Warner Brothers Studio Tour - The Making of Harry Potter

June 25, 2012

Today was the day for the behind the scenes studio tour of the Harry Potter film sets.  The kids were really excited.  Jason was jumping out of his skin.  We arrived at the studios at 9:30 a.m. and we had reservations at 10:30 a.m.  Our timing was perfect as it opens at 9:30 a.m.  David had read up on some websites that sometimes they let you in earlier than your reserved time.  He was right, as we went in right as they opened.

The first “set” piece we saw was the “cupboard under the stairs”.  It sits right by the area where you line up to go into the short “guided tour” portion of the studios.  The guided part is only a short bit at the very beginning.  

As we waited in line, we were right at the front and were able to sit and chat with the people that worked there.  They were really excited about their jobs and told us stories about the actors.  Apparently Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) broke his wand many times over the course of the 10 years of filming because he used it for drumming all of the time.  Thomas Felton (Draco Malfoy) is the only one who kept his original wand the entire ten years.  We were also told that Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood) is not acting, that she is actually like that in real life.

They also talked about the many people who come dressed up.  One of the best was a really tall guy dressed as Hagrid and wearing platform shoes to make him even taller.  Others were a creepily accurate Bellatrix Lastrange, a Deatheater, amd a snitch (really)

After a short intro and film, we were led into the Great Hall.  You only have about fifteen minutes here.  It is a One-way tour, which means once you leave an area, you can’t go back and return to it.  The Great Hall is the only one where they make you leave after the fifteen minutes.  All of the other areas you can stay in as long as you like.

The long house tables were all set up.  Griffindor…

Slytherin…

The head table for the professors…

The great fireplace…

This is a close up of the table settings.  I never noticed the bore heads on the pitchers before.  I am looking forward to watching the movies again.

Danika loved looking at the wardrobes, especially Hermione’s ball gown, and Ron’s dress robes…

Then it was on to Griffindor Tower to see the common room, stairs leading to the dorm rooms, and Harry’s dorm room.  Apparently the common room was a favorite of everyone on set.  When it was not being used for filming, people would just go there to relax...we were not allowed to...

We had to stand in front of the Mirror of Erised…

Then it was off to Dumbledoor’s office and his pensive…

We couldn’t miss the potion’s classroom as Professor Snape is David's role model...

Then there was the case of horcruxes…

Off to Hagrid’s cabin…

And the Weasley’s kitchen.  This was cool because they had wands that you could point at things to do the work like cutting vegetables, doing dishes, knitting, etc.  It was all set up how it worked for the films.

Then it was off to the Ministry of Magic…

The unfortunate changes after the Ministry fell.  This statue was hand carved by a professional sculptor.  The detail was amazing...

Professor Umbridge’s office.

And her wardrobe, which got progressively pinker as she worked her way up in the Ministry…

Then we went outside and the kids jumped on the Knight bus...

Check out the sleeping arrangements inside the bus…

Then they jumped in Sirrius' motorbike which was given to Hagrid…

Couldn’t miss a spin in the Ford Anglia.  Who wouldn’t love a flying car?

Check out the odometer...

This was the only section of this bridge actually constructed.  The rest was done in CGI.

Number four Privet Drive…

Jame’s and Lily’s home in Godrick’s Hollow…

One of the giant chess pieces in the first movie…

After exploring around outside for some time, we all needed some refreshment.  We were so excited to get some butterbeer because it was fabulous when we had it in Orlando at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  Unfortunately they did not have the blended version.  But I must say, even the regular version was not up to the standards set in Orlando.  Apparently it is the same recipe, but it didn’t taste very good at all.  It was a bit of a disappointment.  Still, it was nice sitting outside in the sunshine on Privet Drive J

The next building housed all of the animatronics. Much of Hagrid’s work was done by a really tall guy wearing platforms with his head covered by an animatronic head made to look like Hagrid.

Aragog the spider was pretty scary.  I was surprised to learn that all of the hair on his legs was sewn on by hand.

Of course we loved Diagon Alley.  We only wished we could go into all of the shops…

Then it was into the set design area.  It was really interesting to see so many things mocked up in paper first.  This paper model of the prefect’s bathroom even has the stained glass window with the mermaid.

A paper model of Hogwarts…

Then there is this beautiful scale model of Hogwarts (1:24) and the surrounding grounds that takes up an entire room…

There are touch screens where you can learn what goes on in each part of the castle and grounds…

You can walk 360 degrees around it, so I did, and I took pictures the entire way…

Last of all is a look inside Olivander’s wand shop.

After all of that, you enter the store where you can buy anything and everything.  I really wanted to get Danika a timeturner, but they were sold out.  She ended up choosing a Slytherin jacket and Jason chose Draco’s wand.  

After going shopping we just snapped a few pics of the giant posters of some of our favorite cast members…

We had such a great time together as a family because all four of us are Harry Potter fans J

~Mary