Travel Diary: Warner Bros. Studio Tour in London – Hogwarts in the Snow!

Here it is... the entire reason behind my husband's and my trip to the U.K. in December 2022: Visiting the Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studio Tour for Hogwarts in the Snow!

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Y'all know I love the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando (and the Harry Potter books in general). One of my friends suggested visiting the actual sets in London over Christmas, my favorite time of the year — and a time when the set would be dressed up for the holidays to look like the Yule Ball from Goblet of Fire!

I was immediately intrigued (obviously), and more so once we learned that my husband could be out of the office the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve... so we started planning to visit the U.K. over that week! Unfortunately, my friend who first suggested the tour to us was unable to join (but I told her I would of course be happy to go back with her any time).

Click here to read my travel diary of spending 4 days in London during the holidays!

things to know:

• Once you know that you want to visit the Studio Tour and when, book your tickets immediately. When I booked our tickets in September 2022, there was only one time (6:30pm) on one day (Thursday, December 29) that had any availability during the entire week we were in the U.K. The rest of the times and dates had already been sold out.
• If the studio does sell out, I've read that you can purchase tour tickets through sites like Viator (affiliate link).
• The studio is not a theme park. While there are some interactive activities (from waving your studio wand to cause "magic," to riding a broomstick), there aren't any rides.
• The tour is entirely self-guided, so you can decide how much you want to linger at different parts, though you have the option to purchase an audio tour. (The only time constraint is in the Great Hall at the beginning; staff will eventually move you along for other tours to walk through.)
• Since our tour was at 6:30pm (the last tour of the evening!), and the studio closes at 10pm, we only had 3.5 hours, which I was worried wasn't enough. But we had more than enough time to complete the tour and check out the gift shop!
• The tour starts with a waiting room that has quotes, key dates, and posters for the 8 movies; then you head into a standing cinema to hear the rules of the tour from the staff (and the Phelps twins, who played Gred and Forge Weasley). After that, you enter a seated auditorium for a quick film, and then the tour begins in earnest as you walk through the doors of the Great Hall!
• Watch all the movies before you go! That way, all the details will be fresh in your mind as you see them in person.
• Download the free Harry Potter Fan Club app (and pick up your free Activity Passport) to enhance your visit.
• If you want to dress for your visit, go for it. We saw people dressed in anything from Muggle outfits to wizarding robes.
• A portion of the tour is outdoors, so dress appropriately, and wear comfortable shoes.
• Apparently the studio switches up the exhibits, in order to keep the tour feeling fresh and different. Check the website for special events!
• The majority of the studio is accessible (there are some areas, like climbing the stairs into the Hogwarts Express, that aren't).
• If you have a portable phone charger, I would recommend bringing it. I was on the Wifi, but my phone battery still drained faster than I'd expected.
• The studio is more or less split into 2 sections, separated by the backlot.
• The first section starts with the Great Hall and then leads into a large space with the Gryffindor dormitory, Potions classroom, and the Burrow, among others. Then you'll walk through the Forbidden Forest and eventually come to Platform 9 ¾ and the Hogwarts Express, before making your way to the Backlot Café.
• The outdoor area after the Backlot Café includes 4 Privet Drive, the Knight Bus, Professor Sprout's greenhouse, the Hogwarts exterior bridge, and Hagrid's motorbike and the Weasleys' Ford Anglia.
• The second portion of the tour includes exhibits on the special effects, Diagon Alley, Gringott's Wizarding Bank, and the Hogwarts model; it then leads into the gift shop.
• The staff recommended that we plan to finish up the first part and be at the Backlot Café within 1.5 or 2 hours, to ensure we had enough time for the second half.
• Still not enough Harry Potter for you? There are other tours you can do in London! Last time, we did the Tour for Muggles. 

The layout of the tour

how to get to the studio:

• The studio tour isn't actually in London proper.
• Take national rail, the Underground, a bus, an Uber, or a combination of the three to get to Watford Junction (all except Uber accept an Oyster card or Apple Pay). Once you arrive at Watford Junction, there is a shuttle affiliated with the studio to take you directly to the studio.
• The day of our trip, national rail had track issues, so we had to deviate to a bus to complete the last 30 minutes of our journey to Watford Junction. 
• Here is more information on how to get to the studio.

photo diary:

Walking through the queue up to the ticket counter and I was clearly very excited! 

We arrived about 30 minutes before our 6:30pm tour was scheduled to begin, and we didn't have a wait at all before entering.

Jacket: Barbour Pilton Quilton Jacket (old, similar here) | Scarf: J. Crew | Jeans: Old Navy (affiliate link) | Wand: Amazon (affiliate link) 

The entrance had Ron's chess pieces from the first book/movie!!!!!

The lobby of the studio... complete with a flying dragon above, the Chocolate Frog Café and Food Hall straight ahead, the official tour entrance on the right, and the gift shop/Hub Café to the right in this photo.

Flannel: Old Navy | Tank top: Etsy (affiliate link) | Jeans: Old Navy | Sneakers: Adidas (also available here and here, affiliate links)

After taking a few photos in the lobby/entrance hall, we made our way to the official tour entrance. After hearing the rules for the tour and watching a brief film, it was time for ...

... the entrance to the Great Hall!!!

The guide asked if anyone was there to celebrate a special occasion, and when I said we were there for our anniversary, she called us up to be the ones to open the doors while we all said "welcome to Hogwarts" :-)

During "Hogwarts in the Snow," the Great Hall is decked out for the holidays and the Yule Ball

Two of Hogwarts' newest students

Although I guess we're now old enough to be Hogwarts professors...

The Mirror of Erised showed me as a witch in Hogwarts, obviously

Also, you can see behind me the layout of the first part of the tour — you just wander from area to area, depending on what interests you.

Harry and Ron's Gryffindor dormitory room. Apparently, they used this set throughout all the movies, which caused problems because the set was so small and because the beds were built when the actors were younger (and shorter) in the first movie!

Harry Potter ring: Etsy (also available here, affiliate links) | Wand: Amazon (affiliate link)

Dumbledore's office...

Richard Harris >>>

Yes, my husband bought a "Snape" costume (kinda just looks like black robes to me, though...) and yes, I made him pose with Dumbledore's Pensieve! :-)

"Get in loser... we're going to Hogwarts!" Obviously had to take a photo in my tank top in front of the Weasleys' Ford Anglia

Taking it all in... while carrying my wand, passport, phone, jacket, and purse, haha!

Purse: Longchamp (also available here, affiliate links)

The amount of detail into the sets was incredible — like this fact about the Burrow's crooked walls and sloped surfaces.

The new Nimbus 2000!

Entering the Forbidden Forest for our midnight detention (aka moving on to the next section of the tour)

Harry Potter ring: Etsy (also available here, affiliate links) | Wand: Amazon (affiliate link)

I took WAY too many photos like this... (also, did you see the centaur in the corner of the photo?)

Buckbeak and me bowing to each other

I had to help my husband through the platform, he might be a Squib...

Boarding the Hogwarts Express and looking for a compartment was an occasion that obviously called for a selfie.

Made our way to the Backlot Cafe! Where we got burgers and butterbeer.

The studio has a rinsing station outside the Backlot Café in the corner, so we washed our sticky souvenir butterbeer mugs so I could stick them in my purse (just one of the reasons I was glad I'd brought a larger purse!)

The area outside the Backlot Cafe (where there is also outside seating — unfortunately, it was just too cold to sit outside during our tour).

You can also see the exterior of Hogwarts to the left... and some (fake) snow!!!

I think I said "Lumos!" about 100 times.

Off to look for Horcruxes! (Or just head to Diagon Alley)

The Knight Bus appeared after I stuck out my wand hand.

I have to admit I'm not actually a huge fan of the Harry Potter MOVIES, I think they could have been better adaptations. But this scene always makes me laugh that Harry was physically incapable of grabbing ONE letter off the floor.

This was our last photo op outside in the Backlot (we didn't get any photos inside Professor Sprout's greenhouse), and I had to show off my tank top next to the Ford Anglia again.

Flannel: Old Navy | Tank top: Etsy (affiliate link) | Jeans: Old Navy | Sneakers: Adidas (also available here and here, affiliate links)

We started the next part of the tour with exhibits on special effects.

Then we made our way down Diagon Alley!

Checking on my gold in Gringotts Bank!

The methods for building Gringotts and making it look so luxurious were legit fascinating to learn (but I won't spoil it for you!)

Broke into the Lestranges' vault

The Hogwarts model at the end of the tour

The tour ends at the gift shop, which also has an entrance into the lobby. I wanted to buy everything in the shop, especially some of the sweaters!

links I used or recommend:

• Fandom Fashionista: "Guide to the Harry Potter Studio Tour in London"

Overall, we had the BEST time at the studio. I wish we'd had the opportunity to see the backlot when the sun was still out (or to do the afternoon tea!), but I'm just so glad we got tickets at all. It was the perfect final activity for our London trip!

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