You have to pre-book your tickets, which I think we did way back in January. We arranged for 11:00am tickets, and arrived a bit early. It was really nice, as the parking lot was still pretty empty, and there wasn't much of a line to get in. Once through the line, you are brought into a large theater where the three main actors from the film describe the studio, and what you're able to see. After that, the screen lifted, and we were at the main doors into Hogwarts Great Hall. Once the door opened, we were able to walk through the Great Hall, which is exactly as it looks in the movie. I think it's one of the few sets that was built for the first movie which was kept throughout the whole series. (I could be wrong, but it was meant to be fairly permanent to last for a long time.)
The Great Hall was the only part that we were on any kind of time constraint. After that, the rest of the tour was self-led, and you could take your time as you pleased. The first section of the tour showed many of the main sets, along with several costumes (including wigs) and many props, large and small. It also showed how some of the special effects were created. This was the largest part of the studio tour.
The second part of the tour was outdoors, and showed larger props such as the Knight's Bus, Number 4 Privet Drive, Hogwarts Bridge, etc., After that, we went into the creature center where the masks and animatronics were displayed. After that, we were treated to walk down Diagon Alley!! That was super cool, as we were able to look through many of the storefronts familiar from the books and films. After that, we saw several pieces of pre-production art including beautiful paintings, renderings, and models. The big surprise at the end was a HUGE large-scale model of Hogwarts. It was enormous. Probably 2-1/2 stories high, and took the space of a very large room.
Of course, I took many, many, many photos, and tried to narrow down to the highlights to post. I think this gives you a good idea of what the experience was like.
If you're interested in going, plan on about 4 hours or so for the tour itself. Depending on how you get there, plan on at least one hour from London to travel. You may also want to leave more time to peruse the gift shop.
I'm SO glad that I was able to go to this tour today, and it was made even more fun to be able to experience it with Rob and James. (In case you're wondering, Dick elected not to go because he wanted to hit a couple of museums here in London before we leave tomorrow morning.)
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