Warner Bros. London studio tour, was Re: [HPforGrownups] New Harry Potter comes on 31 July!

Wed Aug 10 17:51:10 UTC 2016

No: HPFGUIDX 193011

A few hints for anyone who might go to the tour: 

 1. Buy your ticket online early.  Weekend time slots sell out quickly.

 2. Check the train schedules carefully beforehand.  Some of the trains are express (20 minutes) and some make many many stops (40 minutes).  Ask at the ticket window in London's Euston station if you're not sure.

 3. Take exact change (£2.50 each way per person, cash only) for the bus from Watford Junction station to the WB studios tour.

 4. Even if you buy your HP tour ticket online, you still have to exchange the printed voucher for an actual ticket.  So head for the outside ticket booth (or ticket machine) when you arrive, not the entrance doors.

 5. Don't panic if you're a few minutes late.  The timeslots are just to even out the crowds.  We were 15 minutes past our timeslot by the time we arrived, but we were let into the line with no problem

 6. It's pretty much a self-guided tour.  There's a tour guide initially in the Great Hall (since you have only about 10 minutes in there until the next group is ushered in), but for the rest, you tour at your leisure.

 7. Try to be one of the first in the Great Hall to be able to see as much as possible (and take pictures).  To do this, sit in the first row in the theater beforehand.

 8. After the Great Hall, there are two main buildings, with an outdoor exhibit in between.  Budget about four hours or more total, since there is so much to see.

 9. Make sure there is plenty of memory on your phone or camera--you will take lots of pictures.  Familiarize yourself with the panoramic setting as several of the sets are quite expansive.

 10. These are the actual sets and props, not replicas (several people there didn't seem to realize all of this stuff was actually in the films).

 11. Remember to look up--there are more props stored above the main displays.

 12. Feel free to ask the staff questions--most are big HP fans and love to talk about the exhibits.

 13. There's a cafe just after the first building.  The butterbeer is cheaper (£3, or about $4.50) than in Orlando ($6-6.50), and tastes the same.

 14. All of the stuff in the gift shop at the end is available online on the WB store, if you don't want to carry your purchases all the way back to your London hotel.  Of course, you don't have to pay online shipping charges if you buy at the gift shop, but you do have to pay VAT, so compare UK vs US prices on your phone if it's a pricey item.

kennyg1864

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