The London Harry Potter Experience – Part One

If you’re in London and are a Harry Potter fan, be sure to visit Warner Bros. Studio north of town and see the Harry Potter Experience.

A dragon greets visitors to the Harry Potter Experience.

Now before we take a look at the first part of our tour, we actually have to travel to get there.

The long escalator down into the Tube, London’s subway.

So to get there, you take the tube to a railway station. Then take the train for about another 30 minutes. Then there is an express bus at the train station which takes you directly to Warner Bros. Studio and the Harry Potter Experience. The tube in London is well maintained and, unlike Paris, has lots of security around at all the station platforms.

Some of the costumes worn in the Harry Potter movies.

Underneath the watchful eye of the dragon are several of the costumes worn by the actors in the Harry Potter movies. This is where you wait until it is your turn to start the tour. Yes, there is a short line but you can’t get in the line until it is close to your appointed time to start the tour.

In case you’re wondering where you are in the Harry Potter worlds.

After a multimedia presentation, visitors disgorge onto Privet Drive where they will immediately recognize the first set from the movies.

Someone lived under that staircase.

This is the actual set which shows where a very young Harry Potter was forced to live in the first movie and book.

The huge dining hall.

One of the tables in the huge dining hall. The gigantic set, which had tables for all four houses and the head table for the headmaster and professors, was built for the first movie. It was saved and used in all the movies, with changes as needed for the story.

One of the student robe costume used in the movie.

Along the sides of the dining hall are some of the costumes used by actors playing student wizards in the movies. Did I say this set is huge? It really is.

Some costumes worn by actors playing wizard professors.

In front of the head table, where Dumbledore and other professors sat, are some of the costumes worn by actors playing the different teaching roles.

More professorial costumes.

The costumes worn by the various actors playing professors are quite intricate and detailed. Dumbledore didn’t really want to be seen, so his costume was hidden by this statue of Faulks.

Snapes, a tour guide, Hagrid and the caretaker costumes.

Besides costumes, all of the professor actors also wore wigs. Well except for the tour guide in the blue jacket.

The floating candles.

The floating candles above the dining hall were initially done by hanging them on wires. But that proved problematic. Real lit candles caused problems. And the additional effects needed in the dining hall in later movies required them to be done with computer graphics. But these electrically powered ones show that on a wire they can be quite effective if need be.

It looks like ice, but it’s not.

An “ice sculpture” used in the movie, but it’s really made of plastic – as are all the glasses in this setting.

Anyone want a chocolate treat?

Some of the chocolates used at a dessert table in the movies. Uh, don’t try to eat these, they’re made of plastic. Notice the details on both the “chocolates” and the serving dishes.

The staircase of portraits.

In the first movie, only a few of the portraits of dead wizards moved. In later movies, they moved more and more and became integral in the movie storylines and plots.

A Gryffindor dorm room.

This is the dorm room where Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) stayed when at Hogwarts. On the right is their heater. The beds are made up as they would have been when no students were in the room.

An interesting magical device.

This was one of the “slide projectors” used during the teaching of the Defense Against the Dark Arts. This is an actual prop used in the movie, and notice the professor costume and wig on the left.

A magical collection of movie props

The worlds of Harry Potter required a large number of custom made props for use in the movies.

Would you like to dance?

These are the instructions for dancing “The Witch Waltz.” Check out the fancy script in the written instructions.

Potions and more.

Look at all those jars on the wall. This is where the young wizards learned to make their various potions. All the props are from the movies, along with costumes worn by a couple of the actors in the movies.

The Gryffindor main room

This is the main sitting room in the Gryffindor dorm. The costumes were worn by the three lead actors in the movies. The furniture were purchased, then dressed or aged to look like they belonged there. The carpet was aged to look like it had been on the floor for decades.

A fancy timepiece from the movie.

Well the clock on the wall (from the movies) says this is it for this edition. Want to see more? Then move on to Part Two!

Be sure to read the other stories from my trip to London including:

A visit to Westminster Abbey and Big Ben

Boating on the Thames

The Power of the Tower of London -Part One

The Power of the Tower of London – Part 2 – The Crown Jewels and Torture

Touring London’s Tower Bridge

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