My Amazing Journey to the Warner Brothers Studio Tour Part 4

This is the fourth and final part of my account of my Warner Brothers Studio Tour trip. So far I've seen the Great Hall, Gryffindor Common Room, Dumbledore's Office and Ministry of Magic amongst many other iconic sets and props. Could the tour possibly get any better? Oh yes, it can.

From the gorgeous graphics display, visitors leave the first section of the tour by a door which leads out to a courtyard. Two things face you immediately when you step outside: the very ordinary-looking Number 4 Privet Drive and the obviously magical triple-decker Knight Bus.

This could easily be any street in Britain

                   Unfortunately not normally seen on streets in Britain                      

Other features of the courtyard include the Hogwarts Bridge, Flying Ford Anglia and Sirius' motorbike. The great thing about this area is that, unlike the other props and set pieces, you are welcome to touch and stand/sit on many of the buildings and vehicles. I can officially and proudly say that I have touched Harry Potter's door knocker as well as gone for a ride in the Ford Anglia (well, in my head, anyway).

If you squint hard, me and my partner could almost pass for Harry and Ron

The courtyard also offers visitors the chance to buy a cup of Butterbeer! I wouldn't say I was particularly taken with it (it was like a mix of Irn Bru, Cream Soda and whippy cream) but at least I've given it a try.

After the excitement of the courtyard, I found the next section of the tour- animatronics and prosthetics- a little less thrilling, although still very interesting.  This is the most 'behind the scenes' part of the tour and some of the things you'll see here include life-size models of actors and creatures, a dementor backback (yes, really!) and rows of goblin heads. I was most surprised by a talking Hagrid head, unceremoniously plonked on top of a stack of crates, which was used for Robbie Coltrane's double in the films.

Or maybe this is what Hagrid always looked like under his coat?

I left the animatronics room expecting another room of technical stuff but was instead met with....

Squeeeeeeeeee!

Diagon Alley! My absolute favourite place in the books and films! And it was definitely my favouirte part of the Studio Tour too, even though it was pretty crowded. The facades were so beautiful; I longed to head into Olivanders to browse the wands and stroll into Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour for an extravagant sundae.

One scoop of champagne ice cream with gold sprinkles, please

Maybe after an ice cream, I could pick up a copy of Magical Me...

Or browse the puking pastilles and joke wands in Weasley's Wizard Wheezes....

 

 

But either way, I'd definitely need a visit to Gringott's first to collect some gold!

                                  

It's easy to get carried away when visiting this part of the tour! The lighting in Diagon Alley changed from day to night every few minutes which was nice and atmospheric, but I also would have loved to hear some soundscapes too- maybe some owls hooting and witches and wizards chatting in the street. Or perhaps even the music from the film that is played when Harry first visits Diagon Alley. Overall though, this was- apologies for the cliche- an absolutely magical part of the tour.

The next section of the tour was a collection of artwork and paper models which were a bit of an anticlimax after Diagon Alley, but I'd like to spend more time looking at them on a second visit. 

The final part of the tour was- judging by others' reviews- many people's favourite part of the Studio Tour. It was the large scale model of Hogwarts.

                         

Harry Potter figure not included

I don't want to downplay how magnificent this model is; it really is beautiful and intricately detailed. It is also massive. It's hard to explain the scale of the model but it took up an entire studio room by itself and visitors could walk around the entirety of the model to view it from every angle.  I think I would have been more impressed if every newspaper and internet review I'd seen of the Warner Brothers Studio Tour before my visit hadn't printed a massive picture of the model and gushed over how it was the highlight of the tour. That said, the tour wouldn't have been complete without Hogwarts I am very happy to have seen it.

Visitors exit the tour through a room filled with wand boxes, each displaying the name of a person who contributed to the creation of the films.

                           

 As you head toward the exit and into the gift shop, you are met with a screen displaying this quote from J.K. Rowling which is a fitting and touching end to the tour:

                         

N.B. I visited the Warner Brothers Studio Tour back in 2012 and there have been a few additions since this time, most notably the Dark Arts exhibit. With any luck, I'll be able to go again soon to see the changes!