Last Thursday myself, James and two of our friends went to the Warner Bros Harry Potter Studio Tour. This is something I've been wanting to do for ages and even the 3.5 hour car journey down to London wasn't going to stop me!
The Studio tour took us about 2.5 hours to get round, although it can take a lot longer if you're planning on stopping and taking in every little detail! There was so much to see, from model replicas of all the buildings used in the films (inc Hogwarts itself) to costumes wore by the actors and even the opportunity to ride broomsticks infront of a green screen.
My favourite part of the whole tour was Diagon Alley which just had the most magical feel as you walked through it (although I have to say I was a bit disappointed by the fact you could only see the outside of the shops and couldn't actually go in) and the outdoors section which had Privet Drive, The Knight Bus, Godrics Hollow and Hagrids Motorbike as well as the opportunity to purchase Butterbeer, which tasted delicious! We decided to book to go in December because we heard that the tour is really christmassy around then and I have to say, it really was! There was a demonstration of how fake snow was made for the films, 2 huge christmas trees, an outdoor snow machine that really made it feel like it was snowing, general christmas decorations dotted around and the opportunity to buy Mulled wine and Mulled cider off the menu and this all made the tour extra special.
I did have a few gripes about the tour, mainly the quality of crowd control as it was extremely busy and you had to queue to see a lot of things. Although I'm sure the aim is to make as much money as they can, I do think that the tour would benefit from a limit to the amount of people in each time slot so there isn't overcrowding. On the subject of making money the souvenirs at the gift shop were ridiculously overpriced, and I mean ridiculously overpriced..I'm talking £9 or £10 for a keyring, £70-80 for a jumper etc. I do feel as though the tour would also benefit from actually having somewhere warm and indoors to sit and drink your butterbeer and any food you purchase (The three broomsticks perhaps!) rather than having to stand outside, especially in the cold winter months. One of my favourite things about the Harry Potter tour is that everyone is as much of a Harry Potter nerd as you are, so you can take as many selfies infront of Hogwarts as you like without feeling embarrased..because everyone's doing the same ;)
So on the whole, and for the £30 price of a ticket, there is so much to see here and so much to do that it is in my opinion a fantastic day out and most definately worth the entry fee.
Abigail Bryony xx
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