Warner Bros. Studio Tour London - The Making of Harry Potter ϟ Throwback

 

All Aboard the Hogwarts Express

No trip to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour would be complete without a visit to Platform 9¾ and the Hogwarts Express. This was definitely one of those parts of the tour where I wanted to stop and take photos of absolutely everything.

The platform itself is beautifully recreated, with its brick walls, old-fashioned station clock, piles of Hogwarts luggage and, of course, the famous luggage trolley disappearing through the wall at Platform 9¾. You can even pose with the trolley yourself and pretend you’re on your way to Hogwarts.

But the real star is obviously the Hogwarts Express.

The enormous scarlet steam train is impossible to miss when you walk onto the platform. The locomotive used for the films was a real British steam engine, GWR 4900 Class 5972 Olton Hall, which was transformed into the Hogwarts Express for the Harry Potter series. Seeing it up close is quite different from seeing it on screen. It’s huge, incredibly detailed and immediately recognisable.

You can also walk through a recreation of the Hogwarts Express carriage and look inside the compartments. They’re filled with little details from the students’ journeys to Hogwarts, including luggage and sweets from the trolley. Looking through the windows, you can also see how the filmmakers created the illusion that the train was travelling through the British countryside.

The train scenes weren’t simply filmed by sending the actors off on a railway journey every time. A carriage interior was constructed at Leavesden Studios, while moving scenery could be added outside the windows during production. It’s another lovely example of how the Studio Tour lets you see the filmmaking tricks behind something that feels completely real when you watch the finished films.

There’s also a lovely bit of Harry Potter history connected to the Hogwarts Express. The train was there at both ends of the filmmaking journey: the station was the setting for one of the earliest scenes filmed for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, and it returned for the final scene of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, when an adult Harry, Ron and Hermione send their own children off to Hogwarts.

I think that’s part of what makes seeing the Hogwarts Express so special. For ten years of films, it represented the beginning and end of every Hogwarts year. Harry would leave the ordinary world behind, board the train at Platform 9¾ and head back to the place that really felt like home.

Standing beside it at the Studio Tour, with the Hogwarts Castle sign on the side of the bright red engine, it’s difficult not to feel a tiny bit like you should have brought your own trunk and owl.

Sadly, mine must have been lost somewhere at King’s Cross.

 

Today was my first day with physical therapy. My trainer/physical therapist, Camilla, arrived at 11.00, and we sat and talked for a bit while she took notes. Lasse's mum was so kind as to join us and help out. Then we talked about getting me some help to make showering on my own easier, so she is going to contact one of her colleagues about that and get me a shower chair. We did these exercises, which I will be doing daily from now on, and then Camilla will adjust the exercises if needed. 

When we did the exercises, I was honestly surprised by how difficult it was. My mind and body aren't on the same page, because when I saw the exercises, I thought Easy! But it was quite difficult, and it actually took my breath away. 

We made a new appointment for next week, and now it is up to me to keep going with the exercises daily. She also suggested keeping a diary of my exercises, which, of course, I will. Any excuse to write in a notebook and make lists. 

♡

Warner Bros. Studio Tour London - The Making of Harry Potter ϟ Throwback

 

Stepping Into the Great Hall

And then you get to enter the Great Hall.

This is probably one of the first moments of the Studio Tour where it really hits you that you’re standing inside the world from the films. You walk through the enormous doors and suddenly the Great Hall is right there in front of you – the long house tables, the stone floor, the teachers’ table at the far end and costumes representing the different Hogwarts houses.

And this isn’t a recreation made for the tour. This is the actual Great Hall set.

It was one of the first sets built for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone back in 2000 and went on to become one of the most important and recognisable sets of the entire film series. It was used for everything from Hogwarts feasts and Sorting Ceremonies to the Yule Ball and the Battle of Hogwarts.

There are so many little details to look at once you’re inside. At the front of the hall is the teachers’ table, along with Dumbledore’s lectern, and behind it you can see the enormous House Points Counter filled with thousands upon thousands of tiny glass beads.

Even the floor beneath your feet is part of the original set. Rather than using something that only looked like stone, the filmmakers laid real York stone because the Great Hall needed to survive years of filming and hundreds of students walking across it.

One detail I particularly love is the house tables. They were deliberately aged for the films, but some of the graffiti carved into them came from the young actors themselves. Production designer Stuart Craig actually encouraged it because Hogwarts was supposed to be a real school – and what school tables survive generations of students without somebody carving something into them?

There is one thing missing when you look up, though: the enchanted ceiling.

The physical Great Hall obviously couldn't have an endless magical sky above it, so the enchanted ceiling we see in the films was created with visual effects. Even the famous floating candles eventually became a digital effect. Real suspended candles were originally tried during the first film, but the heat caused problems with the wires holding them up, so the filmmakers turned to visual effects instead.

It’s also strange seeing the Great Hall without hundreds of Hogwarts students filling the benches. It somehow feels both much bigger and much smaller than it does on screen.

But standing there, looking towards the teachers’ table and knowing how many iconic Harry Potter scenes were filmed in that exact room, is incredibly special.

For a few minutes, you really do get to feel like you’ve walked into Hogwarts.

Warner Bros. Studio Tour London - The Making of Harry Potter ϟ Throwback

 

The Studio Tour Begins

Once you’re inside, it doesn’t take long before you start seeing things you immediately recognise from the films. One of the things I love about the Studio Tour is that it isn’t really trying to feel like a theme park. It’s much more about stepping behind the scenes and seeing the actual sets, props, costumes and tiny details that went into creating the Harry Potter films.

And one of the first familiar sights is a particularly small cupboard.

The Cupboard Under the Stairs

Before you’ve even properly started the tour, you get to see the Cupboard Under the Stairs at Number Four, Privet Drive – Harry’s rather miserable little bedroom before Hogwarts came along and changed everything.

It’s such a simple set compared with some of the enormous things you’ll see later, but that almost makes it more special. It’s one of those instantly recognisable pieces of Harry Potter history: the tiny space beneath the stairs, filled with Harry’s belongings, where the story begins before he has any idea that he’s a wizard.

Seeing it in person also gives you a completely different appreciation for the amount of detail that went into the films. Things that only appear on screen for a relatively short amount of time were still carefully dressed and designed to make Harry’s world feel real.

Number Four, Privet Drive

Later in the Studio Tour, you get to see something even more familiar: Number Four, Privet Drive itself.

The exterior of the Dursleys’ house sits in the Backlot alongside several other iconic outdoor sets and props. After seeing Privet Drive so many times in the films, there’s something wonderfully strange about suddenly standing right in front of that very ordinary-looking suburban house.

And really, it’s the perfect Harry Potter location. The whole story begins in one of the least magical places imaginable – a painfully normal house on a painfully normal street, occupied by a family determined to pretend that magic doesn’t exist.

Then the Hogwarts letters start arriving.

Standing in front of Number Four is one of those moments where the films suddenly feel very tangible. You’re not looking at a replica inspired by Harry Potter. You’re surrounded by pieces of the filmmaking world that actually helped bring the story to life.

For something as ordinary as a little house on Privet Drive, it feels surprisingly magical.

Warner Bros. Studio Tour London - The Making of Harry Potter ϟ Throwback

 

There’s something ridiculously exciting about arriving at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter. You haven’t even stepped inside yet, but the moment you start seeing the signs for the Studio Tour, it suddenly feels real. After years of watching the films and knowing these were the studios where the Harry Potter series was actually made, you’re finally there.

If you’re driving, the whole arrival is really straightforward. There’s a large car park directly outside the Studio Tour and regular parking is included with your ticket, so there’s no additional parking fee to worry about. You do need to have your booking confirmation ready when you arrive, as it’s checked by the parking team before you’re allowed onto the site.

From the main car park, it’s only a short walk to the entrance. There is also Priority Parking right next to the entrance, which can be booked in advance for an additional fee, as well as designated accessible parking spaces close to the building.

And honestly, even the walk from the car park is part of the excitement.

The huge studio buildings aren’t exactly Hogwarts – you are very much arriving at a working film studio rather than a theme park – but seeing the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter sign across the front of the building gives you that immediate little oh my God, we’re here feeling.

Outside the entrance there are already things to stop and look at, take photos of and generally get far too excited about before you’ve even made it through the doors. It’s a nice introduction to what the Studio Tour actually is. This isn’t supposed to be a recreation of the Wizarding World somewhere else; you’re visiting the place where so much of it was originally created.

Happy September 1st! Back to Hogwarts!

 

For the next two weeks, the blog will be a bit Harry Potter-themed, due to it being September and we are celebrating going back to Hogwarts! I will share everything Harry Potter-related I can think of ϟ and I wish my fellow geeks a Happy Back to Hogwarts time!