Lumos: Lighting up the New Year in London
- Bryan Johnson
- Jan 18, 2024
- 12 min read
After the frightening moment of getting crushed on a bridge & ringing in 2024, we bring you back to our regularly scheduled programming of nerding out over Harry Potter! Nearly 3 months ago, Katie bought us tickets for a behind-the-scenes tour of The Making of Harry Potter for my birthday, and I am beyond excited for this tour!
Monday, January 1, 2024
Shake Shack Victoria Nova
On the morning of January 1, we made our way to the literal opposite end of London to meet up with our tour bus at noon. As we exited the Victoria Underground Station, we came out directly across the street from Shake Shack, so Katie and I immediately stood by the entrance waiting for the doors to open at 11 am. This was the first time I've ever queued before a restaurant opening for a fast food burger, but man was it a great way to start the day.
The Making of Harry Potter: Warner Brothers Studio Tour London
After quickly scarfing down our food, we made our way down the street to Victoria Coach Station where we checked in and boarded our bus to Watford, home of The Making of Harry Potter: Warner Bros Studio Tour London. After a one-hour journey to the northwest London suburb, we were greeted by the huge Warner Brothers Studio; as we walked up to the studio we noticed that the large wands lining the sidewalk were street lamps!
We grabbed our tickets and made our way into the store before getting in line for our timed entry at 2:00 pm. We didn't have much time to look, but we were able to scope out some of the pins and marveled at all of the cool wands, candies, clothing, and books they were selling.
At 2:00 pm we jumped in line, donned our headphones from the audioguide we splurged on (we didn't want to miss anything!), and made our way into a room lined with all of the posters used for each movie; it was cool getting to see the posters used around the world that we had never seen before.
Our next stop was in a small theater where we were shown a short film talking about the studio tour; after the film, the screen split down the middle and we were standing right outside the entry in the Great Hall! One of the staff members standing by the door asked if it was anyone's birthday and if they wanted to come up and be the ones to open the door; I was sitting in the back whispering to Katie how, although technically it's not my birthday, this was my birthday present and it sure feels like my birthday! (Just so everyone knows- I didn't raise my hand nor did I push the small children out of my way. I behaved!)
The doors were slowly pushed open and into the Great Hall we entered! It was completely decorated for Christmas, with twelve trees surrounding the perimeter, wreathes on all of the walls, and the tables covered in a Christmas feast.
We learned that when they first started filming the first movie, they used real candles tied to the ceiling with fishing line, but the fire would melt the line and candles would fall on the actors and crew below. They also used to make real food for all of the meal scenes in the Great Hall before eventually transitioning to fake food in the third film.
After snapping a ton of pictures, we made our way into the first gallery where they had tons of wigs and costumes used throughout the film. The coolest thing we learned was that the outfits Daniel Radcliffe (Harry) wore during the Battle of Hogwarts in The Deathly Hallows: Part 2, were 70 of the same outfit.
As the battle progressed and Harry's outfit got dirty, scratched, or torn, they would create a new outfit with the same blemishes as before, but add a new mark to make it slightly different. Rather than just use the same outfit and continue to add new things to it, they created an entirely new costume in case a scene needed to be reshot.
Also in the same gallery was a display of all of the wands from well-known characters throughout the series.
The next section of the tour was super cool as we got to see both the Gryffindor and Slytherin common rooms, as well as stopping for a quick selfie in the Mirror of Erised (from The Sorcerer's Stone!) Throughout the tour, I made sure to hit every single one of the passport stamping stations to complete my Studio Tour passport!
The next, and probably one of my favorite sections was the Gryffindor Common Room and dormitory. One of the cool facts about this room is that the walls are covered in portraits of Gryffindor's "Heads of Houses," and the photo just to the right of the doorway is a painting of a younger Maggie Smith, who plays Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House.
The next gallery was Dumbledore's office. The bookshelves were filled with hundreds of books, which are just repurposed British phone books bound in leather! We noticed throughout our tour that the studio would raid flea markets and second-hand stores to find items they could use for costumes or props; Warner Brothers knew how to shop on a budget!
Another cool feature was that a lot of the paintings used in the films were paintings of directors, producers, and other crew members. If you worked behind the scenes but wanted to get your face on the silver screen, all you needed to do was have your portrait made so you could be seen hanging up in a hallway or dormitory.
The hallway from the Leaky Cauldron pub uses an optical illusion known as forced perspective to make it appear 50 feet long on screen; this hallway was only four feet tall and less than 10 feet long.
We also spotted the famous wardrobe from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, where Severus Snape comes out dressed like Neville's grandmother!
The potions classroom was originally constructed as the corridor with the trap door protected by Fluffy in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The set was repurposed in the next movie to depict Professor Snape's dark office, filled with vials! Then in 2008, the set was redressed in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, as the Potions classroom, where Harry brewed up the Felix Felices (Liquid Luck) potion with Professor Slughorn. I'm telling you, Warner Brothers was all about reusing sets and repurposing them for several scenes throughout the films!
It wouldn't be a Harry Potter exhibit without some Quidditch props on display! Also, peep the boot portkey and the Tri Wizard Tournament portkey from the 4th movie!
One of Katie and I's favorite exhibits was "Animal Actors." It talked about all of the rescue and neighborhood dogs that were used to play Fang (Hagrid's loveable Boarhound), Hedwig (Harry's owl) Mrs. Morris (Filch's cat), and Crookshanks (Hermoine's cat)! You know we are big animal people, so Katie enjoyed reading about the different characteristics of each animal and how their personalities helped determine their training for the films!
Hagrid's Hut was built on two different scales. The larger scale set (pictured below) was used to film characters of "regular" size. A smaller-scale set, complete with all the same props and design, was built to make Hagrid seem much larger. So double filming to get the size of different characters correct!
Next set of props were the "vehicles" from the films! Hagrid's motorcycle (both the one used to film close ups and one filmed to make him appear huge), Professor Moody's broom, and the Gringott's bank cart from the final movie.
It was amazing to see all of the work the art, props, and costume teams put into making these movies feel magical! A lot of engineering marvels went into making things come to life; one of the coolest being Professor Lupin's trunk packing itself. The movements were sped up during editing for the film, but it was very cool to see it in real-time.
Because of its highly detailed movement, many people assume the Chamber of Secrets door was a computer-generated effect. In fact, this intricate device was hand-built by the Special Effects Department, based on sketches provided by the Art Department. The articulated snakes slither along slotted tracks and are powered by an electric motor hidden behind the door!
On-screen, the Whomping Willow appears massive! In reality, only two sections of the tree were built to scale: the tree trunk (that supports the car, Ron and Harry) and the animated "knuckle" that did the whomping! The visual effects department augmented the live-action footage with digital effects to create a believable sequence!
The next exhibit was of The Burrow, or the Weasley family home; the engineering marvels continued in this scene as we saw self-washing pans and vegetables being cut by themselves.
Here's a clip showing the "magical" movements:
Next, we entered the Dark Arts section of the tour where we viewed the Death Eaters meeting at Malfoy Manor & exhibits from Borgin & Burkes, the dark artifacts shop in Knockturn Alley!
Yeah, turning the corner and seeing that giant Nagini was definitely shocking! That's a big snake!
One of the coolest pieces from the whole tour was the Black Family Tree tapestry. David Yates, the director of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, saw the tapestry and had the set team create an entirely new room just so this incredibly detailed tapestry could be the focal point for a few scenes in the third movie! Clearly not the only director to love this tapestry, as it was later used in other films because of its detail!
The last exhibit before entering the Forbidden Forest was the Ministry of Magic. You may not have noticed during the film, but during Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Professor Umbridge's outfits get pinker throughout the film as she gains more authority at Hogwarts.
As we entered the Forbidden Forest through the Hogwarts Gates, we were greeted by Hagrid & Buckbeak the Hippogriff.
As we made our way around the corner, we noticed numerous large spiders coming down from the ceiling and we were surprised to see Aragog!
Our next stop was at Platform 9 3/4! While on the platform, we noticed numerous trolleys poking out halfway through the walls; of course, there were no lines to get pictures there, but Katie and I have no regrets waiting for an hour-and-a-half for a picture with the trolley at Kings Cross Station.
The train on the platform was the authentic Hogwarts Express used for over 10 years of filming the Harry Potter series. The carriage compartments were redressed to represent key scenes from the films in chronological order, most notably the compartment where Ron and Harry shared snacks during their first ride on the train together.
Before getting to the halfway point, there was a small case containing books, newspaper clippings from the Daily Prophet & the Marauders Map. It just goes to show the level of detail that went into everything they created, including hundreds of book covers and thousands of newspapers, just to make this world feel authentic.
After taking a little over 2 hours to complete the first half of the tour, we were running short on time as we had to be back on the bus by 5:30 pm (it was now past 4:00 pm.) We quickly grabbed a Butterbeer & a Coke for Katie and I and we kept on trucking through the second half.
The first exhibits were the Dursley's home at Privet Drive, where we got to see the Hogwarts letter coming down the chimney, a blown-up Aunt Marge, and Dobby inside Harry's bedroom. While in the house, Katie and I tried to open the cupboard under the stairs, but unfortunately it was sealed shut!
Just look at the detail of the home!
The last of the outdoor exhibits was a small-scale replica of the Burrow, the Hogwarts Bridge, the Greenhouse & the Knight Bus.
Unfortunately due to our time constraints, we weren't able to spend as much time in the second half of the tour, so we had to blast through the last few sections. The section following the outdoor exhibits was dedicated to replicas, masks, & animatronics! We saw life-size replicas of Harry (from the final movie), Hermione (from the 4th movie), Dobby (from the final movie), Hagrid, and Dementors!
We also saw the Mandrake plants from the second Harry Potter film, numerous masks of trolls used during the Battle of Hogwarts, as well as replicas of the Basilisk & Aragog!
Check out this video of an animatronic of the Voldemort doll used in the final film!
There was an entire area dedicated to goblins and actor Warwick Davis, who portrayed multiple characters throughout the series, including the goblin bank teller in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Professor Flitwick in numerous films, and Griphook in Harry Potter and teh Deathly Hallows-Part 1 and 2. Davis also voiced the part of Griphook in the first film (but was physically acted by Berne Troyer.)
When Flitwick was cut from the script for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, director Alfonso Cuaron asked Davis to play the role of Frog Choir Conductor, but when Flitwick returned in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, director Mike Newell liked the Frog Choir Conductor's look so much that he used it for Flitwick's character!
Several massive chandeliers were constructed for the Gringotts Wizarding Bank set- each strung with 25,000 plastic "crystals." While production designer Stuart Craig's chandelier design measured 12 feet wide and 16 feet from top to bottom, to reduce production costs, only the lower halves of the chandeliers were created physically, while the top halves seen on screen were added as a computer-generated effect.
The highly detailed and polished floors of the Gringotts banking hall as seen in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-Part 2 were made of paper. To achieve the look of a marble floor, a visual design was first created in the Art Department. Then different types of marble were researched and sampled to match the colors and textures as seen in Australia House. Paper was then dipped into tubs of water with oil paint floating on top to recreate a similar marbleized look. All the individual pieces were cut by hand and glued to a plywood base before, lastly, many layers of lacquer were added to create the final glossy look. Long story short, it took a lot of thought and time to design "fake marble!"
This was Katie's favorite set from the entire tour. Turning the corner and seeing THE bank set was pretty breathtaking!
One of our final stops was Diagon Alley where we got to check out numerous storefronts including Ollivander's Wand Shop, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and Gringotts. One of the interesting facts we learned was how they created footsteps in the snow when Harry was wearing the Invisibility Cloak; they would have foot-shaped cut-outs buried under the fake snow that would drop down, giving the effect that someone was stepping in the snow. They really thought of everything!
The last, and certainly not the least interesting, was the 1:24 scale model of Hogwarts, completely covered in snow for the season! This model was used for filming in each of the Harry Potter films; in every scene where there was a view of the castle from afar or from the sky, they used this model. If you total up all of the man-hours it took the 86-member team to create this model, it would total up to 74 years' worth of work. It was absolutely stunning and such a great way to end our tour!
As we ended our tour and made our way back to the shop, we were led into a room filled with wand boxes; instead of hiring hundreds of extras for the films, the directors used the art, props, costumes, lighting, sound, and sets teams as their extras. Each person in the crew was given their own unique wand, which is now stored in this room with their name on the box.
After raiding the gift shop of its pins and other toys, we grabbed a picture out front of the large-sized chess pieces from the Wizards Chess game in the first movie. At 5:30 pm, we boarded our bus and made the hour-long journey back to Victoria Station in London.
Looking back on it in hindsight, 3.5 hours to complete the tour was nowhere near enough time. Katie and I each agree we could've spent 6 hours in the studio reading each placard, watching every video and enjoying every possible second we could.
Ceylon Street Restaurant
After an amazing day getting to see life inside Hogwarts, we took the tube back to our hotel where we dropped our bags and walked up the street to Ceylon Street Restaurant. Katie and I haven't found good ethnic food while in Southern Spain, so we were excited about the highly-reviewed Sri Lankan restaurant just a two-minute walk from our hotel.
The thing that got us most excited was that we were the only white people in the building, so we knew the food was about to be gas. After sharing some samosas, and splitting two different curries and naans, our hearts and stomachs were full. We waddled back to our hotel where we had one final drink in our fun Irish pub before leaving the following morning.
Tuesday, January 2, 2024
5:00 am the next morning came very early, as we made our way to Stansted Airport in northern London. After a 50-minute train, we made it to the airport, checked in, and made our way back to Sevilla, landing at 12:50 pm local time. We were greeted by the greatest welcoming committee we could have hoped for!
What an amazing trip! After a Harry Potter-heavy adventure in London, Katie and I are excited to make the journey back up there soon to check out more theater productions and visit the other main attractions around the city! We can't wait to be back! Follow along for more adventures soon.
Cheers, Always,
-Bryan
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