - it was massive and super impressive. It was used for all the external shots and took over 7 months to make. Every single shingle on every roof was placed by hand.

At the end of the tour there are wands in boxes with names for all the people who worked on the films, which we thought was a lovely way to do the end credits.

After the tour we were exhausted

…..and so was Skye