In 1999, the Harry Potter film credits were sold to Warner Bros. for $ 1 million by J. K. Rowling. It gave you Potterheads a Harry Potter Museum London, as a souvenir, for those 8 commendable Harry Potter movies.
The Warner Bros Studio is situated right outside London, in Leavesden, Watford Junction. And time went by like it always does, but in the meantime, it rewarded everyone with the great story of the wizarding world.
There is nothing much to do around Watford Junction besides visiting the Harry Potter Museum. On the contrary, there is so much to do inside the Warner Brothers Studio that you will forget about the area around.
The Harry Potter Museum in London may take three and a half hours to cover. Now, if you are a “Muggle”, it might seem crazy to you, but if you are not, you would want to explore everything in detail and never want to leave the Warner Brothers’ Studios.
You will get to see both Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade in the Harry Potter Museum Tour. You can cover the whole place in one day, but it will call you back because of the magic it holds over every Harry Potter fan.
The Warner Brother Studio – The Making of Harry Potter actually is a public attraction, where all the props and details have been shown. The actual movie scenes have been shot in another studio.
These studios contain all the costumes, props, and sets from the movie. The Harry Potter Museum London was opened in 2012, and today, 6000 people visit per day on the busiest days of the year.
The place gives you a tour of all the mystical places like Hogwarts, King’s Cross Station, Diagon Alley, and 9 3/4 Station, as shown in the world of Harry Potter.
In case you are wondering how to cover the whole studio tour in one day, we are here to share with you all the do’s and don’t(s) of the Warner Bros Studio in London.
Here are 20 important things not to miss if you will be visiting the Harry Potter World of London for the first time ever!
Harry Potter Museum London Guide
1. Book Tickets
First things first, book the tickets to the Harry Potter Museum London.
You should apply for them in advance, from 4 to 6 months prior to visiting, so you can get your wanted day and time.
A pro tip would be to purchase tickets at the earliest time, which is 9 am. You must be wondering why. It is because the entrance ticket has a set time, but they don’t have an exit time.
There will be less crowd, so it will help you capture good pictures. And you will get to see it in more detail. So keep this thing in mind when you book tickets.
It is also advisable to book tickets on a weekday because, on weekends, Warner Bros Studio, London, occupies more space for more Potter Heads like you.
You should choose the route from Birmingham New Street or Euston London to reach Watford Junction, and then comes the shuttle bus service to the Harry Potter Studios when visiting from Central London.
Book your tickets from Victoria Station to the Harry Potter Museum London. The route from the underground Victoria Station to the studio tour in London is the cheapest.
It will take almost an hour to reach there. There is also a direct bus that you can take to the Harry Potter Studios.
2. Print Tickets
When you book tickets, you should print them off right after them.
Doing this will save you a lot of time observing the beauty of Warner Bros Studio, as when you reach the Harry Potter Museum in London, you won’t have to wait long for the entrance tickets.
3. Carry Warm Clothes
Even though the Harry Potter Studio Tour will keep you so engaged to be aware of the weather around you, you should carry a jacket or some kind of warm layer with you.
Because even though the studio in London from the inside is warm and cozy, the tour also includes Diagon Alley and stepping outside might give you some chills, literally!
Carry your layers from the Muggle World because the Magical World doesn’t have spells to create jackets for you.
You will also need your warm layers on the tour drive to reach the Harry Potter Museum London.
4. Charge Devices
Harry Potter fans need to charge their devices to their full capacity and be ready to fill all the devices with the magical attributes of Harry Potter World.
Harry Potter films seem exciting to watch but imagine being in the original Hogwarts express and the original Hogwarts itself.
Entering the Great Hall just like other Hogwarts students, seeing Goblins sitting at Gringotts Bank, purchasing your wand at Ollivander Wand Shop. You can even capture an Invisibility Cloak. Don’t worry; it won’t disappear!
Your devices may need space and battery to be filled with all these scenarios. Get your devices and battery chargers ready because you won’t find any of them in Diagon Alley.
5. Give Your Time
When booking tickets for the Harry Potter Museum, make sure to enter the allowance of visit for the whole day so that you can see everything warner bros has been showing you in all of those 8 movies.
The tour of the Harry Potter Museum, London, has a lot to offer you. You will see statues of all the Harry Potter characters, especially those who must not be named; famous sets like that of the Victoria Coach Station, Diagon Alley, Dumbledore’s Office, Ollivander Wand Shop, Gringotts Wizarding Bank and whatnot!
You will also be given a chance to be a part of one of the iconic moments of your choice through a green screen. So, make sure which is your favourite scene out of all 8 Harry Potter movies. As Harry Potter fans, it can be hard to pick one.
6. Ask Questions
Now that you have reached early with less crowd, as a Harry Potter fan, and as a creative brain, it is naturally your duty to ask questions.
Not just about the movie and its details, but you can also get to know about filming sets or set designs if you ask the volunteers present there.
The people working there breathe every detail of the Harry Potter Museum every day. So, there is no better place to quench your thirst for all these queries you have had all these years.
You can get to know all the behind-the-scenes secrets as well.
7. You Should Try Butterbeer
You will be surprised when it is said you can take your lunch at the Harry Potter Museum London. It has a backlot café, and it will be preferable because the actual canteen is quite expensive.
You can bring your home-cooked food and have it in the backlot café. But there is one thing you can and must try in the Harry Potter world: Butterbeer.
Butterbeer can also be consumed by kids, and it is also available in the ice cream version.
Butterbeer is a wizarding beverage, and no one knows the recipe except for The Harry Potter World in London and other Harry Potter Studios.
Try it in the Butterbeer Mug and flaunt it on Instagram as a true Harry Potter fan.
Imagine holding a Butterbeer Mug in the Leaky Cauldron, the perfect section of the studio for this picture.
8. Gate Entrance Photo Hack
Before the famous Harry Potter Studios Tour starts, they open the gates of the Great Hall, where all the students of Hogwarts used to gather.
Now, the trick is to let everyone enter the great hall while you wait for the gate to be closed again.
In the Harry Potter Museum London, when the gates of the Great Hall will be closed, you will be able to capture the perfect picture of the entrance.
9. Use Coat Check
Indeed you have to take your coat or jacket with you because of the weather, but in the Harry Potter Museum London, you won’t be able to carry your heavy coat everywhere, and it is also not fair that you are in the magic world and magic doesn’t happen for you.
You can keep your coats and warm layers at the Coat Check Place when you step out to see Diagon Alley or the outer wizarding world of Harry Potter or Ollivanders Wand Shop.
10. Shop Online the Harry Potter Merchandise
Almost everyone is a big fan of the world of Harry Potter, whether it is a kid or a grown-up man or woman, for that matter. Harry Potter Studios have everything related to Harry Potter for you to buy as a big fan.
Hogwarts has it all, but it is so damn expensive. It is also recommended to get something from Amazon or another source.
If you are visiting the world of Harry Potter with your kids, make sure you have bought them some of the Harry Potter things already; so that when they get stubborn about something, you can remind them of the Harry Potter wand they already have!
11. Specials by Harry Potter Museum London
On this tour of the magical world of Harry Potter Museum London, somebody gets an opportunity to open the doors of the Great Hall.
This someone gets this opportunity only when they have their birthday on this Harry Potter World Tour.
If convenient, try to get the tickets around your birthday.
12. Transportation
The nearest railway station to Harry Potter Studios London is Watford Junction. It takes a 1-hour journey to the studio from Birmingham New Street, and from London Euston, it takes just 20 minutes.
Anyone travelling independently and by road can park their vehicles in the Harry Potter Studios, free of cost, but they will need to have booking confirmations.
If you don’t reside in London and are visiting, you should definitely opt for a car. The area to reach the studio is also remote, so it will be convenient.
The free parking is 100 yards away from the main entrance of the Harry Potter Museum London, so unless you want to have a long morning walk, choose the closer parking. The closest carpark to the studio tour charges up to 10 pounds.
The pro tip would be to go early so that you end up in the parking area empty and keep your tickets to the studio tour handy; you will be asked to show your tickets.
One way to reach the Harry Potter world is to use public transport like a train from London, Euston Station. Once you reach there, go to Watford Junction Station by train.
Now that we are talking about public transport, make sure to have return transportation tickets for your air-conditioned coach.
While booking a bus, go for a regular shuttle bus because they take 15 minutes to travel from Watford Junction to The Harry Potter Museum London. Book your tickets both ways for the bus trip as well.
When you take a shuttle bus from Victoria St., you will have to buy the entrance ticket to Harry Potter World London separately.
13. Digital Guide
Harry Potter movies and Harry Potter World are immensely popular in that they have been released in different languages, and through translations, many things and characters have totally different names.
If you are not from the English capital, you need not worry; Harry Potter Museum London has a solution for this as well.
When you arrive at the studio in London, you can also opt for digitally guided tours. It may charge you 5 pounds. You will have two options.
You can do the Harry Potter Tour of London digitally beforehand while booking your tickets or go to the reception and request a Studio Tour with a digital screen and a pair of headphones.
You can now visit any corner of Harry Potter World London and learn new things in many languages like Chinese, French, and Italian. You can opt for any of these.
14. Don’t Forget to Take a Harry Potter Passport and Stamps
Warner Bros has designed this Studio Tour of London to be enjoyed by Harry Potter fans to its maximum height by creating harry Potter passports and stamps.
You can get these passports at the first stamp station or at the entry gate of the Harry Potter Museum London.
It has been designed in a way that it has different games and stories. On every different page, there is a riddle for you to solve and get your next stamp at the next stamp station.
It’s a fun activity to perform and free, so you can take them home as a souvenir from the Studio Tour.
15. Wear Your Harry Potter Essentials
Since you have a tour of the Harry Potter Museum London and this lifetime opportunity, why not make the most of it?
Wear your Harry Potter Cloak or that Hagrid’s Hut, or maybe have a Phoenix Tattoo if you don’t wanna go too loud.
If you are getting a chance to see what Dumbledore’s office looks like, how goblins sit at the Gringotts Wizarding Bank, or how the original Hogwarts Express itself, it would be so fun to dress up and show up as if you are a part of the Harry Potter World London.
Make sure you wear relatable yet comfortable clothes. The tour is long and includes different activities, so wear good shoes. Be ready to get the most out of this studio tour in London.
16. Expansion to Warner Bros Studio, London
This Magical and Mystical world of Harry Potter is the actual set where Warner Bros shot 8 of those movies, and the rest became history.
On this Harry Potter Tour, you will experience a new addition, specially dedicated to the Forbidden Forest, in the Harry Potter Museum, London.
In this Harry Potter Tour, visitors are also welcome to disobey Professor Dumbledore’s rules and can follow the lead of Harry, Hermoine, and Ron Weasley into the Forbidden Forest.
If you have already been to Harry Potter Museum London, the addition of the Forbidden Forest is the new reason for you to come back.
17. Refund
The Harry Potter Studios Tour London does not provide the facility of a full refund or partial refund. Instead, they adjust the visit date and may charge up to 10 pounds for the administration fees.
The flexibility in changing the date of the visit to the Harry Potter Museum London depends on availability. You must make changes before the day of your visit.
18. Rewatch Movies
You must have watched all the Harry Potter movies a gazillion times, but it wouldn’t hurt if you recall all the special facts and anecdotes from the movies.
So, when you see them in front of your eyes at the Harry Potter Museum London, you instantly recall them, making the moment more special for you.
When you take a bus tour or are on the train, make sure you have downloaded the movies to kill time.
When you will catch the train from Victoria’s Coach Station in London, sit on the train and watch Harry Potter and Philosopher’s Stone on the screen on the way to the Hogwarts express present in the studio, watching all the same details will feel surreal. It is going to add to your experience.
19. Have a Christmas Visit
When you make a visit to the Harry Potter Museum London, make sure to plan it around Christmas for more fun.
If you buy tickets for the visit around Christmas, you will find the Harry Potter Museum London fully covered and decorated in the theme of snow.
The Great Halls will be turned into layers of ice that look like icy silver, just like in the scenes of the Yule Ball.
The common room of Gryffindor will also be transformed for the occasion and can have a Christmas tree for the occasion as well.
Not just those, Diagon Alley, Forbidden Forest, and other Hogwarts sets will also have a hint of a Christmas theme.
You will be safe from Death Eaters during this auspicious time as well.
If you really are a Christmas and Harry Potter fanatic, buy your tickets around 15 November to 15 January.
20. Outside Sound Studio, London
Don’t be overwhelmed already; there are lots of surprises and fun activities waiting for you in the outside area, which is Sound Studio 1.
This part of the sound studio in Harry Potter Museum London includes the privet drive where you will find all the Hogwart letters Harry Potter received in the initial part of Harry Potter, flying in the air and the night bus from the Prisoners of Azkaban.
You will get to see the Hogwarts Bridge present there as well.
The Footnote
Mentioned above were the top tips to keep in your mind before you experience the most magical place of all.
When you know about the making of Harry Potter, the sets of the Gringotts Bank on tour, and when you discover all the fun activities inside the Harry Potter Studio London, make sure to do almost all the things mentioned above.
This tour of the Harry Potter Museum London will give you the most memorable time of your life.
Potterheads, buy tickets to your dreamland and visit the studios because, as once, J. K. Rowling said, “no story lives unless someone wants to listen.” And the Harry Potter story being told realistically would be one of the most wonderful ones in existence.
Now that you have read this far, you would have become a Harry Potter Museum London fanatic. Besides this, if you are planning on visiting more museums, these are the 25 Free Museums In London That You Must Check Out.
