Anyone who knows me will know I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan. Like probably “I’ve read the books an unhealthy amount of times” Harry Potter fan. So when I opened tickets to a VIP tour of Warner Bros Studios on Christmas morning it was extremely exciting. 

The only thing more exciting than opening the tickets was actually going. Since my mom and I were taking a special tour which included breakfast and access to the sets before regular opening time we had to leave super early but it was SO WORTH IT to be able to explore the sets while they were practically empty.

At the beginning of the tour you watch a short video with Daniel, Emma and Rupert and then the screen comes up and reveals the doors to the great hall while the Harry Potter score plays. At that point I absolutely LOST IT and just pretty much ugly cried the entire way through the great hall doors and the rest of the great hall.

 

This was honestly a once in a lifetime experience and I was constantly in awe at the sheer level of detail that was put into all the sets, costumes and props.

I couldn’t believe the amount of work put into literally everything. Every issue of the Daily Prophet had real articles written for it, every jar in the potions room was hand labeled,  every costume was thought out exactly for the character, every oil painting was hand painted. I could go on and on but it is really something you need to experience for yourself and I would 100% recommend it to be one of the top priorities of a trip to London.

One of my absolute favorite *movie magic* secrets I learned while on the tour was about the door from the Chamber of Secrets; I assumed (like a bunch of people) that the moving snake effect was just CG effects but turns out it was REAL. Each snake is perfectly crafted to move along a track, so what you see in the movie was totally real. I was so impressed with the amount of effects that were actually real and not computer animated, from the Goblet of Fire spitting out names to a fully realistic animatronic Hagrid head to make him appear larger.

Of course there was the classic Butterbeer, which somehow tasted more authentic when drinking it on the actual studio sets rather than in the Harry Potter theme park…

I will try and stop overloading with the photos now but if you want to see more be sure to follow my Instagram where I will be posting #tbt’s of the Studio Tour till the end of time probably.

And if you are itching for more Harry Potter related stuff check out my post from when I got to go to the preview days of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Hollywood here.