Already London’s most successful, movie-themed tourist attraction, the Warner Bros. “Making of Harry Potter” Studio Tour isn’t resting on its magical laurels. Instead, the attraction added one of the movie series’ biggest and most prominent settings.
Fans of the dominant book and film series know all too well that the beloved main character heads to wizard school aboard the Hogwarts Express. The train and its set-dressed passenger cars are now on full display at the Studio Tour.
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The Studio Tour opened in 2012 in time for the London Summer Olympics and continues to draw Harry Potter fans from around the world. The attraction employs the very same sound stages used to shoot the film series, so the lovers of everything Hogwarts end up walking in the same steps as the movies’ stars.
The tour is a free-flowing affair, allowing visitors to explore at their own pace and to focus on favorite moments, sets, costumes, artifacts, etc. This reporter is admittedly not a Potter fan. I’e never read these particular books, and I think I’ve seen three of the movies. However, even a neophyte of the arcane arts like me can admire the craftsmanship that went into everything made for these films.
If you’re a Potter fan more than a broom ride away from London, you can check out some sights form the tour in the gallery below.
Photos by John Scott Lewinski, courtesy of Warner Bros.
'Making of Harry Potter' Tour, London
Warner Bros. expanded its already massively successful "Making of Harry Potter" Studio Tour with the huge Hogwarts Express train.
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'Making of Harry Potter' Tour, London
The Hogwarts dining hall stands, lit for photos and waiting for visitors of the Warner Bros. Studio Tour in London.
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'Making of Harry Potter' Tour, London
The Sorting Hat prop from 'Harry Potter' is on display and lit or photographs at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour in London.
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'Making of Harry Potter' Tour, London
The Gates of Hogwarts at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour in London is the actual on-screen set created for the Harry Potter films.
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'Making of Harry Potter' Tour, London
The movie wands displayed at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour in London are replicas because the stars took their real wands home.
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'Making of Harry Potter' Tour, London
Much of the set, costume and prop work on display at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour in London could qualify as fine art.
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'Making of Harry Potter' Tour, London
This set and costume on display at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour in London salutes the late Alan Rickman.
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'Making of Harry Potter' Tour, London
Each of these oil prop oil paintings on display at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour in London were created by hand for the film.
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'Making of Harry Potter' Tour, London
The ingenious talent of the Harry Potter creature designers is on close-up display at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour in London.
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'Making of Harry Potter' Tour, London
Each of these wand boxes on display at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour in London were handmade and marked with an individual name.
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'Making of Harry Potter' Tour, London
The massive model of Hogwarts waits at the conclusion of the Warner Bros. Studio Tour in London.
